I discovered this old ballad—Tam Lin—during research and writing my Blackthorn Trilogy, and it struck me how its theme suits the core of that story arc. The song, from the borderlands of Scotland, concerns a mortal woman who encounters a mysterious man in a forbidden forest. About the rescue of Tam Lin by his true love from the Queen of the Fairies, the ballad dates to as early as 1549 (the publication date of The Complaynt of Scotland that mentions The Tayl of the Ȝong Tamlene (The Tale of the Young Tamelene) among a long list of medieval romances). [Note there have been many interpretations of the ballad, and it has been used several times for derivative stories told in film and books, some that deviated into darker tales of witchcraft.]
Capturing a person and holding them through all forms of transformation is a leitmotif found throughout European folktales. And that is really the heart of the Blackthorn arc for the two main characters Brandon and Maeve: captured/manipulated by Good and Evil forces, and molded/constrained, defined even by a centuries-old legacy and tradition that binds them. They are driven to their fate by what can’t be controlled or fought. Or can it? Their story of transformation—their journey through it—is: Will they be saved by their love… or consumed by their darkness?
Here’s the ballad performed (then further below the narrative/lyrics).
Also available in Amazon Prime Music.
- Janet sits in her lonely room
Sewing a silken seam
Looking out on Carterhaugh
Among the roses green - And Janet sits in her lonely bower
Sewing a silken thread
And longed to be in Carterhaugh
Among the roses red - She’s let the seam fall at her heel
The needle to her toe
And she has gone to Carterhaugh
As fast as she can go - She hadn’t pulled a rose, a rose
a rose but only one
when then appeared him, young Tam Lin
says “Lady, let alone” - “What makes you pull the rose, the rose?
What makes you break the tree?
What makes you come to Carterhaugh
Without the leave of me?” - “But Carterhaugh is not your own
Roses there are many
I’ll come and go all as I please
And not ask leave of any” - And he has took her by the hand,
Took her by the sleeve
And he has laid this lady down
Among the roses green - And he has took her by the arm
Took her by the hand
And he has laid this lady down
Among the roses red - There’s four and twenty ladies fair
Sewing at the silk
And Janet goes among them all
Her face as pale as milk - And four and twenty gentlemen
Playing at the chess
And Janet goes among them all
As green as any glass - Then up and spoke her father
And spoke him meek and mild
“Oh alas, my daughter,
I fear you go with child - “And is it to a man of might
Or to a man of means?
For who among my gentlemen
Shall give the babe his name?” - “Oh father, if I go with child
This much to you I’ll tell
There’s none among your gentlemen
that I would treat so well - “Oh father if I go with child
I must bear the blame
There’s none among your gentlemen
shall give the babe his name.” - She’s let the seam fall at her heel
The needle to her toe
She has gone to Carterhaugh
as fast as she can go - She is down among the weeds
Down among the thorns
And then appeared Tam Lin again
Says “Lady, pull no more. - “What makes you pull the poison rose?
What makes you break the tree?
What makes you harm the little babe
That I have got with thee?” - “Oh I will pull the rose, Tam Lin
And I will break the tree
But I’ll not bear the little babe
That you have got with me - “If he were to a gentleman
And not a wild shade,
I’d rock him all the winter’s night
And all the summer’s day” - “Then take me back into your arm
If you my love would win
And hold me tight and fear me not
I’ll be your gentleman - “But first I’ll turn change, all in your arms
Into a wild wolf
But hold me tight and fear me not
I am your own true love - And then I’ll change, all in your arms
Into a wild bear
But hold me tight and fear me not
I am your husband dear - And then I’ll change, all in your arms
Into a lion bold
But hold me tight and fear me not
And you will love your child” - At first he changed, all in her arms
Into a wild wolf
She held him tight and feared him not
He was her own true love - And then he changed, all in her arms
Into a wild bear
She held him tight and feared him not
He was her husband dear - And then he changed, all in her arms
Into a lion bold
She held him tight and feared him not
The father of her child - And then he changed, all in her arms
Into a naked man
She’s wrapped him in her coat so warm
And she has brought him home.
