Summary
Fair Margaret plucks flowers in the green woods, which summons a strange man who then ravishes her. She asks his name, and he informs her that he is Tam-a-lin, a captive of the faeries. He had been captured by the Queen of Fairies when he fell from his horse. He now fears that he will be sacrificed to hell, and hopes that the pregnant Margaret will save him. He instructs her to wait at the crossroadsand pull him from his horse when the troop passes by. He will be transformed into beasts but she can win him if she holds onto him. She does all of this, and throws her cloak over him, and saves him from the faeries.
Tam-a-lin
- Fair Margaret ran in the merry green wood
And pulled a flower but one
When at her side stood young Tam-a-Lin
Saying, Margaret, leave it alone. - How dare you pull my flowers, madam
How dare you break my tree
How dare you run in these green woods
Without the leave of me - Oh this green wood it is my own
My father gave it me
And I can pluck myself a flower
Without the leave of thee - He took her by the milk-white hand
And by the grass-green sleeve
And laid her low down on the flowers
And asked of her no leave. - And when he'd had his will of her
Young Margaret she felt shame
Says, If you are a gentleman
Pray tell to me your name - Oh Tam-a-Lin is the name, he said
The Elf Queen gave to me
And long I've haunted these green woods
All for your fair body - So do not pluck that herb, Margaret
That herb that grows so grey
For that would kill the little babe
That we've got in our play - When I was a boy just turned of nine
My uncle sent for me
To hunt and hawk and ride with him
And keep him company - Oh drowsy, drowsy as I was
Dead sleep upon me fell
And the Queen of Elfin she rode by
And took me for herself - Tonight it is good Hallowe'en
The Elfin court will ride
And they that would their truelove win
At the crossroads they must hide - The second court that comes along
Is clad in robes of green
It is the head court of them all
For in it rides the Queen - And I upon a milk-white steed
With a gold star in my crown
And I do ride beside the Queen
And you must pull me down - Then I will grow in your two arms
Like a savage creature wild
But hold me fast, let me not go
I'm the father of your child - She took her petticoats in her hand
Her mantle on her arm
And to the crossroads she's away
As fast as she could run - The first court it came riding by
She heard the bridles ring
And the second court all dressed in green
And Tam Lin like a king - She pulled him from his milk-white steed
He on the ground did lay
And the Elf Queen gave a shrieking cry
Young Tam-a-Lin's away, my boys
Young Tam-a-Lin's away, - And then they turned him in her arms
To a wolf and to an adder
She held him fast in every shape
To be her baby's father - They shaped him in her arms at last
A mother-naked man
She wrapped him in her mantle green
And saw her truelove won - Out then cried the Elfin Queen
And an angry woman was she
Saying, You've stolen away the very best knight
In all my company - Oh had I known, Tam-a-Lin, she says
What now this night I see
I would have burned out your two grey eyes
And put in two from a tree, Tam-a-Lin
And put in two from a tree.
Version Notes
Supplied to this website sometime back in the late 1990s. This was at least three major website crashes ago. The person who supplied it never wrote again to supply any additional details.
Added to site: October 1999