h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Your two poems are associated with magpies, as you probably know. I did encounter a variation of the second one which ended, 'Seven for a babe buried in the dark', but I can't remember what four and five were. One to four were the same as the second poem. The poem cropped up in a program that looked at why the magpie was considered a bird of ill-omen by many. Personally, I rather like them.

One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a girl
Four for a Boy
{Three for a letter
Four, something better)
Five for a wish
Six for a kiss
Seven a lifetime full of bliss
I much prefer the sound of Cheerful Dragon's version. Much less saccharine

My grandmother always used to say 'seven for a secret ready to be told' and carried on;

Eight for a queen
Nine for a king
Ten for a woman with a diamond ring.

Maybe there were more magpies in Ireland in the past.

Or maybe you just used to count more that we did!

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
Eights a wish
and Nine a kiss
Ten is for something you must not miss.

This version I'f I recall correctly was used on the childrens programme
"Magpie" in the 70's
It was a very popular programme so I'm sure others wll remember it.

This is another one I remember from school.
Ippy dippy dation
My operation
How many people at the station?

(then someone calls a number and you count that many points at everyone who's "in" and the last one is "out"

That's not quite the sort of thing I'm looking for. I think there's another article somewhere dealing with 'choosing rhymes'. Cheers anyway though.