TAM LIN (Part I)

CW: This post discusses topics of sex and consent. But it also contains elves, fairies, and sacrifices to hell, so you should stick around if you are able.

Last week, I talked about how if we are going to go on this mythological journey together, we must grapple with the uncomfortable tension between the story's context and our world today. I explained that keeping our modern lenses glued to our faces may hinder actual conversations about who we are and who have the potential to be. But some stories don't come to us with a context-based agenda. They aren't trying to teach us a lesson about hubris or disobedience. Some stories are so open and intriguing, they beg for us to use our imaginations beyond historical context.

Today, we are going to talk about the Scottish ballad, "Tam Lin." On this supernatural journey, we will see how difficult it is to find definitive meaning folktales. At the same time, we are also going to go on a search for personal truth and how the story of Tam Lin may be more modern than it seems.

First, some clarification: I considered starting this series with a long explanation of the differences between mythology, folklore, legends, etc., but I decided to leave the explaining up to Google. However, to understand "Tam Lin," we need to talk about genre, specifically the ballad tradition. And in order to understand ballads, we have to talk about Francis James Child. Child was an American scholar during the 1800s who devoted much of his career to collecting and publishing ballads from Scotland and England. He organized his findings chronologically, with some stories dating back to the Middle Ages. In total, Child collected 305 different ballad types, meaning the plot of the story that the ballad is trying to tell.

And that is essentially what ballads are: they are folktales set to music. As is common for ballads, these songs were usually set to strophic music, which means that each couplet or quatrain stanza has the same musical idea. The simple melody contrasts with the complex stories that ballads tell us. The plots can be romantic, tragic, heroic, and even comedic on occasion, although most of Child's ballads are rather stoic in tone. Rarely do narrators try to provide excess interpretation or details that detract from the story itself, leaving the listeners to find the moral, if there even is one.

One example is the Elphin ballad, "Tam Lin," or number 39 of the Child Ballads. Child himself dates the ballad at least as far back as 1549, but beyond a potential year, little is known about the ballad's emergence. There are some records of a dancing tradition around the ballad, but the reasons for the tradition and the role the ballad took in society has mostly been left up to speculation. And like it's sister ballad types, the meaning is hardly clear cut.

But before we begin interpreting, we need to know the story. I'll be drawing on version 39A, which was written down by the famous Scottish poet, Robert Burns. As Burns describes him, Tam Lin is an elf and the guard of a woods called Carterhaugh of which he is a strict ruler. In fact, the first we hear of him is not a romantic ode to the young elf, but a warning that all young maidens should never pass by Carterhaugh:

There's nane that gaes by Carterhaugh But they leave him a wad, Either their rings, or green mantles, Or else their maidenhead.

Once you get past the dialectic spellings, the narrator's message is straightforward: Tam Lin requires tribute of all who pass him, which may or may not include a young woman's virginity. Yikes. If you read last week's post, this is what I mean by "tension."

However, not all young women heed the unnamed narrator's call. After braiding her hair and putting on her green dress, she runs to Carterhaugh. She passes Tam Lin's white steed but still carries on until she reaches the bushes of beautiful red and green roses. But the moments she picks one, Tam Lin is summoned:

"Why pu's thou the rose, Janet, And why breaks thou the wand? Or why comes thou to Carterhaugh Withoutten my command?"

Janet does not have the patience for this troll bridge nonsense, becauseTam Lin has no right to tell her what to do or where to go. Carterhaugh used to belong to her father who has since passed the land along to her, which means that she's the one who should be saying who can pass by and who can't. This is quite a bold move to take with a magical landlord known for taking cruel and unusual tithes from young women.

And then. . . we are back at Janet's manor? Yup. That's where the scene ends. No resolution of dramatic tension, no sassy battle between Janet and Tam Lin, and definitely no further explanation of what happened. However, we are given a not so small clue about what went down.

Janet's pregnant.

It isn't clear how much time has passed between her visit to Carterhaugh and the party, but it's enough time that her father notices Janet's baby bump. Her father is shockingly calm about this whole thing, and his voice is even described as "meek and mild" when he asks her who the father is. With her usual boldness, Janet admits that the father is not one of her father's knights but rather an elf:

"If that I gae wi child, father, Mysel maun bear the blame, There's neer a laird about your ha, Shall get the bairn's name.

"If my love were an earthly knight, As he's an elfin grey, I wad na gie my ain true-love For nae lord that ye hae.

"My love?" Does she mean "lover," or does she really love Tam Lin? Is his Elphin form the only thing keeping them apart? Or is her pregnancy the only thing keeping them together? As usual, we are left with more questions than answers. What we do know is that she has no plan on marrying one of her father's knights and trying to cover the real way her child was conceived. She also says that she must bear the blame for her pregnancy, which we will discuss more when we get to the interpretation.

And then. . . another time jump. Clearly, establishing setting isn't very important in medieval Scotland. Without explanation, Janet is now running as fast as she can back to Carterhaugh where she plucks another rose. In some versions, however, it isn't a rose at all but an abortive herb. Either way, Tam Lin has a feeling that Janet is there for something more than a rose:

"Why pu's thou the rose, Janet, Amang the groves sae green, And a' to kill the bonny babe That we gat us between?"

However, Janet appears to be in no hurry to abort the baby, as she asks Tam Lin to provide some much-needed backstory. Is she asking for a reason not to abort her child? Was she even coming to abort her child in the first place? Maybe she is trying to put some pressure on the father of her child to be a father.

Regardless, Tam Lin gives her a reason. He explains that he was once a mortal knight who fell from his horse and was abducted by the Queen of the Fairies. Although he claims the fairy realm is "pleasant," he is not a huge fan of the fairies making a sacrifice to hell every seven years. And it just so happens that tonight is Halloween, and this midnight will mark seven years. To add to the most absurd coincidence of all time, Tam Lin believes that he is going to be the offering.

Okay, we need to back up about 50o steps. In the world of folklore, especially that from Scottish and Irish traditions, getting kidnapped by fairies is weirdly common. Babies, for example, maybe taken and replaced with a fairy infant, or changeling. In some of these stories, the stolen children are to be sacrificed to hell, similar to the Tam Lin story. The importance of Halloween night is a little less clear. However, part of the reason may be that Hallowday, the day after Halloween, was biannual rent payments were made on Beltane and Hallowday, which could be why the devil is also demanding payment. Either way, it's an abrupt change in the story's tone, even if it is an exciting one.

The point is that hell is demanding payment in the form of Tam Lin, and Janet needs to save him. How? She will wait for the parade of fairies to pass by and pull down Tam Lin from his horse, which will be stark white. While in her arms, he will transform into numerous frightening creatures, during which Janet should "hold [him] fast and fear [him] not, and ye shall love your child." Finally, he will become a "burning gleed" which she must throw into a well. Out of the well will emerge her true love, whom she must cover with a green mantle and hide him from the fairies.

And Janet does everything. She kidnaps Tam Lin back from the fairies and subside her fears while he turns into a lion in her arms. And once she has thrown him into the well, she sees the beautiful youth the fairies stole all those years ago.

The only detail that Janet doesn't do a great job of following is making sure that Tam Lin is hidden from the fairies, because the story ends with the fairy queens final prophecy and regrets:

"Shame betide her ill-far'd face, And an ill death may she die, For she's taen awa the bonniest knight In a' my companie.

"But had I kend, Tam Lin," said she, "What now this night I see, I wad hae taen out thy twa grey een, And put in twa een o tree."

We don't know if young Janet ever falls victim to the "ill death" the queen declares, as all recorded versions end with Tam Lin's transformation back into a man. But beyond her curse, the queen mostly leaves us with regrets for not better protecting her stolen knight from being stolen back. Any fearsome display of power is counteracted by the fact that this is a powerful being admitting defeat to our young heroine. For that reason, we can assume that Tam Lin and Janet are able to walk at the least, and at the most, walk away happy.

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Reading or listening to "Tam Lin" can feel like a Sphinxian riddle for which there is no straight forward answer. As with Burns' other works, the Scottish English dialect can be tedious for us in the US. The language mixed with the fairytale-esque characters makes you feel the age of the text while you are reading it, however old it may be.

But the more you dive in, the more current the story becomes. Yes, it is a story about fairies and elves. It is also about sexuality, bodily autonomy, and reversed gender expectations. It is a triumph in itself that a female has premarital sex without dying, let alone while saving her true love from being sacrificed to hell. The juxtaposition between the old and the new is what made me fall in love with this story in the first place and makes me even more determined to understand the story.

However, the narrators of the Child Ballads rarely feed you the answers. Any characterization comes from the actions of the characters themselves rather than what is being told about them. There are also a lot of actions we don't see. What exactly happened at Carterhaugh that first time? Did Janet actually plan to kill her baby, or was she trying to get information and loyalty out of Tam Lin? What about the ominous prophecy in the Queen of the Fairies' final words?

Whole books have been written about the story of Tam Lin, so let's just look at that first question. Talking about consent in 16th-century Scottish lore is far from simple. Too often, Western folktales and myths provide ambiguous terms to describe rape and sexual assault, such as the "ravishment" of Leda by Zeus disguised as a swan. And when sexual violence is named for what it is, there are rarely consequences. So the question of whether or not Janet's "maidenhood" was taken or freely given is nearly impossible to answer. On one hand, the narrator has told us that Tam Lin takes the "maidenhoods" of the young women who come to Carterhaugh as payment, which sounds coercive at best.

However, there is a slim possibility Tam Lin never took anything. What if young women like Janet sought out Tam Lin for the very reason they were being warned against Carterhaugh? I mean, if Twilight has taught us anything, there is something so appealing about a supernatural bad boy that he can distract usually sane people from seeing obvious consequences. And if pregnancy follows the encounter, the taking could either be assumed by the woman's parents or used as an alibi by the young woman to dissuade being blamed. But like I said, the evidence for this theory is highly circumstantial, and it is still very possible that Tam Lin was in fact forcing women to have sex with him as payment for stepping foot on the land he did not actually have a claim to.

But what about Janet? Even if the narrator is right, Janet's story is the one being told for a reason. Maybe it is not only the consequences of her actions that are story-worthy but also her actions themselves. If others had come to Carterhaugh without knowing the dangers, Janet may still have been aware. She is readying herself to leave for Carterhaugh right after the warning is given, which may mean she saw the draw in the narrator's command rather than the danger.

The way Janet prepares may be another indicator of her intention. Even in the scene where Janet is preparing to leave for Caterhaugh, she is either combing or braiding her hair and puts on a green gown, or kirtle. Hair combing, according to Toelken, is sometimes a metaphor for readiness for sexual activity, and the color of her gown may have a similar connotation. Green is known to be associated both with bad luck and the fairy people, but it has also be linked to sexual activity. In fact, with her father discovers her pregnancy, she is described as "green as glass," which further supports this metaphor.

After making her preparations, Janet literally runs to Carterhaugh, which seems like a lot of effort for someone who just wants to pick a couple of flowers. Burns' version also tells us that Janet actually sees Tam Lin's horse before she picks the flower, meaning she chose to stay despite knowing Tam Lin would be watching nearby. When he does appear, Tam Lin says her name before Janet ever tells it to him. Is this fairy magic, or has Janet been there before? This is a detail I haven't read a lot of theorists comment on, so it is more likely supernatural. But if Janet had met Tam Lin at Carterhaugh before, Janet's later declaration of love for the creature has a lot more weight to it. It also means reframes Tam Lin's stiff and demanding opener as flirtatious, which in my opinion, is a lot more fun then mutterings of a wannabe bridge troll.

But remember, this is a story about actions, not intent. So whom do Janet's actions say she is? Throughout her story, Janet never just settles for the easy thing. She doesn't try to hide her pregnancy from her father, she defies the narrator's heeding at the beginning, and saves Tam Lin by remaining steadfast to his changing form. To me, her preparations before running to Carterhaugh along with her assertive personality are fairly clear indications that Janet knew what she was getting into with Tam Lin. Even if Janet is a victim, she hones her control of her life, her body, and her destiny.

Or not. "Tam Lin" is the kind of story I could write forty essays on, all with opposing theses. That's why the Child Ballads remain so integral to our culture hundreds of years after their conception: they lead with the story, not with an agenda. Of course, there is an important place in our world for stories that promote action and new perspectives. We progress because of those stories. But we also need stories that may not fuel our determination but our inner explorers. "Tam Lin" in all its ambiguity and weirdness makes me want to create for the sake of creating.

On Friday, a special bonus Part II to our look at "Tam Lin" will examine how this timeless story has fueled creativity in both past and current generations. Until then, I encourage you to read the original ballad and to try to find your own truth in the story. Or if you'd prefer, enjoy the story for what it is: a great story.

Click the link below to read the ballad for yourself:

"Tam Lin" 39A.odt

Download ODT • 16KB

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References

"Child ballad." Grove Music Online. 2001. Oxford University Press. Date of access 6 May. 2020, <https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000005583>

Brown, Mary Ellen. “Placed, Replaced, or Misplaced?: The Ballads' Progress.” The Eighteenth Century, vol. 47, no. 2, 2006, pp. 115–129., doi:10.1353/ecy.2007.0021.

Child, Francis James. The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. Edited by Francis James Child, The Project Gutenberg EBook, vol. 1, Project Gutenberg, 2017, Gutenberg, <www.gutenberg.org/files/44969/44969-h/44969-h.htm#Ballad_39>

Hixon, Martha P. “Tam Lin, Fair Janet, and the Sexual Revolution: Traditional Ballads, Fairy Tales, and Twentieth-Century Children's Literature.” Marvels & Tales, vol. 18, no. 1, 2004, pp. 67–92. Project Muse, doi:10.1353/mat.2004.0010.

Lyle, E B. “The Ballad Tam Lin and Traditional Tales of Recovery from the Fairy Troop.” Studies in Scottish Literature, vol. 6, no. 3, 1 Jan. 1969, pp. 175–185.

Lyle, E B. “The Teind to Hell in ‘Tam Lin.’” Folklore, vol. 81, no. 3, 1970, pp. 177–181.

Niles, John D. “Tam Lin: Form and Meaning in a Traditional Ballad*.” Modern Language Quarterly, vol. 38, no. 4, 1977, pp. 336–347., doi:10.1215/00267929-38-4-336.

Porter, James. "Child, Francis James." Grove Music Online. 2001. Oxford University Press. Date of access 6 May. 2020, <https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000048785>

Porter, James, Jeremy Barlow, Graham Johnson, Eric Sams, and Nicholas Temperley. "Ballad." Grove Music Online. 2001. Oxford University Press. Date of access 6 May. 2020, <https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000001879>

Tilmouth, Michael. "Strophic." Grove Music Online. 2001. Oxford University Press. Date of access 7 May. 2020, <https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000026981>