One of the most problematic of Henryson's longer works, this poem may reflect the experimentation which led ultimately to The Testament of Cresseid. Critical opinion spans the spectrum from "charming" masterpiece to failure (see Gray, 1979, pp. 209-40; Kindrick, Robert Henryson, pp. 151-63). Many of the questions about this poem relate to an issue which is also critical to the Fabillis: the relationship between the poem and its moralitas. The narrative itself seems to many readers an appealing tragic romance. In contrast to the romance elements of the tale itself, Henryson draws on Nicholas Trivet to explain the moral guidance a reader should receive from the tale. Trivet noted that Orpheus was "pars intellectiua instructa sapientia et eloquencia." Henryson, following Trivet, calls him the "pairte intellectyfe / Off manis saule and undirstanding, fre" (lines 428-29). Consistent with Trivet, Henryson also represents Eurydice as "our effectioun" (line 431). His emphasis on her as a symbol of passion, just like his interpretation of Orpheus, is accepted by most readers. However, the interpretation of the "busteous herd," Arysteus, has posed problems for generations of Henryson scholars. This potential rapist, who causes Eurydice's death, is labeled "gude vertew," and Henryson follows Trivet's interpretation of him as a salutary check on passion.

The reconciliation of the romance spirit of the tale itself with the sentiments of the moralitas and its imposition of a "contrived" interpretation has generated a number of theories. Dietrich Strauss (in a paper to be published in Studies in Scottish Literature) even suggests the moralitas was written many years after the original poem and serves as a kind of "retraction," a device which Chaucer used in the Canterbury Tales. However, the abrupt change in tone between tale and moralitas may also be understood in the context of the medieval rhetoric of preaching. Just as in "The Cock and the Jasp," this rather startling interpretation has sparked debates which illustrate the nature of the problem. Henryson's use of the elements of Orphic tradition has been evaluated by John Block Friedman who demonstrates how the poet weaves elements of romance and didactic traditions into the tale. John MacQueen has suggested that the structure of the poem directly reflects the thought of Renaissance Italy. The influence of Boccaccio's Genealogia Deorum is clearly summarized by McDairmid.

The poem is found in three early print and manuscript versions: the Bannatyne Manuscript, the Asloan Manuscript, and a Chepman and Myllar print. I have followed H. Harvey Wood in reprinting the Bannatyne text, but I have also made emendations from Asloan and Chepman and Myllar. Fox has developed an interesting composite text using Chepman and Myllar as the basis wherever possible and inserting lines 59-175 from Asloan and lines 509-14, 547-50, and 571-615 from Bannatyne. Smith prints all three versions.