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 can y gog 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 can y coge,
Mis cyn Awst y cana' inne.

That is:--

If the cuckoo sings a month before May-day,
I will sing a month before August.

_Calan Mai_, May-day, abbreviated to _Clamme_, according to the Old
Style, corresponds with our 12th of May, and the above saying means, that
there would be such an abundant hay harvest if the cuckoo sang a month
before May-day, that the farmer would himself sing for joy on the 12th of
July. It was the custom in the uplands of Wales to begin the hay harvest
on the 1st of July.

The above I heard in Montgomeryshire, and also the following:--

Mis cyn Clamme can y coge,
Mis cyn hynny tyf mriallu.

That is:--

If the cuckoo sings a month before May-day,

Primroses will grow a month before that time.

I do not know what this means, unless it implies that early primroses
foretell an early summer.

But, speaking of the song of the cuckoo, we have the following lines:--

Amser i ganu ydi Ebrill a Mai,
A hanner Mehefin, chwi wyddoch bob rhai.

This corresponds somewhat with the English:--

The cuckoo sings in April,
The cuckoo sings in May,
The cuckoo sings to the middle of June,
And then she flies away.

In Mochdre parish, Montgomeryshire, I was told the following:--

In May she sings all day,
In June she's out of tune.

The following Welsh lines show that the cuckoo will not sing when the hay
harvest begins:--

Pan welith hi gocyn,
Ni chanith hi gwcw.

When she sees a heap,
Silence she w