Legends about Abja
Abja and its surrounding region are rich with historical stories. The Old Nick who use to live in the area, as well as Abja manor lords are still the main figure in several legends. Below you can find few interesting tales about Abja and its area.
Old Nick’s shared bread peel
Long time ago when the Old Nicks (Vanapaganad) still lived on our land, one Old Nick family lived in Koodiorg and the other family near Abja manor close to Põrgupedak. Both families were very poor, in fact so poor that they had only one wooden bread peel for two families and because of this the wives had to share it.
Usually the wives of Old Nicks made the bread at the same day. When the housewife in Koodiorg had prepared her first bread loaf and placed it in the oven with the bread peel, she went outside and tossed it to neighbor’s wife in Põrgupedak. She had already prepared her bread loaf and swiftly placed the bread to oven, so that she could go out and throw the bread peel back to her beloved neighbor in Koodiorg. This repeated several times, depending on how many bread loaves the women were baking.
As long as the Old Nick families lived in our land, the bread peel flew between Koodiorg and Põrgupedak homesteads. There were never disagreements between Old Nick’s wives for sharing it. There was always enough bread and the bread peel was in one piece, but what did not come, was the wealth to buy another bread peel.
Salme Vainlo <2005< The story was written down by Lea Univer from Põlde village near Põrgupedak in 1948. Original transcript is in Abja Museum.
Story from Salme Vainlo book “Mulgimaa Charm and Pain” („Mulgimaa Võlu ja Valu“in Estonian) (Abja : Kodukuru, 2011).
Poisonous snakes and retired soldier
In the old days there were many poisonous snakes nesting around Abja mansion swamps and meadows. During one summer, there were exceptionally many slithering around. Many people got bitten and several of them died in terrible agony.
At that time there lived an old retired soldier in the area, who could speak bird and animal languages. Thanks to his proficiency he found out from birds and animals what to do, so that no one would get bitten again.
On one day, the old soldier put a log over Halliste River and told to a snake who was curiously observing him: “If you, snakes, do not cross this river and go as far as possible from here, I will destroy your big swamp!” After that, snakes started to gather around to the riverbank. Old soldier crossed the river first and after him came immense group of snakes. When the last snake had crossed the Halliste River, the old soldier rushed back to the other side and removed the log, so that no snake could return to Abja manor land.
From that time onwards, there were no snakes seen in Abja area and no one got bitten again. However, there were many snakes nesting around the Pornus manor swamps and meadows.
Salme Vainlo < 2008 < The story was written down by Abja High school student Lea Univer from Põlde village in 1948. Original transcript is in Abja Museum.
Story from Salme Vainlo book “Mulgimaa Charm and Pain” („Mulgimaa Võlu ja Valu“in Estonian) (Abja : Kodukuru, 2011).
Abja reds* came to take over the manor
During the revolution, Abja reds got an idea to take over the Abja manor. During that time the manor was perceived to be the root of all evil. Anger was bubbling and the reds were secretly hoping to get to the manor’s wine cellar and eat all the good food that they can get their hand on. During all the commotion, they were hoping to grab useful items from the manor, even a fork would have been a good treasure.
Boys working in the manor found out in Abja-Paluoja tavern about the plans that reds have and told it under secrecy to their landlord. Together they hatched a plan and came up with precautions against the reds and their planned attack.
When the Abja red hoodlums came along the lake bank towards the manor, they were greeted by the young landlord and his strong and tall manor boys. Defenders had tall logs to protect themselves and after the permission from the landlord, they started to push reds back from the steep hill. Of course no one was injured, as all of it was done loudly but with lots of laughs.
Abja red hoodlums started running back to where they came from, behind them were manor protectors loudly screaming. After the commotion the whole road was full of attacker’s shoes, but most of them were broken and worn out.
Long after this victory, the manor boys were bragging in Abja tavern and in Abja fair about their triumph. Often the manor boys teased the Abja reds by looking at their shoes and mentioning:”Are you the one who forgot his shoes near our Manor hill? Come and see, these are lying near a bush, no one wants those and soon will rot from the rain.”
*Reds: soviet-oriented individuals, who were not happy with landlords in general and were trying to gain profit by robbing manor houses.
Salme Vainlo < 2008< Liidia Liiber-Räbanik-Niin from Abja-Paluoja.
Story from Salme Vainlo book “Mulgimaa Charm and Pain” („Mulgimaa Võlu ja Valu“in Estonian) (Abja : Kodukuru, 2011).
Strong workman and the cement barrel
There was always something to fix or build in Abja manor and its surrounding manor houses. Again one day the workmen were summoned to the manor for repair work. Landlord had already bought all the necessary supplies, among those on big and heavy cement barrel. All the workmen arrived to the manor and waited for orders from the landlord.
Landlord noticed that one tall and strong workman was admiring his cement barrel. He could see from his face that the workman would really like to have that cement barrel. “He probably has house building plans and cannot afford to buy a cement barrel himself”, thought the landlord.
Landlord was known for his tolerance and support for his workforce, the man of the people. He was also quite of a jokester and loved good pranks, like the devil loves a lightning. So the landlord proposed a challenge to the workman:”If you lift the cement barrel onto your shoulders without any help and take it home without putting it down, the cement barrel is yours. I promise you!” The strong workman accepted his generous offer, grabbed the cement barrel with his muscular arms and hoisted it onto his shoulders. Waddlingly he took first steps and it was clear to everyone, he will not be able to get home with the cement barrel.
Landlord on his horse carriage and workmen on foot followed the waddling workman towards the Abja borough. On the Tikuti stream bridge the workman leaned against the railings to rest for a while. Landlord was already delighted, now he will drop the cement barrel and it will still be mine. But this did not happen. The strong workman just shifted the barrel on his shoulders and carried on waddling toward his homestead. After some time, the workman finally got home with his new cement barrel.
Abja landlord kept his promise and said:” Good man, now the cement barrel is yours!”
Salme Vainlo < 2008 < Ain Laidvee from Põlde village< his father Peeter Laidvee from Põlde village.
Story from Salme Vainlo book “Mulgimaa Charm and Pain” („Mulgimaa Võlu ja Valu“in Estonian) (Abja : Kodukuru, 2011).
