On the other side of the IJssel, the enemy, the Duke of Guelders, had built two forts. From there, they could clearly see what was going on in Deventer.
The people of Deventer didn’t like that and were looking for a way to outsmart the Duke of Guelders. One day, the Duke had to go out and defend one of the borders.
The people of Deventer seized their chance. They crossed the IJssel en masse and demolished both forts stone by stone. They took the stones, which had to be imported from southern Germany, to Deventer and used them to finish the weigh house.
‘Snap in the jar’
To immortalize this story, a mocking image of the duke has been made looking into a jar of food. The weigh house was full of these kinds of images. Napoleon didn’t like it and had a large part of the images removed. The ‘snap in the pot’ was later put back and you can see it on the side of the Waag.
