Gonzalez
Who is Mambru and What is He Doing in Kindergarten? originated; how had it spread; how and why had children appropriated it; and
Ann Gonzalez
I. Background
Twenty some years ago I found myself living in Costa Rica with my
family and school-aged children. Just learning how to navigate the Costa Rican
school system was challenge enough, but when my daughter came home singing
"Mambru se fue a la guerra...no se cuando vendra," I remember thinking, what a
horrible song to teach to a child, especially in a country that prided itself on
having no army or significant history of armed conflict. Actually, at the time, I
did not know if she had learned the song in music class or on the playground
jumping rope. Years later, when we were back in the United States, my Costa
Rican sister-in-law sent my daughter a tape of Costa Rican children's songs.
There was "Mambru" again, a heartbreaking story of a young man killed in a
war and his grieving widow left behind. Again I thought, how macabre to teach
to children.
Several years ago, as I was teaching my first university-level Spanish class
on Hispanic children's literature, I discovered "Mambru" again, this time in a
Costa Rican textbook.on children's Iiterature.1 According to this source, the song
was attributed to an anonymous Spanish author, and I remember thinking, well,
that explains it. The song is not Costa Rican after all; it's Spanish. To my surprise,
when I went to teach it, one of my students, a native of France, protested that the
song was not originally Spanish at all, but, in fact, French, and she proceeded to
sing it for all of us ("Malbrouc s'en va-t-en guerre"). Interestingly enough, she
had also learned it as a child. The assertion that the song was really of French
origin caused quite an uproar since there were several native speakers in the
class from different parts of Latin America who all thought the song had
originated in their home country. They had all learned it as children. In addition,
they all had learned slightly different versions of the song.
We were puzzled to say the least: who was Mambru (variously spelled
Malbrouc or Malbrough in French) and what was the war that he was off to
fight? These questions, in turn, lead to others: how and where had the song
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why had adults permitted, even facilitated, their doing so. At this point, we
decided to turn our curiosity into a class research project. We narrowed our focus
to two main questions: what was the historical context surrounding the origin of
"Mambru," and, given its tragic lyrics, why did it seem to be so readily accepted
by Latin American educators as an appropriate song to teach children.
II. Historical context
Actually, the historical context was not too difficult to piece together, and
students found it fascinating. They quickly discovered from library reference
materials that the song's protagonist, "Mambru" in Spanish, "Malbrough" in
French, refers to the English Duke of Marlborough, John Churchill, (ancestor of
Winston), born in 1650 and made famous for his role in the War of the Spanish
Succession (1702-1713), the struggle between England and France for control of
Spain. Churchill's decisive victory against the French at Blenheim (1704), Bavaria
(Germany) earned him a dukedom from Queen Anne and a palace that he
named Blenheim after his victory.
Three less decisive victories followed Blenheim - RamilIies (1706),
Oudenarde (1708), and Malplaquet (1709), not only assuring Marlborough's fame
at home and abroad, but also making him a despised figure in France. The
French song, clearly unsympathetic to "Malbrough," (the Spanish song is more
ambiguous and depends on the version) may have originated after the
Malplaquet battle when Marlborough was erroneously reported killed. This
hypothesis is borne out by the subject matter of the song that has
Mambni/Malbrough killed in the war when, in fact, the Duke of Marlborough
died of a stroke on June 16, 1722.
The next step in our investigation sent students to consult experts in other
fields. Given that one of the results of the War of Spanish Succession was the
establishment of the Bourbon kings and the concomitant cultural imposition on
Spain of French language and customs, students consulted the departmental
linguist to understand the evolution of the phonemes in the lyrics. They needed
to determine linguistically which name was a deformation of the other, or, in
other words, which name came first. Given the norma1linguistic deformation of
the letter "I"to "m," (that is, Malbrough to Mambru) and the history of the case,
students finally agreed that, indeed, the song appeared to have originated in
French. We surmised that it must have then been passed on to Spain sometime
after 1713 when French influence on Spain increased. Just how the children got
Postscript 62
involved, however, is another matter for which the class found no easy historical
evidence.
III. Analysis of the music
The themes of "Mambni" are war, death, and burial, but the music stands
in stark contrast to the somber themes with its peppy rhythm and zippy melody.
It appears from the French text that the song is meant as satire, to make fun of
the death of the Duke, and that it, therefore, originated as a joke employing a
lively rhythm and tune that at least one source claims may date back as far as the
Middle Ages, as a marching song for the Crusades.2 The Arabs also knew the
song-at least the melody, according to French writer Chateaubriand.3
Apparently popular among soldiers and country folk, the song was probably
appropriated by French children fairly quickly as an unofficial playground ditty,
given the propensity of the young to appropriate adult songs, jokes, and chants
that reflect current gossip and politics, no matter how grisly (eg., Lizzie Borden).
There was probably not much adults could have done to prevent them from
picking up this folklore, even had they been so inclined, which they probably
were nol According to a note about the song made by composer Francisco
Asenjo Barbieri in 1871,. "Mambni" enjoyed a popular resurgence with adults in
France in 1781 after it became a particular favorite of Marie-Antoinette, who
apparently learned the song from her country nursemaid, Poitrine, who sang it
to the newborn Dauphin to IuII him to sleep. The song's popularity was such
that it gave its name to clothes, hairdos, foods, and so forth, until the time of the
French Revolution (1789)when it was virtually forgotten again. The song must
have already been passed on to Spain well before this time, probably through
Catalonia,' since students found a record of it in Peru as early as 1790.6
While the song may have been translated into Spanish by adults, it seems
far more likely that the tune, once in the hands of French children, was
subsequently passed on to Spanish children when French families moved to
Spain after the War of Spanish Succession sometime after 1713. The children
would more easily and more quickly have deformed the French "I"to a Spanish
"m" and would have been less likely to know about the historical events that
gave rise to the song in the first place. According to one source, the song was
popularized in Spain especia1Iy by little girls who sang it to accompany their
games.7 Another source referred to "Mambni" as a little girls' dance.' At any
rate, over time and sung by children who were basically ignorant of its origins,
alterations in the Spanish song began to appear that would have made more
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Gonzalez 63
sense to the children and probably reflected then- cultural circumstances more
accurately.
IV. Analysis of the Lyrics
A cursory review of the lyrics from various versions of the song, and an
analysis of references to Mambni outside the song itself yield some interesting
insights into the process of story evolution. Over time the historical connection
between the Mambni of the song and Marlborough of history becomes
somewhat clouded when not lost altogether. The link between Mambni and a
British general must have been at least partially retained, however, since by the
time of the steam engine, the metal cap on the top of a ship's chimney that
deflects the steam sideways is referred to as a "mambni," apparently because it
looks something like the English military helmet of the previous century. A
Venezuelan version of the song begins with a verse indicating that Mambni is
English while confusing how he came by his title: "En Londres naci6 un
nii\o/muy bello y sin iguaI,/por ser hijo de un duque/Mambni se va a Ilamar" (In
London a child was born, very beautiful and without equal, since he was the son
of a duke, will be called Mambni).9
French versions of the song have anywhere from ten to twenty-one verses
that detail Malbrough's leaving for war, the wait for him to return, the sorrow of
his wife upon hearing the news of his death, detailed descriptions of his armor
and burial, and finally the satirical response of the mourners-they all go to bed,
not terribly upset. The subject matter alone, however, isolated from the historical
facts that contextua1ize this song, could easily have been misinterpreted by
Spanish children (as well as the adults) as sad or mournful rather than satirical.
In fact, there is a French version that ends, like many of the Spanish versions, not
with everyone going home to sleep but with a bird singing in the highest branch,
"Sur la plus haute branche. . ./La rossignol chanta."IO Probably, this version
represents a later variation of the song, distant from the original sequence of
events and the song's original purpose as satire.
The earliest source to record the words in Spanish has been attributed to
Francisco Asenjo Barbieri in 1871.1\ This version maintains the French refrain of
"miront6n. miront6n. mirontela" and has Mambni's wife ask her page what news
he brings. His news, he claims, will make them all cry. Mambni has died
("Mambni, senora, ha muerto") and the page himself has witnessed the burial.
There is no sense of satire here. Furthermore, versions found among Hispanic
folksongs are generally classified as ballads or romances, indicating a non-satiric
 64
Postscript
"narrative ballad of Spanish origin. dealing generally with incidents in the lives
of great or famous persons. It features a sixteen-syllable line that may be either
rhymed or assonated. Occasionally.. .there is an estribillo,or refrain."12 All of
these attributes apply to "Mambni." In addition, the Spanish version loses the
incorrect liaisons of -t and-z that give the French version a comical effect. All that
remains of the French jest is the central theme of going off to war accompanied
by an upbeat melody that seems to contradict the mistakenly mournful
denouement of the protagonist's death in the Spanish version (particularly in the
various versions that proliferate in Latin America).
V. Class project Collecting,versions of the song
Once the class had done its initial historical research. we began the process
of collecting and analyzing all the different versions we could find. We
discovered tapes from various countries; Hispanic students wrote home to
friends and relatives for versions; we searched the internet and university
libraries; and most interesting, we involved the entire department in our search.
What began as a class exercise turned into a major research endeavor in which
both students and faculty actively participated. We located numerous variations
throughout Latin America and the Southwestern United States and even a
deformed French version collected in a book of English and Irish folksongs.t3
Clearly, the central theme of leaving for battle and the happy melody had
become the fundamental vehicles for adapting words that harkened back to the
French version but that reflected the Spanish or Spanish American singers'
cultural reality and circumstances. The first step was for the singers to give the
song a happy ending so that the tune would be~er complement the content.
Mambni is killed in the war and buried "que dolor, que dolor, que pena" (what
pain, what pain, what shame) but the Christian overtones of rebirth and eternal
life are clear from the three birds (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) who alight on the
tomb at the end of the verse to sing "el plo, plo," and "el plo, pa." In some
versions, there is only one bird singing, but the effect is the same.
Of the versions sung in Spain, one resembles the French song more closely
and maintains the comic tone. Although the wife ''Madame'' is completely
absent, the page who brings the news of Mambni's death is apparently drunk
and almost falls down, "Las noticias que traigo,lmire usted, mire usted, me
caigo!" Furthermore, Mambni's death, while cause for tears "dan ganas de llorar,"
ambiguously appears as an "entuerto," which is somewhere between an injustice
and an insult. The velvet casket "caja de terciope1o" gives rise to a play on the
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Gonzalez 6S
word "pelo" (hair) that may refer to the velvet and/or the hair of the deceased
"mire usted que pelo." Finally, as the birds sing on the grave, the refrain
disrespectfully refers to Mambni as "an uncle," Spanish slang for "fellow or
guy": "mire usted que no."
By the time the Spanish song makes its way to Latin America, the tone has
changed considerably. In Costa Rica, the news of Mambni's death is clearly
followed by sadness and mourning, "que ganas de llorar," (what a need to cry).
The Trinity holiday is replaced by the more familiar Christmas, "Trinidad" to
"Navidad," and several of the more ambiguous verses are simply eliminated. In
the Dominican Republic's version, the casket is made of pine with no mention of
velvet, but in Puerto Rico the casket is made of gold. In Peru, instead of the
page's bringing the news of Mambni's death, the bad news is more logically
carried by the mailman "el cartero" and, in another version, by a fellow soldier.
The Puerto Rican version has a little ship "un barquito" bring the news to the
island.1. In an interesting reversal, the original joke is restored by parodying the
Spanish lament in what has been labeled by Fernando Uorca as the most concise
version: "Mambni se fue a la guerra,/montado en una perra; la perra se cay6,/
Mambni se revent6" (Mambni went off to war 'riding on a dog; the dog fell
down, and Mambni exploded)." In a vulgar version from Venezuela, it is no
longer even Mambni who goes off to war but "Pepito" (of the off-color Pepito
jokes) in a crass and obscene parody of the original that only preserves the
melody and the initial line and theme of leaving for battle, "Pepito se fue a la
guerra."
A version collected in Nicaragua16 changes Mambni's nationality to
French. completely reversing the historical events, "En Francia naci6 un
niiio/muy bello y sin igual" (In France a child was born/very beautiful and
without equal). Somehow the relationship of the song to its French origins has
become confused with the nationality of Mambni, himself. This version, then,
goes on to explain that his name is Mambni because he did not have a
godmother (a similar verse in a version from New Mexico claims that because
this French child has no godparents his name is Lauro). The most politically
suggestive verse in the Nicaraguan version claims that the child becomes a
president and a general by age fourteen (shades of Somoza?), is killed and taken
for burial in the velvet casket. The song ends before the burial, states only the
facts of his death, and shows no emotion whatsoever. All the references in the
version from Spain, satirical or otherwise, "que dolor, que dolor, que pena" and
"que ganas de llorar," are absent.
Postscript 66 Gonzalez 67

One of the versions that reached New Mexico changes MambN's name to example of the theory that children's literature arises from a dynamic and
Mambruzl7 in a corruption of the elided -s in "MambN se fue." Interestingly dialectical struggle between what adults think is appropriate for children (the
enough, however, the comic tone is retained. In this version, an unnamed "f' thesis) and what children really want to read or in this case sing (the antithesis).23
climbs a tower to look for Mambruz's return. ~tead, he sees the page that The resulting product is a compromise of sorts, a synthesis in which children
brings the news of Mambruz's death. The "yo" narrator almost falls off the have their way but adults still exert a controlling hand. Hence, this multicultural
tower, and then proceeds to get drunk at the funeral underneath a cedar "debajo song about an English Duke with a Portuguese fiance who fought in Germany
de.un sabino." In another New Mexican variatiOn,18the theme of MambN's going against France for control of Spain, confusing enough in itself and certainly never
off to war is implied but never stated. Instead, the first verse begins with intended as a children's song, has managed to maintain a firm hold for several
MambN's impending marriage to a beautiful lady from Portugal, but news of his centuries on the respectable canon of Hispanic children's literature.
death arrives in verse seven, clearly putting a damper on the ceremony. The
cause of death is not explained.

Variations on MambN abound in the cultural fabric of Latin American

society. There is an anonymous poem with the same rhythm about his wife I Margarita Dobies Rodriguez, Uteratura infantil, 2nd ed. (San Jose: Editorial Universidad
Estatal a Distanda, 1981, 1988) 145-156.
"Elisa de Mambni," in which Elisa sickens and dies, and the poem ends with the
1 R. Alburqueque, Espalla CJmla:Candones tradicionaJes (Madrid: Servido de Dlfusi6n del
little bird singing on top of her tomb. A Cuban version of the story has been
Espailol, Subdirecd6n General de Cooperad6n Cultural, Ministerio de Cultura y Radio Nadonal
turned into a play.19 A contemporary short story by Dominican writer Aida de Espaila, 1990) 62.
Cartagena Portalatin is rebelliously titled "Man'lbN no fue a la guerra."20 There · VllIoteau, Elat actud tU "art musical en Egypk (1813) in Alburqueque 62.
is even a Venezuelan story book version illustrated by Gloria Calder6n, in which · Jose Maria Iribarren, El porque de /os dichos (Madrid: Aguilar, 1955) 534-535.
· Alburqueque 62.
MambN and all the other characters are depicted as animals: cats, dogs, and
· Ricardo Palma, Trodidones peruanas (Buenos Aires: Austral. 1949) 108-113.
pigs-all in bold, primary colors. 7 Iribarren 535.

VI. Conclusions
The question that has always rankled, however, is why adults have
blithely accepted this song for children in an age when the psychology of
children's developmental and emotional needs is the paramount model in the
· John Donald Robb, Hispanic Folk Music of New Mexico and the Southwest: A Self-Portrait of
a People (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1954) 25.
· MarnbrU seflu a Ia guerra (Caracas: Edidones mean!, 1996).
10Marot a Brassens, u 1i17l'td'or tU Ia chanson FranCGise,voL 2 (paris: Les Editions
Ouvrieres, 1972).
II Iribarren 535.
11Dobb 24.

selection and evaluation of children's Iiterature.21 The answer, we suspect, lies in "Peter Kennedy, ed., Folksongs ofBrilain and Ireland (London: Oak Publications, 1975).
.. www.e1boricua.com/mambru.htmI.
the music. The melody, rhythm, and rhyme clearly overshadow the subject
LSFernando Uorca, Lo que ",,"Ian /os nillas (Valenda: Prometeo, n.d.) 45.
matter. Primary school teachers in Latin America, as many of my Hispanic
.. Vidaluz Meneses and Jorge Eduardo AreUano;eds., Ut",atura para nillos en niCGrGgua
students recalled, are fond of giving children tambourines and rhythm sticks and (Managua: Edidones Distribuidora Cultural. 1995) 52.
17Robb 26.
letting them march around in circles as the song is played. Rarely do the
II Robb 24-25.
children learn the words for all the verses or understand the song as a story or
even as a chronologically sequential chain of events. The melody is so popular, " Hector Quintero, MambrU seflu ala guerrG (Havana: Editorial Arte y Uteratura, 1978).
.. Aristides lnclu\ustegul and Blanca Delgado Malag6n. eds., Dos siglos de literGfura
in fact, that around 1900 it was sung to the English words "They fed the pig in dominicona (5. XIX-XX): Prosa, voL 2 (Santo Domingo: Editora Corripio, 1996) 136-142.
the parlor," all traces of MambN lost and forgotten.22Certainly the evolution of 11See, for example, Maria Ruth Pardo Belgrano, Lo literatura infantil en Ia escuela primaria
the story from a crass satire on the death of the Duke of Marlborough to a (Buenos Aires: Editorial Plus Ultra, 1984); R.L Tames, Introd=idn a Ia literafura infantil
sympathetic narration including an almost happy ending with Christian (Santander. Universidad de Santander, 1985); Margarita Dobies Rodriguez, Uteratura infantil
(Costa Rica: Editorial Universidad EstataI a Distanda, 1988); Juan Cervera, Teorill tU Ia literatura
overtones indicates how stories change over time as they adapt to various
infanh1 (Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, 1992); Antonio Moreno Verdulla, UteraturG infantil
cultural and temporal exigencies. Furthermore, the case of uMambN" is a living (cadiz: Universidad de cadiz, 1994).

66
Postscript 68

22Dobb 26.
13Zohar Shavi!, "'The Historical Model of the Development of Children's Uterature,N
Aspects and Issues in the History of Children's Ufera/ure, ed. Marla Nikolajeva, (London: Greenwood
Press, 1995) 27-38.

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

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