high, and short if it tiics low. In Ice- 

 land, the wagtail brings the message 

 that ships have again come to the 

 island. 



Finally we have the cuckoo. In the 

 northern part of Zealand he is expected 

 fourteen days before the first of May, 

 and on the old Rune-staves the Cuckoo 

 day is marked by a bird; but this day 

 cannot of course be the same all over 

 the North, and it is sometimes the twen- 

 ty-third, the twenty-fifth, the twenty- 

 seventh or the twenty-ninth of April, or 

 even the first of May. The cuckoo and 

 the Seven Stars (the Pl-eiades) are never 

 seen together. When the Seven Stars 

 disappear, the cuckoo commences to 

 cook; this is an old story, and folk-lore 

 tells us why: 



When Christ once, with his disciples, 

 passed a bakery, he asked for a loaf of 

 bread, but the baker was avaricious and 

 would give him nothing. The baker's 

 wife, however, and her six girls gave 

 him each a loaf, and now they stand 

 high in heaven as clear stars; but the 

 baker, who was changed to a cuckoo, is 

 not even allowed to see a gHmpse of 

 his family. When the cuckoo sees the 

 Seven Stars, so they say in Jutland, the 

 world will perish. 



All over the north and in Germany 

 w^e find expression in regard to a per- 

 son who is hopelessly sick. "He shall 

 no more hear the cuckoo," is one, and 

 in olden times many looked at the com- 

 ing of the cuckoo in the same way as 

 the day for moving, or the day for pay- 

 ment of debts is now looked upon. In 

 the old German legall forms we often 

 find the expression : ''Vaun der gauck 

 gucket." In the well knowm fairy tale 

 of the boy that took service with the 

 trold on the condition that the one of 

 them who first became angry should 

 have nose and ears cut ofif, it is told 

 that, the service should last until the 

 cuckoo commenced to cook. This is 

 probably a remnant of an old custom. 

 With most people, however, the coming 

 of the cuckoo was saluted with undi- 

 vided joy. In England, people used to 

 leave their work as soon as any one in 

 the village had heard the cuckoo, and 

 even if it was the middle of the day, 

 they immediately commenced merry- 

 making. In Northumberland, this feast 



was called Gawkale. In Germany, they 

 also used to hold a feast, and the one 

 who first had heard the cuck(Jo was 

 given an egg. 



When the cuckoo begins to cook, the 

 forest should be green. It is not a 

 good omen, if he cooks on a bare 

 branch, for then people expect a year 

 of scarcity and other unfortunate 

 thine^s. 



The cook of the cuckoo, especially 

 his first cooking, has always been con- 

 sidered of great significance, and among 

 warnings against idolatry in a Swedish 

 manuscript of the thirteenth century is 

 found the following words: ''Believe 

 not in the cuckoo when he cooks." It 

 is probably well known, that it is with 

 some uneasiness that people ask the 

 cuckoo how many years they shall live, 

 they wishing, while asking, that he shall 

 cook as long as possible. Just the 

 opposite w'ish the young girls have, 

 when they ask how many years will 

 pass before their wedding. In some 

 places they say, however, that if he 

 cooks too long, he means nothing; that 

 he has only happened to sit on the 

 wrong branch. In Germany, the girls 

 comfort themselves with the thought 

 that the cooking then means months, 

 and not years. In Sweden, the young 

 girls beg pleadingly: 



Little cuckoo gray 



On the branch! 



Tell me, poor girl, then 



Truthfully and certainly, 



How many years 



I unmarried go! 



Such a verse ought of course to move 

 the cuckoo. 



When a person hears the first cuckoo, 

 he must attempt to embrace the tree in 

 which he sits. If so, he can then have 

 three of his wishes fulfilled. One wish 

 is constant — the wishing of God's Kmg- 

 dom — but the other wishes can be very 

 different. There was once a girl in 

 Sweden, wdio had made up her mind to 

 wish: The Kingdom of God, one child, 

 and ten cows; but she w^as so unfortu- 

 nate that she happened to say: ten chil- 

 dren and one cow; and that was wdiat 

 she received. 



It is of great importance from what 

 quarter of the globe the cuckoo is 

 heard, for: 



