Stories from the Ballads | Page 2

they fell from his hands and down from his horse
slipped Tamlane, and laid himself down to rest, so weary, so cold was
he. But no sooner had he lain down on the bare earth than he closed his
eyes and fell fast asleep. And no sooner had he fallen fast asleep than
the Queen of the Fairies came and carried Tamlane off to Fairyland.
For long years Tamlane dwelt among the little green folk, yet ofttimes
he would come back to visit the land of his birth.

Now many were the hills and dells haunted by the fairy folk. Yet
neither hill nor dell pleased them more than the lone plain of
Carterhaugh, where the soft-flowing rivers of Ettrick and Yarrow met
and mingled.
Many a long day after fairies were banished from the plain of
Carterhaugh would the peasant folk come to gaze at the circles which
still marked the green grass of the lone moor. The circles had been
made, so they said, by the tiny feet of the fairies as they danced round
and round in a ring.
Well, in the days before the fairies were banished from the plain of
Carterhaugh, strange sights were to be seen there by the light of the
moon.
Little folk, dressed all in green, would flit across the moor. They would
form tiny rings and dance on their tiny toes until the moonlight failed.
Little horsemen dressed in green would go riding by, the bells on the
fairy bridles playing magic music the while. Sounds too, unknown to
mortals, would tremble on the still night air.
Full of mischief too were these little elfin folk, and wise mortals feared
to tread where fairy feet were tripping.
Wise mortals would warn the merry children and the winsome maidens
lest they should venture too near the favourite haunts of fairydom.
To Carterhaugh came, as I have told you, many of the fairy folk; but
more often than any other came a little elfin knight, and he was the
young Tamlane, who had been carried away to Fairyland when he was
only nine years old.
Beyond all other of the little green folk was the elf knight feared. And
little was that to be wondered at, for well was it known that over many
a fair-haired child, over many a beauteous maiden, he had used his
magic power. Nor would he let them go until they promised to come
back another moonlit eve, and as a pledge of their promise he would

seize from the children a toy, from the maidens a ring, or it might be
their mantle of green.
Now about two miles from the plain of Carterhaugh stood a castle, and
in the castle there lived a fair maiden named Janet.
One day her father sent for his daughter and said, 'Janet, ye may leave
the castle grounds, an ye please, but never may ye cross the plain of
Carterhaugh. For there ye may be found by young Tamlane, and he it is
who ofttimes casts a spell o'er bonny maidens.'
Now Janet was a wilful daughter. She answered her father never a word,
but when she had left his presence she laughed aloud, she tossed her
head.
To her ladies she said, 'Go to Carterhaugh will I an I list, and come
from Carterhaugh will I an I please, and never will I ask leave of any
one.'
Then when the moonbeams peeped in at her lattice window, the lady
Janet tucked up her green skirt, so that she might run, and she coiled
her beautiful yellow hair as a crown above her brow. And she was off
and away to the lone plain of Carterhaugh.
The moonlight stole across the moor, and Janet laughed aloud in her
glee. She ran across to the well, and there, standing alone, riderless,
stood the steed of the little elfin knight.
Janet put out her hand to the rose-tree that grew by the well and
plucked a dark red rose. Sweet was its scent and Janet put out her hand
and plucked another rose, but ere she had pulled a third, close beside
her stood a little wee man. He reached no higher than the knee of the
lady Janet.
'Ye have come to Carterhaugh, Janet,' he cried, 'and yet ye have not
asked my leave. Ye have plucked my red roses and broken a branch of
my bonny rose-tree. Have ye no fear of me, Janet?'

The lady Janet tossed her head, though over her she felt creeping slow
the spell of the little elfin knight. She tossed her head and she cried,
'Nay, I have no fear of you, ye little wee man. Nor will I ever ask leave
of you as I come to and fro across the plain of Carterhaugh.