16. Which song from the "For the Littles" disc of "A Gift from a Flower to a Garden" references an old nursery rhyme?
"One brings sorrow and one brings joy"
From Quiz Donovan Comes, Singing Songs of Love
Answer:
The Magpie
"The magpie is a most illustrious bird
Dwells in a diamond tree
One brings sorrow and one brings joy
Sorrow and joy for me"
The nursery rhyme dates from at least the mid 18th century, and there are a lot of versions. The basis of them all is counting magpies or some other corvids to tell the future:
"One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret,
Never to be told"
or
"One for sorrow,
Two for mirth.
Three for a funeral,
Four for a birth.
Five for heaven.
Six for hell.
Seven for the Devil, his own self"
I live in a city where the black billed magpie is so common as to have become our mascot - at any given time you can pretty much count on being able to see enough to tell any future with!