José Rafael de Pombo y Rebolledo (November 7, 1833 – May 5, 1912) was a Colombian poet born in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

. Trained as a mathematician and an engineer in a military school, Rafael Pombo served in the army and he traveled to the

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as Secretary of the Legation in Washington. After completing his diplomatic assignment, he was hired by D. Appleton & Company in New York to translate into Spanish

nursery rhymes A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From t ...

from the

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oral tradition. The product of this work, more than a translation, was a transformative adaptation published in two books under the titles ''Cuentos pintados para niños'' and ''Cuentos morales para niños formales''. In spite of his extensive and diverse literary works, Rafael Pombo is mostly remembered for this contribution to children's literature. Among his most popular children's fables are ''Michín'', ''Juan Chunguero'', ''Pastorcita'', '' La Pobre Viejecita'', '' Simón el Bobito'', ''

El Gato Bandido EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...

'', and ''

El Renacuajo paseador Rin Rin the tadpole (Spanish: ''Rin Rin Renacuajo''), also known as the tripping tadpole (''El renacuajo paseador'') (1884) is a stock character created by Colombian poet Rafael Pombo. It is still reprinted in compilations of children stories a ...

''. After seventeen years in the United States of America, Rafael Pombo returned to Colombia, where he worked as a celebrated translator and journalist (founding several newspapers). On August 20, 1905 he was crowned as

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

's best poet - his ''Poesías Completas'' was published in 1957, from which the poe
El Niágara''
was taken. Rafael Pombo remained in

until his death on May 5, 1912.

References

WikiSource
has the original works of Rafael Pombo

* ttp://www.lablaa.org/blaavirtual/ninos/relatoi/rela3.htm Shorter entry in the Online Library of Colombia's Central Bank (Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango)
Short Biography in the official website of the Presidency of Colombia

Entry in the Online Library of the Andes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pombo, Rafael Del Rosario University alumni Colombian diplomats 19th-century Colombian poets 20th-century Colombian poets Colombian male poets 1833 births 1912 deaths Burials at Central Cemetery of Bogotá 20th-century male writers