‘They’ll turn me in your arms, ladye, An aske[21] but and a snake; But hauld me fast, let me na gae, To be your warldis make[22]. XXXVII ‘They’ll turn me in your arms, ladye, But and a deer so wild; But hauld me fast, let me na gae, The father o’ your child. XXXVIII ‘They’ll shape me in your arms, ladye, A hot iron at the fire; But hauld me fast, let me na go, To be your heart’s desire. XXXIX ‘They’ll shape me last in your arms, Janet, A mother-naked man; Cast your green mantle over me, And sae will I be won.’ XL Janet has kilted her green kirtle A little abune the knee; And she has snooded her yellow hair A little abune her bree, And she is on to Miles Cross As fast as she can hie. XLI About the dead hour o’ the night She heard the bridles ring; And Janet was as glad at that As any earthly thing. XLII And first gaed by the black, black steed, And syne gaed by the brown; But fast she gript the milk-white steed And pu’d the rider down. XLIII She’s pu’d him frae the milk-white steed, An’ loot[23] the bridle fa’, And up there rase an eldritch[24] cry, ‘True Tam Lin he’s awa’!’ XLIV They shaped him in her arms twa An aske but and a snake; But aye she grips and hau’ds him fast To be her warldis make. XLV They shaped him in her arms twa But and a deer sae wild; But aye she grips and hau’ds him fast, The father o’ her child. XLVI They shaped him in her arms twa A hot iron at the fire; But aye she grips and hau’ds him fast To be her heart’s desire. XLVII They shaped him in her arms at last A mother-naked man; She cast her mantle over him, And sae her love she wan. XLVIII Up then spak’ the Queen o’ Fairies, Out o’ a bush o’ broom, ‘She that has borrow’d young Tam Lin Has gotten a stately groom.’ XLIX Out then spak’ the Queen o’ Fairies, And an angry woman was she, ‘She’s ta’en awa’ the bonniest knight In a’ my companie! L ‘But what I ken this night, Tam Lin, Gin I had kent yestreen, I wad ta’en out thy heart o’ flesh, And put in a heart o’ stane. LI ‘And adieu, Tam Lin! But gin I had kent A ladye wad borrow’d thee, I wad ta’en out thy twa grey e’en Put in twa e’en o’ tree[25]. LII ‘And had I the wit yestreen, yestreen, That I have coft[26] this day, I’d paid my teind seven times to hell Ere you had been won away!’ FOOTNOTES: [12] tae = toe. [13] bree = eye-brow. [14] twine = part, sunder. [15] scathe = harm. [16] sain’d = blessed, baptised. [17] snell = keen, cold. [18] teind = tithe. [19] borrow = ransom. [20] uncouth = unknown. [21] aske = newt, lizard. [22] make = mate, husband. [23] loot = let.