Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 18, 1907.djvu/121



There was a tree in the grove of Diana at Aricia from which it was not permitted to break a bough. A fugitive slave, if anxious to get the post of priest of Diana, would break a bough, after which he had to fight the priest then in office; if he slew the priest he obtained his situation. Various explanations of this strange custom have been offered, but I am not aware that it has any classical parallel, especially so far as the breaking of the bough is concerned. Perhaps it has not been observed that, so far, we seem to have a parallel in our own folk-lore. In the ballad of Tam Lin, communicated by Robert Burns to Johnson's Museum, Carterhaugh Wood is haunted by an enigmatic being named Tam Lin. Janet, being warned of this, and forbidden to go to Carterhaugh, naturally hurries thither "as fast as she can hie." Her motive being to challenge Tam Lin, she plucks two roses. The being appears, saying:

Tam Lin claims rights over Carterhaugh, so does Janet—all's well that ends well—Janet rescues Tam Lin from Fairy-land, and they marry.