Summary
Janet goes to Carterhaugh despite the warnings against it, to pick roses. There she encounters Tam Lin, and they argue. She returns to her family home, where her father observes that she is pregnant, and she refuses to say who her lover is. She returns to the woods to speak with Tam Lin again, and he reveals his human heritage and the threat against his life, including instructions on how she can save him. She does this, and angers the Queen of Faeries in the process.
Tam Lin
- Listen to me, ladies all
Listen and beware
Go ye not by Carter Hall
For young Tam Lin is there - None may pass by Carter Hall
Save they leave him a pledge
Either of their mantles green
Or else their maidenhead - Janet has tied her kirtle green
A bit above her knee
And she'd gone to Carter Hall
As fast as go can she - She has plucked the double rose
A rose but only two
When up steps young Tam Lin
Says, "Lady, pull no more - "And why come you to Carter Hall
Without command from me?"
"I come and go as I please," young Janet says,
"And ask no leave of thee." - Janet has tied her kirtle green
A bit above her knee
And she'd gone to her father
As fast as go can she - Then up spoke her father dear,
And he spoke meek and mild
"Ah, my dear Janet," he said,
"I fear you go with child." - "If that be so," young Janet said,
"Myself shall bear the blame
There's not a knight in all your halls
That shares my baby's name. - "If my love were an earthly knight,
As he is elfin grey
Still I'd not change my own true love
For any knight you hae" - Janet has tied her kirtle green
A bit above her knee
And she's gone to Carter Hall
As fast as go can she. - "Oh tell to me Tam Lin she said
Why came you here to dwell"
"The Fairy Queen caught me," he said,
"When from my horse I fell. - "And at the end of seven years
She pays a tithe to hell
I so fair and full of flesh
Am feared it is myself. - "But tonight is Halloween
And the fairy court does ride
She who would her true love win,
At Miles' Cross she must hide - First let pass the horses black
And then let pass the brown
Quickly run to the white steed
And pull the rider down - For I shall ride on the white steed,
The nearest to the town
Since I was an earthly knight,
They give me that renown - And they will turn me in your arms
Into a newt or a snake
Hold me tight and fear not,
I am thy baby's father. - And they will turn me in your arms
Into a lion bold
Hold me tight and fear not
And you will love your child - And they will turn me in your arms
Into a naked knight
Wrap me in your mantle green
And keep me safe from sight - And it was near the middle night
She heard the bridle ring
She heeded what he did say
And Tam Lin she did win - Then up spoke the fairy queen
And an angry queen was she
If I'd known what would happen, young Tam Lin...
I'd have turned ye to a tree!
Version Notes
This version comes to me from Joseph Kesselman (website was http://members.tripod.com/~keshlam) , who learned the ballad many years ago and has adapted it as he has played it. He was kind enough to send it to me after I asked him about it, recorded here for the first time. His version is fairly close to the fairport convention version, but some alterations have occured over years of playing. I have included it both because it does have a few differences, and as an example of how a ballad changes as it is passed along.
Added to site: May 1998