Allikukivi koobas ja allikas kohapärimuses
Authors:   Estonian Literary Museum, Hiiemäe Mall 
Published: January 2024

Geologists learned of the existence of the 33-metre-long Allikukivi Cave in the Devonian sandstone of south western Estonia only in 1961, when during excavation work a more than 7-metre-deep void opened under an excavator. Estonian lore of caves and cave systems describes them as starting points of underground passageways. They have been considered places of refuge during times of war and plague, sites of hidden treasure, and the dwelling places of nature giants. In describing the development story of this particular cave, geologists have used archival pieces from the Estonian Literary Museum’s Folklore Archives and reference material from earlier printed sources. The case study focuses on observing the geological phenomenon as a folklore- and landscape-related whole. There appear to be two different layers of tradition: one of them vanishing, the other vigorous. The episodes of the first contaminated text that reached the archives in 1890 feature spirits who come out of the opening near the spring. What follows is a legend of a giant that contains the motif of throwing a stone at a church. The connection with legends of giants dwelling in caves is manifested weakly and the text is fragmentary and vague showing the characteristics of departing from tradition. These features corroborate the geologists’ opinion that the cave in question may have been open in the past, but also suggests that when the cave closed in (or was deliberately shut because of the danger it presented) the legend gradually faded. The second plot then became predominant. The landscape components of the later folklore layer consist in three large openings on a hill (in a geological sense, three sinkholes in Devonian sandstone that appear when an underground hole caves in) and a spring that is connected to them (the holes appeared because water eroded the sandstone). The holes remain as the traces of buildings that sank underground due to the breaking of ethical norms that occurred when a beggar who turned up at a wedding was not allowed to stay for the night; in some versions the motif of the wedding guests turning into wolves is added (Aa 86, Aa 87 and Aa 73 in Antti Aarne’s 1918 catalogue of legends). Even if the cave is mentioned, it is not linked with the plot of the legend. However, important status is given to the spring that is created simultaneously to the building sinking into the ground, with the spring water turned into spirits. In 1961 Allikukivi Cave was taken under protection and its entrance was supported. The cave became a tourism object and the legend of the house sinking underground was activated. This is a good example of the revival of folklore in connection with tourist services. Today, the special focus of this popular tourism object is on all three landscape elements: the cave, a nearby sinkhole with a diameter of around seven metres, and the spring, which comes to the surface 15 m away. The discovery of the cave has introduced no new motifs to the plot of the legend, but in guided tours it has become customary practice to tell the legend of the wedding house, accompanied by the evidence in the landscape.