The Tale of Tam Lin

Imagine having to hold onto that!

Greetings, reader and happy Women's History Month! This week, we have The Tale of Tam Lin, a Scottish story about a plucky lass and the lad she loved. This is one of my favorite fairy tales, so let's get to over-analyzing!

Firstly, we need to take several moments to appreciate Janet. In this version, she has the fairy tale trope of falling in love with someone after spending an afternoon with them, but other than that, she's pretty awesome. Once she realizes that she loves Tam Lin and that she can save him from the Fairy Queen, she does it. There is no need for her to try to get someone else to do it, or to dither about it. Janet loves him and she'll do whatever it takes to set him free. What really makes this story stick in my mind, though, are the transformations that Tam Lin goes through before Janet wins him free. I've seen some versions where he also becomes a bear. Can you imagine trying to hang on to someone in all of these forms? The red hot cinder would definitely be the worst one, though. It also makes some nice parallels in my mind with how people change personalities when they're not feeling well, but you stand by them anyway because you love them.

Also, I have to draw this parallel. Some of you may be familiar with the Sexy Lamp Test. Essentially, if a female character can be replaced with a sexy lamp and that plot would stay the same, that character is not relevant to the plot. I'm a little amused that this test works in this story, except for the man. Once Janet and Tam Lin fall in love, Tam Lin doesn't really do much. He could be replaced by a sexy lamp. This isn't great for Tam Lin's relevance to the story, but it does make me chuckle to see a guy not pass this test.

Finally, let's look at Janet's father. All we know about him is that he blessed the marriage between Tam Lin and Janet. Janet is a pretty headstrong girl, so he might have been happy that she'd found a good match. Or he might have known there was no sense in arguing with her about this, especially after he heard what Janet had to do to win him. Either way, if Tam Lin was good enough for the Fairy Queen, he was probably good enough for Janet. Looking at it that way, I almost feel sorry for what Janet's father went through when she was growing up.

The moral of this story is if you're going to win your love back from the fey, be prepared to get hurt. Alternatively, don't let yourself get kidnapped by the Fairy Queen, or it will be really difficult to get someone to save you.

Have another moral? Annoyed I didn't talk about the Fairy Queen? Have a story you want me to look at? Comment below!