Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border Volume Ii Part 10

Notwithstanding the special example of Lord Duffus, and of the top, it is the common opinion, that persons, falling under the power of the Fairies, were only allowed to revisit the haunts of men, after seven years had expired. At the end of seven years more, they again disappeared, after which they were seldom seen among mortals. The accounts they gave of their situation, differ in some particulars.

Sometimes they were represented as leading a life of constant restlessness, and wandering by moon-light. According to others, they inhabited a pleasant region, where, however, their situation was rendered horrible, by the sacrifice of one or more individuals to the devil, every seventh year. This circ.u.mstance is mentioned in Alison Pearson's indictment, and in the _Tale of the Young Tamlane,_ where it is termed, "the paying the kane to h.e.l.l," or, according to some recitations, "the teind," or tenth. This is the popular reason a.s.signed for the desire of the Fairies to abstract young children, as subst.i.tutes for themselves in this dreadful tribute. Concerning the mode of winning, or recovering, persons abstracted by the Fairies, tradition differs; but the popular opinion, contrary to what may be inferred from the following tale, supposes, that the recovery must be effected within a year and a day, to be held legal in the Fairy court. This feat, which was reckoned an enterprize of equal difficulty and danger, could only be accomplished on Hallowe'en, at the great annual procession of the Fairy court.[A]

Of this procession the following description is found in Montgomery's _Flyting against Polwart,_ apud _Watson's Collection of Scots Poems,_ 1709, Part III. p. 12.

In the hinder end of harvest, on All-hallowe'en, When our _good neighbours_ dois ride, if I read right.

Some buckled on a bunewand, and some on a been, Ay trottand in tronps from the twilight; Some saidled a she-ape, all grathed into green, Some hobland on a hemp-stalk, hovand to the hight; The king of Pharie and his court, with the Elf queen, With many elfish incubus was ridand that night.

There an elf on an ape, an unsel begat.

Into a pot by Pomathorne; That bratchart in a busse was born; They fand a monster on the morn, War faced nor a cat.

[Footnote A: See the inimitable poem of Hallowe'en:--

"Upon that night, when Fairies light On Ca.s.silis Downan dance; Or o'er the leas, in splendid blaze, On stately coursers prance," &c. _Burns._]

The catastrophe of _Tamlane_ terminated more successfully than that of other attempts, which tradition still records. The wife of a farmer in Lothian had been carried off by the Fairies, and, during the year of probation, repeatedly appeared on Sunday, in the midst of her children, combing their hair. On one of these occasions she was accosted by her husband; when she related to him the unfortunate event which had separated them, instructed him by what means he might win her, and exhorted him to exert all his courage, since her temporal and eternal happiness depended on the success of his attempt. The farmer, who ardently loved his wife, set out on Hallow-e'en and, in the midst of a plot of furze, waited impatiently for the procession of the Fairies. At the ringing of the Fairy bridles, and the wild unearthly sound which accompanied the cavalcade, his heart failed him, and he suffered the ghostly train to pa.s.s by without interruption. When the last had rode past, the whole troop vanished, with loud shouts of laughter and exultation; among which he plainly discovered the voice of his wife, lamenting that he had lost her for ever.

A similar, but real incident, took place at the town of North Berwick, within the memory of man. The wife of a man, above the lowest cla.s.s of society, being left alone in the house, a few days after delivery, was attacked and carried off by one of those convulsion fits, incident to her situation. Upon the return of the family, who had been engaged in hay-making, or harvest, they found the corpse much disfigured. This circ.u.mstance, the natural consequence of her disease, led some of the spectators to think that she had been carried off by the Fairies, and that the body before them was some elfin deception. The husband, probably, paid little attention to this opinion at the time. The body was interred, and, after a decent time had elapsed, finding his domestic affairs absolutely required female superintendence, the widower paid his addresses to a young woman in the neighbourhood. The recollection, however, of his former wife, whom he had tenderly loved, haunted his slumbers; and, one morning, he came to the clergyman of the parish in the utmost dismay, declaring, that she had appeared to him the preceding night, informed him that she was a captive in Fairy Land, and conjured him to attempt her deliverance. She directed him to bring the minister, and certain other persons, whom she named, to her grave at midnight. Her body was then to be dug up, and certain prayers recited; after which the corpse was to become animated, and fly from them. One of the a.s.sistants, the swiftest runner in the parish, was to pursue the body; and, if he was able to seize it, before it had thrice encircled the church, the rest were to come to his a.s.sistance, and detain it, in spite of the struggles it should use, and the various shapes into which it might be transformed. The redemption of the abstracted person was then to become complete. The minister, a sensible man, argued with his parishioner upon the indecency and absurdity of what was proposed, and dismissed him.

Next Sunday, the banns being for the first time proclaimed betwixt the widower and his new bride, his former wife, very naturally, took the opportunity of the following night to make him another visit, yet more terrific than the former. She upbraided him with his incredulity, his fickleness, and his want of affection; and, to convince him that her appearance was no aerial illusion, she gave suck, in his presence, to her youngest child. The man, under the greatest horror of mind, had again recourse to the pastor; and his ghostly counsellor fell upon an admirable expedient to console him. This was nothing less than dispensing with the further solemnity of banns, and marrying him, without an hour's delay, to the young woman to whom he was affianced; after which no spectre again disturbed his repose.

Having concluded these general observations upon the Fairy superst.i.tion, which, although minute, may not, I hope, be deemed altogether uninteresting, I proceed to the more particular ill.u.s.trations, relating to the _Tale of the Young Tamlane._

The following ballad, still popular in Ettrick Forest, where the scene is laid, is certainly of much greater antiquity than its phraseology, gradually modernized as transmitted by tradition, would seem to denote.

The _Tale of the Young Tamlane_ is mentioned in the _Complaynt of Scotland;_ and the air, to which it was chaunted, seems to have been accommodated to a particular dance; for the dance of _Thorn of Lynn_, another variation of _Thomalin_, likewise occurs in the same performance. Like every popular subject, it seems to have been frequently parodied; and a burlesque ballad, beginning

"Tom o' the Linn was a Scotsman born,"

is still well known.

In a medley, contained in a curious and ancient MS. cantus, _penes_ J.G.

Dalyell, Esq., there is an allusion to our ballad:--

"Sing young Thomlin, be merry, be merry, and twice so merry."

In _Scottish Songs_, 1774, a part of the original tale was published, under the t.i.tle of _Kerton Ha';_ a corruption of Carterhaugh; and, in the same collection, there is a fragment, containing two or three additional verses, beginning,

"I'll wager, I'll wager, I'll wager with you," &c.

In Johnson's _Musical Museum_, a more complete copy occurs, under the t.i.tle of _Thom Linn_, which, with some alterations was reprinted in the _Tales of Wonder_.

The present edition is the most perfect which has yet appeared; being prepared from a collation of the printed copies, with a very accurate one in Glenriddell's MSS., and with several recitals from tradition.

Some verses are omitted in this edition, being ascertained to belong to a separate ballad, which will be found in a subsequent part of the work.

In one recital only, the well known fragment of the _Wee, wee Man_, was introduced, in the same measure with the rest of the poem. It was retained in the first edition, but is now omitted; as the editor has been favoured, by the learned Mr Ritson, with a copy of the original poem, of which it is a detached fragment. The editor has been enabled to add several verses of beauty and interest to this edition of _Tamlane_, in consequence of a copy, obtained from a gentleman residing near Langholm, which is said to be very ancient, though the diction is somewhat of a modern cast. The manners of the Fairies are detailed at considerable length, and in poetry of no common merit.

Carterhaugh is a plain, at the conflux of the Ettrick and Yarrow, in Selkirkshire, about a mile above Selkirk, and two miles below Newark Castle; a romantic ruin, which overhangs the Yarrow, and which is said to have been the habitation of our heroine's father, though others place his residence in the tower of Oakwood. The peasants point out, upon the plain, those electrical rings, which vulgar credulity supposes to be traces of the Fairy revels. Here, they say, were placed the stands of milk, and of water, in which _Tamlane_ was dipped, in order to effect the disenchantment; and upon these spots, according to their mode of expressing themselves, the gra.s.s will never grow. Miles Cross (perhaps a corruption of Mary's Cross), where fair Janet waited the arrival of the Fairy train, is said to have stood near the duke of Buccleuch's seat of Bowhill, about half a mile from Carterhaugh. In no part of Scotland, indeed, has the belief in Fairies maintained its ground with more pertinacity than in Selkirkshire. The most sceptical among the lower ranks only venture to a.s.sert, that their appearances, and mischievous exploits, have ceased, or at least become infrequent, since the light of the Gospel was diffused in its purity. One of their frolics is said to have happened late in the last century. The victim of elfin sport was a poor man, who, being employed in pulling heather upon Peatlaw, a hill not far from Carterhaugh, had tired of his labour, and laid him down to sleep upon a Fairy ring.--When he awakened, he was amazed to find himself in the midst of a populous city, to which, as well as to the means of his transportation, he was an utter stranger. His coat was left upon the Peatlaw; and his bonnet, which had fallen off in the course of his aerial journey, was afterwards found hanging upon the steeple of the church of Lanark. The distress of the poor man was, in some degree, relieved, by meeting a carrier, whom he had formerly known, and who conducted him back to Selkirk, by a slower conveyance than had whirled him to Glasgow.--That he had been carried off by the Fairies, was implicitly believed by all, who did not reflect, that a man may have private reasons for leaving his own country, and for disguising his having intentionally done so.

THE YOUNG TAMLANE

O I forbid ye, maidens a', That wear gowd on your hair, To come or gae by Carterhaugh; For young Tamlane is there.

There's nane, that gaes by Carterhaugh, But maun leave him a wad; Either goud rings or green mantles, Or else their maidenheid.

Now, gowd rings ye may buy, maidens, Green mantles ye may spin; But, gin ye lose your maidenheid, Ye'll ne'er get that agen.

But up then spak her, fair Janet, The fairest o' a' her kin; "I'll c.u.m and gang to Carterhaugh, "And ask nae leave o' him."

Janet has kilted her green kirtle,[A]

A little abune her knee; And she has braided her yellow hair, A little abune her bree.

And when she cam to Carterhaugh, She gaed beside the well; And there she fand his steed standing, But away was himsell.

She hadna pu'd a red red rose, A rose but barely three; Till up and starts a wee wee man, At Lady Janet's knee.

Says--"Why pu' ye the rose, Janet?

"What gars ye break the tree?

"Or why come ye to Carterhaugh, "Withoutten leave o' me?"

Says--"Carterhaugh it is mine ain; "My daddie gave it me; "I'll come and gang to Carterhaugh, "And ask nae leave o' thee."

He's ta'en her by the milk-white hand, Amang the leaves sae green; And what they did I cannot tell-- The green leaves were between.

He's ta'en her by the milk-white hand, Amang the roses red; And what they did I cannot say-- She ne'er returned a maid.

When she cam to her father's ha', She looked pale and wan; They thought she'd dried some sair sickness, Or been wi' some leman.

She didna comb her yellow hair, Nor make meikle o' her heid; And ilka thing, that lady took, Was like to be her deid.

Its four and twenty ladies fair Were playing at the ba'; Janet, the wightest of them anes, Was faintest o' them a'.

Four and twenty ladies fair Were playing at the chess; And out there came the fair Janet, As green as any gra.s.s.

Out and spak an auld gray-headed knight, Lay o'er the castle wa'-- "And ever alas! for thee, Janet, "But we'll be blamed a'!"

"Now haud your tongue, ye auld gray knight!

"And an ill deid may ye die!

"Father my bairn on whom I will, "I'll father nane on thee."

Out then spak her father dear, And he spak meik and mild-- "And ever alas! my sweet Janet, "I fear ye gae with child."

"And, if I be with child, father, "Mysell maun bear the blame; "There's ne'er a knight about your ha'

"Shall hae the bairnie's name.

"And if I be with child, father, "'Twill prove a wondrous birth; "For well I swear I'm not wi' bairn "To any man on earth.

"If my love were an earthly knight, "As he's an elfin grey, "I wadna gie my ain true love "For nae lord that ye hae."