Bird Gods in Ancient Europe 



you can learn the number of years you have 

 to live. All you do is to count the calls. 

 Good luck or the reverse is prophesied by the 

 direction from which the sounds come — if 

 from the right, good ; if from the left, bad 

 luck. 



In Sweden and Denmark they have formu- 

 las for listening to the cuckoo, which fix good 

 or bad luck to the points of the compass. 

 The words that rhyme with north, south, 

 east, west, being easily kept in memory, the 

 Swedish peasant has his rule always ready ; 

 thus (gok being our ominous bird the gawk) : 



North : norr-gok, sorg-gok ! (sorrow-bird) 



South : sdr-gok, smor-gok ! (butter-bird) 



East : oster-gok, troste-gok ! (consolation-bird) 



West: vester-gok, basta-gok ! (best of birds) 



Flat sweet cakes were baked in spring, 

 shaped rudely like the cuckoo and eaten in 

 dim remembrance of some heathen ceremonial. 

 In Old England a special ale was brewed, 

 called cuckoo-ale, and drunk out of doors. 

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