Child's Notes On Tam Lin

Editor's notes

Note on cited page numbers: Page numbers below refer to the main text on the ballad in volume I, which runs from pages 335-340, followed by ballad versions 39A-I.

Volume I, following initial text

A

Divided in the Museum into 45 1/2 four-line stanzas, without heed to rhyme or reason, 3^5,6 making a stanza with 4^1,2 etc.

3¹. has belted.
4². Tom, elsewhere Tam.
17⁴ brie.
34². burning lead.

B

"An Old Song called Young Tom Line."
Written in twenty-six stanzas of four [three, two] long, or double, lines.

19⁸. yon bonny babes.
26². and do right sae
26⁴. and let them gae. See 36.
26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 stand in MS.
31, 26, 27, 32, 28, 29, 33, 30.

D

b has 26 stanzas, c has 12. The first 12 stanzas of a and b and the 12 of c, and again the first 22 stanzas of a and b, are almost verbally the same, and a 23 = b 24. b has but 26 stanzas.

15 stands 24 in MS.
- 17¹. Miles Cross: b, Moss.
- 17¹. the holy.
- 19². So (?) clad: b, is clad.
- 22¹. twa.
- 25¹. ride.
- 4⁴ let abeene.
- 6⁴. I'll ask no.
- 7³. her down.
- 10⁴. gotten in.
- 11¹. to me.
- 11³. at a.
- 16⁵. his land.
- 16⁶. and through.
- 16⁵. if that.
- 16⁶. Rides Cross, as in a.
- 17³. Take holy.
- 20⁴. next the.
- After 23:
  1. 'I'll grow into your arms two
    Like ice on frozen lake ;
    But hold me fast, let me not go,
    Or from your goupen break.'
  2. And it's next night into Miles Moss
    Fair Margaret has gone,
    When lo she stands beside Rides Cross,
    Between twelve hours and one.
  3. There 's holy water in her hand,
    She casts a compass round,
    And presently a fairy band
    Comes riding o'er the mound.
- 1³. and always, Chester's wood.
- 3¹. the seam.
- 4⁴. let alane.
- 6¹. will pluck.
- 6⁴. ask no.
- 9⁴. has been.
- 11¹. me, Tom o Lin.
- 12⁴. his land.

E

18, 19, 20 are not written out. we are directed to understand them to be "as in preceding stanzas, making the necessary grammatical changes."

F

11² , 15². ass, somebody's blunder for ask.

G

21¹ elfin gray, Motherwell, but see H, 7.2 .
26¹. Ay. 31.1'. began,
58² Motherwell : far's the river Tay.
58⁴. Motherwell: she gained.

Motherwell, as usual, seems to have made, some slight changes in copying

I

Scott's copy having been " prepared from a collation of the printed copies," mainely, those in Johnson's Museum and Herd's Scottish Songs, " with a very accurate one in Glenriddell's and with several recitals from tradition" what was not derived from tradition but from the museum, Glenriddell, and Herd, is printed in smaller type.

a 3, 20, not in b.
after 31 are, omitted five stanzas of the copy obtained by Scott ' from a gentleman residing near Langholm," and others, of the same, origin, after 46 and 47"

" But we that live in Fairy-land
No sickness know nor pain;
I quit my body when I will,
And take to it again.
' I quit my body when I please,
Or unto it repair;
We can inhabit at our ease
In either earth or air.
' Our shapes and size we can convert
To either large or small;
An old nut-shell's the same to us
As is the lofty hall.
We sleep in rose-buds soft and sweet
We revel in the stream;
We wanton lightly on the wind
Or glide on a sunbeam.
' And all our wants are well supplied
From every rich man's store,
Who thankless sins the gifts he gets,
And vainly grasps for more.'

40⁴. buy me maik, a plain misprint for the be my maik of b 57.

46. After this stanza are, omitted:

The heavens were black, the night was dark,
And dreary was the place,
But Janet stood with eager wish
Her lover to embrace.

Betwixt the hours of twelve and one
A north wind tore the bent,
And straight she heard strange elritch sounds
Upon that wind which went.

47 After this stanza are omitted:

Their oaten pipes blew wondrous shrill,
The hemlock small blew clear,
And louder notes from hemlock large,
And bog-reed, struck the ear ;
But solemn sounds, or sober thoughts,
The fairies cannot bear.
They sing, inspired with love and joy,
Like skylarks in the air;
Of solid sense, or thought that's grave,
You'll find no traces there.
Fair Janet stood, with mind unmoved,
The dreary heath upon,
And louder, louder waxd the sound
As they came riding on.
Will o Wisp before them went,
Sent forth a twinkling light,
And soon she saw the fairy bands
All riding in her sight.

b 6-12 is a fragment of " The Broomfield-Hill," introduced by a stanza formed on the sixth as here given:

And she's away to Carterhaugh,
And gaed beside the wood,
And there was sleeping young Tam-lane,
And his steed beside him stood.

After the fragment of 'The Broomfield-Hill' follows:

Fair Janet, in her green cleiding,
Returned upon the morn,
And she met her father's as brother,
The laird of Abercorn.

And then these two stanzas, the first altered from Herd's fragment of " The Broomfield Hill," "I I'll wager, I'll wager, " p. 310, ed. 1769, and the second from Herd's fragment, Kertonha,' or version C of this ballad:

I'll wager, I'll wager, I'll wager wi you
Five hunder merk and ten,
I'll maiden gang to Carterhaugb,
And maiden come again.
She princked hersell, and prin'd hersell,
By the ae light of the moon,
And she's away to Carterhaugh
As fast as she could win.

Instead of a 10, 11, b has:

He's taen her by the milk-white hand,
And by the grass-green sleeve,
He's led her to the fairy ground,
And spierd at her nae leave.

Instead of 14 of a, b has something nearer to A, B 9:

It's four and twenty ladies fair
Were in her father's ha,
When in there came the fair Janet,
The flower amang them a'.

After 21 of a follows in b a copy of 'The Wee Wee Man,' 32-39, attached by these two stanzas, which had been " introduced in one recital only":

'Is it to a man of might, Janet,
Or is it to a man o mean ?
Or is it unto Young Tamlane,
That 's wi the fairies gane
"Twas down by Carterhaugh, father,
I walked beside the wa,
And there I saw a wee, wee man,
The least that eer I saw.'

Instead of 22, which had been used be we have in b:

Janet 's put on her green cleicling,
When near nine months were gane,
And she's awa, to Carterhaugh,
To speak wi young Tamlane

b has in place of a 28-30:

Roxburgh was my grandfather,
Took me with him to bide,
And as we frae the hunting am,
This harm did me betide.
Roxburgh was a hunting knight,
And loved hunting w-ell,
And on a cauld and frosty day
Down frae my horse I fell.

b 49 has A 24 instead of a 37, I 32.

b 61² = a 49² = I 44² has toad, and so has C 9², from which the stanza is taken. Tod is an improvement, but probably an editorial improvement.

P.335. Add: J "Young Tamlane",' Kinloch MSS, V, 391.

335 a. The stanzas introduced into I a were from "Mr. Beattie of Meikledale's Tamlane," as appears from a letter of Scott to Laidlaw, January 21, 1803. (W. Macmath.)

336 b, third paragraph. Add: Aminson, Bidrag, etc., iv, 6, No 27.

Fourth paragraph, line 9. Read: in it which.

338 a. An old woman is rejuvenated by being burnt to bones, and the bones being thrown into a tub of milk: Ralston, Russian Folk-Tales, p. 59, "The Smith and the Demon ;" Afanasief, Legendui, No 31, from Dahl's manuscript collection.

356. The following is perhaps the version referred to by Dr. Joseph Robertson see p. 335.

J

"A fragment of Young Tamlane" Kinlock MSS, V 391.

In Dr John Hill Burton's handwriting, and perhaps from the recitation of Mrs Robertson (Christian Leslie), mother of Dr Joseph Robertson.

' The night, the night is Halloween,
Tomorrow' Hallowday,
' The night, the night is Halloween,
our seely court maun ride,
Thro England and thro Ireland both,
and a' the warld wide.
'The firsten court that comes ye bye,
You'll lout and let them gae;
The seconden court that comes you bye,
You'll hail them reverently.
The thirden court that comes you by,
Sae weel's ye will me ken,
For some will be on a black, a black,
and some will be on a brown,
But I will be on a bluid-red steed,
And will ride neist the queen.
The thirden court that comes you bye,
Sae weel's ye will me ken,
For I'll be on a bluid-red steed
Wi three stars on his crown
Ye'll tak the horse hed in yer hand,
And grip the bridle fast;
The Queen o Elfin will gie a cry,
"True Tamas is stown awa!"
And I will grow in your twa hands
An Adder and an eel;
But the grip you get ye'll hold it fast;
I'll be father to yer chiel.
'I will wax in your twa hans
as hot as and coal;
But is you love me as you say,
You'll think of me and thole.
'O I will grow in your twa hands
An adder and a snake;
The grip ye get now hold it fast,
And I'll be your world's mait.
O I'll gae in at your gown sleeve,
And out at your gown hem,
And I'll stand up before thee then
A freely naked man.
'O I'll gae in at your gown sleeve
And out at your gown hem,
And I'll stand before you then,
but claithing I'll hae nane.
'Ye'll do you down to Carden's Ha,
And down to Carden's stream,
And there you'll see our seely court,
As they come riding hame.'
'It's nae wonder, my daughter Janet,
True Tammas ye thought on;
An he were a woman as he's a man,
My bedfellow he should be.'
The night, the night is Halloween,
Tomorrow;s Hallowday, our seely court maun ride,
Thro England and thro Ireland both,
And a' the warld wide.

Cf. A 25, 26; D 16; G 30; I 33, 34

8⁴ think of me and thole.

Additions and Corrections

P.335. Add: J "Young Tamlane",' Kinloch MSS, V, 391.

335 a. The stanzas introduced into I a were from "Mr. Beattie of Meikledale's Tamlane," as appears from a letter of Scott to Laidlaw, January 21, 1803. (W. Macmath)

336 b, third paragraph. Add: Aminson, Bidrag, etc., iv, 6, No 27.

Fourth paragraph, line 9. Read: in it which.

356. The following is perhaps the version referred to by Dr. Joseph Robertson see p. 335.

J

"A fragment of Young Tamlane," Hinloch MSS, V, 391. In Dr John Hill Burton's handwriting, and perhaps from the recitation of Mrs Robertson (Christian Leslie), mother of Dr Joseph Robertson.

'The night, the night is Halloween,
Tomorrow's Hallowday,
'The night, the night is Halloween,
Our seely court maun ride,
Thro England and thro Ireland both,
And a' the warld wide.
" The firsten court that comes ye bye,
You'll lout, and let them gae ;
The secoiiden court that comes you bye,
You'll hail them reverently.
" The thirden court that comes you by,
Sae weel's ye will me ken,
For some will be on a black, a black,
And some will be on a brown,
But I will be on a bluid-red steed,
And will ride neist the queen.
'The thirden court that comes you bye,
Sae weel's ye will me ken,
For I 'll be on a bluid-red steed,
Wi three stars on his crown.
'Ye 'll tak the horse head in yer hand,
And grip the bridle fast;
The Queen o Elfin will gie a cry,
" True Tamas is stown awa ! "
'And I will grow in your twa hands
An adder and an eel;
But the grip ye get ye'II hold it fast,
I 'll be father to yer chiel.
'I will wax in your twa hans
As hot as any coal;
But if you love me as you say,
You'll think of me and thole.
'O I will grow in your twa hands
An add'er and a snake;
The grip ye get now hold it fast,
And I'll be your world's mait.
I 0 I'll gae in at your gown sleeve,
And out at your gown hem,
And I 'II stand up before thee then
A freely naked man.
'O I 'll gae in at your gown sleeve,
And out at your gown hem,
And I'll stand before you then,
But claithing I'll hae nane.
'Ye'll do you down to Carden's Ha,
And down to Carden's stream,
And there you'll see our seely court,
As they come riding hame.'
'It's nae wonder, my daughter Janet,
True Tammas ye thought on;
An he were a woman as he's a man,
My bedfellow he should be.'
' The night, the night is Halloween,
Tomorrow's Hallowday, our seely court maun ride,
Thro England and thro Ireland both,
And a' the warld wide.

Volume II

'P. 335. F was learned by Widow McCormick from an old woman in Dumbarton: Motherwell's Note-Book, p. 4.

I. " The variations in the tale of Tamlane " were derived "from the recitation of an old woman residing near Kirkhill, in West Lothian: " Scott's Minstrelsy, II, 102, 1802.

336 b, third paragraph. Add: Aminson, iv, 6, No 27.

338. King Bean, in the form of a flying thing, turns into a handsome youth after bathing in three vessels successively, one of milk and water, one of milk, one of rose-water: Bernoni, Fiabe pop. veneziane, p. 87 No 17, translated by Crane, Italian Popular Tales, p. 1 2. A green bird bathes in a pan of milk, and becomes a handsome youth, and, bathing in gold basins full of water, this youth turns into a bird again: Pitré, Fiabe, Novelle e Racconti, 1, 163, No 18, translated by Crane, p.2, and note, p. 321. A prince and his two servants, transformed into pigeons, resume their proper shape on plunging into basins of gold, silver, and bronze respectively: a Tuscan story. in De Gubernatis, Zoological Mythology, II, 299 f, note. G. L. K.

339 b, line 9 ff, Fairy Salve. This feature, in one form or another, occurs in nearly all the stories of mortal women who have helped elf-women in travail that are reported by Árnason, Íslenzkar þjóðsögur, 1, 15 ff. G. L. K.

For fairy salve and indiscreet users of it, see, also, J. O'Hanlon, Irish Folk-Lore, Gentleman's Magazine, 1865, Pt IT, in the Gentleman's Magazine Library, ed. Gomme, English Traditional Lore, p. 12. G. L. K.

340 a, third line of the second paragraphs Add to Zielke, v. 68: vv. 399-405.

340 a, second paragraph, Ympe-tree. In the lay de Tydorel, published by Gaston Paris in Romania, VIII, 67, a queen goes to sleep, v. 30, soz une ente, with strange results. G. L. K.

Volume III

P. 335. Mr Macmath has found an earlier transcript of B in Glenriddel's MSS, VIII, 106, 1789. The variations (except those of spelling, which are numerous) are as follows:

1² .that wears.
1³ go.
3³ has snoded.
3⁵ is gaen.
5¹. had not.
6³ comes.
7². give.
8^2-4,, l6^2-4, 35^2-4. above.
11¹. Out then: gray-head.
11³ And ever alas, fair Janet, he says.
13³. fair Janet.
13⁴, thow gaes.
14¹. If I.
14³. Ther'e not.
14⁴, 34⁴ . bairns.
15⁴. ye nae, wrongly.
16⁵. she is on.
19¹. groves green.
20¹. Thomas.
20². for his.
20³. Whether ever.
22³. from the.
22⁴. Then from.
23³ The Queen o Fairies has.
23⁴. do dwell.
23⁶. Fiend, wrongly.
24¹. is a Hallow-een.
24³. And them.
25³. Amongst.
27¹. ride on.
27⁶. gave.
30⁴. wardly.
31³ Hald me.
34². then in.
37⁴. And there.
38³. Them that hes.
38⁴. Has.
40^3,4. eyes.
41². I kend.
41³. I'd.

J

The Queen of the Fairies,' Macmath MS., p. 57. "Taken down by me 14th October, 1886, from the recitation of Mr Alexander Kirk, Inspector of Poor, Dalry, in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, who learned it about fifty years ago from the singing of David Ray, Barlay, Balmaclellan."

This copy has been considerably made over, and was very likely learned from print. The cane in the maid's hand, already sufficiently occupied, either with the Bible or with holy water, is an imbecility such as only the " makers " of latter days are capable of. (There is a cane in another ballad which I cannot at this moment recall.)

The maid that sits in Katherine's Hall,
Clad in her robes so black,
She has to yon garden gone,
For flowers to flower her hat.
She had not pulled the red, red rose,
A double rose but three,
When up there starts a gentleman,
Just at this lady's knee.
Says, Who 's this pulls the red, red rose
Breaks branches off the tree?
Or who's this treads my garden-grass,
Without the leave of me?
1 Yes, I will pull the red, red rose,
Break branches off the tree,
This garden in Moorcartney wood,
Without the leave o thee.'
He took her by the milk-white hand
And gently laid her down,
Just in below some shady trees
Where the green leaves hung down.
"Come tell to me, kind sir,' she said,
" What before you never told ;
Are you an earthly man? ' said she,
A knight or a baron bold?'
'II tell to you, fair lady,' he said,
I What before I neer did tell;
I'm Earl Douglas's second son,
With the queen of the fairies I dwell.
"When rifling through yon forest-wood,
And by yon grass-green well,
sudden sleep me overtook,
And off my steed I fell.
" The, queen of the fairies, being there,
Made me with her to dwell, '
And still once in the seven years
We pay a teind to hell.
" And because I am an earthly man,
Myself doth greatly fear,
For the cleverest man in all our train
To Pluto must -o this year.
"This night is Halloween, lady,
And the fairies they will ride
The maid that will her, true-love win
At Miles Cross she may bide.'
"But how shall I thee ken, though, sir?
Or bow shall I thee know,
Amang a pack o hellish wraiths,
Before I never saw?
" Some rides upon a black horse, lady,
And some upon a brown,
But I myself on a, milk-white steed,
And I aye nearest the toun.
"My right band shall be covered, lady,
My left hand shall be bare,
And that's a token good enough,
That you will find me there.
"Take the Bible in your right hand,
With God for to be your guide,
Take holy water in thy left hand,
And throw it on every side.'
She 's taen her mantle her about,
A cane into her hand,
And she has unto Miles Cross gone,
As hard as she can gang
First she has letten the black pass by,
And then she has letten the brown,
But she 's taen a fast bold o the milk-white steed,
And she's pulled Earl Thomas doun.
The queen of the fairies being there,
Sae loud she 's letten a cry
The maid that sits in Katherine's Hall
This night has gotten her prey.
'But hadst thou waited, fair lady,
Till about this time the morn,
He would hae been as far from thee or me
As the wind that blew when he was born.'
They turned him in this lady's arms
Like the adder and the snake;
She, held him fast; why should she not?
though her poor heart was like to break.
They turned him in this lady's arms
Like two red gads of airn;
She held him fast; why should she not?
She knew they could do her no harm.'
They turned him in this lady's arms
Like to all things that was vile;
She held him fast; why should she not?
The father of her child.
They turned him in this lady's arms
Like to a naked knight;
She 'a taen him hame to her ain bower,
And clothed him in armour bright.

338 a, 507, II, 505 b.

A king, transformed into a nightingale being plunged three times into water resumes his shape : Vernaleken, K.- u. H. Marchen, No 15, p. 79. In Guillaume de Palerne, ed. Michelant, v. 7770 ff., pp. 225, 226, the queen who changes the werewolf back into a man takes care that he shall have a warm bath as soon as the transformation is over ; but this may be merely the bath preliminary to his being dubbed knight (as in Li Chevaliers as Deus Espees, ed. Forster, vv. 1547-49, p. 50, and L'Ordene de Chevalerie, vv. 111-124, Barbazan-Meon, 1, 63, 64). A fairy maiden is turned into a wooden statue, This is burned and the ashes thrown into a pond, whence she immediately emerges in her proper shape. She is next doomed to take the form of a snake. Her lover, acting under advice, cuts up a good part of the snake into little bits, and throws these into a pond. She emerges again. J. H. Knowles, Folk-Tales of Kashmir, p. 468 ff.. (G. L. K.)

339 b, 11, 505 b.

Fairy salve and indiscreet users of it. See also S&eacutre;billot, Contes pop. de la Haute-Bretagne, II, 41, 42, cf. 1, 122-3 ; the same, Traditions et Superstitions de la Ilaute-Breta.gtie, I, 89, 109 ; the same, Litt. orale de la Haute-B., pp. 19-23, 24-27, and note; Mrs. Bray, Traditions of Devonshire, 1838, 1, 184-188, 1, 175 ff. of the new ed. called The Borders of the Tamar and the Tayy; " Lageniengis " [J. O'Hanlon], Irish Folk Lore, Glasgow, n. d., pp. 48-49. In a Breton story a fairy gives a one-eyed woman an eye of crystal, warning her not to speak of what she may see with it. Disregarding this injunction, the woman is deprived of the gift. Sebillot, Contes pop. de la Haute-Bretagne, 11, 24-25. (G. L. K.)

340. The danger of lying under trees at noon. " Is not this connected with the belief in a δαιμóνιον μεσημβρινóν (LXX, Psalm xci, 6)? as to which see Rochholz, Deutscher Unsterblicbkeitsglaube, pp. 62 ff., 67 ff., and cf. Lobeck, Aglaopbamus, pp, 1092-3.& Kittredge, Sir Orfeo, in the American Journal of Philology, VII, 190, where also there is something about the dangerous character of orchards. Of processions of fairy knights, see p. 189 of the same.

Tam o Lin. Add: Tom a Lin Robert Mylne's MS. Collection of Scots Poems, Part 1, 8, 1707. (IV. Macmath.)

Volume IV

P. 335. D a, excepting the title and the first stanza, is in a hand not Motherwell's.

I a first appeared in the second edition of the Minstrelsy, 1803, U, 245. The "gentleman residing near Langholm," from whom Scott derived the stanzas of a modern cast, was a Mr. Beattie, of Meikledale, and Scott suspected that they might be the work of some poetical clergyman or schoolmaster: letter to W, Laidlaw, January 21, 1803, cited by Carruthers, Abbotsford Notanda, appended to R. Chambers's Life of Scott, 1871, p. 121 f.

336 b. ' Den fortrollade prinsessan,' Lagus, Nylandska Folkvisor, I, 67, No 17.

356 b. Add: D c, 12². aft.

340 a, II, 505 b, III, 505 b. Sleeping under an apple-tree. See also st. 14 of the version immediately following.

So Lancelot goes to sleep about noon under an apple-tree, and is enchanted by Morgan the Fay. Malory's Morte Darthur, bk. vi, ch. 1, ch. 8, ed. Sommer, 1, 183, 186. (G. L. K.)

K

Communicated to Scott November 11, 1812, by Hugh Irvine, Dram, Aberdeenshire, as procured from the recitation of an old woman in Buchan: Letters, V, No 137, Abbotsford. (Not in Irvine's hand.)

Leady Margat stands in her boor-door,
Clead in the robs of green;
She longed to go to Charters Woods,
To pull the flowers her lean
She had not puld a rose, a rose,
O not a rose but one,
Till up it starts True Thomas,
Said, Leady, let alone.
' Why pull ye the rose, Marget?
Or why break ye the tree?
Or why come ye to Charters Woods
Without the leave of me?'
' I will Pull the rose,' she said,
' And I will break the tree,
For Charters Woods is all my own,
And I'll ask no leave of the.'
He's tean her by the milk-white hand,
And by the, grass-green sleeve,
And laid her lo at the foot of the tree,
At her he askt no leave.
It fell once upon a day
They wer a pleaying at the ba,
And every one was reed and whyte,
Leady Marget's culler was all awa.
Out it speaks an elder man,
As he stood in the gate,
Our king's daughter she gos we bern,
And we will get the wait.'
If I be we bem,' she said,
' My own self beer the blame!
There is not a man in my father's court
Will get my bern's name.'
' There grows a flower in Charters Woods,
it grows on gravel greay,
It uold destroy the boney young bern
That ye got in your pley.'
She's teen her mantle her about,
Her green glove on her hand,
And she's awa to Charters Woods,
As fest as she could gang.
She had no puld a pile, a pile,
O not a pile but one,
Up it startid True Thomas,
Said, Leady, let alean.
" Why pull ye the pile, Marget,
That grows on gravel green,
For to destroy the boney young bern
That we got us between?'
" If it were to an earthly man,
As [it is] to an elphan knight,
I ould walk for my true-love's sake
All the long winter's night.'
" When I was a boy of eleven years old,
And much was made of me,
I went out to my father's garden,
Fell asleep at yon aple tree:
The queen of Elphan [she] came by,
And laid on her hands on me.
" Elphan it's a boney place,
In it fain wid I dwelt;
But ey at every seven years end
We pay the teene to hell:
I'm so full of flesh and blood
I'm sear feart for mysel.
"The morn's Hallow Even's night,
When a' our courts do ride,
Through England and through Irland,
Through a' the world wide:
And she that would her true-love borrow
At Miles Corse she may bide.
" The first an coart that ye come till,
Ye let them a' pass by;
The next an court that ye come till,
Ye hile them reverendly.
"The next an court that ye come till,
An therein rides the queen,
Me upon a milk-whyte steed,
And a gold star in my croun
Because I am a erle's soon,
I get that for my renoun.
"Ye take me in vour armes,
Give me a right sear fa;
The queen of Elphan she 'l cry out,
True Thomas is awa!
First I 'l be in your armes
The fire burning so bold;
Ye hold me fast, let me no pass
Till I be like iron cold.
'Next I 'I be in your armes
The fire burning so wild;
Ye hold me fast, let me no pass,
I'm the father of your child.'
The first court that came her till,
She let them a' pass by;
The nex an court that came her till,
She helt them reverendly.
The nex an court that came her till,
And therein read the queen,
True Thomas on a milk-whyte steed,
A gold star in his croun;
Because he was a earl's soon,
He got that for his renoun.
She's tean him in her arms,
Geen him a right sore fa;
The queen of Elphan she cried out,
True Thomas is awa!
He was into her arms
The fire burning so bold;
She held him fast, let him no pass
Till he was like iron cold.
He was into her arms
The fire burning so wild;
She bald him fast, let him no pass,
He was the father of her child.
The queen of Elphan she cried out,
An angry woman was she,
Let Leady Marget an her true-love be,
She 's bought him dearer than me.'

3². breat.
15⁴. tune (? ).
16¹. Thee.
27² woman is struck out.

The following fragment does not appear to have been among the " several recitals from tradition " used by Scott in making up his ballad. Some lines which it might be supposed to have furnished occur in the edition of 1802, issued before Scott's acquaintance with Laidlaw began.

L

"Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 27, Abbotsford; in the handwriting of William Laidlaw.

I charge ye, a' ye ladies fair,
That wear goud in your hair,
To come an gang bye Carterhaugh,
For young Tam Lien is there.
Then Janet kilted her green cleadin
A wee aboon her knee,
An she's gane away to Carterhaugh,
As fast as she can dree.
When Janet cam to Carterhaugh,
Tam Lien was at the wall,
An there he left his steed stannin,
But away he gaed his sell.
She had na pu'd a red, red rose,
Arose but only thre,
Till up then startit young Tam Lien,
Just at young Jenet's knee.
"What gars ye pu the rose, Janet,
Briek branches free the tree,
An come an gang by Carterhaugh,
An speir nae leave of me?'
"What need I speir leave o thee, Tam ?
What need I speir leave o thee,
When Carterhaugh is a' mine
My father gas it me ?
She's kiltit up her green cleadin
Awee aboon her knee,
An she's away to her ain bower-door,
As fast as she can dree.
There war four-an-twentie fair ladies
A' dancin in a chess,
An some war blue an some war green,
But Janet was like the gress.
There war four-an-twentie fair ladies
A' playin at the ha,
An some war red an som wer white,
But Jennet was like the snaw.

1³. To is doubtful; almost bound in.
6.⁴. gae written over left struck out.
8², 9². A' in the MS.

M

"Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 15. Communicated to Scott by Major Henrv Hutton, Royal Artillery, 24th December, 1802, as recollected by his father and the family:" Letters I, No 77. Major Hutton intimates that stanzas 46-49 of the first edition of 'Tamlane' ('Roxburgh was my grandfather' ff., corresponding to I 28-32) should be struck out, and his verses inserted. But 4-12 of Hutton's stanzas belong to 'Thomas Rymer.'

My father was a noble knight,
And was much gi'n'to play,
And I myself a bonny boy,
And followed him away.
He rowd me in his hunting-coat
And layd me down to sleep,
And by the queen of fairies came,
And took me up to keep.
She set me on a milk-white steed;
'T was o the elfin kind;
His feet were shot wi beaten good,
And fleeter than the wind.
Then we raid on and on'ard mair,
Oer mountain, hill and lee,
Till we came to a hie, hie wa,
Upon a mountain's bree.
The apples hung like stars of goud
Out-our that wa sa fine;
I put my hand to pu down ane,
For avant of food I thought to tine.
' O had your hand, Tamas ! ' she said,
' O let that evil fruit now be!
It was that apple ye see there
Beguil'd man and woman in your country.
' O dinna ye see yon road, Tamas,
Down by yon lilie lee?
Blessd is the man who yon gate gaes,
It leads him to the heavens hie.
'And dinna ye see yon road, Tamas,
Down by yon frosty fell?
Curst is the man that yon gate gaes,
For it leads to the gates of hell.
"O dinna ye see yon castle, Tamas,
That's biggit between the twa,
And theekit wi the beaten goud ?
O that's the fairies' ha.
"O when ye come to the ha, Tamas,
See that a weel-learnd boy ye be;
They'll ask ye questions ane and a',
But see ye answer nane but me.
" If ye speak to ain but me, Tamas,
A fairie ye maun ever bide;
But if ye speak to nane but me, Tamas,
Ye may come to be your country's pride.'
And when he came to Fairie Ha,
I wot a weel-learnd boy was he;
They askd him questions ane and a',
But he answerd nane but his ladie.
There was four-and-twenty gude knights'-sons
In fairie land obliged to bide,
And of a' the pages that were there
Fair Tamas was his ladie's pride.
There was four-and-twenty earthly boys,
Wha all played at the ha,
But Tamas was the bonniest boy,
And playd the best amang them a'.
There was four-and-twenty earthly maids,
Wha a' playd at the chess,
Their colour rosy-red and white,
Their gowns were green as grass.
" And pleasant are our fairie sports,
We flie o'er hill and dale;
But at the end of seven years
They pay the teen to hell.
" And now's the time, at Hallowmess,
Late on the morrow's even,
And if ye miss me then, Janet,
I 'm lost for yearis seven.'

N

'Tamlane,' " Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 96 a; in the handwriting of John Leyden.

' Gowd rings I can buy, Thomas,
Green mantles I can spin,
But gin ye take my maidenheid
I'll neer get that again.'
Out and spak the queen o fairies,
Out o a shot o wheat,
She that has gotten young Tamlane
Has gotten my heart's delight.'

Volume V

P. 339. Teind to hell. See Isabel Gowdie's case, in the Scottish Journal, I, 256, and compare Pitcairn's Criminal Trials.

345. D a. This copy occurs in " the second collection" of Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, p. 3, with a few variations, as follows. (See Sharpe's Ballad Book, ed. 1880, p. 145.)

1³. Charters wood, and always.
3¹ the seam.
3³ is gone.
5². ye.
6⁴. ask no.
10⁴. we have.
11¹. to me.
12². aft.
12³. the Lord of Forbes.
12⁴. all his.
15 occurs after 24.
15¹. Tho Elfin.
15⁴. the tenth one goes.
15⁵. I am an, or, I a man.
16⁵. if that.
16⁶. miles Cross.
17¹ go unto the Miles cross.
20⁴. next the.
23¹, 24¹ int.
25¹. She did her down.
27³. so green.
27³. where.
27⁴. ride next.
28⁴. he is.
29¹. He.
32² and cry.
34¹. I thought.

[P. 339 b, 11, 505 b, III, 505 b. Fairy salve. Kirk's Invisible Commonwealth, ed. Lang, pp. 13, 34; Denham Tracts, II, 138 f.]

340 a, 11, 5o5 b, III, 5o5 b, IV, 455 b. Sleeping under trees: ympe tree. Bugge, Arkiv for nordisk Filogoli, VII, 104, refers to Liebrecht, Gervasius von Tilbury, p. 117, and to W. Hertz, Spielmannsbuch, p. 322.

Site Notes

Added to site February 2003. Substantially re-edited September 2014.

Tam Lin Balladry

Child's Notes on Tam Lin