The haunting Scottish tale of Tam Lin, a knight cursed by the Fairy Queen, continues to captivate audiences through ballads, books, and films, says DAVID TURNBULL
In Selkirkshire, where the Yarrow and Ettrick rivers meet, lies Carterhaugh, now a farm, but once part of the Ettrick Forest.
It’s here that an eerie tale with Halloween connections took place near the well that once stood there.
The name Tamlane’s Well still marks the roadside near the farm.
Tamlane has been known by many names; Tamling, Tomling, Tam Lien, Tam Lyn. But he is best known as Tam Lin.
Tam Lin’s story is the tale of a knight who falls from his horse near the well, is spirited away by the Queen of the Fairies, and condemned to haunt Carterhaugh in elven form.
Maidens are warned not to go by Carterhaugh without a gift for the knight lest he seduces them and steals their maidenhood.
Janet, a local lass, defies the warning, claiming a hereditary right to go by Carterhaugh, and stating the land belongs to her family.
When she becomes pregnant by Tam Lin she vows to rescue him from the Fairy Queen.
He tells her of an elven procession to give tithe to the devil on Halloween.
She lies in wait at midnight and pulls him from his white steed, holding him tightly despite attempts by supernatural forces to frighten her by transforming him into creatures such as a newt and a writhing adder.
Finally, when he is changed into a glowing lump of burning coal, she tosses him into the well where he regains his human form.
The first recorded reference to Tam Lin is in Complayant of Scotland (1549) where it appears in a list of medieval romances as The Tale of Young Tamelane. A character called Tomalin makes an appearance in Michael Drayton’s narrative poem Nymphidia (1627).
The best known version, and the one most often quoted, is The Ballad of Tam Lin, composed by the poet Robert Burns in 1796 and published in James Jonhson’s Scots Musical Museum.
The ballad, based on traditional versions, opens with a dire warning.
O I forbid ye, maidens a’
That wear gown on your hair
To come, and gae by Carterhaugh
For young Tom-lin is there
In the 1860s Francis James Child listed Tam Lin as number 39 in his collection of English and Scottish Ballads.
It appeared in many Victorian folk tale collections, including Little Prudy’s Fairy Book by Sophie May (1866) and More English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs (1893).
In the 20th Century it appeared in Stories of the Scottish Border (1919) by William and Susan Platt and Scottish Folk Tales and Legends by Barbara Ker Wilson (1954).
These written versions depict the anger of the Fairy Queen once Tam Lin has been rescued by Janet, ranting that had she known their collusion with she’d have gouged out his eyes and replaced them with wood.
On their 1969 album Liege and Lief, folk rock band Fairport Convention recorded a version of the Burns ballad.
A year later, in 1970, Hollywood actor Roddy McDowall made his one and only foray into the director’s chair with the folk horror movie Tam Lin – The Devil’s Widow.
The film portrays a modern day version of the tale, with Ava Gardener in the Fairy Queen role, Ian McShane as the knight, Stephanie Beacham as the maiden, and early roles for Sinead Cusack, Joanna Lumley and Jenny Hanley as part of Gardener’s character’s coven of hangers on.
The Tam Lin motif continues to inspire writers to this day and has appeared in many novels, and indeed graphic novels.
Versions of the ballad have been recorded by artists as diverse as Pentangle, Steeleye Span, The Mediaeval Babes and Benjamin Zephania.
It would seem, despite the old warnings, people are still tempted to go by Carterhaugh, bearing gifts for Tam Lin.
Have you ever visited Carterhaugh or heard a version of the legend of Tam Lin? Let us know in the comments!
