Thomas the Rhymer

The ancient traditional ballad Thomas the Rhymer has long been a favourite poem of mine. Thomas is a reckless young minstrel who meets the Queen of Elfland and dares to kiss her. He is thereby under her power, and is taken off to Elfland for seven years, and is given the gift - or curse? - of speaking only the truth and foretelling the future as his reward for seven years of servitude. John Keats was influenced by this poem to write La Belle Dame Sans Merci, Walter Scott made a poem about it, Rudyard Kipling too. And Ellen Kushner made a fine novel from it, a worthy winner of the Mythopoeic Award and the World Fantasy Award. Totally faithful to the original rather sparse tale, she tells the story of Thomas as a rather reckless young minstrel with a roving eye, good looks and great pride in his singing and harping skills. Where the poem barely mentions his time in Elfland, Kushner elaborates it, weaving enchanting tales of the wildness, beauty and peril of the fae world, and then fetches Thomas home to cope with the hardships of a tongue that can speak only the truth. This book is a beautiful, haunting, heartbreaking tale of Thomas's life and death, elegantly written, poignant and vivid. I cant say fairer than what Neil Gaiman said: "An elegant and beautiful book that manages to create firmly real, breathing people and to evoke the magic of Faerie. Tender, wise, tough and imaginative - its a magical tour de force shot through with strange melodies. I loved it." Me too Neil, me too