Once upon a time there was a meadow.
In the meadow was a tree.
On the tree there was a branch.
Under the branch there was a well.
Next to the well, there was a flower.
One day, a girl named Janet picked the flower, and someone else became very upset.
You see, this particular meadow was already occupied by the infamous Tam Lin, who, if the stories were to be believed, spent most of his time robbing or seducing anyone who wandered into his home.
He asked Janet not to pick the flowers, and to kindly go home, politely at first, and then not so politely.
But Janet refused. The meadow was really hers, she claimed, as it belonged to her parents.
They argued for a little while, and then Janet went home for dinner. She was surprised to find herself with child.
When she went back to the meadow to confront Tam Lin about it, she couldn’t find him. Until, of course, she picked a flower and he came running out to stop her.
“Oh, that’s my bad,” he said, when she explained the situation. “Did I not explain that picking the flowers gets you pregnant? You may have to watch out for twins now.”
Janet managed to remain calm while explaining to Tam Lin that he had not told her any such thing, and that since a flower couldn’t very well help her raise a baby, he would have to do. Thus, she explained, they would have to start spending a lot more time together.
So they did, and a for a while, things were actually going quite well.
Until the day that what had to be a faery hunt (tiny and elfin on horseback and loaded with weapons) rode by and all flashed some sort of hand signal at Tam Lin.
“What’s that all about?” Janet asked.
“Did I not explain that the Queen of Faerie sort of owns me?” Tam Lin responded.
After Janet indicated that, no, he had not, Tam Lin explained that some time ago, he had fallen from his horse and been captured by Faeries, who gave him the meadow.
It was nearly Halloween at this time, and on the day itself, Janet went to see Tam Lin again. He was dressed very nicely, all in white.
“Did I not explain that I need you to save me tonight?” he asked.
Janet indicated that no, he had not, and he explained that the Faeries wanted to sacrifice him that night, to whatever it is faeries sacrifice their humans to, but that she, as his own true love and sort of the the mother of his child, could save him.
“Is that so?”
It was, he said, and explained: He would be forced to join the faeries as they rode about on their horses. If she intercepted them and dragged Tam Lin from his horse, they would turn him into a variety of creatures — a snake, a lion, a metal rod. As long as he held on, he was hers for keeps.
Janet agreed, somewhat reluctantly. And that night, she met him at the appointed time and place, and waited for the faeries to ride by. When she saw Tam Lin, awkwardly perched atop a very small horse, she pulled him down and held on tight.
Immediately, he was transformed. He became an otter! And he became…an otter. She held on tight anyway, and as the company of faeries rode away, he remained an otter.
At first, she gave him the benefit of the doubt, but when her child came out half otter, she became fairly sure he was keeping something from her.
The End.
Source: Tam Lin, Child’s Ballad #39
