That's cuckoo talk

It was also a common article of belief, that if a maiden ran into the fields early in the morning, to hear the first 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 hair of the same colour as that of her future husband.

Actually, there's a perfectly simple explanation for that. Assuming that the term 'maiden' is a little flexible.