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

Overview

The brothers’ parents have withdrawn into the forest because they do not want to serve the king, living with fifty protective hunting dogs. Eight sons are born over eight years. Grown up, the brothers seek wives to ease their mother’s work. Their rough bark clothing and long hair offend the king, who orders them washed and dressed, then sends them after Antibavy’s marvellous drum that sounds without being struck. He promises a thousand piastres. Its owner, whose name is glossed as an old woman, is cruel and has numerous warriors.

Andriamanitra appears at night and assigns different roles. The eldest receives ody as a mpanazary, the second becomes a mpisikidy, the third has protection against lightning, the fourth against guns, the fifth causes sleep and the sixth blinds living beings’ sight. The last two counter harm associated with fady. Their common condition is not to raise pigs. At Antibavy’s village the fifth causes sleep, allowing their unobserved entry. On a subsequent night everything sleeps except a needle, which goes to warn Antibavy. The brothers deny that they have come for her drum and postpone taking it.

They repeat the sleep spell and steal the drum the next day. Antibavy awakens and calls her warriors, but the fourth and sixth brothers’ ody prevent the guns from firing and the defenders from aiming. The brothers return with the instrument, and a royal celebration lasts a week. The closing paragraph links the tale to abstention from pigs. Its further remark about coastal people avoiding a pot for fifteen days is expressly footnoted as an addition by the person who collected the tale; it is not silently assigned to the unnamed narrator or to current coastal communities.

Distinct divinely assigned odyInduced sleepNeedle exempt from sleepingGun and sight protectionSelf-playing drum theft
01

Origins & earliest records

Renel 1910, tale 42, pp. 224–227, with regional/local collection heading. No individual narrator is named; source-method introduction V–VIII describes the collection programme and translation.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete tale 42, pp. 224–227, with heading and notes read. The selected characters’ particular powers and the full outcome are distinguished from other witnesses.

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 42, pp. 224–227, complete, with local heading and explanatory notes.

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 42Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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

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