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

Overview

Ramambabe appears in the Betsimisaraka fable Ivondrombolo. Before burning his felled trees, the cultivator addresses the ancestors and every being in the clearing, asking them to take away their young, weak and elderly. He fears sickness or failed rice if they are harmed. The occupants leave except Ramambabe, explicitly described as a huge boa three times as thick as a man. His wife urges him to move, but he refuses. As he boasts of defending himself, he swings a fanantana, glossed as a weaver’s beater, and inflates his white belly. His parents, ancestors and several named kinds of serpent also unsuccessfully ask him to depart.

When the smoke rises, Ramambabe calls for a wall of iron. What he actually constructs is a barrier of wood and dry grass. Ivondrombolo continues spreading the fire, having already warned him. Once the flames reach the barrier, the serpent struggles vigorously to smother them. The wall burns rapidly and Ramambabe burns with it. His corpse becomes manure, and the rice grows strongly. The demanded iron protection thus never becomes an effective metal wall in the narrated action.

The closing explanation says that ankoma and manditra burned in a clearing favour the rice because they descend from Ramambabe. It contrasts other burned animals, whose revenants may harm the cultivator and his crop unless powerful protective ody are available. These are the account’s stated relationships and expectations. The editor’s note separately remarks that Ramambabe would literally suggest a great crocodile, while the narrative describes a fabulous serpent. That gloss does not replace his narrated boa body with crocodilian anatomy. The adjacent Sambava fable has a different serpent, Do, attempting to put out fire with spit rather than a constructed wall.

Three times a man’s thicknessWhite inflated bellySpeaking serpent familyWeaver’s beaterFailed wood-and-grass barrierDeath by field fireCorpse enriches rice soil
01

Origins & earliest records

Renel 1910, second volume, tale 107, pp. 176–178. The heading supplies the collection locality; the individual contributor is not named.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete tale 107, pp. 176–178, including the ending and associated 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 107, pp. 176–178: Complete field-burning tale, physical boa description, fanantana and name notes, corpse-fertilization ending and qualified descendant explanation.

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 107Research 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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