The Ever-Vigilant Hero: Revaluing the Tale of Tam Lin
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Abstract
In the Scots folk tale, Tam Lin (Child Ballad #39), a beautiful young knight is captured by the Fairy Queen when he falls from his horse. The Fairy Queen takes Tam as her lover, to live with the Fairy Folk until she tires of him. Once captured by the Queen, Tam is no longer a participant in a mortal reality. At times he can be found in the abandoned halls and gardens of Carterhaugh, but these visits must be secretive (the Queen's hold over him is jealous and powerful), and there is risk and danger involved in his visits to our reality. For when the Fairy Queen tires of Tam Lin, or if he becomes irksome to her, he will be given as a tithe to Hell. Thus, when the hero Janet1 falls in love with Tam Lin and becomes impregnated by him, he is half dead—dead to a human, mortal existence yet alive among the immortal Fairy Folk. Tam Lin is "living" on borrowed time, and it is Janet's project to save him by pulling him away from the Fairy Queen's powers, back into the mortal world of Carterhaugh and Old Scotland. Should Janet fail in this, Tam Lin will surely be pushed into Hell, into an endless death and suffering from which there is no return.
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