Tam Lin

I forbid you maidens all that wear gold in your hair To travel to Carterhaugh for young Tam Lin is there None that go by Carterhaugh but they leave him a pledge Either their mantles of green or else their maidenhead Janet tied her kirtle green a bit above her knee And she's gone to Carterhaugh as fast as go can she She'd not pulled a double rose, a rose but only two When up then came young Tam Lin, says "Lady, pull no more" "And why come you to Carterhaugh without command from me?" "I'll come and go", young Janet said, "and ask no leave of thee" Janet tied her kirtle green a bit above her knee And she's gone to her father as fast as go can she Well, up then spoke her father dear and he spoke meek and mild "Oh, and alas, Janet," he said, "I think you go with child" "Well, if that be so," Janet said, "myself shall bear the blame There's not a knight in all your hall shall get the baby's name" For if my love were an earthly knight as he is an elfin grey I'd not change my own true love for any knight you have" Janet tied her kirtle green a bit above her knee And she's gone to Carterhaugh as fast as go can she "Oh, tell to me, Tam Lin," she said, "why came you here to dwell?" "The Queen of Faeries caught me when from my horse I fell And at the end of seven years she pays a tithe to Hell I so fair and full of flesh and feared it be myself But tonight is Hallowe'en and the faerie folk ride Those that would their true love win at Miles Cross they must bide First let past the horses black and then let past the brown Quickly run to the white steed and pull the rider down For I'll ride on the white steed, the nearest to the town For I was an earthly knight, they give me that renown Oh, they will turn me in your arms to a newt or a snake But hold me tight and fear not, I am your baby's father And they will turn me in your arms into a lion bold But hold me tight and fear not and you will love your child And they will turn me in your arms into a naked knight But cloak me in your mantle and keep me out of sight" In the middle of the night she heard the bridle ring She heeded what he did say and young Tam Lin did win Then up spoke the Faerie Queen, an angry queen was she "Woe betide her ill-fought face, an ill death may she die" "Oh, had I known, Tam Lin," she said, "what this night I did see I'd have looked him in the eyes and turned him to a tree"