Northern mythology

132 NORTH GERMAN TRADITIONS.
loaf secretly ; for which good deed they were placed in
heaven as seven stars ;
but the baker was transformed to
a cuckoo, which proclaims the spring from St. Tiburtius
(April 14th) till St. John (June 24th), that is, as long as
the seven stars are visible ^ Traditions of the cuckoo are
numerous throughout Europe.
1 Grimm, D. M. p. 691.