The Tale Of Thomas The Rhymer

Many hundreds of years ago,

In the border country of Scotland,

Lived a man called Thomas Learmont of Erseldow.

He was Laird of the Manor,

And he was popular because he was just and he was kind.

He had great flocks of sheep and herds of cattle and fields of corn.

And he was a fine singer and he played the border bagpipes very well.

Now,

One day,

Thomas was riding his horse in the woods near the great tower house in which he lived.

When he heard the sound of bells,

Beautiful musical bells,

And he was drawn towards them.

And before long,

He saw another rider on a fine black horse.

But this time,

It was a beautiful lady dressed all in green.

And her hair was the golden brown of ripe corn.

And it was all braided with emeralds,

And she had emerald rings on her fingers,

And she had emerald woven into her green cloak.

Her horse,

It seemed to Thomas,

Had a bridle and reins of fine spider silk.

But when he drew closer,

He saw that they were of the most exquisite silver.

He asked the lady who she was and where she had come from,

And she smiled at him.

And she said,

Thomas,

I am the queen of a far distant land.

Now,

Thomas was very taken aback by this.

How did this lady know his name?

She turned again to him and said,

Thomas,

I see that you carry with you your bagpipes.

Come let us sit by the yielding tree.

Play me the tunes of this land.

Thomas agreed,

And he got down off his horse and he sat by the tree.

And Thomas played the rants and the reels and the jigs of the border country.

And he spent the afternoon this way.

And after some time,

The beautiful lady turned to Thomas and she said,

Do you have a kiss for the queen of a far distant land?

Now,

Thomas had fallen under her spell and he did kiss her.

And she began to laugh.

Thomas,

Why do you laugh?

Why do you laugh?

She said,

Thomas,

The farthest in land of which I am queen is the fairy kingdom.

And your kiss has sealed your fate,

For now you will be my servant for seven years and a day.

Thomas was horrified.

But what about my family?

What about my land?

What about my cattle?

He was horrified.

But the queen would not change her mind.

Thomas had no choice.

He had to go with her.

So it was with heavy harm he turned and he looked back towards his home.

As he climbed on his horse and followed behind the fairy queen.

And they rode for many hours until the land was unfamiliar to Thomas.

And then the fairy queen stopped.

And she gazed out over a desolate moor.

And she turned to Thomas and she said,

Thomas,

There are but three paths available to mortals.

Luke Yonder.

So Thomas did look out over the moor.

But as he looked,

It began to change.

It became hazy and unclear.

Until the desolate moor was gone and in its place there were three distinct roads.

Now the fairy queen turned and pointed to the first of these roads.

Which was flat and smooth and well made and well trodden it must be said.

And she said,

This path is an easy path Thomas.

Many mortals choose this path.

But this way lies destruction.

And ruin.

Then she turned to a barely visible path.

It was all grown over with wild roses and brambles and black thorn.

And it was rocky and uneven.

And she said,

This is a difficult road Thomas.

This is a hard road to walk.

Not many mortals choose to walk this road.

Because it requires courage and it requires fortitude.

But that road leads to peace and ease in the end.

And this final road Thomas.

No mortal walks that road without my permission.

For that road leads to the fairy kingdom.

My kingdom.

And that is the road we shall take.

But Thomas,

Mark my words.

Once we set off down that road,

Never again will you err in my kingdom.

Shall you utter a single word.

Because if you do,

You will remain in my kingdom forever.

You will never return to your home.

Thomas took one last longing look back down the road that they had travelled.

And then they set off down the road to the fairy kingdom.

And they travelled many hours on that road.

And the road grew narrower.

And then it went downhill into a ravine.

And the brambles and the wild roses that grew on the side of that ravine began to tear at Thomas' face and at his clothes as the path grew narrower.

And it grew dark and oppressive until eventually the ravine opened up again.

And Thomas was presented with the most beautiful vista.

There were rolling fields and helms and wooded glades and a beautiful crystal clear river that ran through the centre.

The fairy queen stopped him again and said,

Thomas,

Well you are in my kingdom.

You must not eat one morsel of food nor drink one drop.

Or else you will remain in my kingdom forever.

The only thing I permit you to eat is this apple.

And she plucked an apple from a tree.

She presented it to Thomas and she said,

This is the apple of truth.

Take one bite of this apple and never again shall a false word pass your lips.

Thomas bit from the apple.

And then the fairy queen pointed to a palace on a hill and said,

This is where our destination Thomas.

This is where we are going.

This is my home.

And he set off for the palace.

And when he neared the palace,

Many tiny people came running out of the gates to welcome them.

And they danced around the fairy queen overjoyed at her return.

And they danced around Thomas to welcome him.

And they held him down from his horse and led him into the palace and took him to a room and dressed him all in new clothes of green.

They gave him a fine set of bagpipes,

A fine ebony,

With golden mounts and an embroidered bag of gold.

Then they led him down,

Down,

Down,

Down the spiral staircase to the little people,

To Thomas by the hand,

And led him to the great feasting hall where he was seated beside the throne of the fairy queen and the fairy king.

And a great feast was laid out on the table.

Thomas was hungry.

And he was tempted,

But he remembered the fairy queen's words.

So he touched not a morsel of food,

And he drank not a drop of the sweet red wine that he saw on the table.

The fairy queen turned to Thomas and she said,

Thomas,

It's time for you to play for my husband the king.

So Thomas took out his pipes and he began to play the rants and the reels and the jigs of the border country.

And the little people loved it.

And they danced and they danced and they danced all night long.

And when the pale fingers of dawn started to creep through the windows of the feasting hall,

Thomas grew tired.

No longer could he play the jigs and the reels and the rants.

He slowed and he began to play the sad,

Haunting ears of his homeland.

And it was then that the fairy queen approached him and she said,

Thomas,

It's time for you to return if you wish to your home.

Thomas was surprised because he was expecting to be there for seven years.

He said to the fairy queen,

But you told me I would be your servant for seven years.

And the fairy queen said,

Aye,

Thomas,

That's correct.

Seven years has passed in the land of mortals in this one night.

But now I shall take you to the edge of your own woods.

You can return.

Now that's what she did.

She took them and they travelled the road that they had travelled before and they came to the edge of Thomas's own woods.

And before she birthed farewell,

The fairy queen said,

Thomas,

I return you from the fairy kingdom with three gifts.

The first is a gift of a true tongue.

Never again will you tell a lie.

The second is a gift of foresight.

You will be able to see the future,

Thomas.

And the third is a gift of true poetry.

And with that she was gone.

Now you can imagine the scene when Thomas stepped into his own tower house.

His small children were now grown men and women.

It was a great celebration because they thought him dead.

But there were also rumours,

Stories and questions.

Thomas couldn't tell a lie.

All he could say was that he had travelled in a far distant land and he had learned many strange things.

And soon the questions and the rumours stopped and the people came to depend on Thomas and they valued his wisdom and they valued his foresight.

And it became known as Thomas the Rhymer because he now had the gift of poetry.

And it became known also as True Thomas because he could not tell a lie.

Now many years later when Thomas was an old man,

A strange thing happened.

There were two guards guarding the gates of his tower house and out of the woods came two white deer,

A hind and a heart.

And they boldly walked right up to the gates of the tower house.

Now the two guards didn't know what to do,

They had never seen the like of it before in their lives.

And they turned to each other and said,

We must go with Lord Thomas,

He'll know what to do.

And when they told Thomas of the white heart and the white hind,

He smiled.

He knew what this meant.

It was time.

Now he bid farewell to his family,

To his friends and he left and he waltzed across the field with the white heart and the white hind.

And the last that was ever seen of True Thomas,

Of Thomas the Rhymer,

Was when he stepped into the woods with the white heart and the white hind.

The End.