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In the winter, when my German speaking mother saw an animal that was thin and in poor shape, would say that the animal would not hear the “GOO KOOK schreiâ€. I never asked my mother what a “goo kook†is. Can you help?
I think it is some kind of bird that eats dead animals, but I don't know that, nor do I have any idea what kind of bird it would be. I don't know the correct spelling. Thank you for your help.
First, welcome.
Gukuk is German for cuckoo, both the bird and the call, with a more modern spelling of Kuckuck.
Here is an interesting link to a very old (1857) German book containing a funny old rhyme in German about Annie and the Cuckoo, printed in Fraktur style type:
Annalein und der Gukuk.
[edit: added transcription below]
Annalein und der Gukuk
Schön Anna ging im Buchenhang,
Den Gukuk hört sie schrei'n:
„Mein lieber Gukuk, sag' wie lang
Muß ich noch ledig sein?Horch, Gukuk, einmal — zweimal — drei —
Gott sei Dank, drei Jahr noch frei.
Gukuk — viermal — Gottes Segen,
Noch ein Jahr zum Ueberlegen!Horch — Gukuk — fünfmal — meinetwegen —
Wahre Lieb' thut spät sich regen.
Und Gukuk — sechsmal — liebe Zeit!
Mir thun die armen Freier leid.Gukuk — Gukuk — sieben — acht —
Lieber Vogel gieb fein Acht!
Neunmal Gukuk — jetzt halt' ein,
Dummer Gauch, was soll das Schrei'n?Gukuk — zehnmal — geh' und schweig,
Du sitz'st auf einem Eibenzweig,
Am Zauberbaume fahl und wirr,
Drum, lieber Vogel, wardst du irr!"
[edit: added the following]
As for what your mother might have meant, according to legend (see link below), the cuckoo call is symbolically associated with the passage of time. Think of the traditional German cuckoo clock. And as you can also tell from the rhyme above ( … My dear cuckoo, say how much longer must I remain chaste?), the number of the cuckoo calls was taken to foretell or predict some span of time, or an amount, say, of money. In this case, your mother was referring to predicting the animal's lifespan. She was using this folklore beautifully to say that the animal did not have long to live: it would not hear the cuckoo call even once.
Symbolism of cuckoo calls
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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