Tam (or Tamas) Lin (also called Tamlane, Tamlin, Tambling, Tomlin, Tam Lien, Tam-a-Line, Tam Lyn, or Tam Lane) is a character in a legendary ballad originating from the Scottish Borders. It is also associated with a reel of the same name, also known as the Glasgow Reel. The story revolves around the rescue of Tam Lin by his true love from the Queen of the Fairies. The motif of winning a person by holding him through all forms of transformation is found throughout Europe in folktales.[1] [2]
The story has been adapted into numerous stories, songs and films.
It is listed as the 39th Child Ballad and number 35 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
Most variants begin with the warning that Tam Lin collects either a possession or the virginity of any maiden who passes through the forest of Carterhaugh. When a young woman, usually called Janet or Margaret, goes to Carterhaugh and plucks a double rose, Tam appears and asks her why she has come without his leave and taken what is his. She states that she owns Carterhaugh because her father has given it to her.[3]
In most variants, Janet then goes home and discovers that she is pregnant; some variants pick up the story at this point. When asked about her condition, she declares that her baby's father is an elf whom she will not forsake. In some versions, she is informed of a herb that will induce abortion; in all the variants, when she returns to Carterhaugh and picks a plant, either the same roses as on her earlier visit or the herb, Tam reappears and challenges her action.
She asks him whether he was ever human, either after that reappearance or, in some versions, immediately after their first meeting resulted in her pregnancy. Tam Lin reveals that, though he was once a mortal man, he was imprisoned in Caterhaugh by the Queen of Faeries after she kidnapped him by catching him when he fell from his horse.[4] He goes on to tell Janet that the fairies give one of their people as a teind (tithe) to Hell at midnight on every seventh Hallowe'en. He asks Janet for her help in freeing him, and receives her agreement; he then instructs her to come to the forest at the time of the tithe, during which he'll be in the company of numerous faerie knights -- he tells her that she'll recognize him by his white horse. Janet must pull him down from his horse, thus making her the one to "catch" him this time, and hold him tightly: he warns her that the fairies will attempt to make her drop him by turning him into all manner of beasts (see Proteus), but states that none of these forms will actually cause her harm. Tam Lin will eventually take the shape of burning coal; when this occurs, Janet is to throw him into a well, whereupon he will reappear as a naked mortal man whom Janet must hide. She does as she is asked and wins her knight; though her success angers the Queen of Faeries, the latter accepts her defeat.
In different variations, Tam Lin is reportedly the grandson of the Laird of Roxburgh, the Laird of Foulis, the Earl of Forbes, or the Earl of Murray. His name also varies between versions (Tam Lin being the most common) as Tom Line, Tomlin, Young Tambling, Tam-a-line and Tamlane.[5]
The ballad dates to at least as early as 1549 (the publication date of The Complaynt of Scotland that mentions "The Tayl of the Ȝong Tamlene" ('The Tale of the Young Tamelene') among a long list of medieval romances).[6] Michael Drayton's narrative poem Nimphidia (1627) includes a character called Tomalin who is a vassal and kinsman of Oberon, King of the Fairies. Robert Burns wrote a version of Tam Lin based on older versions of the ballad, which was printed in James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum (1796).[7]
The story featured in several nineteenth century books of fairy tales under different titles:
Francis James Child collected fourteen traditional variants in The English and Scottish Popular Ballads in the nineteenth century. (Another Child ballad, Burd Ellen and Young Tamlane, has no connection with this ballad except for the similarity of the heroes' names.)
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 Faeries would have kept him from seeing the human woman who rescued him.
In some variants, "Hind Etin" has verses identical to this for the first meeting between the hero and the heroine.
The ballad has been recorded several times from Scottish and Northern Irish people who learned it in the oral tradition. Eddie Butcher of Magilligan, County Londonderry knew a fragment of the ballad which can be heard via the Irish Traditional Music Archive,[8] and Paddy Tunney of Mollybreen, County Fermanagh sang a version to Hugh Shields in 1968.[9] In Scotland, Duncan Williamson of Auchtermuchty, Fifeshire,[10] William Whyte of Aberdeen[11] and Betsy Johnston of Glasgow[12] all had traditional versions recorded, the latter two by Hamish Henderson.
Following are some of the notable recordings of the ballad, including their artists, titles, albums, and years:
| Artist | Title | Album | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frankie Armstrong | "Tam Lin" | I Heard a Woman Singing | 1984 | |
| Anne Briggs | "Young Tambling" | Anne Briggs | 1971 | |
| Current 93 | "Tamlin" | Tamlin | 1994 | |
| Daniel Dutton | "Tam Lin" | Twelve Ballads | 2006 | |
| Fairport Convention | "Tam Lin" | Liege & Lief | 1969 | |
| Archie Fisher | "Tam Lin" | Big Bend Killing: The Appalachian Ballad Tradition | 2017 | |
| Bob Hay | "Tam Lin" | Tam Lin and More Songs by Robert Burns | 2006 | |
| The Imagined Village (Benjamin Zephaniah, Eliza Carthy, et al.) | "Tam Lyn Retold" | The Imagined Village | 2007 | |
| Bill Jones | "Tale of Tam Lin" | Panchpuran | 2001 | |
| Alastair McDonald | "Tam Lin" | Heroes & Legends of Scotland | 2007 | |
| Mediæval Bæbes | "Tam Lin" | Mirabilis | 2005 | |
| Anaïs Mitchell & Jefferson Hamer | Tam Lin (Child 39)[13] | Child Ballads | 2013 | |
| Pete Morton | "Tamlyn" | Frivolous Love | 1984 | |
| Mrs. Ackroyd Band | "Tam Lin" | Gnus & Roses | 1995 | |
| Ian Page | "Tam Lin" | Folk Music of Scotland | 2008 | |
| Pentangle | "Tam Lin" | The Time Has Come | 2007 | |
| Steeleye Span | "Tam Lin" | Tonight's the Night, Live! | 1992 | |
| Tempest | "Tam Lin" | Serrated Edge | 1992 | |
| Tricky Pixie (Betsy Tinney, S. J. Tucker, Alexander James Adams) | "Tam Lin" | Mythcreants | 2009 | |
| Mike Waterson | "Tam Lyn" | For Pence and Spicy Ale (reissue) | 1993 | |
| Kathleen Yearwood | "Tam Lin" | Book of Hate | 1994 | |
| Faun | "Tamlin" | Pagan | 2022 |
Benjamin Zephaniah was awarded Best Original Song in the Hancocks 2008, Talkawhile Awards for Folk Music (as voted by members of Talkawhile.co.uk[14]) for Tam Lyn Retold. He collected the award at The Cambridge Folk Festival on 2 August 2008.[15]
Following are some of the notable instrumental recordings, including their artists, titles, albums, and years:
| Artist | Title | Album | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Davey Arthur (with Three Fingered Jack) | "Tam Lin" (with 2 other reels) | Bigger Than You Think | 2010 | |
| Séamus Egan | "Tamlin" (with 2 other reels) | In Your Ear | 1998 | |
| Elephant Revival | "Tam Lin Set" | It's Alive | 2012 | |
| Tania Elizabeth | "Tam Lynn's" | This Side Up | 2000 | |
| Fiddler's Green | "Tam Lin" | Wall of Folk | 2011 | |
| Joe Jewell | "Tam Lin" | Bluebells of Scotland | 1997 | |
| King Chiaullee | "Tam Lin" (with 3 other reels) | Reel: Ode | 2003 | |
| Jeremy Kittel | "Tamlin" | Celtic Fiddle | 2003 | |
| Catriona MacDonald & Ian Lowthian | "Tam Lin" (with 2 other reels) | Opus Blue | 1993 | |
| Trent Wagler & The Steel Wheels | "Tam Lin" | Blue Heaven | 2006 |