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

Overview

After Tsimatiambavany is killed in a dispute concerning stones thrown by his travelling companion, his wife and two faithful friends search the forest for his body. They eventually find animals eating it beside the path. Renel’s footnote identifies these as monsters rather than ordinary animals. Their names are Lavatsinay, Afakelika, Mandrongay, Milaloza, Bibiela, Bibivao, Tokamaso, Kindoko, Omba and Bibiolona. The frightened women flee, and the company gives chase. These are distinct members of one narrated band, not ten aliases assigned to a single beast.

A merabe tree lowers its branches to shelter the women and rises high again. The monsters plan to fetch axes, but each fears losing a share of the prey by leaving. Bibivao, Bibiela and Mandrongay refuse, until all go together. The women descend, leave cloth and smoked meat as decoys, and escape. The returned pursuers cut down the tree and mistake the decoys for entrails. A great speaking rock, addressed as Vatobé or Ravato, next opens to hide the women and denies holding them. Once again the monsters leave together for forgotten axes. Kindoko claims a chest illness and Tokamaso poor sight as reasons not to go alone.

The women escape the rock and leave another cloth-and-meat decoy. The beasts break it apart, using their tails as well as their hands, and resume pursuit after discovering the deception. Beside a stream, a toad swallows the three fugitives protectively, its belly swelling to house size. When the monsters demand that it surrender them, it asks them to line up according to seniority. Lightning strikes first one, then the entire band. The toad carries the women home and releases them alive. Their slaughter is explicit in the ending; the tree and rock are destroyed earlier, and no additional regional survival of the band is asserted.

Ten separately named membersCorpse consumptionCooperative pursuitHands and rock-breaking tailsDeceived by cloth and smoked-meat substitutesDestroyed by the toad’s lightning
01

Origins & earliest records

Renel 1910, tale 3, pp. 17–25, with local collection heading. Individual contributor unnamed; collection and translation intermediaries described in introduction V–VIII.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete tale 3, pp. 17–25, heading and relevant notes read.

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 3, pp. 17–25, 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 3Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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

FT·3556 · RESEARCH EDITION 01Back to top ↑