US & Canadian Versions: 39. Tam Lin
[Below is the text from Dorothy Scarborough's A Song Catcher in Southern Mountains c. 1936. She got the text and music from Margaret Widdemer in Connecticut who attributes the words and music to "the late Elinor Wylie." Wylie learned the song from "her nurse, a woman from the northern marshes."
R. Matteson 2012]
CONTENTS:
1) Excerpt from The British Traditional Ballad in North America by Tristram Coffin 1950, from the section A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America.
2) Tam Lane- Scarborough
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Excerpt from The British Traditional Ballad in North America by Tristram Coffin 1950, from the section A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America
39. TAM LIN
Texts: Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 250.
Local Titles: Tam Lane.
Story Types: A: Tam Lane (who has been wooed away to the land of the fairies as a lover of the Queen of Elves) appears to Lady Margaret while she is pulling roses in Cartershay (Carterhaugh). He seduces her. When she wishes to know if he is a "Christian knight" he tells her of his plight and that, because the fairies pay a tithe to Hell every seven years, he wants to
return. In order to bring him back to be a father to her child, Lady Margaret is to go to the crossroad and pull the rider from the white steed as the fairy folk ride by. She does this and wins the knight, though the Fairy Queen is extremely irritated and tells Tarn Lane what would have happened to him had she known his plans. (The holding of the knight through various horrible
shapes that the fairies cause him to take and the throwing him in the well are lacking, while the fatherhood of Tam in respect to the girl's baby is not clear.)
Examples: Scarborough.
Discussion: Except for the melody and the first stanza which were given to the informant by Elinor Wylie, this text can not be fully accepted as part of the American tradition of the Child ballads. See Scarborough, Sgctchr So MtSy 250 I. The story given follows the Child narrative rather closely.
For a discussion of the folklore centering about the well, Carterhaugh, the fairies and earth-maiden, as well as the crossroads, and for a history of the story see Child, I, 33Sff.
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Scarborough, Dorothy. A Song Catcher in Southern Mountains: American Folk Songs of British Ancestry. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1937.
Text. Chronicles Scarborough's collection of ballads in primarily Virginia and North Carolina, including anecdotal narrative, ballad texts, and musical notation. The text of "Tam Lane" included was actually collected by the author in from a Margaret Widdemer in Connecticut; Widdemer attributes the words and music to "the late Elinor Wylie" who in turn had learned the song from "her nurse, a woman from the northern marshes;" Wylie is also credited with describing the ballad as "very much the same as the version in Child's," but the ballad printed on these pages, beginning with "May Margaret" in her bower-window, while similar in story elements, does not compare in terms of versification with any versions appearing in Child's collection. Introduction and ballad occupy pages 250-55, and musical notation appears on page 422.
Tan Lane- Margaret Widdemer Connecticut; Widdemer attributes the words and music to "the late Elinor Wylie" who in turn had learned the song from "her nurse, a woman from the northern marshes."
May Margarey sat in her castle tower,
Sewing her silken seam,
She looked out from her high window,
And saw the leaves growing green, my love,
And saw the leaves growing green.
She's let the seam drop to her foot,
The needle to her toe,
And she's way to Cartershay
As fast as she can go, my love,
As fast as she can go.
She hadna pulled a red, red rose,
A rose but barely three,
When up there started a wee, wee man,
Says, Let the roses be
My love,
Says, Let the roses be.
"Oh, I will pull the bush," she says,
"And I will pull the tree,
And I will be ut Cartershay,
And ask no leave of thee
My love,
And ask no leave of thee."
He took her by the milk-white hand,
Among the leaves so green,
And what they did I dare not say,
The green leaves were atween,
My love,
The green leaves were atween.
"Now tell to me the truth, Tam Lane,
A truth we will na lee,
If ever you were a human man
And sained in Christendy,
My love,
And sained in Christenty?"
"Oh, I will tell the truth, Margaret,
A truth I willna lee.
It's truth I have been in holy chapel
And sained as well as thee,
My love,
And sained as well as thee;
But once it fell upon a day
As hunting I did ride,
As I rode east and I rode west,
Strange chance did me betide,
My love,
Strange chance did me betide.
There blew a drowsy, drowsy wind,
Dead sleep upon me fell,
The Queen o' Fairies she was there
And she took me to herself,
My love,
And she took me to herself."
And never I would tire, Margaret,
In fairyland to dwell,
But aye at every seven years,
They pay the teind to hell,
My love,
And I fear 'twill be myself.
The night is Hallowe'een, Margaret,
When fairy folk will ride
And if you would your true love win,
At Miles Cross you must bide,
My love,
At Miles Cross you must bide."
"But how shall I thee ken, Tam Lane,
And how shall I thee know,
Among so many unearthly knights
The like I never saw,
My love,
The like I never saw?"
"Oh, first let by the black black steed,
And then let by the brown,
But grip you to the milk-white steed
And pull the rider down,
My love,
And pull the rider down.
For I'll be on the milk-white steed,
With a gold star in my crown,
Because I was a christened knight
They gave me that renown
My love,
They gave me that renown.
Gloomy, gloomy was the night
And eerie was the way
'W.hen Margaret in her green mantel
To Miles Cross she did gae,
My love,
To Miles Cross she did gae.
And first went by the black, black steed,
And then went by the brown,
And syne she gripped the milk-white steed
And pulled the rider down,
My love,
And pulled the rider down.
Up then spoke the Queen o' Fairies,
Out of a bush of broom,
She that has gotten young Tam Lane
Has gotten a stately groom,
My love,
Has gotten a stately groom.
Up then spoke the Queen o' Fairies
Out of a bush of rye,
She's taken away the bonniest knight
In all my company,
My love,
In all my company.
If I had but kent yestreen, Tam Lane,
A lady would borrow thee,
I'd taken out two gray een
Put in two of tree,
My love,
Put in two of tree.
If I had kenned, Tam Lane, she says,
Before we came from home,
I'd taken out your heart of flesh
And put in a heart of stone,
My love,
And put in a heart of stone.
If I had but half the wit yestreen
That I would have bought today,
I paid my tiend seven times to hell,
Ere ye'd been won away,
My love,
Ere ye'd been won away.