Summary
Maids are warned against going to Kertonha for fear of Tam Lin. Janet, who had been sewing, looks out at the woods and heads out to the forest. She plucks a nut from the forest, at which point Tam Lin appears and scolds her. They argue, and he takes her by the hand and asks no leave of her. After, she looks for him but cannot find him. She is lost in a timeless place for seven days, and when she returns home, her father observes that she is pregnant. She returns to Kertonha and plucks another nut. When Tam Lin appears, he asks if she will keep their child. When she asks for his parentage, he informs her that he was a captured by the fairies. As that night is Halloween, she can rescue him back if she'll travel to Miles Cross and wait for the troop to pass by, taking him from his horse. She does this, and holds onto him as he transforms into a variety of creatures, ending when he becomes a man and she throws her mantle over him. The Elfin Queen, looking on, wishes she'd replaced his eyes with wood and his heart with stone.
Tam Lin
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Tak' warnin' a ye ladies
That wer gowd in your hair
N'er gae doon tae Kertonha
For Tam Lin is there - Janet sat in her high chaumer
She was sewin' her silken seam
She lookit East, she lookit West
Till she she was the woods grow green - Janet has kilted her green mantle
a litle abune her knee
and she's gane down tae Kertonha
as fast as she could flee - She hadna pulled a nut a nut
Nor scarcely bent a tree
When up started Tam Lin
Saying Lady pu' nae mair - Why pu' ye the nut, the nut
And why bend ye the tree
And why cam ye by Kertonha
Without the leave o' me - Oh I will pu' the nut, the nut
An' I will bend the tree
An I'll cam in by Kertonha
I need no leave o' ye - But he's tean her by the milk white hand
An by the grass-green sleeve
He's lain her doon on a mossy bank
An' he didnae ask her leave - She turned roon an' roon aboot
Tae spier her lover's name
But naething she heard, an naething she saw
Till a' the woods grew dim - Seven days she tarried there
Saw neither sun nor moon
Till by a wee sma' glimmerin' licht
She cam through the woods her lane - There were four and twenty ladies
Playing at the chess
Janet, she walked amongst them a'
as green as ony glass - The up spak her auld faither
He spak meek and mild
Janet Janet what's ailing ye
I fear that ye gang wi' child - If I gang wi' child faither
It's mysel' I hae tae blame
There's no a man in a' your ha'
Will bear this bairnies name - And Janet has kilted her green mantle
a little abune her knee
She's gaed back tae Kertonha
As fast as she could flee - She hadna pu'd a nut a nut
Nor scarcely bent the tree
When oot started Tam Lin
Saying Lady pu' nae mair! - Why pu' ye the nut the nut
Among the leaves sae green
Is it tae kill the bonnie bairn
That we hae us between - Tell me noo Tam Lin
For sake who died on tree
Were ye ever in a holy chapel
Or Christendom did see - Aye it fell upon a day
A cauld day and a snell
When I was tae the huntin' gaen
An' fae my horse I fell
An' he queen o' Elfin land's taen me
In yonder green hill tae dwell - But this nicht it is the Halloween
When the fairy folk maun ride
An' them that would their true love win
At Miles Cross they must bide - FIrst will come the black horses
An then the berry brown
But when you see a bony white horse
Pu' ye the rider doon - Then they'll turn me in your airms
Tae a red hot gaud o airn
Haud me fast, fear me not
I'm the faither of your bairn - They'll turn me in your airms
Tae an esk an adder
But haud me fast an' fear me not
For I'm your bair's father - Then they'll turn me in your airms
Tae a winter wolf sae wild
Haud me fast an'fear me not
I'm the faither o' your child - When they turn me in your airms
Tae a dove an' then a swan
Throw your mantle o'er me
An' I'll be a perfect man - Mikr and' dreary was the nicht
The nicht o Halloween
When Janet wi' her green mantle
Tae Miles Cross she has gaen - In the middle o' the nicht
She heard the bridles ring
An' Janet was as glad o' that
As ony mortal thing - First cam' by the black horse
And then the berry brown
When she saw that bonny horse
She pu'd the rider down - Well she minded what she was tellt
And young Tam Lin did win
She threw her mantle o'er him
As blithe as the birds in Spring - Then oot spak the Elfin Queen
Frae a bush o' broom
Them that's taen young Tam Lin
Has gotten a stately groom - Had I kenned Tam Lin she cried
A lady would hae borrowed ye
I would have taen oot your twa grey een
Put in the een o a tree - And had I kenned Tam Lin she cried
This nicht when far frae hame
I would hae taen oot your heart o flesh
Put in a heart o' stane
Version Notes
Added to site: October 2006