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

Overview

Renel’s note describes kiridy, also printed kirdy, as resembling a horse but larger and extremely fierce, with an appetite for humans. A pregnant woman in extreme poverty longs to eat its liver. Her husband takes a gun and tells her not to expect him after a month if he has not returned. He travels through desert and crocodile-filled rivers, finally encounters the animal after three weeks and misses his shot. The monster catches, kills and swallows him whole. The month passes without his return, and the woman gives birth to a boy who grows rapidly and becomes strong.

Neighbouring children taunt the boy about his father’s fate. After his mother confirms it, he takes a gun, searches for the kiridy and kills it. While cutting up the body he hears his father calling from inside, warning him not to cut him too. Opening the belly releases all the humans and animals the monster has eaten. The earlier statement that the hunter was killed and the later living voice are both retained as the narrative’s sequence; the source does not insert a separate resurrection procedure between them.

The corpse then becomes the surroundings of a settlement. Its blood forms a large lake, bones become birds, flesh becomes mud and earth, and hair becomes plants and green grass. The released beings establish a large village there. The son fetches his mother, later becomes an admired strong man and is chosen as king by the people he has saved. The predator’s swallowing capacity and postmortem transformations are therefore part of one complete Sakalava tale, not a scientific description of a horse or a second independent creation story. Renel identifies collection at Morondava but does not name the individual narrator.

Huge horse-like formSwallowing victims wholeVictims released aliveCorpse becoming lake and land
01

Origins & earliest records

Renel 1910, Contes de Madagascar, première partie, tale 20, pp. 117–119. The heading gives the regional label and locality. Introduction V–VIII describes Malagasy teacher intermediaries, anonymous tellers/transcribers and French translation. Henri Rajaofèra is credited for general Betsimisaraka translation help, not specifically assigned as this narrator.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete tale 20 and local heading read; relevant source-chain introduction V–VIII read. Original notebooks were not independently inspected. Character powers and the complete ending remain confined to the selected episode.

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 20, pp. 117–119, complete, with regional/local 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 20Research 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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