Un Elefante Se Balanceaba
Spanish Nursery Rhyme
Original Lyrics
Un elefante se balanceabasobre la tela de una araña.Como veía que resistía,fue a llamar a otro elefante.
Dos elefantes se balanceabansobre la tela de una araña.Como veían que resistía,fueron a llamar a otro elefante.
English Translation
One elephant was balancingon the web of a spider.Since it saw that the web held,it went to call another elephant.
Two elephants were balancingon the web of a spider.Since they saw that the web held,they went to call another elephant.
Translation Notes
Vocabulary
elefante - elephant se balanceaba - was balancing, was swinging sobre - on, on top of tela - web, cloth araña - spider veía - saw, could see resistía - held, resisted, bore the weight llamar - to call
Grammar Notes
The imperfect tense: se balanceaba (was balancing), veía (saw), and resistía (held) are in the imperfect, used for ongoing or repeated actions in the past. It sets a continuing scene rather than a single finished event.
Singular to plural: as the count rises, the verbs change to agree. Un elefante se balanceaba becomes dos elefantes se balanceaban, and veía becomes veían, fue becomes fueron. The song quietly drills subject-verb agreement.
Reflexive "se balanceaba": the pronoun se marks the verb as reflexive, so the elephant balances itself. Many Spanish verbs of motion and posture work this way.
Line-by-Line Translation
Un elefante se balanceaba - "One elephant was balancing"
- elefante = elephant
- se balanceaba = was balancing
sobre la tela de una araña - "on the web of a spider"
- tela = web, cloth
- araña = spider
Como veía que resistía - "Since it saw that the web held"
- veía = saw
- resistía = held, bore the weight
fue a llamar a otro elefante - "it went to call another elephant"
- fue = went
- llamar = to call
- otro = another
History and Meaning
"Un Elefante Se Balanceaba" is a counting song that grows one elephant at a time. A single elephant teeters on a spider's web, finds it surprisingly sturdy, and calls a friend; then two elephants call a third, and so on, with the number climbing as long as the children can keep count. The joke is the impossible picture: heavy elephants balancing on something as flimsy as a cobweb.
Origins
The song is a traditional children's counting rhyme sung across the Spanish-speaking world, with no single documented author or country of origin. It belongs to a wide family of cumulative songs (like the English "Ten Green Bottles") that add one to the tally on each round. Small differences in wording appear from place to place, but the pattern is always the same.
Meaning & Interpretation
The song is really a counting machine dressed up as a joke. Each verse repeats the same lines with the number bumped up by one, so children practise counting while picturing an ever-growing pile of elephants swaying on a cobweb. The absurdity, that the web keeps holding no matter how many elephants pile on, is what keeps them singing to see how high they can go.
How do you sing Un Elefante Se Balanceaba?
You start with one elephant and add another each verse: dos elefantes, tres elefantes, and upward. The verb endings shift to match, so the song doubles as counting practice and as a lesson in singular and plural. It usually continues until the singers lose count or run out of breath.
What is Un Elefante Se Balanceaba about?
It is about nothing more than counting and silliness. There is no moral or story beyond the growing crowd of elephants balancing on a spider's web, which is exactly why young children love it.
Free Printable Coloring Page
Print this Un Elefante Se Balanceaba coloring sheet for free and let little ones bring it to life with crayons or pencils.
Lyrics from nurseryrhymes.info