Gold. Or, the Devil.

[zotz]

I just saw six magpies.

Comments

?

[adjectivegail]

what do magpies have to do with either gold, or the Devil?

[ex-wendles389.livejournal.com]

you'd better hope it's the gold!

Re: ?

[zotz]

One for sorrow,
two for joy.
Three for a girl
and four for a boy.
Five for silver,
six for gold,
and seven for a secret never to be told.

According to kboyd, there's another version where the last three are heaven, hell and the devil. You'll notice that I messed up the counting on that.

[zotz]

Oh, I don't know. I'm told he's got some pretty good tunes.

[ex-wendles389.livejournal.com]

:)
here's a good summary of versions of that rhyme (which also indicates that magpies don't exist across the pond) http://www.shades-of-night.com/aviary/rhyme.html

Re: ?

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

one for sorrow
two for mirth
three for a wedding
four for a birth
five is heaven
six is hell
seven's the devil his ane sel'

Re: ?

[bootpunk.livejournal.com]

With the rhyme on those last 2 lines, that sounds distinctly Scottish. We had a thread about that a few months back, iirc.

The Devil

[bootpunk.livejournal.com]

> I'm told he's got some pretty good tunes

Yup, and he's off down to Georgia to air some of them out. He was muttering something about having a soul to steal.

Re: ?

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

I believe it is Scottish, or at least Northern. It's one of the variants I heard when I was young, the more usual being the 'one for sorrow, two for joy' one which was of course the theme song to the TV show 'Magpie'.
I've been told there are versions of the rhyme which go up to about 20-something, but I've never heard them.

Re: The Devil

[swisstone.livejournal.com]

He should be careful - I hear there's some mean fiddlers down there.