Bird Gods in Ancient Europe 



the hills of Wales during the months of the 

 cuckoo's appearance to raid or to work in 

 the fields, or because under "Welsh" we are to 

 understand French and foreigners generally, 

 and the cuckoo was observed reaching Great 

 Britain from France. Among the famous 

 fools in Great Britain are cited the "cuckoo- 

 penners" of Somerset, who believed they could 

 prolong the summer by caging cuckoos. 



The lazy trait of the cuckoo appears very 

 strongly expressed in the Esthonian hero, 

 Kalev's boy. He is so abnormally lazy that 

 at times he will not even rouse himself when 

 invaders from the north — the steel-clad hosts 

 with icicles for spears — fall upon and devas- 

 tate Esthland. So with Kullervo. That Fin- 

 nish oaf and luckless one, his laziness as well 

 as his bird origin, appear in a Finnish fairy- 

 tale related of a youth of enormous power and 

 ruinous strength. He is not called Kullervo, 

 but Munnapoika, which means the egg's boy, 

 the Son of the Egg. 



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