Legend
The Russian peasants of Sausti
Sausti vene talupojad
A tradition recorded in 1914 near Kiili says that in the days of Peter the Great, when Prince Menshikov was governor of Estonia, he brought Russian serfs from his estates in the Moscow and Yaroslavl provinces and settled them at Sausti and Kostivere. Sausti then had a 'Russian village' and farms and saunas with Russian names, and people bore Russian surnames, though by 1914 all had become Estonian. Thirty years earlier, the old folk said, the elders could still speak Russian; by then nobody could. The story preserves a forgotten chapter of migration in the countryside south of Tallinn.
Open it on the map See the spot on the old maps and as it is today
Eesti keeles
1914. aastal Kiili kandis kirja pandud pärimuse järgi tõi vürst Menšikov, kes oli Peeter I ajal Eestimaa kuberner, oma Moskva ja Jaroslavli kubermangu mõisatest vene talupoegi ning asustas nad Saustisse ja Kostiverre. Saustis oli siis Vene küla ning mõne vene nimega talud ja saunad ning inimestel olid vene liignimed, kuigi 1914. aastaks olid kõik eestistunud. Kolmkümmend aastat varem oskanud vanemad inimesed veel vene keelt, nüüd enam mitte keegi. Lugu säilitab unustatud peatüki Tallinna-taguse maa rändeloost.
Source: After Eesti kohanimeraamat (EKI), tradition recorded 1914 ↗