The subject of the ballad 'Young Tarn Lin', of which there are many versions, both in the Border country and in Aberdeenshire. It is perhaps the most important of all the supernatural ballads because of the many fairy beliefs incorporated in it. The fullest version is No.39A in Child's The English and Scottish Popular Ballads.

At the beginning the king warns the maidens in his court not to go to Carterhaugh Wood, which is haunted by Young Tarn Lin who exacts a pledge from every maiden who visits it, most likely her maidenhood. In spite of his warning his own daughter Janet goes to the well of Carterhaugh, summons Young Tam Lin by plucking a rose, and loses her maidenhood to him. The rest of the ballad is so vivid and so full of important detail that it would be a pity only to summarize it.

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.

When she came to Carterhaugh

Tam Lin was at the well,

And there she fand his steed standing,

But away was himsel.

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.

Why pu's thou the rose, Janet,

And why breaks thou the wand?

Or why comes thou to Carterhaugh

Withoutten my command?

"Carterhaugh, it is my own,

My daddy gave it me,

I'll come and gang by Carterhaugh,

And ask nae leave at thee."

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.

Four and twenty ladies fair

Were playing at the ba,

And out then came the fair Janet,

The flower among them a'.

Four and twenty ladies fair

Were playing at the chess,

And out then came the fair Janet,

As green as onie glass.

Out then spake an auld grey knight,

Lay oer the castle wa,

And says, Alas, fair Janet, for thee,

But we'll be blamed a'.

"Haud your tongue, ye auld fac'd knight,

Some ill death may ye die!

Father my bairn on whom I will,

I'll father none on thee."

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."

"If that I gae wi child, father,

Mysel maun bear the blame,

There's neer a laird about your ha,

Shall get the bairn's name.

"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.

"The steed that my true love rides on

Is lighter than the wind,

Wi siller he is shod before,

Wi burning gowd behind."

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.

When she came to Carterhaugh,

Tam Lin was at the well,

And there she fand his steed standing,

But away was himsel.

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.

"Why pu's thou the rose, Janet,

Amang the groves sae green,

And a' to kill the bonny babe

That we gat us between?"

"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?"

"Roxbrugh he was my grandfather,

Took me with him to bide

And ance it fell upon a day

That wae did me betide.

"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.

"And pleasant is the fairy land,

But, an eerie tale to tell,

Ay at the end of seven years,

We pay a tiend to hell,

I am sae fair and fu o flesh,

I'm feard it be mysel.

"But the night is Halloween, lady,

The morn is Hallowday,

Then win me, win me, an ye will,

For weel I wat ye may.

"Just at the mirk and midnight hour

The fairy folk will ride,

And they that wad their true-love win,

At Miles Cross they maun bide."

"But how shall I thee ken, Tam Lin,

Or how my true-love know,

Amang sa mony unco knights,

The like I never saw?"

"O first let pass the black, lady,

And syne let pass the brown,

But quickly run to the milk-white steed,

Pu ye his rider down.

"For I'll ride on the milk-white steed,

And ay nearest the town,

Because I was an earthly knight

They gie me that renown.

"My right hand will be gloved, lady,

My left hand will be bare,

Cockt up shall my bonnet be,

And kaimed down shall my hair,

And thae's the takens I gie thee,

Nae doubt I will be there.

"They'll turn me in your arms, lady,

Into an esk and adder,

But hold me fast, and fear me not,

I am your bairn's father.

"They'll turn me to a bear sae grim,

And then a lion bold,

But hold me fast, and fear me not,

And ye shall love your child.

"Again they'll turn me in your arms

To a red het gand of airn,

But hold me fast, and fear me not,

I'll do you nae harm.

"And last they'll turn me in your arms

Into the burning gleed,

Then throw me into well water,

O throw me in with speed

"And then I'll be your ain true-love,

I'll turn a naked knight,

Then cover me wi your green mantle,

And hide me out o sight."

Gloomy, gloomy was the night,

And eerie was the way,

As fair Jenny in her green mantle

To Miles Cross she did gae.

At the mirk and midnight hour

She heard the bridles sing,

She was as glad at that

As any earthly thing.

First she let the black pass by,

And syne she let the brown,

But quickly she ran to the milk-white steed,

And pu'd the rider down.

Sae weel she minded what he did say,

And young Tam Lin did win,

Syne covered him wi her green mantle,

As blythe's a bird in spring

Out then spak the Queen o Fairies,

Out of a bush o broom,

"Them that has gotten young Tam Lin

Has gotten a stately-groom."

Out then spak the Queen o Fairies,

And an angry woman was she,

"Shame betide her ill-far'd face,

And an ill death may she die,

For she's taen awa the bonniest knight

In a' my companie.

"But had I kend, Tam Lin," said she,

"What now this night I see,

I wad hae taen out thy twa grey een,

And put in twa een o tree."

Here we have the summoning of a spirit by breaking the branch of a tree sacred to him, the fairy rade with its jingling bells at Hallowe'en, the time most sacred to the fairies, the fairy knowe, the teind to Hell — so characteristic of Scottish Fairyland — the rescue from Fairyland by holding fast, the shape-shifting of the captive, and the essential illwill of the Fairy Queen.

Tamlin, Tamlane, Tam-a-Lin were names often given to a fairy, sometimes a page, sometimes a knight and sometimes a grotesquely comic character, as in the nursery rhyme:

Tam-a-Lin and his wife, and his wife's mother,

They went over a bridge all three together;

The bridge was broken, and they fell in;

'The devil go with all!' says Tam-a-Lin.

[Type: 425 (variant). Motifs: C515, d6io; D757; F301.1.1.2; F320; R112.3]