These interpretations are based on my own understanding and may be flawed in general or not hold true for different versions of the ballad. If you have anything to add to this page, please feel free to write to me.
The first step in understanding Tam Lin is translating the phrases into modern parlance, but beyond simple translation there are other areas that need explanation. Most of these items would have made sense were we still a faery tale telling society, but it has been a few centuries since this ballad was recorded and therefore some of the sub-texts have drifted out of our understandings. Here is, again to the best of my knowledge, some of the events or symbols going on in the story beyond the meaning of the words.
A toll or "wad": The Fairies were the owners of the green wood, and a capricious lot. It was considered rude at least and dangerous at worst to intrude on their realm without asking permissions or giving something in return for what you might take. It was considered forbidden to take anything from areas strongly protected by the fairies, and even in those areas not directly under their protection, it was usually considered wise to at least ask permission first.
Tam Lin's specific demands were of particular significance. A ring was likely to be a sign of allegiance, such as a king might give a vassal or a husband to a wife. A mantle might symbolise kinship and protection, either by the specific colors present or by the symbolic covering they afforded (see covering with mantle, below). Gold was symbolic of wealth, particularly the wealth of nobility and aristocracy.
In another sense, all of these items are symbolically linked to the final demand he might make, a maiden's virginity. A stolen ring, like a broken circle, symbolizes the breaking of the hymen, and is also tied to notions of virginity through association with marriage and fidelity. A mantle is a cover that protects a woman's modesty, and gold as virginity was sometimes referred to as "maiden' wealth.
Plucking a rose : Roses are one of the most symbolically imbued items in mythology. They represent everything from passion and lust to the ideals of purity. In this story, roses are depicted as one of the flowers protected by faeries, and thus Janet's defiance in traveling to the forbidden wood is compounded by her plucking of a forbidden flower. By plucking it she has entered the world of magic and mystery. In another sense, by seizing a flower associated with romance, she initiates her interaction with Tam Lin by claiming the flower for her own, foreshadowing her coming 'deflowerment'. More specifically, the tightly folded petals of an opening rose are often used as symbols of a woman's sexual anatomy, a symbolism that goes back at least as far as "The Romance of the Rose.". Finally, she is a maiden, and roses are the symbolic flower of the Virgin Mary in Catholic mythology. Mary was known as the "rose without thorns", and therefore the virgin Janet's seizing of the rose may be interpreted as laying claim to a saving grace.
Getting the child's name : When Janet announces she is pregnant, the reaction from the other members of the hall is less than favorable. Often, someone speaks of someone getting the blame, and Janet says that she'll not give it to any lord there. There is more going on than simple disapproval of an out of wedlock pregnancy. Janet is the daughter of a high ranking lord, and she is heiress to some of his lands. As a virgin, she would be valuable to marry for reasons of wealth or political alliance, but after being deflowered and impregnated, her position in life is greatly in jeopardy. It would be unlikely that a prospective suitor would take her if she is no longer a virgin, and her chances of having an honorable marriage are even slimmer when she is pregnant. This helps explain why some members of her family in some versions counsel abortion despite the moral and physical risks involved.
There was a highly unethical act sometimes practiced during feudal times of 'stealing' an heiress, that is, raping a female heir and then forcing her into marriage as she would no longer be fit for marriage to any other man. The exchange at her father's hall where a knight says that all the men will be in trouble now and Janet's response that she'll give none of them her child's name means that while she acknowledges her pregnancy she refuses to allow herself to be forced into a marriage to retain some semblance of honor. Her further defiance in stating that she has taken a fairy, a creature utterly beyond the bounds of the mortal realm and feudal system, not to mention unmarryable, is truly stunning, and both underscores the strength of her character and helps to explain her willingness to undergo the trials involved in winning Tam Lin away from the faeries. Tam Lin's disclosure that he is not only a mortal but one of some rank is another saving grace in Janet's situation, and while he was the cause of her problems, by saving him she also saves herself.
Every Seven Years: Seven years crops up as a specific length of time in several other settings. In ballads such as Botany Bay as the length of time a man can be sentenced to transportation for a crime. It occurs in many cultures as term of punishment or length of contracts. It's the length of time that the Queen taked True Thomas to Faerieland in some versions of Thomas the Rhymer. In some Celtic cultures it was the length of time that an apprentice would serve under a master while learning a trade. Under English law, seven years' absence was long enough to declare a person legally dead. Given all of these seven-year cycles, it's possible that Tam Lin could only go free at the end of a seven year cycle, not only just on halloween night or just when someone was willing to capture him. It also raises the question of the nature of his service in faerie land; was he a captive, an apprentice, or being held long enough for him to pass from the legal protection of the mortal world?
Halloween and Human Sacrifice: Halloween, the christian celebration of the eve of all saint's day, was originally the Celtic celebration of new year, Samhain. This is why Tam Lin refers to the night of Halloween as the end of seven years. In the Celtic mythos it was a time to prepare for the coming winter, a festival to celebrate the rise of the dark winter over the sun, and a magical night when the barriers between the realms of the living mortals and the past dead and future unborn weakened, allowing both chaos and future hope to enter into the normal day. It was considered the night that the dead were most likely to visit those still living. Many cultures retain some of this belief in the "day of the dead" celebrations. In many Celtic cultures it was traditional to put out gifts of milk and barley for any wandering spirits, which may tie in to the stand of milk Janet sometimes takes with her to miles Cross.
In Christian imagery, Halloween is the night when the ghouls and demons have one last run at the world before being driven off on the morning of All Saints. Many of the pagan or pre-christian beliefs were demonized or taken over by Christianity, and certainly the notion of the old power of the faeries being linked to hell arises from this view on the old Celtic beliefs. This Christian viewpoint would tie into the idea that the night of demons and ghouls was a time of sacrifices to hell. As far as I know, no Celtic culture was known to perform human sacrifice, although some areas of Scotland did have ritual slaughters of cattle near Halloween. This was done more for the practical purpose of reducing the herd size before winter than for any blood rites though.
For some additional thoughts on the topic of Halloween and Human Sacrifice, see the oddities section thoughts about Year Kings.
Faerie horse: color and bells There is clearly levels of status in the faerie troop, usually denoted by color of either the horses (such as in "Tam Lin") or by the faeries themselves (such as in "The Fairy Oak of Corriewater") with humans set aside as different. The faerie troop has black and brown horses for the knights and the musicians, but a white horse for Tam Lin. Tam lin was probably stolen for his human beauty to amuse the Queen, but the white horse also marks him as the sacrifice, as the troop is less likely to spare an Elf when there is a mortal to sacrifice instead. The white horse may also be meant to symbolize purity, either Tam Lin's human purity in contrast to the demonic image given of the faeries, or the purity of the individual chosen for sacrifice. Horses figure prominantely in pre-Christian Celtic mythology as well, as some Goddesses were said to take the form of horses. Epona, worshipped in th British isles, was said to take the form of a white horse, and was considered a fertility goddess, which would tie in to the harvest imagery in this story.
The faerie horses also have bells on the bridles, meant to warn humans of the presence of the fey as they posed some danger to those humans caught unaware. These elements can also be seen in "Thomas the Rhymer". One version of Tam Lin depicts him as wearing bells about his middle in much the same way as the Queen of Faeries does in Thomas Rhymer.
Transformation : Janet must hold on to Tam Lin as he is transformed into a number of strange and frightening objects. Most of the objects are either frightening, dangerous, hard to hold, or all of these. The first level of this test is that it is simply a test of Janet's bravery and strength, like any hero who is facing down a challenge. On another level, it is a test of her devotion and love for Tam Lin. Throughout the story his identity and his relationship to her are in question. Through the trials she is presented with a number of false images meant to frighten her away, and she can only win him if she is certain of what she is truly holding. The trial requires great courage and great love.
In addition, Janet is usually presented as the heir to Carterhaugh woods, but is forbidden to enter because the fairies claim ownership of the land. The battle over Tam Lin is also a battle over the magic in the woods, and whose claim was greater. If Janet wants to own the woods, she must be willing to face down the monster that dwell within it.
It can also be seen as a fight for Tam Lin's soul, which the faeries are presumably offering to hell. The outside physical appearance was considered to reflect inner being, but Tam Lin's soul was to some extent captured by the faeries. The Queen has command of him, and by slating him for sacrifice, disposal as well. The transformation into animals and inanimate objects (none of which were generally considered by christians to have souls) until he emerges from the water a naked man sound as if Janet must hold onto Tam Lin until his second baptism of sorts restores his soul to safety and to his own control.
The image of beasts and the faerie procession may originate in the celebration of Samhain, when (according to some) the Celts would dress in costume to celebrate the end of the harvest and the coming of winter. It is this tradition on which Halloween costumes are also based, and both play with the idea of disguising a persons identity (and thus their soul) for ritual purposes.
One of the most commonly named creatures in the transformation is a snake or an adder. This images has sexual overtones that would tie into Janet's need to conquer the earlier imagery of sexual indiscretion (and in some versions, even non-consensual sex). Additionally, the snake has strong religious imagery. The christian notion of snakes as sinful not withstanding, snakes are commonly viewed as being powerful beings of a mysterious and immortal nature due to their ability to shed their skin. In combination, these symbols behind Janet's struggle with the snake suggest that she is struggling with the primordial forces of nature. This is strengthened by the fact that this scene (as well as her earlier meetings with Tam Lin) occur in the forest rather than a civilized setting. The woods themselves may represent sexuality and/or the primordial forces also represented by the faeries. By struggling with beasts in the forest held by the old races in order to achieve her goal, Janet is struggling with the forces she needs to master in order to control her own destiny as a mature and sexual woman.
The green mantle :
Both the mantle and its color are symbolic in important ways to the story. Green is the faerie color and it is
considered unlucky for mortals to wear it in an place where the faeries might see them (see Alice Brand for an example of this ). Likewise, Janet refers to Tam Lin as "elfin grey" when speaking of him, since the root word for both colors was the same.
. Green has other symbolic meanings though. One is that a woman who dresses in green is supposed to be sexually promiscuous, since green hides grass stains. The other is that a woman dressed in green has left or been left by her lover, a 'grass widow', from the days back before divorce was a possibility for most folks.
Janet specifically wears green into Carterhaugh woods despite the knowledge that faeries dwell there, which supports the earlier notion that she originally went there as an act of defiance, but it is noteworthy that Tam Lin specifically instructs her to wear the mantle when she comes to rescue him.
"And then I'll be your e true-love, I'll turn a naked knight, Then cover me wi your green mantle, And hide me out o sight."Apart from the need to provide cover for a wet and naked man in the woods during late fall, mantles (like the greek Aegis) were signs of protection, so Janet casting her mantle over Tam Lin makes sense as the final act of recovering him from the faeries. It is a statement that he is now her own and under her protection, but the choice of color is questionable. Most likely the color is either meant to confuse the faerie magic when she battles them, or as implied by Tam Lin's further command to 'hide me out of sight', simply as a means of camouflage in the green woods.
The Threats of the Queen of Faeries: As established in the Comparison of Versions of Tam Lin , the last words of the Queen of Faeries:
"But had I kend, Tam Lin," said she, "What now this night I see, I wad hae taen out thy twa grey een, And put in twa een o tree." Oh had I known, Tam-Lin, she says Before ye came from home, I would ta'en your heart o' flesh, Put in a heart o' stone. Had I but the wit yestereen That I have bought today-- I'd pay my tiend seven times to hell Ere you'd been won away
Are meant as threats as to how the Queen would have altered his body had she known he was going to escape, specifically that she would have replaced his eyes with wood and his heart with stone. The confusion noted in the comparison among versions most likely arises from the lack of distinction between 'tree' and 'wood' (a product of a tree) as can also be seen in the phrase "for sake that died on tree" as a reference to Christ.
While the reference to replacing his heart with one of stone clearly implies that the Queen would have taken away his ability to betray her by loving or attracting the love of another, there are two possible reasons that she threatens to remove his eyes. One is that, like his heart, she would have prevented him from escaping, but the other is that by leaving his eyes intact he was able to leave the realm of faeries with the knowledge he had learned there. In many tales those who travel to faerie lands are blindfolded, or those who return from faerie lands with the gift of faerie sight (usually from rubbing a salve on their eyes) later have their eyes plucked out when the faeries learn the mortal can still see them. By leaving with his eyes intact, Tam Lin is able to leave the fairy world with valuable knowledge that the fairies would much prefer he did not have.
Exploring the Ballad of Tam Lin
The Music of Tam Lin
Comparing Tam Lin to Other Tales
Communicating at Tam Lin
Scotland and Tam Lin
Tam Lin Oddities
Search Tam Lin
© 1997-2003 Abigail Acland for all original works unless otherwise noted.
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