Italian nursery rhymes - Un elefante si dondolava

[J.R.Nogal]

This is a never ending nursery rhyme. You can sing it and sing it and sing it forever. This is ideal for a long ride... And if you want to practice the numbers...

Un elefante si dondolava
sopra un filo di una ragnatela,
trovando la cosa molto interessante
va a chiamare un altro elefante.

Due elefanti si dondolavano
sopra un filo di una ragnatela
trovando la cosa molto interessante
vanno a chiamare un altro elefante.

Tre elefanti si dondolavano
eccetera, eccetera, eccetera...

An elephant was swinging
on a thread of a cobweb,
and thinking that it was very interesting
he went to call another elephant

Two elephants were swinging
on a thread of a cobweb,
and thinking that it was very interesting
they went to call another elephant

Three elephants were swinging
etc., etc., etc.

It has a Spanish version

Un elefante se columpiaba
Sobre la tela de una araña,
Como veía que resistía
Fue a llamar otro elefante...

Dos elefantes se columpiaban
Sobre la tela de una araña,
Como veían que resistía
Fueron a llamar otro elefante...

Tres elefantes se columpiaban
etcétera, etcétera, etcétera.

Here is a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXFnrsspw78

[Cheesemonster13]

Nursery rhymes, perfect! I shall check out some more. Thanks for including the video, by the way.

[Knoxienne]

How cute! <3

[DragonPolyglot]

I think it's interesting to see what rhymes in other languages. :)

[Brent_Nichols]

questo e perfetto, i will be trying to sing this during my bike ride today!

[Clara-Lilla]

Lo amo! Grazie J. R. Have a lingot for bringing this little thing of lovlieness to us! :-)

[margaretbron]

Enjoyed the video, thank you for that. Just my level!!

[spasqu]

Yes, I've heard this rhyme in Spanish too, but in the version that I know the lyrics are slightly different:

Un elefante se balanceaba /
sobre una tela de araña, /
como veía que no se caía /
fue a llamar a otro elefante...

But to tell the truth, this is more popular as a drunkard vulgar song, which I mention here for the benefit of anthropological interest. The lyrics are both male-chauvinistic and xenophobic --a poor reflection on Spanish culture; but perhaps we should mention here the Latin saying: in vino veritas... Fair warning: there are some slang terms here. If you don't understand the lyrics, perhaps you are doing yourself a favour, after all.

Una alemana me la meneaba /
en una tienda de campaña, /
como veía que no me corría /
fue a llamar a otra alemana...