transmuted into Orpheus in the south, into The 

 Lemminkainen by the singers of the Kalevala, Cuckoo's 

 into Sigurd across the Scandinavian fjords, ence * 

 into Kukkolind along the Esthonian wastes 

 into Cuchulaind among the Irish hills, into 

 Coohoolin beside the foam of the Hebrides. 

 My old nurse had a Gaelic song I have for- 

 gotten, all save its refrain, which was 



" Gu-Gu, Gii-Gu, 

 A cuisilin a-gkraidh, 

 Cuisilin mo-chridhe ! " 



" Cuckoo ! Cuckoo ! 

 pulse of love, 

 Pulse of my heart ! " 



In the first movement of the oran the singer 

 called to the cuckoo to come, * Blue-bird of 

 love.' Why 'blue-bird' I am unaware, though 

 among the Finns and Esths 'blue-bird' is a 

 poetic analogue for the cuckoo. In the second 

 lift of the oran, the singer cried, ' It is come, 

 it is come, bird of love, bird of joy.' In the 

 third fall the singer crooned, ' It is gone, bird 

 of sorrow, bird of foam, bird of the grey wind/ 

 And after each the swift and passionate or 

 long, melancholy, and sorrowful refrain 



«Gu-Gii! Gii-Gii! 

 cushleen a-ghray 

 Cushleen mo-chree ! " 



181 



