The cuckoo is supposed to be accompanied by the wry-neck, hence its name, “Gwas-y-gôg,” the cuckoo’s servant. The wryneck was thought to build the nest, and hatch and feed the young of the cuckoo.
Many superstitions cluster round the cuckoo; thus, should a person be in doubt as to the way to take, when going from home, to secure success in life, he, or she, waits
for the cuckoo’s return, and then should the bird be heard for the first time, singing towards the east, as it flies, that is the direction to take, or any other direction as the case may be; and it is, or was, even thought that the flight of the cuckoo, singing as it flies before a person, for the first time in the year, indicated a change of abode for that person, and the new home lay in the direction in which the cuckoo flew.
Should the cuckoo make its appearance before the leaves appear on the hawthorn bush, it is a sign of a dry, barren year.
Os cân y gôg ar ddrain-llwyn llwm,
Gwerth dy geffyl a phryn dy bwn.If the cuckoo sings on a hawthorn bare,
Sell thy horse, and thy pack prepare.
The Welsh words I heard at Llanuwchllyn, a good many years ago, just as the cuckoo’s voice was heard for the first time in those parts, and there were then no leaves out on the hedgerows. I do not recollect whether the prophecy became true, but it was an aged Welshman that made use of the words. Another version of the same is heard in Llanwddyn parish:—
Os cân y gôg ar bincyn llwm,
Gwerth dy geffyl a phryn dy bwn.If the cuckoo sings on a sprig that’s bare,
Sell thy horse, and thy pack prepare.
The latter ditty suits a hilly country, and the former applies to the low lands where there are hedgerows.
The early singing of the cuckoo implies a plentiful crop of hay, and this belief is embodied in the following ditty:—
Mis cyn Clamme cân y côge,
Mis cyn Awst y cana’ inne.