This ties in nicely with the symbolism, as when thyme blooms are dying off, rue flowers start to appear.Īstute readers will be starting by now to wonder about the real meaning behind the popular folk song
In the UK, thyme flowers in June – July, and rue in late July – September. The first thing one has to know about Let No Man Steal Your Thyme is that the herbs mentioned in it are symbolic: thyme, in this context, stands for virginity, and rue means regret (it was also historically used to remove an unwanted pregnancy). However, all those descendants now sung in folk gatherings are noted no earlier than the start of the 20th century. They are all believed to descend from an old Scottish ballad called The Gardener, whose earliest surviving appearance in print was in Ancient Scottish Ballads : r ecovered from tradition and never before published by George Ritchie Kinloch in 1827. This is one of a family of songs, with closely related lyrical themes, but different tunes, called variously Sprig o’ Thyme / The Bunch of Thyme / Let No Man Steal Your Thyme / Come All You Garners Gay / (I Sowed) The Seeds of Love.
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