Manga, Manolabahy and Baolava

Overview

Renel’s Bara fable begins with three sons of a man, named Manga, Manolabahy and Baolava. Following their father’s death they quarrel until they decide to live separately. Baolava proposes the water, Manolabahy the forest, and Manga attachment to human households. Each rejects the others’ plans as unsuitable for feeding wives and children. Their chosen movements produce actual changes: Baolava plunges into water and becomes the crocodile, Manolabahy enters the forest and becomes the boar, and Manga joins humans as a dog. The narrative then follows all three animal brothers through a sequence of betrayals rather than ending with their transformations.

Manga needs to cross his crocodile brother’s ford and promises payment. Once safely across, he raises his tail and gives excrement instead. Baolava threatens to seize that tail on the dog’s return. In the village Manga learns that a terrible pig-like animal with two long teeth is damaging crops. Recognizing Manolabahy, he nevertheless agrees to help the villagers attack him in exchange for future food. Manga catches the boar by the tail and calls the humans, but Manolabahy initially mistakes this for his brother playing. When the crowd arrives, the boar escapes with enough force almost to pull out the dog’s teeth. The hunters return tired and hungry.

Arriving late at the ford, Manga forgets his earlier trick and calls for a crossing. Baolava waits silently near the bank and attacks when the dog enters the water, tearing off his tail. Meanwhile Manolabahy has established himself on the crocodile’s island, where unusually large tubers grow. Humans wrongly blame the crocodile for the damage and threaten to kill him unless he catches the actual culprit. Baolava explains the danger to his boar brother and repeatedly asks him to find food elsewhere. After continued raids, he gives explicit warning that another shallow-water crossing will bring a fatal attack.

The final fight reverses Baolava’s expectation. As the crocodile attacks near the island, the boar cuts him into two with his tusks. One half drifts away; the other remains caught at the boar’s mouth. Exhausted and trapped between the current and the approaching villagers, Manolabahy cannot escape. The people kill him with spears and axes. Manga’s tail injury is recorded earlier, but the text supplies no subsequent death for him. Its conclusion explains lasting enmity among the brothers’ descendants; the word indicating descendants is a bracketed editorial addition. This single family profile keeps the common transformation episode and complete chain of outcomes together, without turning habitat choices into a zoological account of the animals’ origins.

Origins & earliest records

Renel 1910, second volume, tale 93, pp. 126–132. The Bara heading identifies Ambohikely in Tulear province; no individual contributor is named.

Records & interpretation

Complete tale 93, pp. 126–132, including both brothers’ deaths, the dog’s distinct outcome and the onomatopoeia/proverb notes, read from the retained official digitized text.

Selected bibliography

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

1. 01

   Contes de Madagascar, deuxième partie: Fables et fabliaux

   Charles Renel, editor and translator; Malagasy collection intermediaries · 1910

   Tale 93, Le Chien, le Sanglier et le Caïman, pp. 126–132: complete transformation and rivalry sequence.

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, Bara animal-brother fableResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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