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Legend

The water-mistress at Saula bridge

An old woman walking to town at sunrise saw, by Saula bridge on the Pirita river, a yellow-haired, broad-hipped woman washing her breasts in the water. "Good morning, water-mistress!" she called. Through her nose the stranger answered that the woman's grandchildren to the fourth and fifth generation would live well and never drown. That evening a yellow-haired girl drowned at the same spot while washing sheep. Two weeks later a voice cried there: "The hour has come and the man has not!" A man rode his horse in, fell off and drowned at once. In 1929 her great-granddaughter said none of the family had ever drowned.

Open it on the map See the spot on the old maps and as it is today

Eesti keeles

Vana naine läks päikesetõusul linna ja nägi Pirita jõel Saula silla juures kollaste juuste ja laiade puusadega naist jões oma rindu pesemas. "Tere hommikut, vee-emand!" hüüdis ta. Võõras vastas läbi nina, et naise lapselapsed elavad neljanda ja viienda põlveni hästi ega sure veesurma. Õhtul kuulis ta, et samas kohas oli lambaid pestes uppunud kollaste juustega tüdruk. Kahe nädala pärast hüüdis seal hääl: "Tund jõuab ja mees ei jõua!" Üks mees ajas hobuse sinna jõkke, kukkus seljast ja uppus silmapilkselt. Naise lapselapselaps rääkis 1929. aastal, et nende suguvõsast pole keegi veesurma surnud.

Map of the area around The water-mistress at Saula bridge
59.22001° N, 25.03510° E · Map: Maa- ja Ruumiamet

Source: Estonian Folklore Archives ERA II 18, 481/2 (R. Põldmäe < Emilie Kruuspak, 1929), Rehepapp database ↗

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