One instance of Prior's inability to appreciate the beauties of his original will be sufficient. The tender allusion at v. 232-3:
"O my swete mother, before all other
For you I have most drede,"
followed by the reflection:
"But nowe adue! I must ensue
Where fortune doth me lede,"
is entirely omitted by the later poet, who changes
"To shorte my here, a bowe to bere,
To shote in tyme of nede,"
into
"Wanting the scissors, with these hands I'll tear
(If that obstructs my flight) this load of hair."
The Nut-Brown Maid has always been highly popular (a proof of the good taste of the people), and in consequence it figures in Captain Cox's collection described by Laneham. Another proof of its popularity is the existence of various parodies, one of which is of very early date.
It was a common practice in the sixteenth century to turn ordinary ballads into religious songs. The New Nutbrowne Maid, printed by John Skot about 1520, reprinted by George Isted in 1820 for the Roxburghe Club, and again reprinted by Dr. Rimbault for the Percy Society (vol. iv.), 1842, is an instance of this practice. It is a close parody of the original, and purports to be "upon the passion of Cryste." The he and she are changed to Maria the mayde and Jesus.