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22 March 2007

One for sorrow ... [More:]From time to time when I've been coming home from work I've seen a magpie near the station, usually in one of the gardens of the houses by the station. He seems very tame, he just sits there and doesn't hop or fly off when you walk close to him.

This morning he was perched on the ticket barrier inside the station, right in the middle of one of the gates, on the highest part that you can see in this picture, the bit that looks like a little grey-ish screen.

The station was fairly quiet, it was about 6.15am, and I said to the station guy "Oh my gosh! Look at this magpie!" He said that, as they'd opened the gate across the entrance this morning, the magpie had strolled in and hopped up onto the barrier.

I checked my ticket through the reader, and stood eye-to-eye with this cheeky bird. "Good morning Mr Magpie" I said, and, smiling, made my way down to the platform.

There's an old rhyme I remember from childhood about the fortunes magpies bring:

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

I'm not superstitious, so I don't expect this little fella will bring me sorrow. In fact, he brought me a great deal of joy this morning and sent me off to work with a big smile on my face.
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.
posted by greycap 22 March | 03:37
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.
posted by rainbaby 22 March | 06:07
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...
posted by lonefrontranger 22 March | 07:59
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!)
posted by Miko 22 March | 08:10
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.
posted by Fuzzbean 22 March | 11:52
Wow! Miko, I'd forgotten all about that song! I used to sing that all the time when I was a kid...
posted by Specklet 22 March | 12:39
We don't have magpies here, but the interior of BC does. Beautiful birds, they are!
posted by deborah 22 March | 12:52
Except for the nest-robbing, magpies are nice.
posted by Hugh Janus 22 March | 12:59
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".
posted by greycap 22 March | 13:19
I knew there was a reason I loved teh metal! || In three years time.

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