Rin Rin the tadpole (Spanish: ''Rin Rin Renacuajo''), also known as the tripping tadpole (''El renacuajo paseador'') (

1884 Events January–March * January 4 – The Fabian Society is founded in London. * January 5 – Gilbert and Sullivan's ''Princess Ida'' premières at the Savoy Theatre, London. * January 18 – Dr. William Price atte ...

) is a

stock character A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a fictional character in a work of art such as a novel, play, or a film whom audiences recognize from frequent recurrences in a particular literary tradition. There is a wide range of st ...

created by Colombian poet Rafael Pombo. It is still reprinted in compilations of children stories and nursery rhymes.

History

Rin Rin the tadpole represents the

stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

of the self-assured youth, never listening to his elders. He is depicted in an aristocratic dandy fashion ("With short pants, a stylish

necktie A necktie, or simply a tie, is a piece of cloth worn for decorative purposes around the neck, resting under the shirt collar and knotted at the throat, and often draped down the chest. Variants include the ascot, bow, bolo, zipper tie, cra ...

, hat with ribbons and a wedding frock coat"). His mother (naturally, a frog) asks him not to leave the house, but he doesn't listen to her. The companions in his adventures are a young mouse ("el Niño Ratico"), and an old lady

rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include ''Neotoma'' ( pack rats), ''Bandicota'' (bandicoot ...

("Doña Ratona"). They go around, partying and drinking beer. Finally, due to this misconduct, they end tragically, devoured by predators. The mouse and rat were eaten by cats while the frog was devoured by a duck.

Cultural references

Rin Rin is one of the most recognized characters of the Colombian culture, and is commonly used in

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

textbooks, nursery rhymes and children literature compilations. The Mexican musician Silvestre Revueltas composed his ballet ''El renacuajo paseador'' in 1936. Representations of the character are used in

parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

s and carnivals. In recent years, the theme parks Mundo Aventura and

Colombian National Coffee Park Colombian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Colombia * Colombians, persons from Colombia, or of Colombian descent **For more information about the Colombian people, see: *** Demographics of Colombia *** Indigenous ...

have used animatronic versions of the tadpole.

References

El renacuajo paseador
at WikiSource *Animated cartoon at http://aromadepapel.blogspot.com/2009/07/rin-rin-renacuajo-rafael-pombo.html Colombian literature Characters in children's literature Male characters in literature Fictional frogs Nursery rhymes {{child-lit-char-stub