Richard Herring is very funny on the inconsistencies of the magpie-based reward system. I couldn't find any clips of him doing this in his standup set, unfortunately.

There's rosemary, that's for remembrance.
Pray you, love, remember.
And there is pansies, that's for thoughts.
There's fennel for you, and columbines.
There's rue for you, and here's some for me.
We may call it herb of grace o' Sundays.
O, you must wear your rue with a difference! There's a daisy.
I would give you some violets, but they wither'd all when my father died.
They say he made a good end.

Reminded me of this Hamlet.

good quoting rainbaby, i've always liked that bit.

jan we have magpies here in colorado, and i adore them. yes, they can be thieving pests but they're always up to something.

at a place i used to work, there was one who had a nest on the roof of the building. the building manager used to have to get the ladder out and climb into the stash to retrieve watches, keys, sunglasses, etc. that this magpie would nab from open cars in the parking lot. anyone with a convertible soon learned not to leave small goodies inside, or to put the roof up. owing to his ways, he earned the nickname 'GDB' from the facilities guys (acronym for goddamn bird). he'd also beg for bits of lunch if you were taking lunch outside at the picnic tables. i'm not a big fan of feeding wild animals so he didn't find me an easy candidate - this did not stop him from trying. usually he'd just beg a bit and hop up on the table to see if he could steal anything. one day i had one of these things and was hanging out at the picnic table munching it and chatting on the phone with mom, mostly ignoring GDB. well at one point i guess he'd had enough of seeing that tasty clif bar without getting a piece, so he stomped right up to me, and untied my shoelace! it was like he said 'god damn you LOOK at me when i'm trying to get you to feed me!'

yeah i gave him a bit of clif bar. and me a horse/dog trainer when i was a kid, too, feh. that little feathery bastard's prolly still untying shoelaces...

It's nice when you see animals and think maybe they're messages from the spirit world, or some such thing. Sometimes they do seem to glow with additional meaning.

I'll take up rainbaby's chip and say that you reminded me of:

I'll sing you one, O
Green grow the rushes, O
What is your one, O?
One is one, and all alone,
And ever more shall be so.

I'll sing you two, O
Green grow the rushes, O
What are your two, O?
Two, two lily-white boys
Clothed all in green, O
One is one, and all alone,
And ever more shall be so.

I'll sing you three, O
Green grow the rushes, O
What are your three, O?
Three, three arrivals!
Two, two lily-white boys
Clothed all in green, O
One is one, and all alone,
And ever more shall be so....

(And darn the folk process. When I learned that song growing up, I heard it as "three, three, the rivals!" But, duh, it's meant to be the three Wise Men. Arrivals. Okay, got it!)

Funny, there are a lot of different versions of the magpie rhymes around. The one I remember is:

One for sorrow, two for mirth
Three for a death, four for a birth
Five for heaven, six for hell
Seven for the devil his own sel'

Terry Pratchett has a book that features various magpie rhymes prominently--I think it's Carpe Jugulum. And Charles DeLint's Someplace to be Flying also centers around the various versions.

Wow! Miko, I'd forgotten all about that song! I used to sing that all the time when I was a kid...

We don't have magpies here, but the interior of BC does. Beautiful birds, they are!

Except for the nest-robbing, magpies are nice.

And except for when they eat the fruit on your fruit trees. My grandfather used to shoot one and then hang it by a string from the tree "pour encourager les autres".