One day the devil appeared on the bank of the Ahja River. He liked the beautiful high riverbanks very much and decided to settle here. Alas, he had no shelter! There were plenty of trees in the riverside woods, but the devil did not want to build a house, because people would notice it and come to bother him. So he began digging a cave by the water: it was small at first, but he kept digging and digging and soon had a lot of underground chambers, each one prettier than the last. The devil loved his new home and called it Heaven’s Hall (Taeva koda). He lived quietly in his splendid chambers and was disturbed in his peace by neither beast nor man. He did have one problem in Heaven’s Hall: making his own bread. His field by the river yielded crops, but he had nowhere to grind the grain! So the devil decided to build a mill and immediately went out to look for a suitable spot. He chose Lääniste, carried his tools and timber and stones there in a boat, and began building the mill. The local whirlwind saw the devil toiling and decided to play a trick on him. It gathered all of its strength and dashed down onto the unfinished mill, shaking it vigorously. The logs and stones flew in all directions. Now only the large cornerstone in the middle of the river reminds passers-by of that ill-fated mill. Local people call it the Ghost Stone or Judas Stone. The devil abandoned his work and Heaven’s Hall cave, never to return.
Old folk tales refer to the Ahja River in Taevaskoja as a “sacrificial river” where blood offerings were made in hope of getting good crops, improving cattle breeding and one’s own health, and just for general good luck. People used to be afraid to enter the mysterious Taevaskoja caves. Parents forbad their children to go anywhere near the caves, and there were few who dared to disobey. No one was allowed to damage the cliff walls, or even to scratch their names on them. It was prohibited to catch fish and crawfish on Midsummer Night because it would have offended the river spirits and brought misfortune to all.
In the old days people also believed that the caves beneath the Suur Taevaskoda Cliff had three secret passages: one to Himmaste, another to Riga and a third one all the way to Kyiv.
© NPA TAEVASKOJA
