The White Horse by Gauguin
The earliest printing of Tam Lin was in ‘The Ancient and Modern Scots Songs’ by David Herd under the title of ‘Kertonhat’ or ‘The Fairy Court.’
This was a fragment of the ballad.
The location name appears as Carerhaugh in the version printed in volume 5 of ‘The Scots Musical Museum’ under the title of ‘O I forbid you maidens a’, and supplied by Robert Burns.
Carterhaugh is a plain at the confluence of the Ettrick and Yarrow, scarcely an English mile above the town of Selkirk. The location of the events within the ballad vary, dependent on where the song was collected.
Professor Child
Professor Child in his ‘English and Scottish Ballads’ points out that many of the early printed texts were derived from a similar source and plenty of re-working of the text, sometimes with the lines and verses fleshed to create a more fluent storyline. The version printed in Walter Scott‘s ‘Minstrelsy of the Scottish Borders’ was a composition of the text from Burns, Herd and Riddell with eleven new stanzas of ‘grossly modern invention.’
Bert Lloyd’s version
This most recent popular re-working of the text was done by Bert Lloyd in the early 1960s. Lloyd used the text from the Gavin Grieg collection, which had been supplied by Miss Belle Robertson as the main framework of the song, using the opening version recorded by Hamish Henderson from Betsy Johnson (Glasgow 1956) together with verses from other printed versions of the song. Then he modernised the the text structure. This version is the one most heard in the English folk clubs.
Tommy o’ Lynn
There has been some effort to look for a link between the children’s song Tommy o’ Lynn but apart from the namesake there is little to go on. The text and tunes do not match any of those of Tam Lin. Tommy o’ Lynn is very much a comic dance song reverted in more recent times to a nursery rhyme.
1
O I forbid you, maidens a’,
That wear gowd on your hair,
To come or gae by Carterhaugh,
For young Tam Lin is there.
2
There’s nane that gaes by Carterhaugh
But they leave him a wad,
Either their rings, or green mantles,
Or else their maidenhead.
3
Janet has kilted her green kirtle
A little aboon her knee,
And she has broded her yellow hair
A little aboon her bree,
And she’s awa’ to Carterhaugh
As fast as she can hie.
4
When she came to Carterhaugh
Tam Lin was at the well,
And there she fand his steed standing,
But away was himsel.
5
She had na pu’d a double rose,
A rose but only twa,
Till upon then started young Tam Lin,
Says, Lady, thou’s pu nae mae.
6
Why pu’s thou the rose, Janet,
And why breaks thou the wand?
Or why comes thou to Carterhaugh
Withoutten my command?
7.
“Carterhaugh, it is my own,
My daddy gave it me,
I’ll come and gang by Carterhaugh,
And ask nae leave at thee.”
8
Janet has kilted her green kirtle
A little aboon her knee,
And she has broded her yellow hair
A little aboon her bree,
And she is to her father’s ha,
As fast as she can hie.
9
Four and twenty ladies fair
Were playing at the ba,
And out then came the fair Janet,
The flower among them a’.
10
Four and twenty ladies fair
Were playing at the chess,
And out then came the fair Janet,
As green as onie glass.
11
Out then spake an auld grey knight,
Lay o’er the castle wa’,
And says, Alas, fair Janet, for thee,
But we’ll be blamed a’.
13
Out then spak her father dear,
And he spak meek and mild,
“And ever alas, sweet Janet,” he says,
“I think thou gaest wi’ child.”
14
“If that I gae wi’ child, father,
Mysel maun bear the blame,
There’s ne’er a laird about your ha,
Shall get the bairn’s name.
15
“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.
16
“The steed that my true love rides on
Is lighter than the wind,
Wi’ siller he is shod before,
Wi’ burning gowd behind.”
17
Janet has kilted her green kirtle
A little aboon her knee,
And she has broded her yellow hair
A little aboon her bree,
And she’s awa to Carterhaugh
As fast as she can hie.
18
When she came to Carterhaugh,
Tam Lin was at the well,
And there she fand his steed standing,
But away was himsel.
19
She had na pu’d a double rose,
A rose but only twa,
Till up then started young Tam Lin,
Says, Lady, thou pu’s nae mae.
20
“Why pu’s thou the rose, Janet,
Amang the groves sae green,
And a’ to kill the bonny babe
That we gat us between?”
21
“O tell me, tell me, Tam Lin,” she says,
“For’s sake that died on tree,
If eer ye was in holy chapel,
Or christendom did see?”
22
“Roxbrugh he was my grandfather,
Took me with him to bide
And ance it fell upon a day
That wae did me betide.”
23
“And ance it fell upon a day
A cauld day and a snell,
When we were frae the hunting come,
That frae my horse I fell,
The Queen o’ Fairies she caught me,
In yon green hill do dwell.”