Here’s something slightly new. I’m going to be sharing the rewriting of an old Scottish ballad. Let’s have a look.
Jennet MacKenzie is a fiery Scottish lass who is determined to reclaim her family’s old manor, Carterhaugh, from the legends and evils that haunt the grounds. Her parents fear for her since there are many warnings against treading on those old lands. Not even the young men and boys dare venture there unless on a dare to leave some token in the brambles. However despite all protests and warnings, on Jennet’s sixteenth birthday (when she is considered a woman and fit to inherit), she left her village home and went down to the ancient ruins. Upon arriving she finds nothing of the castle’s former beauty but a single red rose. It is this rose that she claims as her pledge to take back her ancestral home.
Upon plucking the rose, a young man appears from the mystical land of the Ever-Fair, the home of the Fey. He tells how he was taken by the Queen of the Fey and has been favored by her the past three or so generations. Yet that coming Saturday on Hallow’s Eve, he is condemned to be the Fey’s sacrifice. None can save this young man, Tam Lin, except his human true love, but all humans who knew and loved him have all died. Jennet vows to do all she can to save him. Thus by week’s end, she leaves home once again with a vial of holy water and a pocket-ful of soil from her home. Can she save Tam Lin from his condemned death? Will the Queen of the Fey allow Tam Lin to go free? Or shall both Tam Lin and Jennet suffer and die by the hands of the evil and cruel Fey?
This is a tale that I found during my mid- to late-teen years. I’ll confess that even if I had discovered it when I was younger, it may not have become an instant favorite, though I enjoy it now. There is a good deal of Scottish folklore woven into the story, understandable as a ballad, but I doubt that I would have understood that Fey was another word for fairies or caught onto their seemingly enchanted prison-like land of the Ever-Fair. I don’t know. Maybe I’m underestimating my younger self’s abilities in interpreting some of the nuances of some European fairytales. Or maybe I’m struck by amount of words on the page. (Yet that couldn’t be considering that before this I read a somewhat denser retelling of Swan Lake when I was in my early teens. And I read it even though I was beyond confused at the word pictures it was trying to create.) Or it could simply be that it is different from most fairytales that I had been exposed to.
I think that what caught my eye about this story (like so many others) are the illustrations. Though admittedly most seem rather dark in tone or atmosphere, I wanted to know just what the story was behind these characters who stood in billowing plaids with either caring or defiance in their stance. Or it could have also been a book that my mom picked up for me along with others when I didn’t go to the library but asked to have some picture books picked up. I don’t know. Can’t remember. But this is a lovely story with lovely illustrations. Thanks to the copyright page, I can honestly tell you that the pictures were done in watercolors and colored pencil. (I love it when the book says what medium was used for the drawings. Must be the artist in me.)
According to a couple informational pages in the back, the ballad of Tam Lin is one of the few, if not the only, ballad where the woman is the hero who rescues the Fey’s victim. Also of note, at least to me in this modern era of eighteen-year-old or older princesses (courtesy of Disney), is that Jennet is at the formerly magic age of sixteen. I don’t know why, but with so many princesses and/or heroines who were sixteen at the time of their adventures, I always saw sixteen as a magic age. Now I don’t think that I wasted my time wishing to be sixteen, but I still looked forward to being the same age of some of my favorite characters. (Yes, random. Very random.)
Well, Jane Yolen is the teller of this ancient ballad while Charles Mikolaycak brings the tale to life with his illustrations. Together they share this tale through about thirty pages. They also share “About Tam Lin” in the back with segments from the original ballad. Despite my uncertainty about whether or not it would have been a childhood favorite, I willingly give this retold ballad five dragons out of five for story telling and pictures.
I would recommend this book to those who enjoy expanded ballads, Scottish legends, or the rare old tale where it is a heroine instead of a hero.
Hope you enjoyed. See you next time.
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