Il était un petit navire
# Il était un petit navire

"Il était un petit navire" (pronounced, lit. 'There was a little ship') is a traditional French song that is now considered a children's song, despite its macabre tone.

The song tells the story of a young sailor who is about to be eaten by the other sailors. They discuss how to cook the man and what sauce to use. He then prays for the Virgin Mary's intercession and is saved by a miracle.

This song might refer to the famous wreck of the Medusa, immortalised in the painting The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault.

## In popular culture

* Soldiers sing this song in the film La grande illusion.
* In the 2020 film The Man in the Hat, two musicians aboard a ferry sing this song.
* The bard Cacofonix starts to sing this song to Roman slaves on a boat in Asterix the Gladiator.
* The song is featured in the Mad Men episode "Tomorrowland".
* The song is sung by Anne Boleyn in the television series The Tudors, Episode 9 of Season 2 "The Act of Treason".
* Sung in its former version by 'la grenouille' at the end of Pirates (1986 film).
* On Peter, Paul and Mary's Discovered: Live in Concert album, which was released on November 18, 2014, Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey sing an adapted English version.
* A verse is used in the intro to episode 4 of Marianne.
* In 2019, the song is covered by French pop singer Nolwenn Leroy.
* In Street Fighter 6, Manon vocalizes the refrain when performing her Critical Art.

## In other languages

* German: War einst ein kleines Segelschiffchen
* Greek: Ήταν ένα μικρό καράβι [Itan ena mikro karavi]
