The following are lyrics to a never ending song that i learned as a child and to my surprise so did kids in Panama, Peru and Spain. The following was recorded from my friend from Spain Ana Mula Diaz. The only difference between the song that I remember and the one she tells us is the word she uses for balancing. which speaks of a slight choice of words difference between Mexico and Spain but the meaning is the same.

Informant Singing in a 1-2 1-2 1-2-2-3-4 rythym

Informant: Un Elefante se balanceaba sobre la tela de una arana.. y como veia que resistia fue a buscar otro elefante….. dos Elefantes se balanceaban sobre la tela de una arana y como veian que resistia fueron a buscar otro elefante..tres elefantes se balanceaban sobre la tela de una arana y como veian que resistia fueron a buscar otro elefante…

Translated

Informant: One Elephant was balancing over the thread of a spider and since he saw that it resisted he went to find another elephant…. Two elephants were balancing over the thread of a spider and since they saw that it resisted they went to look for another elephant… three elephants were balancing over the thread of a spider and since they saw that it resisted (held) they went to look for another elephant…4

The song never ends it keeps going on an eternity, I was shocked that the song is so old that kids in Spain sang it too. The meaning is very imaginative and it probably came as tok says from a creative genius child. we didn’t realize at the time that we sang it that it was so illogical for an elephant to balance himself over a spiderweb let alone 100 elephants. but this song was a part of our childhood and when we were really little the loser would be the one who couldn’t count that high or the one who wanted to stop singing.