Valdemar and the sorceress at the bridge

According to legend, King Valdemar had been on Gotland one year before the invasion for purposes of espionage, at which time he made contacts with traitors and met a sorceress.

When the sorceress heard Valdemar boasting and bragging, she told him he would never be able to take Gotland. The sly Valdemar thus proposed that she should help him to capture southern Gotland and Visby and that he in return would promise to spare the people and houses of the north.

The sorceress agreed to this and hid below Ajmund’s bridge. She bewitched the men of Gotland that crossed the bridge, so that they became discouraged and weak. This is said to be the reason the Gotlanders were unable to stop the Danes. But Valdemar did not keep his promise. He razed and slayed in the north as well.