It is particularly interesting and significant for the Macedonian cultural and literary history that in his work, Slavonic Literature, Morfill wrote in detail about the work of the brothers Dimitar and Konstantin Miladinov and their Collection of Folk Songs, indicated and briefly commented on various characteristics and elements of the songs, and quoted some of them (in full or in part) in his own translation into English. He thus made them accessible to the Anglo-Saxon world only 22 years after they were first published in Zagreb in 1861 (Morfill’s book was published in 1883).

      He paid particular attention to the oral folk tradition devoting a great deal of space to the Miladinov brothers’ Collection. He mentioned that the songs in it were collected by both men, but published by Konstantin in Agram (Zagreb) in 1861 with the assistance of Bishop Strossmayer, who, he writes, "has done so much for the Slavonic literature". Morfill’s reference to Konstantin’s preface to the Collection is brief: "In his preface, Constantine Miladinov speaks of the great wealth of popular songs among his countrymen. He tells us that from one young girl alone, in Struga, he collected 150 beautiful songs".

      Morfill was moved by the fate of the two brothers which he described as "very melancholy". He thought it necessary to acquaint the reader with it, to bring home the reality of Turkish rule. Noting that he owed much information on the Miladinovs to Veljo D. Stoyanov and his interesting articles published in Casopis Ceskeho Musea in 1866, he wrote that Konstantin joined his brother Dimitar "in Struga, in Macedonia, at the Albanian frontier, where the latter was exercising the profession of a tutor", that later, on the order of the Turkish authorities, they were sent to Thessaloniki, and thence to Constantinople, after allegations had been made against them by some Greek clerics. He pointed out that the Miladinovs were charged with treason on the grounds that "some of the poems in their collection contained satirical allusions and attacks upon the Turks and Greeks", and the song which caused particular offence was "Stoyan and Patrick", on page 13 of the Collection, celebrating the exploits of the national hero Stoyan against the Turks and Greeks. Because of these charges the brothers were sentenced to life imprisonment. Morfill described Strossmayer’s efforts through the Austrian consul in Constantinople to get them freed, the endeavours of the Russian government, and the secret murder before the order of release was issued.

      Although Morfill sympathised sincerely and deeply with the two brothers on the tragic fate, he was not sufficiently acquainted with their teaching aimed at raising the Macedonian national consciousness, their uncompromising anti-Phanariot activities, or the complex political situation in Macedonia, to recognise and set out the true reasons for their end. Because of this, his narration, which was probably adapted from another source, acquired certain naively mystical and melodramatic overtones.