Versions
The first recorded version of the song appears in the 1549 book "The Complaynt of Scotland".
There have been several interpretations of the Tam Lin story:
- Francis James Child collected fourteen variants in The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, but the summary of Child Ballad 39A is considered to be the earliest (Another Child ballad, Burd Ellen and Young Tamlane has no connection with this ballad except for the similarity of the heroes' names.)
- Joseph Jacobs included a variant, "Tamlane", in More English Fairy Tales.
Read more about this topic: Tam Lin
Famous quotes containing the word versions:
“The assumption must be that those who can see value only in tradition, or versions of it, deny man’s ability to adapt to changing circumstances.”
—Stephen Bayley (b. 1951)