The Thieving Magpie

The Thieving Magpie
Originally La Pie voleuse ou La Servante de Palaiseau
Inspiration
Earliest appearance	1815
Original author	Théodore Baudouin d'Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caigniez
Country of origin	France

The Thieving Magpie was originally a French play called 'La Pie voleuse ou La Servante de Palaiseau' (lit. The thieving magpie or The Maid of Palaiseau) (usually abridged as 'La Pie voleuse') written by Théodore Baudouin d'Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caigniez which premiered in Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin on the 29th of April 1815. This story is said to be inspired by real life events: a servant was accused of a theft that was actually by a magpie.

Gioachino Rossini was inspired to write the Italian melodramma 'La gazza ladra' (lit. The thieving magpie) based on La Pie volouse, which premiered 31st of May 1817 at La Scala in Milan. This version brought the story to an international audience and is the most likely contender to have reached Herman van Veen for him to be inspired to write the general outlines for the story featuring Pikkie de Ekster that started in episode 2 and ended in episode 3 of the animated series.

The Thieving Magpie is a powerful illustration of an innocent victim that's nearly destroyed by judicial error, making it a cautionary tale about justice, truth and the death penalty.

History

The maid of Palaiseau

According to legend, in 1631 a servant girl in Palaiseau (near Paris) was found guilty of stealing her master's silverware. Despite her claims of innocence, she was tried and executed, as no other suspect was identified. Several years later, the missing silver items were discovered in the nest of a magpie, posthumously proving the girl's innocence.

The writers of the play La Pie voleuse ou La Servante de Palaiseau later claimed that this was a true story. However, scholars such as Marie-Bernadette Bruguière argue that it is just as likely a folk tale.

The story was widely circulated and often retold as an example of the dangers of purely circumstantial evidence. In fact, the tale was included in 18th-century collections of causes célèbres (lit. famous legal cases) as a classic instance of wrongful conviction​. The story raised also the question of the validity of the death penalty among the people, but it would take another 100 years before Victor Hugo stirred public debate about the death penalty again.

In Palaiseau’s Musée Palaisien du Hurepoix, part of the museum is dedicated to the subject, claiming to have the true story of the maid of Palaiseau. Furthermore, in Palaiseau there is a street dedicated to the story called la rue de «la pie voleuse» (lit. The street of the thieving magpie), starting at the St. Martin church and ending at Saclay-plateau.