Collected English Verse — Anonymous Ballads and Songs (Part 4 of 18)

‘Ye’ll tak’ my horse then by the head
   And let the bridle fa’;
The Queen o’ Elfin she’ll cry out
   ‘‘True Tam Lin he’s awa’!’’

                                 XXXVI

‘They’ll turn me in your arms, ladye,
   An aske¹⁰ but and a snake;
But hauld me fast, let me na gae,
   To be your warldis make.¹¹

                                 XXXVII

‘They’ll turn me in your arms, ladye,
   But and a deer so wild;
But hauld me fast, let me na gae,
   The father o’ your child.

                                 XXXVIII

‘They’ll shape me in your arms, ladye,
   A hot iron at the fire;
But hauld me fast, let me na gae,
   To be your heart’s desire.

                                 XXXIX

‘They’ll shape me last in your arms, Janet,
   A mother-naked man;
Cast your green mantle over me,
   And sae will I be won.’

                                    XL

Janet has kilted her green kirtle
   A little abune the knee;
And she has snooded her yellow hair
   A little abune her bree,
And she is on to Miles Cross
   As fast as she can hie.

                                    XLI

About the dead hour o’ the night
   She heard the bridles ring;
And Janet was as glad at that
   As any earthly thing.

                                  XLII

And first gaed by the black, black steed,
   And syne gaed by the brown;
But fast she gript the milk-white steed
   And pu’d the rider down.

                                  XLIII

She’s pu’d him frae the milk-white steed,
   An’ loot¹² the bridle fa’,
And up there rase an eldritch¹³ cry,
   ‘True Tam Lin he’s awa’!’

                                  XLIV

They shaped him in her arms twa
   An aske but and a snake;
But aye she grips and hau’ds him fast
   To be her warldis make.

                                    XLV

They shaped him in her arms twa
   But and a deer sae wild;
But aye she grips and hau’ds him fast,
   The father o’ her child.

                                  XLVI

They shaped him in her arms twa
   A hot iron at the fire;
But aye she grips and hau’ds him fast
   To be her heart’s desire.

                                 XLVII

They shaped him in her arms at last
   A mother-naked man;
She cast her mantle over him,
   And sae her love she wan.

                                 XLVIII

Up then spak’ the Queen o’ Fairies,
   Out o’ a bush o’ broom,
‘She that has borrow’d young Tam Lin
   Has gotten a stately groom.’

                                  XLIX

Out then spak’ the Queen o’ Fairies,
   And an angry woman was she,
‘She’s ta’en awa’ the bonniest knight
   In a’ my companie!

                                    L

‘But what I ken this night, Tam Lin,
   Gin I had kent yestreen,
I wad ta’en out thy heart o’ flesh,
   And put in a heart o’ stane.

                                    LI

‘And adieu, Tam Lin! But gin I had kent
   A ladye wad borrow’d thee,
I wad ta’en out thy twa grey e’en
   Put in twa e’en o’ tree.¹⁴

                                    LII

‘And had I the wit yestreen, yestreen,
   That I have coft¹⁵ this day,
I’d paid my teind seven times to hell
   Ere you had been won away!’