T IS FOR TÕLL
In Estonian mythology, Suur Tõll
- Big Tyll or Tyll the Great - was a giant who lived on Saaremaa, a benevolent hero figure who protected the island and its inhabitants from invaders.
In a terrifying animated version of his story by the Estonian Film Foundation (with an even more terrifying soundtrack), the legend is presented as an allegory for the waves of occupation the country has endured.
In the end (spoilers) Tõll is decapitated by the enemy - a brutal (red) army. Tõll makes a kind of cairn of himself on top of a hill, leaving his head
looking out over the island, ever vigilant.
"If war comes again," he says, "Come and wake me up and I will help."
From Robin Hood to Superman, every age remakes its heroes for its own political and social realities. The bronze incarnation of Tõll that we see striding out of the waters of Kuressaare marina with his wife, Piret, is altogether cosier, almost cuddly. Tõll here is rendered as a sort of comedy Hulk figure, he and his saucy seaside postcard of a wife frozen, permanently mid-errand, carrying a boatload of fish to the already well-fed residents of the Hotel Meri Spa.