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Overview

The toad in Renel’s Bara tale is first called Ralaitsimisorona and subsequently Rabakaka. Three women reach it beside a stream after escaping a band of corpse-eating monsters through a lowering tree and an opening rock. The women ask it to swallow them as a protecting parent. It opens its mouth and receives all three; its belly swells until it is as large as a house. This swallowing is shelter, in contrast with the pursuing beasts’ wish to eat their prey.

The monsters accuse the toad of hiding the fugitives and threaten to crush it unless it disgorges them. Rabakaka seemingly agrees, asking the beasts to stand one behind another in order of seniority. Its vocal action brings lightning down on the first beast. The others beg it to stop and offer to abandon the women, but it continues, pretending that the captives are only now reaching its throat. All the monsters are struck by lightning. Rabakaka crosses the river and goes to the women’s village, where it speaks to two girls drawing water and announces the missing children.

The villagers initially accuse the girls of lying, then visit the fountain and hear the toad themselves. News reaches the chief and finally the king, who is father to the three fugitives. Clothes and cattle are brought, and Rabakaka disgorges the women one after another alive. They are dressed, forty oxen are slaughtered, and a procession walks over their bodies into the village. The ending explains the toad’s friendship with humans and a practice of removing toads before cattle trample a rice field. That explanation belongs to this historical collected tale, rather than an assertion that every contemporary Bara community follows one universal rule.

Ralaitsimisorona and Rabakaka forms in the same narrativeBelly expands to house sizeProtective swallowingLightning destroys pursuersWomen disgorged aliveHuman protection explained in the ending
01

Origins & earliest records

Renel 1910, tale 3, pp. 17–25, with local collection heading. Individual contributor unnamed; collection and translation intermediaries described in introduction V–VIII.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete tale 3, pp. 17–25, heading and relevant notes read.

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 3, pp. 17–25, complete.

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 3Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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