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Tam Lin (Child 39, Roud 35) (also called Tamlane, Tamlin, Tomlin, Tam Lien, Tam-a-Line, Tam Lyn, or Tam Lane) is a ballad collected from traditional singers in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the USA. . through all forms of transformation is found throughout Europe in folktales. The story has been adapted into various stories, songs and films.

Synopsis
Most variants begin with the warning that Tam Lin collects either a possession or the virginity of any maiden who passes through the forest of Carterhaugh. When a young woman, usually called Janet or Margaret, goes to Carterhaugh and plucks a double rose, Tam appears and asks her why she has come without his leave and taken what is his. In some versions she states that she owns Carterhaugh because her father has given it to her. He rapes her.

In most variants, Janet then goes home and discovers that she is pregnant; some variants pick up the story at this point. When asked about her condition, she declares that her baby's father is an elf whom she will not forsake. In some versions, she is informed of a herb that will induce abortion; in all the variants, when she returns to Carterhaugh and picks a plant, either the same roses as on her earlier visit or the herb, Tam reappears and challenges her action.

She asks him whether he was ever human, either after that reappearance or, in some versions, immediately after their first meeting resulted in her pregnancy. He reveals that he was a mortal man, who, falling from his horse, was caught and captured by the Queen of Fairies. Every seven years, the fairies give one of their people as a teind (tithe) to Hell and Tam fears he will become the tithe that night, which is Hallowe'en. He is to ride as part of a company of elven knights. Janet will recognise him by the white horse upon which he rides and by other signs. He instructs her to rescue him by pulling him down from the white horse - so Janet "catches" him this time - and holding him tightly. He warns her that the fairies will attempt to make her drop him by turning him into all manner of beasts (see Proteus), but that he will do her no harm. When he is finally turned into a burning coal, she is to throw him into a well, whereupon he will reappear as a naked man, and she must hide him. Janet does as she is asked and wins her knight. The Queen of Fairies is angry but acknowledges defeat.

In different variations, Tam Lin is reportedly the grandson of the Laird of Roxburgh, the Laird of Foulis, the Earl of Forbes, or the Earl of Murray. His name also varies between versions (Tam Lin being the most common) as Tom Line, Tomlin, Young Tambling, and Tam-a-line.

Variants
The ballad dates to at least as early as 1549 (the publication date of The Complaynt of Scotland that mentions "The Tayl of the Ȝong Tamlene" ('The Tale of the Young Tamelene') among a long list of medieval romances).

There have been several interpretations of the Tam Lin story:


 * Francis James Child collected fourteen variants in The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. (Another Child ballad, Burd Ellen and Young Tamlane, has no connection with this ballad except for the similarity of the heroes' names.)
 * Joseph Jacobs included a variant, "Tamlane", in More English Fairy Tales.
 * John Myers Myers tells a variant in Silverlock.
 * Michael Drayton's narrative poem Nimphidia (1627) includes the character who goes by the name Tomalin. In the poem he is a vassal and kinsman of Oberon, King of the Fairies.

Motifs
Child took the threat to take out Tam Lin's eyes as a common folklore precaution against mortals who could see fairies, in the tales of fairy ointment. Joseph Jacobs interpreted it as rather a reversal of the usual practice; the Queen of Faerie would have kept him from seeing the human woman who rescued him.

In some variants, "Hind Etin" has verses identical to this for the first meeting between the hero and heroine.

Prose

 * "Wild Robin," in Little Prudy's Fairy Book by Sophie May (1866)
 * The Armourer's House, by Rosemary Sutcliff (1951) -- includes a telling of the Tam Lin tale, which parallels the novel's theme of a girl struggling to obtain her dreams.
 * Scottish Folk-Tales and Legends, by Barbara Ker Wilson (1954)
 * Thursday, by Catherine Storr (1971)
 * Red Shift, by Alan Garner (1973)
 * The Queen of Spells, by Dahlov Ipcar (1973)
 * The Perilous Gard, by Elizabeth Marie Pope (1974)
 * Wild Robin, written and illustrated by Susan Jeffers (1976)
 * The Hawthorn Tree, by Patrick Little (gender role variation) (1980)
 * Fire and Hemlock, by Diana Wynne Jones (1985)
 * Nattens demon (translated from Norwegian as Demon of the Night), by Margit Sandemo (1987)
 * Tam Lin: An Old Ballad, by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Charles Mikolaycak (1990)
 * Tam Lin by Susan Cooper, illustrated by Warwick Hutton (1991)
 * Tam Lin, by Pamela Dean (1991)
 * The Nightwood, written and illustrated by Robin Muller (1991)
 * Tam Lin, in the graphic novel series Ballads and Sagas edited by Charles Vess (1995)
 * Winter Rose, by Patricia McKillip (1996)
 * Never Let Go, by Geraldine McCaughrean, illustrated by Jason Cockcroft (1999)
 * Burd Janet, by Jane Yolen, in Not One Damsel in Distress (2000)
 * "Cotillion", by Delia Sherman, in Firebirds, edited by Sharyn November (2003)
 * The Dogs of Babel (UK edition: Lorelei's Secret), by Carolyn Parkhurst (2003)
 * "My Kingdom," by Hannah Wolf Bowen, Abyss & Apex, Winter 2004
 * Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black (2004)
 * "He Said, Sidhe Said" by Tanya Huff, in Faerie Tales ed. Russell Davis and Martin H. Greenberg (2004)
 * An Earthly Knight, by Janet McNaughton (2005)
 * Gnat Stokes and the Foggy Bottom Swamp Queen, by Sally Keehn (2005)
 * Blood and Iron, by Elizabeth Bear (2006)
 * "Shapes," by K. Elizabeth Cornwell, in Fickle Muses (2009)
 * Feyland, by Anthea Sharp (2012)
 * Tamlyn, by James Moloney (2012)
 * For Your Heart, by A.L. Davroe (2013)
 * The Fairwick Chronicles, by Juliet Dark (2013)
 * Thorn Jack, by Katherine Harbour (2014)
 * Mirk and the Midnight Hour, by Jane Nickerson (2014)
 * Summer's Lease, by Eluki bes Shahar (Rosemary Edghill)
 * A Court of Thorns and Roses (novel) by Sarah J. Maas (2015)
 * Roses and Rot, by Kat Howard (2016)
 * With Roses in Their Hair, by Kayla Bashe (2016)

Theatre

 * Tam Lin by N. G. McClernan
 * The Thyme of the Season by Duncan Pflaster (incorporates elements and allusions to the story)

Music
Tam Lin -- A song by Anaïs Mitchell and Jefferson Hamer
 * The Tamlins – A Jamaican vocal group

Songs
The following bands and singers have recorded musical versions, all called "Tam Lin" unless otherwise stated:


 * "Tam Lin" by Fairport Convention on Liege & Lief (1969), Sense of Occasion and Across the Decades (live)
 * Pentangle recorded a version of Tam Lin for the 1970 film of the same name, a version which remained unreleased until inclusion on The Time Has Come boxset in 2007
 * "Young Tambling" by Anne Briggs on Anne Briggs LP (1971)
 * Frankie Armstrong on I Heard a Woman Singing (1985), a longer version on the album Tam Lin, created with Brian Pearson, Blowzabella and John Gillaspie.
 * Current 93 on the limited edition numbered single Tamlin as release 100 on the Durto Label and SixSixSix: SickSickSick compilation
 * "Tam Lynn" by Cast Iron Filter on Paradise in Palestine (1999)
 * "Tamlin" by harpist and singer/songwriter Gillian Grassie on Serpentine (2007)
 * Bob Hay & the Jolly Beggars on Tam Lin and More Songs by Robert Burns
 * The Tale of Tam Lin by Bill Jones on Panchpuran
 * Mediæval Bæbes on Mirabilis (2005)
 * Outgrabe on Love & Death
 * Pyewackett on The Man in the Moon Drinks Claret
 * Steeleye Span on Tonight's the Night, Live!
 * "Tamlin" by the Ukrainian band Tamlin (Тамлин) on Dreams on the Shore (2005 – Сны на Берегу) and rearranged on On The Winter's Threshold (2008 – На Пороге Зимы)
 * Tempest on Serrated Edge cassette (1992)
 * Tricky Pixie on Mythcreants (2009)
 * "Tam Lin of the Elves" by Drake Oranwood (featuring Heather Dale) on Hidden Gold (2015) is an original retelling of the ballad from Tam Lin's point of view.
 * Mike Waterson on his solo album, called Mike Waterson in 1977 under the name Tamlyn. This track is track eight on the first CD of the Topic Records 70 year anniversary boxed set Three Score and Ten.
 * Tamlyn by Mike Waterson was added to The Watersons 1993 CD reissue of their album For Pence and Spicy Ale and also on their 2004 four CD anthology Mighty River of Song
 * Coyote Run on "Between Wick and Flame"
 * "Tamlin" by Gillian Grassie on her 2007 CD release of the album ''Serpentine"
 * The song "Faerie Queen" by Heather Alexander seems to draw upon this legend.
 * James Findlay on his 2011 album Sport and Play
 * "Tam Lin" by Anaïs Mitchell and Jefferson Hamer on Child Ballads, released in 2013.
 * German-based mediaeval folk duo The Violet Moon recorded a version of the song in 2015 for their album "A Walk in Time".
 * The Hazards of Love by The Decemberists, released in 2009.

There are also versions which change the original story. "Tam Lyn Retold" by Benjamin Zephaniah & Eliza Carthy (on the 2007 album The Imagined Village) retells the story with the girl meeting a man in a club and having a one-night stand. Six months later she finds him to say she is pregnant and finds out he is an immigrant without a valid visa and has a court case the following day. She attends the court and sees him go though various transformations before becoming himself: a kind peaceful person. The judge sees this and lets him become a legal citizen, free to bring up his child with his wife. "Discovery" by Three Weird Sisters hints at a darker Tam Lin with ulterior motives for his seduction of the girl.

The song was recorded by the Celtic rock group Coyote Run, in their own unique style on their album Between Wick and Flame. This version includes a narrative in the words of Tam Lin himself. Tam Lin is referred to in the Kate Bush song "The Empty Bullring", "B" side to her hit "Breathing". The song is also featured on the "This Woman's Work" box set.

Other musical uses
As well as these versions, the name has also been used as the stage name of a New York City–based singer-songwriter, an LP by Frankie Armstrong, Brian Pearson, Blowzabella and Jon Gillaspie, and for the title of an Irish reel.

Film

 * Tam-Lin (1970) directed by Roddy McDowall, and starring Ava Gardner.

Other

 * Tam-Lin, a closet drama written by Elaine Lee and illustrated by Charles Vess, in The Book of Ballads and Sagas, Vess's collection of adaptations of traditional songs, mostly into comics form.
 * In Carolyn Parkhurst's novel The Dogs of Babel (also known as Lorelei's Secret in the UK), a section of Tam Lin plays a pivotal role in the story. In it the narrator, Paul Iverson, discovers that his recently deceased wife left an encrypted message to him in their bookshelf, quoting Tam Lin.
 * In the Vertigo comic book, Fables, Tam Lin died in the defence of the last stronghold of the Fables against the forces of the Adversary. He is claimed to be the knight loved by the queen of the faeries, who had a reputation of a scoundrel, but gave up his chance of freedom to his page.
 * In the Vertigo comic book series, The Sandman by Neil Gaiman, the notion that Faerie pays a sacrificial tithe to Hell is mentioned in the storyline "Season of Mists".
 * In the Vertigo comic book series The Books of Magic, The Names of Magic, and The Books of Faerie, Tamlin is the father of the protagonist Timothy Hunter, potentially the greatest sorcerer in the world. In The Books of Faerie: The Widow's Tale, the story of Tamlin's romance with Queen Titania of Faerie is revealed.
 * In The House of the Scorpion, a novel by Nancy Farmer, Tam Lin is the bodyguard of the protagonist, the clone of Matteo Alacrán.
 * The multi-faceted novel Red Shift by Alan Garner can be read as a subtle reworking of the ballad.
 * In the fantasy novel The Battle of Evernight by Cecilia Dart-Thornton, the story of Tam Lin is told as the story of Tamlain Conmor.
 * The novel Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones, is a version of Tam Lin in which Tam Lin's captivity lasts into the 20th century.
 * The story was also inserted in Cecilia Dart-Thornton's last book of the Bitterbynd trilogy, The Battle of Evernight.
 * In the Shin Megami Tensei series of video games, Tam Lin is a recurring demon that can often be recruited relatively early and is one of the very few demons whose design share an exact model with another demon – its brother model being another northern European mythological hero, Cu Chulainn.
 * This ballad was one of 25 traditional works included in Ballads Weird and Wonderful (1912) and illustrated by Vernon Hill.
 * Tamlin appears in the fantasy novel Rumors of Spring by Richard Grant.
 * The Rose, The Knight, and The Faery Host are paintings by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law depicting various parts of the Tam Lin legend.
 * The Choose Your Own Adventure book Enchanted Kingdom has an ending in which the reader/player's character is rescued from the fairies by a girl whom the character has befriended, who has to hold onto the character through three transformations.
 * In Jim Butcher's novel Cold Days Tam Lin is referenced as a former Knight of the Winter Court
 * In Kevin Macdonald's 2013 film "The Way I Live Now" (an adaptation of Meg Rosoff's teen novel), Fairport Convention's version of Tam Lin is played.

Broadsides
The earliest surviving broadsides were published in the 1540s. In 1543 Henry VIII prohibited their publication. Early Anglican psalters warned against them.

Broadsides pasted on walls of pubs

Ballad sellers and chapmen

18th and 19th century developments in Broadside Publishing
In the eighteenth century broadside publishers like Dicey (Northampton and London) and Turner (Coventry) began printing longer ballads (33 - 60 verses) printed on broadsheets and based on folktales and legends, As other forms of affordable literature became more widely available, and literacy became more widespread the market for broadsides changed. The growing professional and middle classes could buy books and go to pleasure gardens - the urban and rural working class bought ballads.

https://archive.org/details/journaloffolkson02folk Vol 2 No 8. pp 141 Yorkshire and London (3)

https://archive.org/details/journaloffolkson03folk

Folk Song Collection in England
Folk Song Collection in England started in the second half of the nineteenth century and continues today. Many collectors have contributed to our knowledge of folk song by collecting texts and tunes from traditional singers. The collections they created are a valuable cultural resource and have provided a fertile source of material for singers and musicians in a series of folk music revivals as well as for composers of classical music.

History
Broadsides and ballads

Collectors
1911 -  Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Dorset, Essex, London, Oxfordshire, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, Surrey, Sussex, Warwickshire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, S. Australia Williams 1913-16 "The Alfred Williams manuscript collection resides at the Swindon and Wiltshire History Centre, including his folk song notebooks. These cover the period coverage 1913-16 and the principal geographical coverage is the Thames Valley, Wiltshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire." Texts only. Albino 1913-1918 Cotswolds George Butterworth 1911-

Maud Karpeles

Collinson

A L Lloyd

Ewan McColl

Cyril Tawney Grey Funnel Lines: Traditional Song & Verse of the Royal Navy 1900-1970

Peter Kennedy

Alan Lomax

Stubbses

Reg Hall

Steve Roud

Mike Yates,

Stan Hugill

False Distinction?
There seems to me to be an odd and possibly false distinction being made here between the older broadsides, containing mostly ballads, and later "broadside ballads". Not all of the older ballads were masterpieces - they were as much literary products of their time as the later ballads, and some of the later ballads have become part of the English and Scottish tradition being sung and enjoyed by traditional singers alongside some of the Child ballads. I'm not an expert, but I'd be interested in an article which traced the development of the broadside from the earliest examples through to the nineteenth century. I doubt broadsides died away because of some imaginary cultural degeneration from a golden age - they were replaced by other forms of cheap literature, and other means of transmitting songs, which was at least part of their purpose for at least some 19th century rural communities.

Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy
Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy (Roud Folk song Index|Roud]] 165) is an English folk song.

Young Sailor
64 names. Most common