A story behind the lovely song, Thomas the Rhymer.
He was a real person, a 13th-century Scottish laird, poet, and reputed prophet from Earlston in the Scottish Borders. Famed for predicting the death of King Alexander III, he is a significant figure in Scottish folklore and literature, blending historical record with legends of faerie encounters and unwavering truthfulness.
The story tells of how he met the Queen of Elfland beneath the Eildon Tree, a site marked today by the “Rhymer’s Stone“. He goes with her and she gives him the silver tongue, the tongue that cannot lie, has the gift of prophecy and bardship.
