3.6- The Ballad of Tam Lin
This romantic ballad tale from the Scots Borders has worked its way into popular culture through many films and book series. This week we look at the heart of the tale: Janet and her elf lover Tam Lin.
Illustration by John. D. Batten for More English Fairytales
The origins of Tam Lin
Written record of Tam Lin begins with the broadside ballads of the 17th and 18th century, when balladiers could pay to have their songs printed on to single sheet ‘broadsides’ for sale to the public. The earliest version of Tam Lin in the Child Ballad Index dates from 1791. It tells the story of a girl called Janet, who is cautioned not to stray in the forest of Carterhaugh, because of an elf with a taste for relieving maidens of their virginity, called Tom Lin (or Tom Line).
I forbid ye, maidens a',
that wear goud on your gear,
To come and gae by Carterhaugh,
For young Tom Line is there.
The premise of the ballad is a romantic one: poor Janet meets Tom Lin. He takes her maiden head and she is left pregnant. When she goes to seek him out he tells her that he is no elf, but a laird’s son captured by the Fairy Queen. He tells her how to free him and brave Janet, who is either only just pregnant or very heavily pregnant, must pull him from the fairy procession and hold him as he goes through a series of animal transformations.
Luckily, this story has a happy ending and brave Janet manages to hold on to the father of her child, freeing him from the Fairy Queen’s enchantment.
It’s easy to see why this tale has such broad appeal and has been adapted so many times.
Postr for the 1970 Film Tam Lin, also known as The Devil’s Widow
The Devil’s Widow
In 1970, the ballad was very loosely adapted into the film Tam Lin by Hollywood star Roddy Mcdowell. The story is set in modern times and casts the faery queen as a wealthy middle aged woman (played by the beautiful Ava Gardner) who keeps herself young by surrounding herself with handsome young men.
In this adaptation the Tam character is called Tom and is played bya very young Ian McShane and his lover, Janet, lives at the parsonage. It’s an interesting look at how folktales can be updated and how the moral messages of these stories are still as cultural relevant today as when they were first written.