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The tale of Young Tam Lin is maybe the most famous of the Border Ballads, but the protagonist isn't Tam Lin, it's the young woman, Jennet (or Janet), and it's a classic story if you want a female hero.

In the story, Jennet, the daughter of a local laird strays to the fairy well at Carter Haugh, despite the warnings to stay away. There she meets Tam Lin, the fairy guardian of the well, and, over the course of a summer, the two fall in love. By the autumn, Jennet is pregnant with Tam Lin's child, and she despairs, because she cannot wed a fairy.

But then he reveals that he isn't a true fairy, but a changeling child, and Jennet can save him from the grasp of the fairy folk through her love.

Although the fairy queen turns Tam Lin into various terrifying creatures - and finally into a fiery coal that burns her hands - Jennet holds fast and breaks the spell. By throwing the burning coal into the well, she hides Tam Lin from the fairies' view, and they are forced to leave him to the mortal world, and to Jennet.

#folklore #ScottishBorders #BorderBallads #FairyStories #TamLin

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