History Literature / TamLin

!!Tropes featured in the ballad
* AllHallowsEve
* DistressedDude
* TheFairFolk
* FantasyContraception
* HumanSacrifice
* LawOfInverseFertility
* NarrativePoem
* PluckyGirl
* RescueRomance
* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: Inverted
* WhiteStallion

* Tam Lin has shown up on several occasions in the ''ShinMegamiTensei'' series.
* While not a direct reference, there's a character called Tam Lin in Nancy Farmer's ''HouseOfTheScorpion''.

* In the {{Dresden Files}} 14th book {{Cold Days}} it's revealed [[spoiler: that Tam Lin once served the Winter Court as Winter Knight, and was one of the few Knights to call Maeve/The Winter Court to task for their treatment of humans before Harry took up the position.]]

"Tam Lin" is ChildBallad #39, stemming from OralTradition, and one of the most popular ballads, both as a song and as a source for literature. It is from southern Scotland, with the oldest known version was printed in 1549.

* A chapter in [[PhilFoglio]]'s Xxxenophile has a character do this to rescue her love. It's a bit more explicit naturally, as she has to have in a "lover's clasp" throughout the transformations. Naturally, this series being what it is, you don't have to guess what that entails.

In a nutshell: Headstrong young Janet hears that the mysterious Tam Lin has forbidden all maidens to go to the wood called Carterhaugh (a real place; it's near Selkirk), on pain of... how shall we put this... [[FateWorseThanDeath no longer being maidens]]. She declares that she will go to Carterhaugh, but she has no sooner picked a rose[[hottip:*:in ballads and stories, picking a rose summons the ruler of the place. See also "Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast".]] than Tam Lin himself shows up...

In a nutshell: Headstrong young Janet hears that the mysterious Tam Lin has forbidden all maidens to go to the wood called Carterhaugh (a real place; it's near Selkirk), on pain of... how shall we put this... no longer being maidens. She declares that she will go to Carterhaugh, but she has no sooner picked a rose[[hottip:*:in ballads and stories, picking a rose summons the ruler of the place. See also "Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast".]] than Tam Lin himself shows up...

* CharlesdeLint's short story "The Butter Spirit's Tithe."

-->''If my love were an earthly knight,\\
As he's an elfin grey,\\
I wad na gie my ain true-love\\
For nae lord that ye hae.''

!!Works derived from this ballad

* While not a direct reference, there's a character called Tam Lin in Nancy Farmer's HouseOfTheScorpion.

* Elizabeth Marie Pope's ''ThePerilousGard''

Tam Lin tells Janet that he was once mortal, but was captured by the Queen of the Fairies. The fairy folk must make a sacrifice to Hell every seven years, and Tam Lin fears that he's going to be offered.[[note]]There's an oblique reference to this in ''[[ComicBook/TheSandman Sandman]]''.[[/note]] Janet can save him, he explains, if she waits by Miles Cross until midnight on Halloween. That's when the fairy folk will ride by, and Tam Lin will be on a white horse. She must pull him down off his horse and hold on to him throughout his transformations. Janet does this, and the Queen of the Fairies is obliged to let Tam Lin go. Tam Lin and Janet marry.

* Creator/DianaWynneJones's ''FireAndHemlock''

* [[PatriciaAMcKillip Patricia McKillip's]] ''Winter Rose''.

* HairOfGold

* [[PatriciaMcKillip Patricia McKillip's]] ''Winter Rose''.

Tam Lin tells Janet that he was once mortal, but was captured by the Queen of the Fairies. The fairy folk must make a sacrifice to Hell every seven years, and Tam Lin fears that he's going to be offered.[[note]]There's an oblique reference to this in ''[[ComicBook/TheSandman Sandman]]''.[[/note]] Janet can save him, he explains, if she waits by Miles Cross until midnight on Halloween. That's when the fairy folk will ride by, and Tam Lin will be on a white horse. She must pull him down off his horse, and holds on to him throughout his transformations. Janet does this, and the Queen of the Fairies is obliged to let Tam Lin go. Tam Lin and Janet marry.

* DianaWynneJones's ''FireAndHemlock''

* RomanticizedAbuse: It looks like Tam Lin ''raped'' Burd Janet when they first met. When she visits him a second time, she already refers to him as her "true love", and after she freed him from the power of the elves, they marry and (presumably) live HappilyEverAfter.

* [[CharlesdeLint Charles de Lint's]] short story "The Butter Spirit's Tithe."

* In ''{{Discworld}}'', both Magrat's rescue of Verence in ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies'' and Tiffany's rescue of Roland in ''Discworld/TheWeeFreeMen'' have elements of ''Tam Lin''. Magrat is even inspired by hearing the ballad, despite Shawn's insistence that [[ThisIsReality real life isn't like folk songs]].

* RomanticizedAbuse: It would appear that Tam Lin ''raped'' Burd Janet when they first met. When she visits him a second time, she already refers to him as her "true love", and after she freed him from the power of the elves, they marry and (presumably) live HappilyEverAfter.

''Tam Lin'' is ChildBallad #39, stemming from the OralTradition, and one of the most popular ballads, both as a song and as a source for literature. It is from the south of Scotland, and was first recorded in the mid-sixteenth century.

In a nutshell: Headstrong young Janet hears that the mysterious Tam Lin has forbidden all maidens to go to the wood called Carterhaugh (a real place; it's near Selkirk), on pain of... how shall we put this... no longer being maidens. She declares that she will go to Carterhaugh, but she has no sooner picked a rose[[hottip:*:in ballads and stories, picking a rose summons the ruler of the place. See also ''BeautyAndTheBeast''.]] than Tam Lin himself shows up...

Tam Lin tells Janet that he was once mortal, but was captured by the Queen of the Fairies. The fairy folk must make a sacrifice to Hell every seven years, and Tam Lin fears that he's going to be offered.[[note]]There's an oblique reference to this in ''[[ComicBook/TheSandman Sandman]]''.[[/note]] Janet can save him, he explains, if she waits by Miles Cross until midnight on Halloween. That's when the fairy folk will ride by, and Tam Lin will be on a white horse. She must pull him down off his horse, and holds on to him throughout his transformations. Janet does this, and the Queen of the Fairies is obliged to let Tam Lin go.

The numerous variants collected by Francis Child can be found [[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch039.htm here]].

Tam Lin tells Janet that he was once mortal, but was captured by the Queen of the Fairies. The fairy folk must make a sacrifice to Hell every seven years, and Tam Lin fears that he's going to be offered.[[note]]There's an oblique reference to this in ''[[ComicBook/TheSandman Sandman]]''.[[/note]]. Janet can save him, he explains, if she waits by Miles Cross until midnight on Halloween. That's when the fairy folk will ride by, and Tam Lin will be on a white horse. She must pull him down off his horse, and holds on to him throughout his transformations. Janet does this, and the Queen of the Fairies is obliged to let Tam Lin go.

Tam Lin tells Janet that he was once mortal, but was captured by the Queen of the Fairies and is now in danger of being offered as a tithe to Hell[[hottip:*:There's an oblique reference to this in ''[[ComicBook/TheSandman Sandman]]''.]]. Janet can save him, he explains, if she waits by Miles Cross until midnight on Halloween, pulls him down off his horse, and holds on to him throughout his transformations. Janet does this, and the Queen of the Fairies is obliged to let Tam Lin go.

As he's an elfin grey,\\
I wad na gie my ain true-love\\
For nae lord that ye hae.''

Tam Lin tells Janet that he was once mortal, but was captured by the Queen of the Fairies and is now in danger of being offered as a tithe to Hell[[hottip:*:There's an oblique reference to this in ''{{Sandman}}''.]]. Janet can save him, he explains, if she waits by Miles Cross until midnight on Halloween, pulls him down off his horse, and holds on to him throughout his transformations. Janet does this, and the Queen of the Fairies is obliged to let Tam Lin go.

* DianaWynneJones's ''{{Fire and Hemlock}}''
* PamelaDean's ''Tam Lin''
* Janet [=McNaughton's=] ''An Earthly Knight''
* Elizabeth Marie Pope's ''ThePerilousGard''

* [[CharlesdeLint Charles de Lint's]] short story "The Butter Spirit's Tithe."
* Tam Lin has shown up on several occasions in the ''ShinMegamiTensei'' series.
* In ''{{Discworld}}'', both Magrat's rescue of Verence in ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies'' and Tiffany's rescue of Roland in ''Discworld/TheWeeFreeMen'' have elements of ''Tam Lin''. Magrat is even inspired by hearing the ballad, despite Shawn's insistence that [[ThisIsReality real life isn't like folk songs]].

* In ''{{Discworld}}'', both Magrat's rescue of Verence in ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies'' and Tiffany's rescue of Roland in ''Discworld/TheWeeFreeMen'' have elements of ''Tam Lin''. Magrat even remembers hearing the ballad, despite Shawn's

TamLin is ChildBallad #39, stemming from the OralTradition, and one of the most popular ballads, both as a song and as a source for literature. It is from the south of Scotland, and was first recorded in the mid-sixteenth century.