Tam Lin

Good counsel does forbid you, dears
With flowers in your hair
To come or go by Carterhaugh
For young Tam Lin is there

There's none who go by Carterhaugh
Who break with elven bread
But leave something of theirs behind
Their rings or maidenheads

Fair Margaery braided her hair
Rode swift beneath the sky
Away she rode to Carterhaugh
As fast as she could hie

When she arrived to Yarrow Down
Far later in the day
She saw his steed that stood there proud
Tam Lin, he was away

She spied a lovely red, red rose
She picked one, two, and three
A rose is ever more than that
A truth it stands to be

He caught her by the slim, white arm
Said leave the roses be
You have not asked if you could pluck
Blooms as (sweet and) red as these

She said, I need not ask for these
Nor ask you for your leave
For Carterhaugh is mine by rights
Father gave it to me

Then looked into his deep, deep eyes
And followed his sure lead
They lay right down within the fields
And danced upon the leaves

Then went she home to father dear
He spoke so meek and mild
But said, alas, dear Margaery
I fear you are with child

Said she, I think that cannot be
My love's an elfin man
Of mist and fog and storm and wind
His steed gleams like the sand

But rode she then to Carterhaugh
To ask much of Tam Lin
Need she to know
Who was the sire of her wee coming bairn

Now tell the truth, Tam Lin! Said she
Please tell the truth to me!
Were ever you a human man
Raised with all that's holy?

O I will tell the truth, said he
My dear, sweet lovely bride
With human grandfather did live
Much then did me betide

Once upon my milk white steed
I rode to hunt the hart
When we were from the hunting come
fell from my horse apart

The night was Halloween, my dear
The seventh since the fey
Had last taken another man
Before the break of day

Gloomy, gloomy was the night
And eerie was the way
The Queen of Fairies took me down
And turned me to a fey

But if you meet me in the woods
And chase me as I change
I'll turn to coal, I'll burn in rage
Throw me within well with sage

From there I will emerge
A knight, naked but a man
And then you will not sing a dirge
For I can take your hand

They then heard chimes, the elven bells
Of Fairy Land to knell
Every seven years it tolls
A tithe to pay to hell

But once it rang, sweet Margaery
She ran into the trees
And with each change that Tam Lin made
She chased to set him free

He turned into a burning coal
She threw him to the well
Then up he came a young man true
Within a human shell

She plucked a rose from Carterhaugh
She plucked one, two, and three
Braided them in her dark hair
For her Tam Lin was free

She bore a bairn so bright and braw
A trio, quite a band
In Carterhaugh, they made their home
For them, a golden land

O I had kent Tam Lin, said she
Before I'd seen your home
That in your heart was flesh and blood
And not a heart of stone

O I had kent Tam Lin, said she
Before I'd seen your home
That in your heart was flesh and blood
And not a heart of stone