Many people have grown up familiar with the popular magpie nursery rhyme, One for Sorrow, Two for Joy, which suggests that the number of magpies spotted at any one time can predict either good or bad luck.
The most widely recited version is:
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.
The exact origins of the magpie rhyme are unclear, but it almost certainly stems from ornithomancy, the ancient practice of interpreting omens from bird behaviour. Many sources claim that the earliest recorded version of the rhyme appeared in 1777 in a note within John Brand’s Observations on Popular Antiquities of Great Brtain. The Origin of our Vulgar and Provincial Customs, Ceremonies, and Superstitions.
John Brand, an English antiquarian and Church of England clergyman, was appointed Secretary to the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1784. His book explored various folk traditions, and the term “popular antiquities” later evolved into what we now call folklore, a term coined by William John Thoms in 1846.
However, the claim that Brand’s 1777 work contains the magpie rhyme is incorrect. While the book does describe the chatter of the magpie (or “mag-pye”) as an omen of dire calamity or great misfortune, there is no recorded version of the rhyme itself.
The rhyme actually appeared in a later edition of Popular Antiquities, published in 1842. This edition was significantly expanded and annotated by Sir Henry Ellis, a distinguished English librarian and antiquarian who served as Principal Librarian at the British Museum. In it, Ellis references a different 18th-century source; Samuel Johnson and George Steevens’s 1778 supplement to their edition of The Plays of William Shakespeare.
It is in this book’s appendix that a note written by the Revd Henley contains the rhyme, which appears to have led to the confusion over its earliest recording.
The magpie is called in the west to this hour, a magatipie, and the import of the augury is determined by the number of these birds that are seen together: “One for sorrow: Two for mirth: Three for a wedding: Four for death.”
In 1846 the rhyme was added to Proverbs and Popular Saying of the Seasons by Michael Aislabie Denham, an English merchant and collector of folklore.
Five for heaven,
Six for hell,
Seven for the devil, his own self.
Yet another longer version is to be found in Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable:
One’s sorrow,
Two’s mirth,
Three’s a wedding,
Four’s a birth,
Five’s a christening,
Six a dearth,
Seven’s heaven,
Eight is hell,
And nine’s the devil his old self.
Another version was written for the popular children’s TV programme Magpie which ran from 1968 to 1980 and replaced many of the older regional variations of the rhyme. The theme tune was composed and played by the Spencer Davis Group under the alias The Murgatroyd Band, just after Steve Winwood had left to join the supergroup Blind Faith with Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, and Ric Grech.
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.
The song starts off similar to original rhymes but had an additional tenth bird that was not to be missed; in this case that was of course the next episode of the series.
Although all these songs and rhymes are most often associated with magpies, they can also be used to count other corvids such as jackdaws, ravens and crows, particularly in America where magpies are not as common.
Do you know any other variations of the magpie rhyme? Let us know in the comments below.
90 Responses
One for sorrow tow 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 surprise not to be missed
Back in 1984 I was awaken by a very loud cackling sound from a lot of magpies on inspection of a tree I counted 15 magpies making an herendus noise.. in the middle of all the magpies was a cat that was petrified and clinging on for dear life.
I clapped my hands and they were gone…the cat meowed and scooted down…I’m sure the cat said “thanks”
One for Sorrow
two for joy
three for a girl
four for a boy
five for siler
six for gold seven for a secret never to be told
eight for a wish
nine for a kiss
ten for a chance you must not miss
eleven for a wasp
twelve for a bee
thirteen for coffee
fourteen for tea
fifteen for a pencil
sixteen for a pen
seventeen to hear those options again
eighteen for pepper
nineteen for salt
twenty for an accident that wasnt your fault
twenty one for jerry
twenty two for tom
twenty three for “where are all these magpies coming from”
twenty five, no! seriously!
thirty, “this is weird”
forty eight, more magpies just spontaneously appeared
sixty two, STOP COUNTING THEM!
Seventy, JUST RUN!
Ninety nine, The Revolution of the Magpies has begun!
Love this! As I’m watching a pair of Magpies build their nest in the tree outside our bedroom window, I thought I’d Google the magpie rhyme. Maybe two magpies building a nest is the start of a magpie revolution!!
This is everything ?
You have just nearly killed me and my brother and friend in laughter, were drinking and smoking so yeah this just set us off lol amazing love it
Okay, this is my favorite one thus far! Brilliant! LOL!
That’s awsome,
You’ve just made us giggle ???? thanx for sharing this with everyone ???? ????
Lol that one is very amusing it’s cute in a way as well
I learned this from my mother, who grew up in a farm family in rural Texas:
One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a letter
Four for a boy
Five for a date
Six for a kiss
Seven for marriage
And eight for divorce
We counted buzzards. No magpies here that I know of. My mother was born in 1916, so she would be 106 years old if she were alive.
I live in Liverpool (UK) we have loads of magpies! I love that you counted Buzzards, near to where I live there’s a small forest where two Buzzards live so my rhyme would be really short if I was counting them ?
My mum loves all these rhymes about birds and even though she never can remember half of them she loves to try and recite them whenever.
Yesterday October 31st 2021 I saw 3 magpies come to my bare rowan tree. They screeched continually for a while, what a noise. Then more flew in and I counted over and over ..yes there were ten!!! Amazing. I often have 5 but have never seen ten before!
I was just looking this up as I counted 18 on my neighbors roof
My grand-pappy used to say:
Seven for a secret
Never to be told
Eight for a wish
Nine for a kiss
Ten for a surprise
Not to be missed
My mother recited this version when she saw crows/ravens flying over.
One’s for sorrow,
Two’s for joy,
Three’s for a car ride,
Four’s for a boy.
Her rhyme stopped at four. She learned this as a child of the 1920’s. At that time a car ride would not have been a common thing.
I have two magpies that come and visit me daily for a feed They are partial to minced steak that was previously frozen. They bring their young family every year. They young fly off and a new family appears the next season. I live in Australia. My property backs on to a park with enormous gum trees throughout. I also have visits from among others -Cockatoos. Corella’s Crested pigeons Rosellas native minors and ducks I love them all.
Seven for a story yet to be told
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 treasure that lies over the sea,
Nine for my true love who’ll come rescue me.
I was told when I was growing up to salute one Magpie!
Yes I always say good-morning or afternoon if I see one. Drives my children nuts.
My mate is the same always salutes just one.. I say the sayings but depends which one that I recite as sometimes comes out wrong
‘
What is this a dream
I was always taught to always say, good morning Mr magpie, how’s the wife n kids If I only saw 1 to reply the sorrow, bad luck or misfortune.
Thank u I only knew 6 xx
when seeing two magpies has anyone chanted the verse, good morning mr magpie, how is mrs magpie to warn off bad luck?
I was told to say “Hello Mr Magpie, how’s your brother?” whenever I saw a single magpie. I suppose it’s to ward off the ill luck ‘one for sorrow’ implies.
My grandma always told me to salute a single magpie and say
good morning my Lord
good morning my Lord
good morning my lord
sir and justice how’s your
wife and family!
me too, Louise !!
I was taught to salute a lone magpie together with the greeting of:
‘Morning Captain, how’s your wife?’
I spotted 11 magpies cackling on an urban rooftop this morning, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more for their chattering din.
Thank you for this. I only knew up to seven and after counting ten together this morning I wanted to know what the saying was. It was lovely to see them all but I do feel for the smaller birds and their young
Hi I have just seen a kit in my cross stitch magazine which is the usual verse up to 7 but then it goes on to Eight for a wish
Nine for a kiss
Ten for a marriage
But after that I can’t see as there is an advert for another kit. Can anyone tell me the remainder of the verse please ?
I have a large tree at the bottom of my garden in which the magpies nest. Its a wonderful sight when I see the chick’s fledging. I put food out for them and it’s lovely to watch them eating it all and squabbling between themselves. I love them.
Thanks for this, there are 12 magpies on the school roof facing my house.
This is helpful! I have a couple of crows that I’ve befriended on my dog walks so there is always a couple of magpies zooming about. Today there was 9, the most I’ve seen to date and wondered if the song went past 7. Now I know
I have a family of magpies that are always on the field out the front of my house. There’s about 12 of them so I was interested to see what the full rhyme was. Thanks for the info.
Dear Darren
Wealth
Very interesting, I had a dream and in It I saw a fairly large group of magpies, in my head I counted 10 or 12…. I hope their wasn’t 13 ?. Does this mean anything anyone?? Thanks.
Not looking good mate. Had the same dream. I’m dead now.
Wealth.
hi thanks for the lyrics i totally forgot