how many magpies for gold

In the traditional magpie counting rhyme, six magpies stand for gold.

Quick scoop

The English folk rhyme that many people in the UK and Ireland know goes something like:

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.

So if you’re asking “how many magpies for gold?”, the usual answer is: six. This is tied to old superstitions that tried to read omens—like luck, wealth, or news—into how many magpies you happened to see together.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.