for my class

1. Border Ballads

2. The border area between Scotland and
England….

3. A place that is cold and a bit wild…

4. Tam Lin and Janet have inspired a lot of popular-style
artists—one reason is that Border Ballads are a popular (大衆
的) literary form---like manga.

5. The Queen of the Fairies—she’s powerful, strong, and she kidnapped Tam
Lin. She is also very beautiful….

6. In this scene, Janet waits for Tam Lin to ride
past on his milk-white steed (horse)

7. Many “Tam Lin” books have been
written and illustrated….

8. “Sir Patrick Spens”---the days of noble
lords (similar to samurai) serving a king

9. “The king has written a braid letter/ And signed it wi’ his hand/ And sent it to
Sir Patrick Spens/ Was walking on the sand…”

10. Nature appears as a strong presence in Border
Ballads. In “Tam Lin”, it’s the forest, but in “Sir
Patrick Spens”, it’s the ocean and the moon

11. The mermaid in “Sir Patrick Spens” is like a fairy too, but she stays in the
ocean. Both mermaids and the Queen of the Fairies are seen as beautiful
but sometimes difficult for people to deal with, like nature.

12. All Border Ballads can be found online
• The unfamiliar words can be searched online
“‘old Scottish’+ ‘word’ definition”
• For example:
• “old Scottish lauch definition”
• = (the answer here is “laugh”)
• They are great fun to read!