Centuries ago, the citizens of Tallinn wanted to build the most magnificent church with a spire so tall it could be seen from far out at sea, attracting merchants and sailors to their trading post.
However, a dark rumor or curse loomed over the project: it was said that anyone who finished building the massive spire would meet a sudden death.
Fearing the curse, no local craftsman would take the job. One day, a mysterious stranger—often described as a giant, an enigmatic master builder, or a miserly sorcerer—arrived in town. He offered to build the towering church but demanded an exorbitant, impossible fee of ten barrels of gold.
Knowing the city’s treasury could never afford the payment, the clever stranger offered a wager: if the townspeople could guess his secret name before the very last stone was laid, he would waive the entire debt and build it for free.
The townsfolk accepted the gamble out of desperation but soon grew terrified as the church rose higher and higher. No one could figure out who the builder was, and he refused to speak to anyone while working tirelessly on the spire.
As the construction neared completion, the city council sent out a spy to track the builder to his home on the outskirts of town. Creeping up to the window, the spy listened closely and heard the builder’s wife singing a lullaby to their child:
“Sleep, my baby, sleep, dada will come home soon. Olaf will return with ten barrels of gold.”
Armed with the secret name, the spy rushed back to the church just as the builder was scaling the highest peak of the roof to mount the final golden cross.
From the cobblestone streets below, the townspeople looked up and shouted: “Look out, Olaf! The cross is leaning to one side!”
Hearing his secret name yelled aloud, the builder froze in complete shock. Realizing he had lost his vast fortune, his footing slipped from the scaffolding. He plummeted from the great height, falling all the way to the ground below.
When Olaf’s body hit the earth, a horrifying sight shocked the onlookers. To show that he had been fueled by dark forces or demonic greed, a toad and a snake crawled out of his dead mouth. He turned to stone on the spot.
Yet the church took his name to honor the stranger, and the people from the church took up a generous collection to provide for Olaf’s widow and child.
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