A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

Faralahy is abandoned in a forest because his older brothers refuse to support him while he is paralysed. A king shelters him, and an enslaved man obtained in exchange for his red bull and red cock later directs an extraordinary recovery through a tree-climbing ordeal. Following the man’s sikidy advice, Faralahy sets traps by a pond. The first catch is a broom; the next is a heavy chest containing two young women and a wild duck. The enslaved adviser identifies the more beautiful woman as noble like Faralahy and marries the other himself. The Andriana bride tells them to find a broad plain for a healthier settlement.

There she breaks the chest, releasing a multitude of people, cattle, sheep, geese and other birds. Faralahy’s new abundance includes an enslaved household. Before he visits his parents, his adviser warns him not to disclose that this fortune was caught in a trap. His brothers make him drunk and extract exactly that admission. The adviser tells his mistress, and Faralahy’s property and wife vanish; even his fine clothes are replaced by rags. The bride’s disappearance is therefore linked to violated fady, rather than an independent attack by the welcoming king or an ordinary departure without supernatural loss.

To regain her, Faralahy follows a difficult eastern route and completes an old man’s tasks with animal help: boars turn a rice field, a waterbird retrieves pearls, fody gather scattered rice, and insects identify a first-born bull and his wife among two identical-looking women. Her parents finally promise that she can no longer leave him. She returns with her attendant, and his wealth is restored. At another family feast, Faralahy openly states its trap origin, now insisting that wife and fortune will remain. This time she shakes her robe as they leave, making his brothers’ possessions disappear and covering them with sores. The complete ending distinguishes an earlier reversible loss from the final permanent marriage and retaliation against the relatives who abandoned him.

Bride emerges from a trapped chestChest releases population and animalsDisappears after broken fadyIdentical appearance to her motherPermanent return after successive testsRobe-shaking removes brothers’ wealth
01

Origins & earliest records

Renel 1910, tale 9, pp. 65–76, regional and local collection heading. Individual teller unnamed; introduction V–VIII describes intermediaries and translation.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete tale 9, pp. 65–76, including surrounding episodes and final outcome read. No unstated species or borrowed identity from other last-born heroes supplied.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Contes de Madagascar, première partie: Contes merveilleux

    Charles Renel, editor and translator; Malagasy collection intermediaries · 1910

    Tale 9, pp. 65–76, complete.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Historical collected French narrativeRenel 1910, tale 9Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

FT·3562 · RESEARCH EDITION 01Back to top ↑