Huitberg
Huitberg
The Huitberg or Valgemäe limestone outcrop is a large grey rock that sits in the middle of a dense fir forest. The outcrop is 2.5 metres high, oval and north-south facing. This limestone outcrop is unique in Western Estonia.
Huitberg has a similar origin to the famous rauks of Gotland. Geologically, it is a coral reef eroded by glacial erosion and dates back to a time when the island of Vormsi was still submerged and located elsewhere. Fossilised corals, stromatoporoids, trilobites, brachiopods, bryozoa, etc. can be seen in areas not covered by moss. All these animals once inhabited the warm, tropical shallow seawaters of the Ordovician Period more than 400 million years ago.
Huitberg is also one of the highest places on Vormsi, reaching about 10 metres above sea level.
Legends speak of the Huitberg old man and trolls.
Huitberg’s old man
According to legend, a troll called Gubben (old man) once lived on Huitberg. He had a magnificent crystal palace and a great number of servants. Gubben loved to organise parties and feasts, and used to kidnap pretty maidens for them. He let his henchmen sneak through the woods to look out for girls coming to pick wild strawberries. That is when they would be snatched away and taken to Gubben’s castle. But one such would-be-captive turned out to be very light on her feet. She managed to escape from the henchmen and ran to hide in the church. But she was eventually found and then had to run back into the forest. Frightened, she then started to cry and her tears formed the Emaallikas (mother’s spring).
A young man from Förby was running late for church and decided to ride straight across the Husmuuen forest. When he neared Huitberg, he heard joyful singing and playing. The edge of the outcrop had been lifted up, exposing the entry to a huge cave. The cave was the scene of a great party – cauldrons were cooking, bonfires were smouldering, beer kegs were adorned with impressive frothy foam. And, of course, there was a lot of people. Especially men. A small bearded man emerged from the crowd, flanked by a couple of troll-like bodyguards. And behind them stood a fearful sort of girl whom the young man recognised as a girl from his village who had disappeared into the woods the previous year.
The small bearded fellow invited the young man to join in the festivities, but he remained reluctant. “You see, I’m on my way to church. Perhaps I’ll join when I return…” but the bearded man wasn’t having it and ordered the girl to serve beer. She soon brought a big tankard of beer, but whispered to the young man: “Don’t take a single sip. Run away at once and head across the potato field, else you’ll get caught.”
The young man accepted the tankard and pretended to sip while spilling the beer over his shoulder. It hit the side of his horse, causing all the hairs to melt off. The young man then jumped on the horse and took off. And straight towards the manor, crossing the potato field. The bearded fellow shouted and cursed and sent the entire troll gang chasing after him, even if only to retrieve the tankard, which the boy had kept hold of in a hurry. But you can’t outrun a horse when it bolts straight across the field. The trolls were forced to run along the furrows so as not to draw the holy cross into the soil. And so the man from Förby escaped with his life and a tankard as a souvenir. He looked after it carefully, but it eventually went missing.
(Vormsi Veri II)
One Christmas Eve, a man from Bussby went to church on horseback. This was before it started to snow, but the weather was already freezing, making mud-ridden roads awfully rough and bumpy. The man decided to go via Huitberg, reasoning that the wind would be less punishing amidst the trees and that his horse would find the ground softer to trod. It was still dusk when he noticed a white horse standing on Huitberg. Then he spotted the rider, a man in a long black coat with a wide-brimmed hat and a black pointed goatee. The men greeted each other and the Bussby man inquired as to who the stranger was and whence he had come from. The stranger evaded the questions and eventually pulled out a large silver chalice from under his coat. The chalice was filled to the brim with red wine and the goateed man offered the villager a drink. The latter accepted the chalice, but his hands were shaking with fear. So he spilled some wine on his horse’s mane, making it look ghastly, as if it was bleeding. The horse started to buck and the chalice fell to the ground altogether. The man on the white mare shouted something in a foreign language and took off deep into the forest. The man from Bussby only had time to notice that the stranger’s feet seemed quite round.
He proceeded to pick up the silver chalice and continued on his way to the church. By the time he arrived, a crowd of people were already sitting in the church. The Bussby man went straight to the priest and told him what had come to pass. The teacher made the sign of the cross, marking that it was about time they replace the old and worn communion chalice. He promised to consecrate the new silver chalice and make it the new vessel for Holy Communion for the congregation. The man with the pointed goatee was never seen again. Where he came from and where he went remains a mystery. The man from Bussby, however, started to take the Magnushov route to church from there on. Just in case.