Ed de Moel

Child Ballads - Additions and Corrections

39. Tam Lin

P. 335. D a, excepting the title and the first stanza, is in a hand not Motherwell's.

I a first appeared in the second edition of the Minstrelsy, 1803, II, 245. The "gentleman residing near Langholm," from whom Scott derived the stanzas of a modern cast, was a Mr. Beattie, of Meikledale, and Scott suspected that they might be the work of some poetical clergyman or schoolmaster: letter to W. Laidlaw, January 21, 1803, cited by Carruthers, Abbotsford Notanda, appended to R. Chambers's Life of Scott, 1871, p. 121 f.

336 b. 'Den förtrollade prinsessan,' Lagus, Nyländska Folkvisor, I, 67, No 17.

356 b. Add: D c, 122. aft.

340 a, II, 505 b, III, 505 b. Sleeping under an apple-tree. See also st. 14 of the version immediately following.

So Lancelot goes to sleep about noon under an apple-tree, and is enchanted by Morgan the Fay. Malory's Morte Darthur, bk. vi, ch. 1, ch. 3, ed. Sommer, I, 183, 186. (G.L.K.)

K

Communicated to Scott November 11, 1812, by Hugh Irvine, Drum, Aberdeenshire, as procured from the recitation of an old woman in Buchan: Letters, V, No 137, Abbotsford. (Not in Irvine's hand.)

1   Leady Margat stands in her boor-door,
dead in the robs of green;
She longed to go to Charters Woods,
To pull the flowers her lean.
2   She had not puld a rose, a rose,
O not a rose but one,
Till up it starts True Thomas,
Said, Leady, let alone.
3   'Why pull ye the rose, Marget?
Or why break ye the tree?
Or why come ye to Charters Woods
Without the leave of me?'
4   'I will pull the rose,' she said,
'And I will break the tree,
For Charters Woods is all my own,
And I'l ask no leave of the.'
5   He's tean her by the milk-white hand,
And by the grass-green sleeve,
And laid her lo at the foot of the tree,
At her he askt no leave.
6   It fell once upon a day
They wer a pleaying at the ba,
And every one was reed and whyte,
Leady Marget's culler was all awa.
7   Out it speaks an elder man,
As he stood in the gate,
'Our king's daughter she gos we bern,
And we will get the wait.'
8   'If I be we hern,' she said,
'My own self beer the blame!
There is not a man in my father's court
Will get my bern's name.'
9   'There grows a flower in Charters Woods,
It grows on gravel greay,
It ould destroy the boney young bern
That ye got in your pley.'
10   She's tean her mantle her about,
Her green glove on her hand,
And she's awa to Charters Woods,
As fest as she could gang.
11   She had no puld a pile, a pile,
not a pile but one,
Up it startid True Thomas,
Said, Leady, lat alean.
12   'Why pull ye the pile, Marget,
That grows on gravel green,
For to destroy the boney young bern
That we got us between?'
13   'If it were to an earthly man,
As [it is] to an elphan knight,
I ould walk for my true-love's sake
All the long winter's night.'
14   'When I was a boy of eleven years old,
And much was made of me,
I went out to my father's garden,
Fell asleep at yon aple tree:
The queen of Elphan [she] came by,
And laid on her hands on me.
15   'Elphan it's a boney place,
In it fain wid I dwall;
But ey at every seven years end
We pay the teene to hell:
I'm so full of flesh and blood
I'm sear feart for mysel.
16   'The morn's Hallow Even's night,
When a' our courts do ride,
Through England and through Irland,
Through a' the world wide:
And she that would her true-love borrow
At Miles Corse she may bide.
17   'The first an court that ye come till,
Ye let them a' pass by;
The next an court that ye come till,
Ye hile them reverendly.
18   'The next an court that ye come till,
An therein rides the queen,
Me upon a milk-whyte steed,
And a gold star in my croun;
Because I am a erle's soon,
I get that for my renoun.
19   'Ye take me in your armes,
Give me a right sear fa;
The queen of Elphan she'l cry out,
True Thomas is awa!
20   'First I'l be in your armes
The fire burning so bold;
Ye hold me fast, let me no pass
Till I be like iron cold.
21   Next I'l be in your armes
The fire burning so wild;
Ye hold me fast, let me no pass,
I'm the father of your child.'
22   The first court that came her till,
She let them a' pass by;
The nex an court that came her till,
She helt them reverendly.
23   The nex an court that came her till,
And therein read the queen,
True Thomas on a milk-whyte steed,
A gold star in his croun;
Because he was a earl's soon,
He got that for his renoun.
24   She's tean him in her arms,
Geen him a right sore fa;
The queen of Elphan she cried out,
True Thomas is awa!
25   He was into her arms
The fire burning so bold;
She held him fast, let him no pass
Till he was like iron cold.
26   He was into her arms
The fire burning so wild;
She held him fast, let him no pass,
He was the father of her child.
27   The queen of Elphan she cried out,
An angry woman was she,
* Let Leady Marget an her true-love be,
She's bought him dearer than me.'
   32. breat.
154. tune (? ).
161. Thee.
272. woman is struck out.

The following fragment does not appear to have been among the "several recitals from tradition" used by Scott in making up his ballad. Some lines which it might be supposed to have furnished occur in the edition of 1802, issued before Scott's acquaintance with Laidlaw began.

L

"Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 27, Abbotsford; in the handwriting of William Laidlaw.

1   I charge ye, a' ye ladies fair,
That wear goud in your hair,
To come an gang bye Carterhaugh,
For young Tam Lien is there.
  * * *
2   Then Janet kiltit her green cleadin
A wee aboon her knee,
An she's gane away to Carterhaugh,
As fast as she can dree.
3   When Janet cam to Carterhaugh,
Tam Lien was at the wall,
An there he left his steed stannin,
But away he gaed his sell.
4   She had na pu'd a red, red rose,
A rose but only thre,
Till up then startit young Tam Lien,
Just at young Jenet's knee.
5   'What gars ye pu the rose, Janet,
Briek branches frae the tree,
An come an gang by Carterhaugh,
An speir nae leave of me?'
6   'What need I speir leave o thee, Tam?
What need I speir leave o thee,
When Carterhaugh is a' mine ain,
My father gae it me?'
  * * *
7   She's kiltit up her green cleadin
A wee aboon her knee,
An she's away to her ain bower-door,
As fast as she can dree.
  * * *
8   There war four-an-twentie fair ladies
A' dancin in a chess,
An some war blue an some war green,
But Janet was like the gress.
9   There war four-an-twentie fair ladies
A' playin at the ba,
An some war red an som wer white,
But Jennet was like the snaw.
   13. To is doubtful; almost bound in.
64. gae written over left struck out.
82, 92. A' in the Manuscript.

M

"Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 15. Communicated to Scott by Major Henry Hutton, Royal Artillery, 24th December, 1802, as recollected by his father "and the family:" Letters I, No 77. Major Hutton intimates that stanzas 46-49 of the first edition of 'Tamlane' ('Roxburgh was my grandfather,' ff., corresponding to I 28-32) should be struck out, and his verses inserted. But 4-12 of Hutton's stanzas belong to 'Thomas Rymer.'

1   My father was a noble knight,
And was much gi'n to play,
And I myself a bonny boy,
And followed him away.
2   He rowd me in his hunting-coat
And layd me down to sleep,
And by the queen of fairies came,
And took me up to keep.
3   She set me on a milk-white steed;
'T was o the elfin kind;
His feet were shot wi beaten goud,
And fleeter than the wind.
4   Then we raid on and on'ard mair,
Oer mountain, hill and lee,
Till we came to a hie, hie wa,
Upon a mountain's bree.
5   The apples hung like stars of goud
Out-our that wa sa fine;
I put my hand to pu down ane,
For want of food I thought to tine.
6   'O had your hand, Tamas!' she said,
'O let that evil fruit now be!
It was that apple ye see there
Beguil'd man and woman in your country.
7   'O dinna ye see yon road, Tamas,
Down by yon lilie lee?
Blessd is the man who yon gate gaes,
It leads him to the heavens hie.
8   'And dinna ye see yon road, Tamas,
Down by yon frosty fell?
Curst is the man that yon gate gaes,
For it leads to the gates of hell.
9   'O dinna ye see yon castle, Tamas,
That's biggit between the twa,
And theekit wi the beaten goud?
that's the fairies' ha.
10   'O when ye come to the ha, Tamas,
See that a weel-learnd boy ye be;
They'll ask ye questions ane and a',
But see ye answer nane but me.
11   'If ye speak to ain but me, Tamas,
A fairie ye maun ever bide;
But if ye speak to nane but me, Tamas,
Ye may come to be your country's pride.'
12   And when he came to Fairie Ha,
I wot a weel-learnd boy was he;
They askd him questions ane and a',
But he answerd nane but his ladie.
13   There was four-and-twenty gude knights'-sons
In fairie land obliged to bide,
And of a' the pages that were there
Fair Tamas was his ladie's pride.
14   There was four-and-twenty earthly boys,
Wha all played at the ba,
But Tamas was the bonniest boy,
And playd the best amang them a'.
15   There was four-and-twenty earthly maids,
Wha a' playd at the chess,
Their colour rosy-red and white,
Their gowns were green as grass.
16   'And pleasant are our fairie sports,
We flie o'er hill and dale;
But at the end of seven years
They pay the teen to hell.
17   'And now's the time, at Hallowmess,
Late on the morrow's even,
And if ye miss me then, Janet,
I'm lost for yearis seven.'

N

'Tamlane,' "Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 96 a; in the handwriting of John Leyden.

  'Gowd rings I can buy, Thomas,
Green mantles I can spin,
But gin ye take my maidenheid
I'll neer get that again.'
  Out and spak the queen o fairies,
Out o a shot o wheat,
'She that has gotten young Tamlane
Has gotten my heart's delight.'

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