Nor cared how sweet soe'er its smile;
Of widows' tears they made a jest;
Sorrow's loud cry arose the while."[73]
When the Scots got to the head of the Romsdal valley, they did not dare to keep to the road any further, and being afraid of passing the Björnekleven (the "Bears' Cliff"), they took to the mountains. They probably came down again at the farm of Eneboe,[74] in Lessö, Gudbrandsdalen. There is a post at that farm on which the date 1612 is said to have been cut as a memorial of somebody that had been killed there by the Scots. When they got thence to the farm of Skauge, they found that the owner and all the other inhabitants had fled, except the owner's grandmother, who thought she had nothing to fear on account of her advanced age. The Scots killed the old woman and burned the farm. A little to the south of that farm is a plain which was and still is called Mærrasletten, where they encamped and rested a day.[75] It is further related that when they came to the farm of Kjelshuus, in Lessö, they found a meal prepared for them; but on leaving, they emptied a barrel of flour out on the road, and burned the farm. The people had fled to Lordalen, on the west side of the Laagen.[76] At Nordrehuus farm there was a stout-hearted woman called Sönnef, from Lom, married to Nordrehuus. While the Scots were ravaging the valley, she did not run away with the rest, but remained, although she was pregnant; and when the enemy came to the farm, she hid herself in a barn, in order to put out any fire which the Scots might kindle on their departure. She was fortunately not discovered, nor was the farm burned down. At Bjokne farm the house-wife had on her flight forgotten to take with her some valuables, and therefore hurried back to save them. As soon as she had done this, she saw the vanguard of the Scots already approaching the farm; but she got away safely. The man at Töndevold[77] had intended to make a stand at once against the Scots with the people of Lessö, but found they were too weak. He then set out a quantity of food and drink on his table, while he and his wife went up an eminence opposite the farm to watch the fate of their house. The Scots, on reaching the farm, regaled themselves with the viands which they found, and it is said the table on which Sinclair ate is still preserved. After they had eaten, they searched the house for anything that might be worth carrying away; but they only found behind the door of the cow-house a heifer, and they cut off its legs. On leaving, they are said to have set fire to one of the out-houses; but it went out of itself without spreading. Where they found food set out at farms, they were afraid lest the Bönder had poisoned it, and therefore they first gave their dogs to eat of it.
As already stated, the people fled everywhere to the mountains. Amongst other places to which some fled were the Sjonghöiderne (heights), from which they saw the march of the Scots through the parish. When the Scots saw people on the heights, it is reported that they said they would visit those "fjeld cats" after they had conquered the country.
At bridges and cross-ways their guide, Peder Klognæs, was compelled by menaces to tell if any danger need be apprehended, which was the right way, etc. When they got to Bottems Bridge, at Lessö, they burned it, as they feared that the Bönder of that district might fall upon them in the rear; and they then marched to the parish of Dovre. As the road seemed to be too long to Peder Klognæs, who was still obliged to remain with the Scots, and as he had long been tired of their company, he is said to have found at the Kjörum farms an opportunity of leaving them, and was already a short way on the road back when he was overtaken and compelled by cuts and blows to go on with them. When they thus reached Jora Bridge, a short distance thence, the Scots were afraid that some danger might be at hand; consequently they had the bridge examined, and sent out spies. As they found at that bridge two roads,—of which one went southwards, the other eastwards,—and Peder Klognæs having pointed out the former, which they thought was not the right direction, they suspected him of an intention to deceive them; therefore they hung him over the bridge, and ducked him several times in the river, threatening to leave him there if he did not show them the right way. But he kept to his statement, which was really a true one, and said, "If I were to die here—so help me, God!—I know no other road," on which they drew him up and proceeded further. Others allege that this happened at Dovre Bridge. It is said that on their march through Dovre parish, on a plain called Kraakvolden, below the farms of Landhem, they held a feast in a barn (still extant in 1836), and amused themselves with dancing. The people who had fled to the mountains saw them dancing there. It is also related that they here held a day of prayer, on account of the proximity of Rosten, Bægilskleven, and "the high bridge," in order that they might safely pass those dangerous places.[78]
Meanwhile the arrival of the Scots had been reported in the south part of Gudbrandsdalen. The soldiers belonging to that valley were then away on the Swedish frontier fighting the enemy. All the troops that had been stationed in the South Fjeld district had, in fact, been drawn away, partly to the frontier at Bahuus Lehn, partly to the Danish army which had invaded Sweden from Skaane.[79] It was therefore only the Bönder of that valley who could oppose the Scots.
No sooner had the lensmand[80] Lauritz (or Lars) Hage,[81] who lived at Hage farm, in Dovre parish, heard of the arrival of the Scots, than he determined to oppose their march. He quickly caused messages to be sent to the adjoining parishes, whence they were carried further up the valley. It is said that he came into the church at Dovre during divine service, and giving three knocks on the floor with his staff, said, "Give attention! The enemy has come into the country," on which the service was stopped, and the people hurried out of the church. At his summons the Bönder armed themselves and hastened to march a Norwegian mile and a half south to the above-mentioned cliff-road of Rosten, a little north of the post-house of Laurgaard, in Sel. Here they halted, and intended to await the Scots. For that purpose they began to prepare a breast-work, or a construction such as that which was later raised at Kringlen; but the result of a council, at which the men of Dovre and Lessö voted for continuing the work, while the rest were of the opposite opinion, was that they abandoned the work they had commenced, and withdrew further south. But on Lauritz Hage's wise advice, in order to delay the enemy, they first destroyed Rosten Bridge; and consequently, when the Scots got to Rosten they were obliged to take to the fjeld.[82]
When the Bönder got down to Sel, they combined with a number of others, who had come from the south, probably from Froen and Ringebo. Here they remained for the night at Romungaard, Jörgenstad, Olstad, and other farms,[83] which then lay more in a cluster than now. There they got hold of some barrels of beer, and several of the Bönder gave themselves up to carousing during the night. When the morning came, and they had to go further, some of the peasants would not leave their beloved ale. Others were, however, wise enough to spike the beer-casks by knocking in the spigots and then cutting them off close. The carousers could therefore get no more; otherwise they would probably have remained drinking until the Scots came up to them. Nor were the latter far off; for the very day on which the Bönder left, the Scots arrived in the evening, and took up their quarters there for the night. The Bönder then went one and a half mile (Norwegian) southwards, and finally halted at Kringlen, where they determined to await and attack the Scots. This place is situated in Bredenbygd, in Sel's annex to Vaage parish, and is a mountain slope, over which the road goes. At the foot of that slope, which is in many places excessively precipitous, flows the Laagen. At that time the road was only a narrow path or bridle-path, but it has since been altered and enlarged into a highway.[84] Moreover, the ground has undergone some change since 1612, especially in consequence of the landslip of 1789, when it became less precipitous. There was also more wood then than now. The name of the place is generally written "Kringlen," under which designation it has become best known. On the other hand, in the language of the common people the place was called Kringom, or Hög Kringom.[85]
The Bönder who there assembled were from Vaage, Lessö, Froen, and Ringebo. Both Slange and Edv. Storm state that the Bönder from Lom were there too, and it is possible that some may have been present, perhaps, from Garmo, an annex to Lom; but according to a very common tradition current at Lom itself, the men of Lom, although they assembled and marched out, did not take part in the fight. The fact is, that the people from the southern or greater part of Skjager annex went over the Findal Mountains, and down again through Vaage, in order to engage the enemy, but arrived too late. Those of the parish of Lom proper, and of the northern part of Skjager, also went part of the way—namely, within half a Norwegian mile to the east of Lom Church, to a hill in the neighbourhood of Graffer farm; but here they began to deliberate as to what they should do, and the result was that they returned to their several homes, on the advice of the "lads from Skjelqvale,"[86] and more especially after considering that the Scots would not in any case come to Lom, and that the matter, consequently, did not concern them. That hill is to this day called "Raadsbakken,"[87] or Council Hill. In addition to the Bönder assembled at Kringlen, the peasantry of Gusdal and Öiers took up a position in the above-named Bægilsklev, or Bæggersklev, in Ringebo, about five Norwegian miles to the south of Kringlen, under the leadership of Lauritz (or Lars) Gram, the bailie of Gudbrandsdalen, who lived at the farm of Steig, in Froen. That position was probably selected in order to meet the possibility of the Scots escaping from the Bönder posted to the north. The latter were led by Lauritz Hage, lensmand at Dovre (in Lessö?), and Peder Randklev, lensmand in Ringebo. According to some accounts, Guldbrand Sejelstad, of the same parish, was also amongst the leaders.[88]