Tam Lin

I left the story of Tam Lin to a seperate post so as to not make each post too long. Of all the fairy abduction tales, this is the one closest to Thomas the Rhymer, so much so that some people see it a a variant of the same story. Personally, I wouldn't go that far, but there are a lot of similarities.

For a start, the earliest form of Tam Lin that we have is a Scottish border ballad, like the Ballad of Thomas the Rhymer quoted here (and also set to music by British folk revivalists in the 1970s - in this case, Fairport Convention). It takes place in the same part of Scotland, it also features the Fairy Queen as the abductor, and the name Tam is a variant on Thomas.

In this story, we don't hear how Tam is abducted, aside from a brief reference - the story is focused instead on his rescue. It is told from the point of view of a young Scottish noblewoman named Janet who is warned, along with other women, to avoid the woods of Carterhaugh because Tam Lin lurks there and is after their maidenhood. Janet willfully ignores the warning, goes for a walk in the woods, meets Tam Lin by the well (where else) and duly gives up her maidenhead. Like Thomas, she doesn't appear to be at all reluctant and the ballad appears to imply that she went there for that very purpose.

In the inevitable sequel, she becomes pregnant, and on her father's noticing this and asking her to identify the father, she tells her tale. It seems that the father would perhaps be sceptical about this, thinking she is covering for some man of the household. Be that as it may, she goes back to the well (yes indeed) to find Tam Lin and tell him this latest development.

Up to this point, it is not clear who Tam Lin is - is he human, or fey? His answer is that he is human, but a captive of the Queen of the Fairies and unable to leave. There is a further problem. As mentioned in an earlier post the fairies are required to make a regular sacrifice to the Devil. This is about to fall due, and Tam fears it will be him. In the manner of other rescue stories, he then outlines a magical procedure by which Janet can rescue him. In this case, it involves intercepting the fairy troop as it rides out at Halloween, pulling him from his horse, and holding on tight no matter what happens. As with other rescues, it is perilous. In order to avoid losing her captive, the fairy queen changes his shape repeatedly - a lion, a snake, a burning brand - to try and get her to let go. However, the queen finally admits defeat, although with dire threats, Tam is free, and the pair marry - presumably to live happily ever after.

This story represents an altogether more sinister tale than Thomas's - more in keeping with the general tenor of stories about relations between humans and fairies. Tam can indeed live among fairies and be the lover of the fairy queen, but he is never out of danger - he is at the Queen's mercy, and she is not particularly merciful.

"If I had known, Tam Lin," she says
"That you were up to no good
I'd have taken out your green eyes
And put in eyes of wood."

"If I had known, Tam Lin," she says
"You would have always been alone.
For I'd have taken out your mortal heart
And put in a heart of stone."

The other striking thing about this story is how Tam is changed. It is impossible to tell if he is human or fairy. In many ways he acts like a fairy. When Janet comes to his well and picks the rose, he acts by a mysterious iron law like a fairy would, so that her intercourse with him has a kind of magical inevitability. He rides with the fairies and rivals them for beauty. He provokes fear amongst humans. Yet for all that he is still human and has no lasting place in the fairy realm. He may be the Queen's lover, but she will inevitably cast him aside. As long as he has his eyes of flesh and his mortal heart, he can never be fully hers and will only be fulfilled through love with a human woman.