The news of her demise spawned many folk songs accounting for it, most notably the famous "copla" (with many variations in Spain and the Americas), particularly popular among children delivered as song accompanying a skipping rope game. According to Benito Pérez Galdós, he had already heard about it few days after the incident: "¿Dónde vas Alfonso XII? ¿Dónde vas triste de ti? Voy en busca de Mercedes que ayer tarde no la vi" ("Where are you going, Alfonso XII? Where are you going, sad man?—I'm going in search of Mercedes whom I did not see yesterday afternoon..."). A film about the romance between María de las Mercedes and Alfonso XII, "Where Are You Going, Alfonso XII?" (with Paquita Rico starring as María de las Mercedes) was released in 1958.