The Magpie's Nest is an English fairy tale

Fairy tale

A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...

 collected by Joseph Jacobs

Joseph Jacobs

Joseph Jacobs was a folklorist, literary critic and historian. His works included contributions to the Jewish Encyclopaedia, translations of European works, and critical editions of early English literature...

in English Fairy Tales.

Synopsis

All the birds came to the magpie, because it was the wisest, and asked it to teach them how to build nests. The magpie started to demonstrate, but each time she did something, another bird concluded that was all there was to it. By the time she was done, only the turtledove was left, and it had been paying no attention, but singing "Take two." The magpie said that one was enough but looked up and saw that every bird had left. She became angry and would not teach any more.

That is why birds build their nests differently.

External links

• The Magpie's Nest