Tam Lin

Tam Lin—also called Tamas-Lin, Tamlane, Tamlene, Tamlin, Tambling, Tomlin, Tam-Lien, Tam-a-Line, Tam-Lyn, or Tam-Lane—appears in a ballad that comes from the Scottish Borders. The plot follows his lover rescuing him from the Queen of the Fairies, using a method found in European folklore: holding onto someone while they shift through many forms. This ballad ranks as Child Ballad 39 and Roud Folk Song Index number 35.

The story usually starts with a warning that Tam Lin takes either a possession or the virginity of any woman who enters Carterhaugh forest. When a young woman, often named Janet or Margaret, goes there and picks a double rose, Tam Lin appears and asks why she took what belongs to him without permission. She replies that her father gave her Carterhaugh. In most versions, Janet later finds she is pregnant; some variants begin here. When questioned, she says the father is an elf she will not abandon. In some tellings, someone tells her about an herb that can cause abortion. When she returns to Carterhaugh to pick a plant—either roses again or the herb—Tam Lin reappears and challenges her.

She asks if he was ever human, either then or after their first meeting. Tam Lin explains that he was once mortal but got trapped in Carterhaugh by the Queen of Faeries, who caught him when he fell from his horse. He tells Janet that every seventh Hallowe'en at midnight, the fairies give one of their own as a tithe to Hell. He asks for her help, and she agrees. He instructs her to come to the forest during the tithe, where she will see him among many faerie knights on a white horse. She must pull him down, hold him tight, and not let go despite the fairies turning him into various beasts. When he becomes a burning coal, she must throw him into a well; he will then appear as a naked mortal man, whom she must hide. She follows these steps and wins him back, angering the Queen but securing her victory.

Tam Lin is sometimes called the grandson of the Laird of Roxburgh, the Laird of Foulis, the Earl of Forbes, or the Earl of Murray. His name also varies as Tom Line, Tomlin, Young Tambling, Tam-a-line, and Tamlane.

The ballad dates back at least to 1549, when *The Complaynt of Scotland* listed "The Tayl of the Ȝong Tamlene" among medieval romances. Michael Drayton's 1627 poem *Nimphidia* includes a character named Tomalin, a vassal of Oberon.