Tam Lin

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Tam Lin
Folk tale
Name: Tam Lin
Data
Country: Scotland
Region: Scottish Borders
Published in: English Fairy Tales

Tam (or Tamas) Lin (also called Tamlane, Tamlin, Tam Lien, Tam-a-Line, or Tam Lane) is the hero of a folkloric legend originating from the Scottish Borders with England. The story revolves around fairies and mortal men. While this ballad is unique to Scotland, the motif of capturing a person by holding him through all forms of transformation is found throughout Europe in folktales.[1]

The story has been adapted into various stories, songs and films.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

Most variants begin with the warning that Tam Lin collected either a possession, or the virginity of any maidens who passed through the forest of Carterhaugh. A young maiden, usually called Janet or Margaret, came to Carterhaugh and plucked a double rose, whereupon Tam appeared and asked why she was in Carterhaugh without his command and had taken what was his. She stated that she owned Carterhaugh, as her father had given it to her.

In most variants, she then went home, and discovered she was pregnant; some variants pick up the story at this point. When an old knight taxed her with it, she announced that she would not declare him her baby's father, that her lover was an elf and that she loved him. She returned to Carterhaugh. In some variants, her brother had told her that a herb growing there would induce an abortion. In all, she picked something, whether the herb or the same roses as when they first met. Tam reappeared, enraged and forbade her to harm the child.

She asked him whether he was ever human, either after that reappearance, or in some variants, immediately after their first meeting resulted in her seduction. He revealed that he was a mortal man, who, after falling from his horse, was rescued and captured by the Queen of the Fairies. Every seven years the fairies paid a teind, a tithe to Hell, of one of their people, and Tam feared he would become that tithe on that night (Hallowe'en). He was to ride as part of a company of knights, and Janet would recognise him by the white horse upon which he was riding. He warned her that, when she caught him, the fairies would attempt to make her drop him by turning him into all manner of beasts (see Proteus), but that he would do her no harm, and when he was finally turned into a burning coal she was to throw him into a well, whereupon he would reappear as a naked man and she should hide him. Janet did as she was asked, and won her knight. The Queen of the Fairies was not best pleased, but acknowledged her claim.

[edit] Versions

There have been several interpretations of the Tam Lin story:

[edit] Motifs

Child took the threat to take out Tam Lin's eyes as a common folklore precaution against mortals who could see fairies, in the tales of fairy ointment. Joseph Jacobs interpreted it as rather a reversal of the usual practice; the Queen of Faerie would have kept him from seeing the human woman who rescued him.[4]

In some variants, "Hind Etin" has verses identical to this for the first meeting between the hero and heroine.[5]

[edit] Modern retellings

[edit] Prose

[edit] Theatre

[edit] Music

[edit] Songs

The following bands and singers have recorded musical versions, all called "Tam Lin" unless otherwise stated:

  • Tamlin (song) by harpist and singer/songwriter Gillian Grassie on Serpentine (2007)
  • Tamlin (song) by the Ukrainian band Tamlin (Тамлин) on Dreams on the Shore (2005 - Сны на Берегу) [7] and rearranged on On The Winter's Threshold (2008 - На Пороге Зимы)

There are also versions which change the original story. "Tam Lyn retold" by Benjamin Zephaniah & Eliza Carthy (on the 2007 album The Imagined Village) retells the story with the girl meeting a man in a club and having a one night stand. 6 months later she finds him to say she's pregnant and finds out he's an immigrant without a valid visa and has a court case the following day. She attends the court and sees him go though various transformations before becoming himself: a kind peaceful person. The judge sees this and lets him become a legal citizen, free to bring up his child with his wife. "Discovery" by Three Weird Sisters hints at a darker Tam Lin with ulterior motives for his seduction of the girl.

[edit] Other musical uses

As well as these versions, the name has also been used a the stage name of a New York City-based singer-songwriter, an LP by Frankie Armstrong, Brian Pearson, Blowzabella and Jon Gillaspie, and for the title of an Irish reel.

[edit] Film

[edit] Other

  • Tam-Lin, a Closet drama written by Elaine Lee and illustrated by Charles Vess, in The Book of Ballads and Sagas, Vess's collection of adaptations of traditional songs, mostly into comics form.
  • In Carolyn Parkhurst's novel The Dogs of Babel, a section of Tam Lin plays a pivotal role in the story. In it the narrator, Paul Iverson, discovers that his recently deceased wife left an encrypted message to him in their bookshelf, quoting Tam Lin.
  • In the Vertigo comic book, Fables, Tam Lin died in the defense of the last stronghold of the Fables against the forces of the Adversary. He is claimed to be the knight loved by the queen of the faeries, who had a reputation of a scoundrel, but gave up his chance of freedom to his page.
  • In the Vertigo comic book series The Books of Magic, The Names of Magic and The Books of Faerie, Tamlin is the father of the protagonist Timothy Hunter, potentially the greatest sorcerer in the world. In The Books of Faerie: The Widow's Tale, the story of Tamlin's romance with Queen Titania of Faerie is revealed.[8]
  • In The House of the Scorpion, a novel by Nancy Farmer, Tam Lin is the bodyguard of the protagonist, the clone of Matteo Alacr??n.
  • The multi-faceted novel Red Shift by Alan Garner can be read as a subtle reworking of the ballad .
  • In the fantasy novel The Battle of Evernight by Cecilia Dart-Thornton, the story of Tam Lin is told as the story of Tamlain Conmor.
  • The novel Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones, is a version of Tam Lin in which Tam Lin's captivity lasts into the 21st century.
  • the story was also inserted in C Dart-Thornton's last book of the Bitterbynd trilogy
  • In the video game Persona 4, Tam Lin is available as a special fusion persona of the Sun Arcana.
  • This ballad was one of 25 traditional works included in Ballads Weird and Wonderful (1912) and illustrated by Vernon Hill (sculptor).

[edit] References

 This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2007)
  1. ^ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 1, p 336-7, Dover Publications, New York 1965
  2. ^ Francis James Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, "Tam Lin"
  3. ^ Joseph Jacobs, ed. More English Fairy Tales. "Tamlane" New York: G. P Putnam's Sons, 1894.
  4. ^ Joseph Jacobs, ed. More English Fairy Tales. "Tamlane" Jacobs' Notes and References New York: G. P Putnam's Sons, 1894.
  5. ^ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 1, p 340, Dover Publications, New York 1965
  6. ^ [1]
  7. ^ [2]
  8. ^ Irvine, Alex (2008), "The Books of Faerie", in Dougall, Alastair, The Vertigo Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, pp. 36-37, ISBN 0-7566-4122-5, OCLC 213309015 

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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