a rose but only twa."

"They had na sailed a league, a league,
A league but barely three.

"How will I come up? How can I come up?
How can I come to thee?"

An answer is usually returned in the identical words of the question; and
as in Homer, a formula of narration or a commonplace of description does
duty again and again. Iteration in the ballads is not merely for
economy, but stands in lieu of the metaphor and other figures of literary
poetry:

"'O Marie, put on your robes o' black,
Or else your robes o' brown,
For ye maun gang wi' me the night,
To see fair Edinbro town.'

"'I winna put on my robes o' black,
Nor yet my robes o' brown;
But I'll put on my robes o' white,
To shine through Edinbro town.'"

Another mark of the genuine ballad manner, as of Homer and _Volkspoesie_
in general, is the conventional epithet. Macaulay noted that the gold is
always red in the ballads, the ladies always gay, and Robin Hood's men
are always his merry men. Doughty Douglas, bold Robin Hood, merry
Carlisle, the good greenwood, the gray goose wing, and the wan water are
other inseparables of the kind. Still another mark is the frequent