Legend
The gold sword that would not let its finder sleep
On the heath of Jõuga, in Iisaku parish in Ida-Virumaa, local people long believed that fallen warriors or ancient Estonians lay buried. Archaeologists later identified the site as a Votic burial ground used between the 12th and 15th centuries. The heath kept a telling story of its own. A man who found a fragment of a golden sword there took it home, but from that night on he could not sleep. Only when he carried it back to where he had found it did his rest return. People explained that the treasure was bound by words, protected by a spell laid on it when it went into the ground, so that it could never belong to anyone else. The burial ground lies on the Jõuga heath, south of Jõhvi.
Open it on the map See the spot on the old maps and as it is today
Eesti keeles
Ida-Virumaal Iisaku kihelkonnas Jõuga nõmmel uskusid kohalikud kaua, et sinna on maetud langenud sõdalased või muistsed eestlased. Arheoloogid tegid hiljem kindlaks, et tegu on 12.–15. sajandil kasutatud vadjalaste kalmistuga. Nõmmel on ka oma kõnekas lugu. Üks mees leidis sealt kuldse mõõga tüki ja viis selle koju, kuid sellest ööst peale ei saanud ta enam magada. Alles siis, kui ta selle leiukohta tagasi viis, tuli uni tagasi. Inimesed seletasid, et aare oli „sõnadega seotud“ – maasse panemisel loitsuga kaitstud, nii et see ei saanud kunagi kellelegi teisele kuuluda. Kalmistu asub Jõuga nõmmel Jõhvist lõuna pool.