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

Overview

The beast first appears near a distant fountain where an old woman, the king’s cook, goes for water. Its immense size and pursuit frighten her into flight and fainting. The king dismisses her warning as a lie until his messengers confirm that the monster is approaching. Armed defenders cannot stop it: it swallows them with their clothes and weapons, then consumes the village’s inhabitants and animals, including the king. Its precise animal species is not supplied.

A pregnant woman shelters in an iron house while the beast waits outside for her to emerge. She gives birth to twins and warns them about the predator. When they are grown, they take sharp knives outside and cut off its head as it attacks. People who have escaped and dispersed gather again. Opening the body releases the swallowed humans and animals alive, but the king remains missing. A passing bird called Railonga identifies the smallest claw; cutting that claw reveals the king alive within it.

The rescued king promises his kingdom to the twins and orders his descendants never to kill or eat Railonga birds. Renel’s text connects this prohibition with the royal descendants in the Tanala account. The political ending matters: the king later refuses to surrender the kingdom, war follows, the people support the rescuers, and he is killed for breaking his promise. Although an earlier sentence calls the pregnant woman the only escapee, the later narrative explicitly includes other dispersed survivors; the profile retains that textual tension without inventing a population count.

Gigantic formSwallowing armed victimsIron-house refugeLiving captives in belly and clawRailonga bird’s rescue clue
01

Origins & earliest records

Renel 1910, Contes de Madagascar, première partie, tale 11, pp. 82–85. The local heading identifies the regional collection. Introduction V–VIII describes Malagasy teacher intermediaries and French translation; no individual narrator is named for this episode.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete tale 11, pp. 82–85, and local heading read in the retained primary text. Source-method introduction I–XI and original selected page images checked. Henri Rajaofèra’s general translation assistance is not converted into individual tale authorship.

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 11, pp. 82–85, complete, with collection heading; introduction V–VIII source chain.

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 11Research 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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