Yesterday’s BLOTT, about the childhood of Joan of Arc and the prominence of the Fairy Tree in her childhood, led the WLBOTT historical archives team to wonder: Just how bad-ass were fairies during the middle ages? These were not Tinker Bells[1], by any means. They could be pretty mischievous and sometimes wicked.
Probably one of the best example is the Scottish myth of Tam Lin.
It is a complex myth, with many variations, but Google AI simplifies this for us:
“Tam Lin” is a Scottish ballad about a woman who takes charge of her body and fate. The ballad is set in the Scottish borderlands and tells the story of Janet, a mortal woman who encounters a mysterious man in a forbidden forest. Janet becomes pregnant with the man’s child and seeks him out again. She learns that he is a mortal man who is captive to the faeries and at risk of being sacrificed to hell.
Google AI
A more detailed synopses can be found on the Tam Lin Wikipedia page:
The Story
Most variants begin with the warning that Tam Lin collects either a possession or the virginity of any maiden who passes through the forest of Carterhaugh. When a young woman, usually called Janet or Margaret, goes to Carterhaugh and plucks a double rose, Tam appears and asks her why she has come without his leave and taken what is his. She states that she owns Carterhaugh because her father has given it to her.
In most variants, Janet then goes home and discovers that she is pregnant; some variants pick up the story at this point. When asked about her condition, she declares that her baby’s father is an elf whom she will not forsake. In some versions, she is informed of a herb that will induce abortion; in all the variants, when she returns to Carterhaugh and picks a plant, either the same roses as on her earlier visit or the herb, Tam reappears and challenges her action.
She asks him whether he was ever human, either after that reappearance or, in some versions, immediately after their first meeting resulted in her pregnancy. Tam Lin reveals that, though he was once a mortal man, he was imprisoned in Caterhaugh by the Queen of Faeries after she kidnapped him by catching him when he fell from his horse. He goes on to tell Janet that the fairies give one of their people as a teind (tithe) to Hell at midnight on every seventh Hallowe’en. He asks Janet for her help in freeing him, and receives her agreement; he then instructs her to come to the forest at the time of the tithe, during which he’ll be in the company of numerous faerie knights — he tells her that she’ll recognize him by his white horse. Janet must pull him down from his horse, thus making her the one to “catch” him this time, and hold him tightly: he warns her that the fairies will attempt to make her drop him by turning him into all manner of beasts (see Proteus), but states that none of these forms will actually cause her harm. Tam Lin will eventually take the shape of burning coal; when this occurs, Janet is to throw him into a well, whereupon he will reappear as a naked mortal man whom Janet must hide. She does as she is asked and wins her knight; though her success angers the Queen of Faeries, the latter accepts her defeat.
Tam Lin is a character in a legendary ballad originating from the Scottish Borders. It is also associated with a reel of the same name, also known as the Glasgow Reel. The story revolves around the rescue of Tam Lin by his true love from the Queen of the Fairies. The motif of winning a person by holding him through all forms of transformation is found throughout Europe in folktales.
The ballad dates to at least as early as 1549 (the publication date of The Complaynt of Scotland that mentions “The Tayl of the Ȝong Tamlene[2]” (‘The Tale of the Young Tamelene’) among a long list of medieval romances).
Tam Lin by Fairport Convention
"I forbid you maidens all that wear gold in your hair
To travel to Carter Hall for young Tam Lin is there
None that go by Carter Hall but they leave him a pledge
Either their mantles of green or else their maidenhead"
Janet tied her kirtle green a bit above her knee
And she's gone to Carter Hall as fast as go can she
She'd not pulled a double rose, a rose but only two
When up there came young Tam Lin says "Lady, pull no more"
"And why come you to Carter Hall without command from me?"
"I'll come and go", young Janet said, "and ask no leave of thee"
Janet tied her kirtle green a bit above her knee
And she's gone to her father as fast as go can she
Well, up then spoke her father dear and he spoke meek and mild
"Oh, and alas, Janet, " he said, "I think you go with child"
"Well, if that be so, " Janet said, "myself shall bear the blame
There's not a knight in all your hall shall get the baby's name
For if my love were an earthly knight as he is an elfin grey
I'd not change my own true love for any knight you have"
Janet 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 Queen of Faeries caught me 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 and feared it be myself
But tonight is Hallowe'en and the faery folk ride
Those that would their true love win at Miles Cross they must buy
So first let past the horses black and then let past the brown
Quickly run to the white steed and pull the rider down
For I'll ride on the white steed, the nearest to the town
For I was an earthly knight, they give me that renown
Oh, they will turn me in your arms to a newt or a snake
But hold me tight and fear not, I am your baby's father
And they will turn me in your arms into a lion bold
But hold me tight and fear not and you will love your child
And they will turn me in your arms into a naked knight
But cloak me in your mantle and keep me out of sight"
In the middle of the night she heard the bridle ring
She heeded what he did say and young Tam Lin did win
Then up spoke the Faery Queen, an angry queen was she
Woe betide her ?ill-fought? face, an ill death may she die
"Oh, had I known, Tam Lin, " she said, "what this knight I did see
I have looked him in the eyes and turned him to a tree"
Carterhaugh
Carterhaugh is a wood and farm near the confluence of the Yarrow Water and the Ettrick Water near Selkirk in the Scottish Borders. This real location shares its name with the fictional setting for the meeting between Tam Lin and Janet (sometimes Margaret) in the ballad “Tam Lin”. This is commemorated in the name of Tamlane’s Well, on the roadside outside Carterhaugh Farm. The link between the location and the ballad is debated.
By Anne Burgess, CC BY-SA 2.0
Carterhaugh, near the confluence of the Yarrow Water and the Ettrick WaterBy Richard Webb, CC BY-SA 2.0
Tam Lin’s Well
About Tamlane’s Well
The well, and Tamlane (who was the son of Randolph, Earl of Moray), are both referred to in a ballad by Sir Walter Scott: “Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, volume 2”. Also referred to from ‘Tam Lin’ by Robert Burns, adding: “Tam Lin was a knight who had been captured by the Queen of the Fairies and was being prepared for sacrifice on Hallowe’en, to pay off the little people’s dues to the devil. He is saved by Janet in a fearless act of bravery and love, holding tightly on to her man as his shape is shifted from poisonous snake to wild animal, through iron and through lead, until eventually emerging as ‘a naked knight’ in her arms.”
Constance Grady (via a VOX article) looks at Janet as an empowered feminist heroine, and examines the myth in relation to several young adult novels.
….At this point, Tam Lin appears and asks her not to pick the herbs. Janet replies, more or less, “#$@% you, [ed. note: language, people!] I do what I want,” and explains very reasonably that she has no intention of raising a child by herself while the father is off gallivanting around a fairy court.
But Tam Lin is absolutely willing to help her raise the child, he tells her. He used to be a mortal man, but because he was so handsome, the queen of fairies took him for her own, and now, on Halloween, she plans to sacrifice him to hell. But Janet can save him.
So Janet hikes up her skirt and heads off to save her man. She goes to the Fairy Queen’s midnight procession, where she pulls Tam Lin off his horse. The Fairy Queen turns him into all manner of creatures — a lion, a swan, a burning brand — but Janet continues to hold on to him, and in the end this proves that Tam Lin belongs to her. That’s when the Fairy Queen addresses the lovers, telling them that if she had known what was going to happen, she would have turned Tam Lin into a tree or, in some versions of the story, blinded him.
In 1971, Denny duetted with Robert Plant on “The Battle of Evermore”, which was included on Led Zeppelin’s 1971 album (Led Zeppelin IV); she was the only guest vocalist ever to appear on a Led Zeppelin album.
The incredible artist Sandy Denny was challenged by mental health problems, which contributed to her early death.
By Deeday-UK – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35286815
I believe that the singer in the 2017 YouTube video singing Tam Lin was Judy Dyble, who passed away in 2020 at the age of 71.
Semi-Sequitur: Who Knows Where the Time Goes
A beautiful cover of one of Sandy’s signature songs, “Who Knows Where the Time Goes“, is song by Daisy Rickman.
Who Knows Where the Time Goes?
by Sandy Denny
Across the evening sky
All the birds are leaving
But how can they know
It's time for them to go?
Before the winter fire
I will still be dreaming
I have no thought of time
For who knows where the time goes?
Who knows where the time goes?
Sad, deserted shore
Your fickle friends are leaving
Ah, but then you know
It's time for them to go
But I will still be here
I have no thought of leaving
I do not count the time
For who knows where the time goes?
Who knows where the time goes?
And I am not alone
While my love is near me
I know it will be so
Until it's time to go
So come the storms of winter
And then the birds in spring again
I have no fear of time
For who knows how my love grows?
And who knows where the time goes?
Wait, there’s a Movie?
There is a 1970 film, starring Ava Gardner (as the evil fairy queen), with a modern retelling of the Tam Lin myth.
Also known as The Devil’s Widow, The Ballad Of Tam Lin was a project obviously close to Roddy McDowall’s heart. In order to direct it, he even turned down the chance to reprise his role as Dr. Cornelius in the second film of the Planet Of The Apes series, before returning for the next three sequels.
The Ballad Of Tam Lin is no classic but Gardner is perfectly cast as Micky. As marvelously menacing as she is gloriously glamorous, she steals the show but Ian McShane, who looks like a young George Best, shines too and, although in a much smaller role, Richard Watiss is on terrific form.
This is a real oddity, but despite its flaws, it remains consistently fascinating to watch and it’s a real pity that it languished for a few years before gaining a release, by which time it must have seemed a little dated with the dying embers of the Swinging ’60s having been extinguished in the time since its wrap. It’s a pity too that this was to be Roddy McDowall’s first and last shot as a director.
And what exactly would a bad-ass Tinker Bell look like? Pretty intense.
But by far, the scariest Tinker Bell:
[2]
WLBOTT Research Team: Good morning, Chat. Let’s seize the day together!
ChatGPT: Good morning! I’m ready to seize the day with you. What’s on your agenda?
WLBOTT Research Team: I was reading the story of Tam Lin, and I came across an unusual symbol: “Ȝ”. Do you know about this symbol?
ChatGPT: Certainly! The symbol “Ȝ” is called a yogh (pronounced like “yogh”). It is an Old English letter that was used to represent a sound similar to the modern “y” or “gh.” Over time, the usage of yogh declined, and it eventually fell out of use in the English language.
In the context of the story of Tam Lin, if you encountered the yogh, it’s likely a representation of an archaic spelling or pronunciation. Old English and Middle English texts often used letters and symbols that are no longer part of the modern English alphabet.
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