History Main / OneForSorrowTwoForJoy

[[AC:RealLife]]
* This took place in India in 1878. Sir Louis Cavagnari was to lead an embassy to Kabul. Earl Roberts records in his memoir, "As we [met before the embassy left], curiously enough, we came across a solitary magpie, ... Cavagnari pointed it out and begged me not to mention the fact of his having seen it to his wife, as she would be sure to consider it an unlucky omen....my heart sank as I wished Cavagnari good-bye. When we had proceeded a few yards in our different directions, we both turned round, retraced our steps, shook hands once more, and parted for ever." About two months later "...telegrams were received..., telling of the Mission [in Kabul] having been overwhelmed and every member of it cruelly massacred..."
** You can read more about this incident in Frederick Roberts' ''[[http://archive.org/details/fortyoneyearsini00robe Forty-one years in India, from subaltern to commander-in-chief]]'' on pages 381-384.
** This is also covered in The Far Pavilions by M. M. Kaye.
* Magpies are one of the few birds known to have demonstrated self-awareness. German scientists Helmut Prior, Ariane Schwarz, and Onur Güntürkün used the mirror self-recognition test on four magpies--placing some kind of mark on them and showing them a mirror. Three of the magpies--Gerti especially--[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WZm6TPNww8 recognized themselves in the mirror]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqnO2C8BDxU used the reflection]] to try and remove the sticker. The fourth, Harvey, well ... [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9jdF2-IpAo he reacted the way most birds do]] and treated his reflection as another magpie.

* Ashe Corven uses a variant of this rhyme while beating down a bad guy in a porn theater in ''Film/TheCrow: City of Angels''.

* A minor {{Batman}} villain was named Magpie for her kleptomania and the [[StevenUlyssesPerhero unfortunate birth name]] Margaret Pye.

* Magpies are one of the few birds known to have demonstrated self-awareness. German scientists Helmut Prior, Ariane Schwarz, and Onur Güntürkün used the mirror self-recognition test on four magpies--placing a sticker on them and placing them in front of a mirror. Three of the magpies--Gerti especially--[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WZm6TPNww8 recognized themselves in the mirror]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqnO2C8BDxU used the reflection]] to try and remove the sticker. The fourth, Harvey, well ... [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9jdF2-IpAo he reacted the way most birds do]] and treated his reflection as another magpie.

* The famous rhyme, with many variations. (Sometimes quoted for RavensAndCrows -- but chiefly magpies.)
** '-eight's a wish, and nine a kiss; ten is a bird you must not miss.'
** ... eight for heaven, nine for hell, And ten for the devil's own sel'.
** "One for sorrow, two for mirth / three for a wedding, four for a birth"
** "...eight for a letter over the sea, nine for a lover, as true as can be."
** "five for England, six for France / seven for a fiddler, eight for a dance."

Forty-one years in India, from subaltern to commander-in-chief. Roberts, Frederick. Page 381-384. http://archive.org/details/fortyoneyearsini00robe
This incident is in The Far Pavilions by M. M. Kaye.

-->--'''MotherGoose'''

-->--Flavor Text for the ''MagicTheGathering'' card [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=129764 Thieving Magpie]]

** Ashe Corven of the movie ''TheCrowCityOfAngels'' references this rhyme as well as he's trashing the bad guys of a strip booth establishment where his second target is, using crows in place of magpies.

This took place in India in 1878. Sir Louis Cavagnari was to lead an embassy to Kabul. Earl Roberts records in his memoir, "As we [met before the embassy left], curiously enough, we came across a solitary magpie, ... Cavagnari pointed it out and begged me not to mention the fact of his having seen it to his wife, as she would be sure to consider it an unlucky omen....my heart sank as I wished Cavagnari good-bye. When we had proceeded a few yards in our different directions, we both turned round, retraced our steps, shook hands once more, and parted for ever." About two months later "...telegrams were received..., telling of the Mission [in Kabul] having been overwhelmed and every member of it cruelly massacred..."

* Seanan [=McGuire's=] FilkSong [[http://seananmcguire.com/songbook.php?id=143 "Counting Crows"]] opens with a version of the rhyme, and continues on the theme. Chorus:

* Richard Hammond on ''TopGear'' once went on about how dangerous Magpies are while driving, because of all the gestures you have to preform. Seems Hammond got a bit confused, and rather than picking one of the many variations to ward off bad luck, chose them all.

* Literature/{{Weathercock}} by Glen Duncan has the Catholic protagonist (plagued by a case of ChronicVillainy, to put it mildly) suffer periodic intimations of evil. Outside a church, he is visited by no less than nine magpies. He tries to remember the rhyme, but to his unease can only recall the more modern version from ''Magpie''. FridgeBrilliance or FridgeHorror, when the reader themself remembers that in most versions of the rhyme, nine magpies signify the presence of the devil.

* ''Weathercock'' by Glen Duncan has the Catholic protagonist (plagued by a case of ChronicVillainy, to put it mildly) suffer periodic intimations of evil. Outside a church, he is visited by no less than nine magpies. He tries to remember the rhyme, but to his unease can only recall the more modern version from ''Magpie''. FridgeBrilliance or FridgeHorror, when the reader themself remembers that in most versions of the rhyme, nine magpies signify the presence of the devil.

--> '''[[DeathDealer Luxord:]]''' [using [[TheGambler two dice]], but mentions magpies] "Two is for fresh luck, while three starts the play. Four means start running, five means you stay. Six earns you silver, seven earns gold. Eight for new allies, nine for the old. Ten wins good fortune, eleven risks all -- but twelve wins the match and there, stops the ball." (and when asked about one) "One is for sorrow, because it's always alone."

* Several versions of the rhyme occur in TerryPratchett's ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum''. It's explained that none of them work very well, because nobody knows the version the magpies use. Also, the "modern" vampires of that book shape-shift into magpies rather than bats, which is a pun on their family name (de Magpyr).

* "Two Magpies" off of [[PaulMcCartney Paul McCartney's]] album ''Electric Arguments'' features lines from the rhyme. Unsurprisingly, it's [[EarWorm extremely catchy]].

->''Other birds collect twigs for their nests. Magpies collect jewels for theirs.''\\
--Flavor Text for the ''MagicTheGathering'' card [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=129764 Thieving Magpie]]

* In ''TheCrow'', the rhyme is referenced (with blackbirds in the place of magpies) by Eric as he prepares to kill a bar full of thugs, and capped with a classic line.

** Ashe Corven of the movie ''TheCrow: City of Angels'' references this rhyme as well as he's trashing the bad guys of a strip booth establishment where his second target is, using crows in place of magpies.

* Magpies show up at several key points in SnowWhiteAndTheHuntsman

* Invoked in ''{{Sandman}}''

* In ''{{The Crow}}'', the rhyme is referenced (with blackbirds in the place of magpies) by Eric as he prepares to kill a bar full of thugs, and capped with a classic line.

* A magpie literally named One For Sorrow appears as an assistant to and messenger of the guardian of the old animal highways in ''{{The Wild Road}}''. [[TearJerker You can pretty much guess what happens to him based on his name.]]

* In JRRTolkien's ''Unfinished Tales'', one of the tales after ''TheLordOfTheRings'' includes going through Saruman's tower and discovering he had become not a dragon but a magpie with what he hoarded. They still find a treasure there.

** '-eight's a wish, and nine a kiss; ten is a bird you must not miss.'

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Magpies are particularly noted for thieving tendencies and, as the [[NurseryRhyme rhyme]] indicates, for predicting the future. (This leads to a flock of magpies being a "tidings of magpies".)

Magpies are members of the corvid family and relatives of Ravens, both in RealLife and as tropes. (The rhyme (in all its manifold variations) is also used for crows, on occasion.)

''Seven for a secret that must never be told.''\\
--'''MotherGoose'''