These are the ones that are just germs of ideas so far. They haven’t really started to sprout. But I want to add them in, because they might in the future.
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Twelve magpies: another one that came from a blog post of mine. There’s the original rhyme about counting magpies – and one day I saw a full twelve magpies in a tree in next door’s garden, way more than the seven that the rhyme finishes with.
I think there is something rather magical about this, still, which is why I’d like it to become a book. I think it has to include giving the original rhyme. Perhaps children in the story develop alternative rhymes for magpies 8-12.
The original seven magpies are to do with the kind of things that fables excel at: pairs and contrast. Sorrow, joy; girl, boy. But also things known and things unknown: ‘seven for a secret never to be told’.
Another way of viewing this is perhaps with the magpies leading the children through a series of clues, so they do find the secret – but more besides. That would allow for giving rise to there being more magpies.
Magpies are a mixed bag: liked in some ways, feared in others (or at least considered carefully), mocked in others. Maybe it’s the cockiness; maybe it’s the stealing of shiny items.
We have quite a lot of magpies near us, for some reason. I like the way they move, almost hopping in both feet, bouncing really. I like the bravado.
So it would be nice to consider a way to show magpies in a better light – and perhaps one where they share their ‘silver and gold’ with children, for a change.