<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

"Tam Lin" is a traditional fairy ballad from the Scottish Borders.

In the ballad, young Janet takes as her lover the knight Tam Lin who is a prisoner of the Queen of Elfland, being fattened as a teind or sacrifice. Pregnant with Tam Lin's child, Janet battles the Queen for Tam Lin's life and soul.

"Tam Lin" has provided the framework for a number of beloved fantasy stories, including:

• Tam Lin by Pamela Dean, set at a college in Minnesota in the 1970s
• Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones,
• The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope, set in Tudor England in the reign of Mary I.
• The Queen of Spells by Dahlov Ipcar
• Winter Rose by Patricia A. McKillip
• Tam Lin a picture book by Jane Yolen illustrated by Charles Mikolaycak
• "Tam Lin", a story in Charles Vess's graphic novel series The Book Of Ballads And Sagas #4.

"Tam Lin" was also made into a poorly-reviewed 1970 horror film Tam Lin (USA title The Devil's Widow) directed by Roddy McDowall and starring Ava Gardner and Ian McShane.

Tam Lin Balladry: A website of folklore and discovery