Everyone sighs for the doomed lovers Tristan and Isolde, but what of poor King Mark? Medea gives up everything for Jason, who forgets her in a heartbeat to wed Glauce, the daughter of Creon, ruler of Corinth. For that mistake, he pays with the lives of his children whom Medea slaughters in her jealous act of vengeance.

Hans Christian Anderson's Little Mermaid suffers the agony of knives in the feet on magically formed legs in order to dance with her prince. She saved him from drowning and, again, gives up everything for her love only to watch him ignorantly wed a human he mistakes as his heroine. The mermaid casts herself back into the ocean to become foam on the sea. We can't even begin to count the number of nymphs, dryads, and fair young maids who suffer transformation or are cursed because they refuse the unwanted attentions of the gods.

And then there is the Fairy Queen in The Ballad of Tam Lin...

"Tamlin" by artist and Mythic Journeys '06 guest Charles Vess

In some versions, Tam Lin falls from his horse in battle. By catching him, the Fairy Queen saves him from death, transporting him to the Land of the Sidhe. There he is treated to a life of pleasure until pregnant Janet rescues him. Poor Tam Lin.

There are other versions of the song that place The Ballad of Tam Lin as a Reiving Ballad. The title character finds himself in an unenviable position, little better than that of captured steer or stolen sheep. The historic tradition of reiving (or raiding) along the borderlands of southern Scotland and northern England was developed to a fine and bloody art. One group of big, burly lads crossed the border, and gathered up all their neighbor's cattle, possessions and slaves that they could carry away. After a recovery period, the group that had been reived crossed the border and attempted to retake their goods and more. For a fine mythic example of reiving, read the Irish tale of Táin Bó Cúalnge (Cattle-Raid of Cooley), the central epic of the Ulster cycle of legends. In that story, Queen Medb of Connaught gathers an army of reivers in order to gain possession of the most famous bull in Ireland, which is the property of Daire, a chieftain of Ulster.

From the faerie perspective, Tam Lin is just another captured human slave. As long as he behaves, he is rewarded, but make no mistake... he is entirely the possession of their mistress, the Faerie Queen. Should he misbehave, he will be seriously reprimanded, maybe even killed and replaced with another human whisked away under similar circumstances. He functions as a knight of the Faerie Court, and performs various duties that include guarding the Queen's wells, forests and gardens in the Land of the Sidhe. (Tam Lin's name translates out to something along the lines of 'knight of the well'.)

Tam Lin can't complain too much about his living conditions. One could have a much worse job location than the lands of Faerie, a legendary place of great beauty where one never grows old or suffers from any illness. The climate is always temperate, neither too hot nor too cold. Flowers bloom perpetually and never die. There is no sorrow or pain, no war, famine or pestilence of the Realms of Man. The food is great. The wine flows freely. And the music is so amazing as to drive mortals mad when deprived of the sound. Tough gig, eh?

He is a bit worried that the Faerie Queen may be thinking of sacrificing him in payment of a seven-year tithe, but that's not confirmed, only hinted. Still, he is her possession. She owns him body and soul, as you own your favored watch dog. How would you feel then if some stranger (who had already angered you by raiding your garden) came into your home and took Rover right out from under your nose? Even if this stranger planned to offer Rover a nice home, you'd be downright miffed, as was the Queen of the Fae.

She tried everything in her power to prevent this theft, changing Tam Lin into a slimy newt, a poisonous snake, a ferocious lion, a bear, a bar of red hot iron, and finally a glowing coal. Still the thief would not let go. The Faerie Queen's spell defeated, naked Tam Lin was hidden away and taken back to the Realms of Man under the protection of the thief's green cloak.

Ooooh! Angry? You betcha! The ballad ends here, and we never learn if the lovers live happily ever after. There's a hint that it won't be an easy road for them though. They have provoked one of the mightiest of a mighty race, a monarch not known to forgive or forget. The Queen curses the well-marked thief to die a painful death, and the Fae have their ways of making human lives miserable. Plus, as I discovered when I read a poem by the English master costumer and poet Miki Dennis, the Faerie Queen has an ace in her hand that no human being can trump.

Waiting Game
By Miki Dennis

I am the Queen of a' the Fae
An' I take what I will
For any that take ought from me
It will go very ill

So I ha' lost ma ain Tam Lin
To a wonton, human maid
Who stole away ma Paladin
An' that price must be paid

So Janet wie yer mantle green
Ye think ye ha' things straight
But ye ha' crossed a mighty Queen
An' I need only wait

For I can wait while mountains rise
An' weather back to clay
An' I can wait to gain ma prize
For I am the Queen of Fae

So hold thy love and keep him then
As ye an' he grow auld
An' live the life of mortal men
As life an' love grow cold

Then ye shall see thy children born
But ye shall see them cry
Ye shall see them greet an' mourn
An' ye shall see them die

An' on the day ye breathe your last
I'll come for what is mine
Then just as though na time ha' past
He'll rise up young an' fine

An' I can wait while mountains rise
An' weather back to clay
An' I can wait to gain ma prize
For I am the Queen of Fae

An' I will ha' ma ain Tam Lin
Once more here by ma side
'Till all the stars above grow dim
An' human kind ha' died

While ye and yours will go to dust
In suffering an' pain
Ma lover lost to mortal lust
I will, with ease, regain

Then neither Hell nor womankind
Shall tear ma knight awa'
With powerful spells his soul I'll bind
To the Dreadful' Queen of Fae

Till then I'll wait while mountains rise
An' weather back to clay
An' I can wait to gain ma prize
For I am the Queen of Fae

The drawing Tam Lin by artist Charles Vess and the poem Waiting Game by Miki Dennis are copyright material used with the permission of the artist and the author, and are not to be copied or reprinted.

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