Legend
The judge who crawled round Town Hall Square
A carved wooden figure in Tallinn's town hall, the hall servant said in 1895, showed a man crawling on all fours with a woman on his back holding a bundle of switches. He had been a judge. In those days a condemned man learned his punishment only on the way to the scaffold, but this judge kindly told a prisoner that he would be beheaded. He also told his wife, and through her the whole town knew. The court sentenced him to crawl three times round the market square with his wife riding him and a cord in his mouth. Then the executioner beheaded him. A cross set in the paving on the way to Saiakang marked his grave.
Open it on the map See the spot on the old maps and as it is today
Eesti keeles
Tallinna raekojas olevat puust nikerdatud kuju, kus mees kõnnib neljakäpukil ja naine istub tal seljas, vitsakimp käes, rääkis raekoja teener 1895. aastal. See mees oli olnud kohtuhärra. Tol ajal sai süüdimõistetu oma karistust teada alles hukkamispaika viimisel, kuid kohtuhärra ütles sõbralikult ühele vangile, et timukas raiub tal pea maha. Ta rääkis seda ka oma prouale ja proua kaudu teadis seda kogu linn. Kohus mõistis, et ta peab kolm korda neljakäpukil ümber Suure turu käima, naine seljas ja nöör suus. Seejärel raius timukas tal pea maha. Saiakangi poole minnes märkis tema hauda tänavakivide sisse laotud rist.
Source: M. J. Eisen, 'Narvast Tallinna' (no. 27; J. Neublau < town hall servant P. Vahtrik, 1895) ↗