About the snails and the location of imaginary kingdom
In the Sõrve shin [shin ("säär") is a local name for this peninsula], you might occasionally stumble upon an invasion of vineyard snails. The vineyard snail is large, and no one wants to step on it. At the same time, the vineyard snail moves slowly but occupies a significant part of the forest floor. It doesn’t build a nest or construct a house because it carries its house with it as part of its genetic information.
Humans have nothing comparable to the snail's slowness. When a person thinks they have reached their destination, the snail has moved 15 centimeters from its original spot. That may seem insignificant, but only to a human.
The question isn't how fast the snail moves. The important thing is where the other snails are. Where does the network of snails extend? Hasso Krull once wrote about mosquitoes and snails in Kütioru. He said that they should be viewed as two ancient installations not created by human hands and functioning independently of human thoughts and desires. Snails formed a network that embodied determination and tranquility.
But let’s recall the imaginary Kingdom of Torgu that has been established on the Sõrve. And it’s not just imaginary. Where is your Kingdom of Torgu, one might ask, seeking simple answers. Does this kingdom have any land holdings, one might ask. A kingdom must have land holdings. It has land holdings, we can calmly reply. And this is where the vineyard snails come into play.
The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Torgu features a fire-breathing snaildragon (Helix draconis torguensis), an amplified version of the vineyard snail, created by the will of the people of Tagasõru. The snaildragonhas been influenced by the dragon of the house of Bulla. When Tsar Nicholas II’s famous family photographer Carl Oswald Bulla and his wife Christine Juliane Keselberg from Tagasõru completed their summer house in 1905, they could not have imagined they were indirectly laying the foundation for the networked Kingdom of Torgu.
The Kingdom of Torgu is everywhere, where are vineyard snails. It is a networked kingdom, carried by the snail shells, small perpetual territories that spread as network nodes wherever the snails reach in their undisturbed slowness.
As such, the Kingdom of Torgu is almost a nano-structure. Its components are microscopic compared to conventional state scales; it hasn’t been built — it has grown by itself, moves, and changes its shape. Every time someone stands still and watches a vineyard snail, they almost already arrived in the Kingdom of Torgu...
Text by Andrus Laansalu
Written on December 9, 2022, for a brainstorming session at Thule House in Kuressaare
https://saaremaavald.github.io/saarlus/_lood/andrus-laansalu-01-torgu