THREE FOR A GIRL, FOUR FOR A BOY ... OR IS IT?

Hmm! Reading Joanne Harris' wonderful A Pocketful Of Crows (see my review here) I came across the lyrics to the 'Magpie' rhyme.

You know the one which goes ...

One for sorrow,

Two for joy,

Three for a girl,

Four for a boy,

(I forget the rest)

Wellll, seems I may have been getting it wrong all this time.

Considered an ill omen in many cultures (nothing to do with my being terrified of birds, that's a whole other post). In the afore mentioned A Pocketful Of Crows, Joanne Harris has it as ...

One for anger,

Two for mirth

Three for a wedding,

Four for a birth.

Five for rich,

Six for poor,

Seven for a witch:

I can tell you no more

- 16th Century

Whilst research leads me to believe that  ....

• First recorded in the seventeen hundreds, the rhyme went ...

One for sorrow,

Two for mirth,

Three for a funeral,

And four for birth

- John Brand's Observations on Popular Antiquities

(Lincolnshire 1780) 

• Until extended some time later it went ...

One for sorrow,

Two for mirth

Three for a funeral,

Four for birth,

Five for heaven,

Six for hell,

Seven for the devil, his own self

- Michael Aislabie Denham's Proverbs and Popular Saying of the Seasons

(London 1846)

• The 'modern' version (and the one I now remember my nana telling me) having it as ...

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

A rhyme most of my generation here in England grew up knowing. Whilst many European countries have their own folklore featuring magpies (which by the way, the colours of the black and white home strip giving Newcastle United FC the nick-name of The Magpies) I'm led to believe they are far less common in other countries, do you know of this rhyme or indeed any other legends surrounding this member of the crow family?