transmuted into Orpheus in the south, into The 



Lemminkainen by the singers of the Kalevala, Cuckoo's 



r~< Silence 



into Sigurd across the Scandinavian fjords, 



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-Gii, Gii-Gii, 

 A cuisilin a-ghraidh, 

 Cuisilin mo-chrldhe ! " 



" Cuckoo ! Cuckoo ! 

 pulse of love, 

 Pulse oj 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 



