- "One for sorrow
- Two for joy
- Three for a girl
- Four for a boy
- Five for silver
- Six for gold
- Seven for a secret, never to be told
- Eight for a wish
- Nine for a kiss
- Ten for a bird you must not miss"
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The above is a traditional English nursery rhyme about magpies. There are many variations of lyrics, but these I have quoted are the most modern version.
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One of the earliest versions, published in about 1840, is:
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- "One for sorrow,
- Two for luck; (or mirth)
- Three for a wedding,
- Four for death; (or birth)
- Five for silver,
- Six for gold;
- Seven for a secret,
- Not to be told;
- Eight for heaven,
- Nine for [hell]
- And ten for the d[evi]l's own sell!"
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- According to superstition, the number of magpies you see determines what kind of luck you will have.
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- In the United States, where magpies aren't as common as they are in Britain, crows, bluebirds and jackdaws are sometimes associated with the rhyme.
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- In the 1989 film "Signs of Life," the rhyme was used for counting crows.
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- The band Counting Crows took their name from the "Signs of Life" version, and they use the rhyme in their song "A Murder of One."
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We have a family of five crows that spend hours in our backyard every day of the year; I wonder if it is a portent, or if they just like the birdseed I provide?
