Tam Lin and Beauty & the Beast

Illustration by Robert Anning Bell

One of my favourite folk songs, Tam Lin, has certain similarities with the story of Beauty and the Beast. In particular, there is the triggering incident for both tales – the taking of a rose from the garden belonging to Beast/Tam Lin. The difference is that in Tam Lin the thief is the female protagonist, whereas in Beauty and the Beast the thief is her father, something I have adopted for Something in Nothing.

The rose as a symbol of love/sex and in particular female sexuality is well known. In Tam Lin the protagonist pays for the rose with her maidenhead. In the original fairy tale Beauty's father pays for the rose with his daughter!

The rose bush in Something In Nothing is what Beauty broke into the castle for. It was the symbol of desire and of fecundity, but it is now dead. It is the child that Beauty and Beast are denied, because they belong to

two different species.