Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1892-06-04
CUCKOO suPERsrIrGoNs
A Bird That Figures Greatly In the Folk
Tore of England.

Several of our English birds were Oh.
/ lecs of superstition in the middle ages,
and none more so than the Cuck0n. Our
forefathers looked upon it as the harbinger
Of spring and as the merrIest songster Of
summer:
In April the cuckoo shows his bill;
In May he Is singing all day;
In June he changes his tune;
IN July he prepares to ly;
In August ny he must;
If he stay until September
lis a much az the Oldest man
Can remember.
The cuckoo is the subject of the oldest Of
| English songs which has been preserved
| from the earliest part of the thirteenth
century, and is remarkable for being ac-
companied by musical notes, thus forming
| the oldest example of English secular
music The words Of the original accom-
pany our illustration, and may thus be
translated from modern English:
Summer is come in,
Loud sing cuckoo;
Grows the seed and blooms The mead.
And sprouts the wood now,
sing cuckoo,
The eve bleats after the lamb,
The COW lows after the calf,
The bullock leans the buck vorts;
Merrily sing cuckOo,
Cuckoo, cuckoo
Well singest thou, cuckoo;
Cease thou never to sing, cuckoo.
Ii wa, the spring, indeed, and not the
summer, that the cuckoo was considered TO
represent in the middle ages. The fair
day Of TenburY. in Worcestershire is
April 20, and it is belief in the county
that you never bear the cuckoo till Tn
bury fair day or after Pershore fair day,
which is June 26.
In DTbyshire very prevalent rhyme
runs rs follows
The cuckoo i0 q merry bird,
She -lugs ls she dies.
Sine brings us good tlulngs,
And tel MS no lies,
She sucks little birds eggs,
To make her voice clear,
That she may sing cuckoo
Three months OF the year.
There are, or have been, not long ago
in different parts OF England, remnants Of
old customs marking the position which
! the cuckoo held in the middle ages, con
tinues the London Q leen. In Shropshire,
till very recently, wnen the first cuckoo
was heard, the laoorers were in the habit
! of leaving their work. making holiday of
the rest of the day and carousipg in what
! they call cuckoo ale. Among the peasaR-
! try in some parts of the kingdom it was
considered to be very unluCky to have no
money id your pocket when you hear the
cuck0os note for the first time In the sea-
son. Ii was also a common article of be-
| lief that when a maiden ran into the
fields early in the morning to hear the
! fist note of the cuckoo and, when she
heard it, took off her left shoe and looked
into it, she would there find a man s halr
| of the same color as that of her future
husband. 1t is also popular superstition
IN Norfolk that whatever you are doing
the first time you hear the cuckoo, that
! you viii do the most frequently all the
/ year. Another is that an unmarried per-
/ son will remain single as many years as
/ the cuckoo, when first heard, utlers its
yell.
A curious legend regarding the cuckoo
/ is found among the Danes, which, with
/ some notifications, is likewise current in
many parts OF Germany, in England, and
! The north of Europe. When in early
springtime the oIce of the cuckoo is FIRST
| heard in the woods every village girl
| kisses her hand and asks the question,
( cuckoo! CucEool when shall | be mar
ried2" and the old folks inquire, cuckoo!
cuckoo! when shall be released from this
worlds cares?" The bird, in answer,
continues 70 sing cuckoo" as many times
as years will elapse before the object OF
their desires will come to pass. Eat, as
some old people live to an advanced age,
and many girIs marry late in life, the
poor bird has so much to do IN ANSWERING
questions put to her that the building sea.
! son goes by; she has no time 70 make Ter
nest, but lays her eggs in that Of the
! hedgespaIrow The Swedes have SINH
/ lar superstition, an many a peasant girl
exClaims,
/ Cuckoo, grey, tell 20 me
Up In the tree. true aud free,
How many years must live and 80 unmarried.