[60] By E. Storm, who was born at Vaage, in Gudbrandsdal, in 1742, and died at Copenhagen in 1794. The present translation has been taken, with some slight alterations, from "Over the Dovre Fjeld," by J. S. Shepherd. Henry S. King and Co., 1873. An earlier English version was attached to Calder's "History of Caithness," 1861. A third translation, by Sir H. Pottinger, with an illustration of the death of Sinclair, appeared in Belgravia, 1869. The ballad has been set to music in Norway.
[II.]
NORWEGIAN TRADITIONS COLLECTED BY THE REV. H. P. S. KRAG.[61]
The so-called Calmar War, between Denmark and Sweden, was carried on from the spring of 1611 until the winter of 1613. Christian IV. ruled at that time over the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway; while in Sweden reigned Charles IX., who died at the commencement of the war, leaving its prosecution to his son Gustavus Adolphus, then only seventeen years of age, and who subsequently became so famous.
In 1612 Gustavus caused foreign troops to be enlisted in the Netherlands, in England, and in Scotland, by Johan Munkhaven, or Mönnichhofen, a colonel in the Swedish service, and by James Spens, an Englishman. According to the historian Widikindi, the corps thus raised amounted to 2,200 men, while Puffendorff estimates its strength at 2,300.[62] These troops, of which 2,000 had been recruited in Scotland, were transported in ships, forming two squadrons, of which one was commanded by Munkhaven, the other by the Scottish Colonel George Sinclair, or Saint Clair, as his name is also written. Munkhaven, with his 1,400 men, steered into the Trondhjem fiord on the 19th July 1612, and thought he would be able to surprise the city of Trondhjem; but the citizens opposed him and his ships so well from their blockhouses outside the town that he hastened away as quickly as possible, and landed at Stordalen, whence he marched, ravaging and burning, until he reached Sweden.[63] A few weeks after Munkhaven, the other detachment of hired troops, led by Colonel Sinclair, arrived in two Scottish ships.
But Sinclair and his men were not destined to escape so easily as Munkhaven. The Fates ordained that they should all, with the exception of a few, find a grave among the mountains of Norway. The reason why both Munkhaven and Sinclair landed in Norway, instead of proceeding direct to Sweden, was that the approach to the small stretch of Swedish coast on the North Sea was closed to them after the Danes had occupied the fortresses of Elfsborg and Gullberg, at the mouth of the Gotha river. Moreover, the Danish fleet had the mastery on the seas.
There are various statements as to the number of the Scots that accompanied Sinclair. If the total number of troops recruited for Sweden was, as already mentioned, 2,200 or 2,300, of which Munkhaven arrived with 1,400, Sinclair's corps must have amounted to 800 or 900 men, and the latter number is also quoted in the church register of Vaage.[64] Consequently, the number could not have been 1,400, as sung by Storm, nor 600, as stated by Slange. It is, however, probable that Slange was right, as his statement agrees approximately with Kruse's Report, which says that, according to the depositions of the Bönder "who were present at that battle, and who buried and counted the dead and defeated, the Scots must certainly have numbered at least 550." Less probable appears to be the statement of the captured Scots, to the effect that they were "350 men strong at the utmost." One Saga says that Sinclair came into Romsdalen with 1,400 men, and that these were divided at Jora Bridge, in Lessö, after which one division went over the Dovre Fjeld, and subsequently through Österdalen, in order to unite again with the other division which took the road through Gudbrandsdalen. The same Saga says that the division which went through Österdalen came across the Norsemen at the frontier, when a battle ensued, in which those Scots were shot down to the last man. But that Saga is not generally current; and it appears probable that Munkhaven's expedition, or possibly some other event, has been mixed up in the narrative.[65] It appears that Sinclair had calculated on joining the Swedes in Southern Norway, where, however, we know from history there were no Swedes at that time; for Jonas Ramus states[66] that, from Gudbrandsdalen, Sinclair wanted to "unite with the Swedes who were supposed to be in Hedemarken," or, as stated in the entry above quoted from the Vaage church register, at Borge Church, in Smaalenene.
It was on the 19th or 20th August[67] that Sinclair, with all his hired followers, approached the Norwegian coast, and steered into the Romsdal fiord; but a Saga relates that before he entered that fiord he landed on a small island on which dwelt a wealthy man. The wife of the latter is said to have been an intelligent and talkative woman, and Sinclair entered into a jocose conversation with her. Although he had not yet made known that he was an enemy, yet the woman said she well understood the object of his coming; that his expedition into Norway would end badly, and that when he got inland he would come to bite the dust on meeting the hardy men of the glens. This enraged Sinclair, and he left the island with the threat that when he returned victorious, he would seek her out and have her cut to pieces for her flippancy.
It is possible that this and other similar Sagas may have induced the poet Storm to sing about a mermaid. It is also related that the mermaid's name was Ellen. Others say that was the name of Sinclair's wife; for the Sagas say she accompanied him. She went on board with the troops, in disguise, and only made herself known after they had got out to sea. She is said to have given birth to a child on the voyage.