Lake Ülemiste

Lake Ülemiste

Lake Ülemiste (Estonian: Ülemiste järv) a lake in Estonia. It is the largest of the lakes near Tallinn, the capital city. Tallinn takes its drinking water from this lake. The lake gets its water mostly from the small Kurna stream and the larger Pirita River (through the Vaskjala-Ülemiste canal).

There is a legend about this lake. The legend says that the "Old Man of Lake Ülemiste" (Estonian: Ülemiste vanake) lives in the lake. When anyone meets him, he always asks: "Is Tallinn ready yet?". If the other person answers "Yes, the city is ready.", then the old man will send the lake waters out to cover the city of Tallinn. In this way, if anyone meets this old man, they should answer: "No, the city is not ready. There is a lot of work to do still." In this way the city can be saved.

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Media related to Lake Ülemiste at Wikimedia Commons