RHYME AND REASON

The existence of the infamous divination rhyme was first recorded in print in an 1842 reprint of Observations on Popular Antiquities by John Brand (1777). In one of his copious amendments to the original text,

Sir Henry Ellis (referring to a mention of maggotpies in Macbeth) notes that: “The magpie is called, in the West, to this hour, a magatipie, and the import of the augury is determined by the number of birds that are seen together: One for sorrow, two for mirth,

Three for a funeral, and four for birth.” In 1841, another version of the rhyme was mentioned in Volume Four of the Scottish Dictionary and Supplement: Ane’s joy, twa’s grief,

Three’s a waddling, four’s death.

By 1846, in Proverbs and Popular Sayings of the Seasons by Michael Aislabie Denham, the rhyme had grown considerably:

One for sorrow,

Two for luck (varia. mirth),

Three for a wedding,

Four for death (varia. birth),

Five for silver,

Six for gold,

Seven for a secret,

Not to be told,

Eight for heaven,

Nine for hell,

And ten for the Devil’s own sell.

From there on in, regional variations apparently started to make it up as they went along with gay abandon. Here’s a Lancashire effort:

One for anger,

Two for mirth,

Three for a wedding,

Four for birth,

Five for rich,

Six for poor,

Seven for a bitch and

Eight for a whore,

Nine for a burying,

Ten for a dance,

Eleven for England and Twelve for France.

An alternative to the above, from 1849, had a more abrupt ending:

Seven for a witch,

I can tell you no more.

In Yorkshire it took on a more schoolboyish tone:

Eight you live,

Nine you die,

Ten you eat a bogey pie!

Sheffield had a very different spin:

One for bad luck,