Sea, lakes, rivers

   Current Saadjärv, which [is] 19 versts or even less from wise Tartu to the north and near the Tallinn road, and on which evening [Western] shore the Äksi church stands, and a few versts further the Voldi manor, while in the morning [Eastern] shore Saadjärve manor. In the boulevard of the Saadjärve manor, a large stone is shown inside the lake near the shore, which one of Kalev's sons allegedly threw there.
   Kukulinna manor [is located] on the south side of the shore. This lake is seven versts long, and at the Äksi church, where it is also the widest and deepest, it is two versts wide. The old folk's mouth says that there was no lake before and there was a church in the middle of the same spot.
   On a Sunday the church was full of people, the teacher gave a sermon in the pulpit, three old women felt sulky in their hearts and left the church. Suddenly, a big black bull ran into the courtyard, roaring and screeching terribly, with the lake behind him. The bull dropped on its belly and the lake was also set that way.
   The women, however, ran away when they see the bull. They barely managed to get away, it's hard to drag them in as well. The church, however, left in the middle of the lake with all the people and the priest. When in the autumn lake closes and the ice is still very thin and clear, and when the Sun shines clearly, then whoever happens to find this place, where the church is at the bottom, then the tip of the tower glows in the sunlight at the bottom of the deep water.

Peipsi reached to my ass,
Saadjärv to the top of my boot,
Kuremaajärv reached to my throat,
Ilmjärv, however, wanted to take the soul,

said Estonian giant and hero Kalevipoeg, barely escaping the lake of Ilmjärv with his life.

Comment: Ilmjärv or Ilmeni järv, Finnish Ilmajärvi (World/Heaven lake) – a lake in Russia. On its shore is the historical Rurikovo Gorodische (Rurik's Hillfort, Holmgård), founded by the Varangians in the 9^th century, predecessor of Veliky Novgorod. 
Peipsi – the biggest lake of Estonia. Saadjärv – the lake in Äksi parish, belongs to the 10 largest and 10 deepest lakes in Estonia. Kuremaajärv (the lake of Stork's Land) – a big lake in Palamuse parish.

When the Stone Bridge was being built in Tartu, the Old Devil demolished everything that was built during the day, every night for three weeks in a row. Then a wise man was brought from St. Petersburg. When the work he had done was also blown up each night, he went straight into the water by the bridge. Here he went through a door into a house where all sorts of bad things were being done. He demanded to see the landlord, but was told he had gone to his bride. He could be recognized by the fact that he had the bride, in the form of a little white dog, running beside him. The sie man of St. Petersburg soon met the landlord and asked him why he would not let the bridge be built. The landlord ordered that the bridge was to be built three yards toward the hill, and then no one would tear it down, but now the bridge was at his house. The St. Petersburg master then built the bridge peacefully further closer to the hill, and no one tore down what he had done. 
 

A boy ran to drink near the river. One man was sitting nearby and he heard a mermaid raise her head out of the water and say: “The hour has come, but the boy won’t arrive.” The man told the boy not to drink there. He took him to the inn and as the boy got the first sip, he fell down and died. Nobody can get against his fate. Who is determined to drown, shall be killed by water.