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

Overview

The rat finds Fara, the youngest of three princesses, left alone in the house while her elder sisters attend the prince’s dances. The sisters have cut her hair, burdened her with their baggage and renamed her Sandroy in an attempt to spoil the beauty admired by people along their journey. At the prince’s village she is again made to stay behind and prepare their bath. When the rat asks why she does not dance, she explains that she has neither festive clothes nor her sisters’ permission. The animal immediately gives her a fine costume, bathes her and dresses her; her hair grows back.

Sandroy joins the dance, wins the prince’s attention and returns at midnight to give the costume back to the rat before her sisters arrive. The next evening the helper dresses her again and restores her hair by washing her head. On another visit it also provides golden shoes. Sandroy leaves one beneath the mat covering the dance floor, then returns her clothes as before. The prince’s enslaved cleaners find the shoe, and he promises to marry the dancer whom it fits. Nobody can put it on until the sisters are compelled to bring their supposed household servant. Sandroy wears it successfully, and the rat again bathes her, restores her hair and arranges it in long braids.

Bringing the second shoe, she tells the prince that she is the women’s younger sister and explains their treatment. He expels them; on the road they become small lizards, while Sandroy lives happily with him. The transformation of the sisters is narrated without an agent, so it is not assigned as an additional rat power. Ferrand’s closing note calls the gold-shoe episode comparable to Cinderella and raises possible borrowing, while reporting his elderly unnamed Antambahoaka contributor’s claim to have known the tale from childhood. Those transmission questions remain open rather than becoming a proven literary genealogy.

Talking animal helperHair restorationFestive clothingGolden shoes
01

Origins & earliest records

Ferrand1893 XXXV, dictated by an unnamed Antambahoaka of Mananjary; the closing note describes him as elderly and records his childhood knowledge claim.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete XXXV123–129 including final lizard transformation and collector’s Cinderella discussion read. Rat’s explicit restoration/equipment actions separated from the agentless punishment.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Contes populaires malgaches

    Gabriel Ferrand, collector, translator and annotator · 1893

    XXXV, pp.123–129, complete with relevant contributor 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 narrativeFerrand1893, XXXVResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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