A/N: So I love this story. In it's original form, and the many other ways I've read it. If you've never read been introduced to Tam Lin, this is basically my Disney-esque version of events. So please be nice.
Once upon a time, in the borderlands of Scotland, a girl was born to a lord and lady. They named her Janet, and when she was grown, gave her the nearby wood of Carterhaugh for her own.
However, there was said to be a dark magic among the wood, and the old people of the town warned young Janet against visiting her woods.
"Keep away," they said, "For there's a fae by the name of Tam Lin, who never lets a young girl go without taking from her something precious, hiding among the trees."
Janet became curious about the fae, and one day, when she was seventeen, and tired of her suitors' attentions, she bound up her green dress, braided back her blonde hair and set out for Carterhaugh Woods, to see if the legends were true. She took with her a ring her grandmother had gifted her, as something precious to give the fae, should he be real.
She entered the Woods, and walked a while in silence, glad of the peace under the trees. She came to a well and beside it rested a pure white horse the colour of milk. Looking around, she saw no rider, but approached and petted the horse. She turned to the well, and thought to take a drink, but she noticed beautiful roses growing all around, and reached down to pluck one. No sooner had she snapped the stem, than a voice could be heard from behind her.
"Now, Janet, what's this?" turning she saw a young man, dressed all in fine clothes, with soft black hair and shining eyes, come out from the trees, "Why have you come, without my leave, into Carterhaugh this fine day?"
Although the youth was smiling at her, Janet felt uneasy, and so she assumed the air her father did when she spoke to his knights, "I should ask, why are you here? These are my woods, as my father gave them to me, and I shall come and go as I please with no say of yours."
The youth looked stunned, but quickly laughed.
"Oh Janet, do you not know me? I am Tam Lin and I watch over these woods."
"By yourself?" She asked.
"Aye, by myself." The fairy boy answered, laughingly.
"Would you like some company?" Janet offered, lifting her grandmother's ring to where the boy could see it.
They spent the day talking and laughing together, but that night, when Janet returned to her family's halls, her father was most upset to hear that she had gone to Carterhaugh Woods, and that she had lost her grandmother's ring to the fae there. He forbade her to return. But Janet thought of poor Tam Lin, trapped in the woods alone and she felt sorry for him. She returned the next day to Carterhaugh, and plucked another rose from the well.
"Now, Janet, what's this?" Tam Lin appeared as before, "Back again, on this fine day?"
"Have you always been a fae?" She demanded of him, "Have you ever been a man, who was born of a woman, and sat in church under the cross of Our Lord?"
Tam Lin's eyes grew sad, but he answered,
"My grandfather was called Roxburgh, I remember that much. We were out hunting one day, and I fell from my horse. The Fae Queen caught me and took me away into the green hills. Seven years have passed since then, and while Fairy Land is pretty enough, I long to be a man again, and free of these woods."
"Is there any way to free you?" Janet asked, hopefully.
"Only one, and it is very dangerous."
"I will do it," Janet said, sticking out her chin in determination, "Please, Tam Lin, tell me what I must do."
"Tomorrow is Hallowe'en, the night when the Fae Queen pays her debt to Hell. She and her folk must cross the Mile Cross Bridge. First will come riders on black horses, and you must let them pass. Second come riders on brown horses, and you must let them pass. Finally come riders on milk white horses. I shall be among them. I will wear only one glove, and leave my hair unbound that you may know me, brave Janet. You must pull me from the horse and hold me tight to you. The Queen will change my shape, to try to make you let go. You must hold tight to me, no matter what. She will turn me into wild beasts, that will claw and hurt you, but you must not let go. When she turns me into a burning coal, only then can you let me go, and throw me into the river below, and I shall be a man once more and free to leave. Can you do this for me, daring Janet?" Tam Lin begged, his eyes desperate.
"I swear on my grandmother's ring." Janet answered.
The next day was cold and wild. Her father begged her to stay inside, on the night when the Fae and others go walking, but Janet was bound by her promise and made her way to Mile Cross Bridge. She waited in the trees, as the night fell down around the woods, and listened close for the sound of hooves. On the stroke of midnight, she heard them come, and in the light of the moon, she saw them.
Horrible goblins riding black horses, five astride on the path, passed by her and then turned onto the bridge. Behind them were riders on brown horses, all covered up in cloth but their hands which were pale and scaly. All except one who rode at their head, fair and light as if she were dead, the Fae Queen. Behind them came the riders on milk-white horses, and closest to Janet's hiding place, came one with his hair unbound and only one glove.
Quick as a flash, Janet was out from behind the trees and dragged Tam Lin down to the ground. The host gave a loud shriek and the Fae Queen a harsh shout. Janet pulled him to her tightly, but already he was beginning to change shape in her arms. Suddenly she was holding a great bear who roared and swatted at her hands, but she still held firm. Then he was a seal, slippery and cold, but still she held him tight. He became a snake, and rose back as if to strike her, but still she held him. He twisted into a lightning bolt and burned her skin, but Janet would not let him go. Finally, he was a burning coal, and she remembered his words and threw him down into the river below.
The Fae Queen let out a high cry and wailed,
"Curse you, child, and a harsh death may you die! Tam Lin, I would rather have made your eyes of wood and your heart stone than have lost you!" And with a great clap of thunder, the Fae host disappeared.
Janet slowly climbed down to the river, and there she found Tam Lin, drenched but restored, in human form and no longer Fae. They walked together back to her father's halls and were in time married.
And they lived happily ever after.
A/N: Short and sweet. Do let me know if you like it.