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Overview

The king’s workers are cutting wood for a large house when an injured tree begins shedding blood. Frightened, they call him, but he orders them to continue. Blood flows again, and at his instruction they cut higher. A beautiful young woman appears, jumps from the tree and clings to his knees. The unmarried king wants to marry her. She initially refuses, warning that he cannot keep her if he speaks an insult about her descent. The forbidden expression refers to simpona ancestry, glossed in Renel’s footnote as a kind of lemur; the scene itself does not show her changing from a lemur into a woman.

Her name is Rasoa, although the king first addresses her as Ramatoa in the dialogue. She stays with him for a long time under his promise to observe the speech restriction. One day he sends her for his snuffbox and she refuses. He speaks the forbidden insult. Without replying, she embraces the house’s large central post and slowly rises along it. He calls for her to come down, first when she reaches the middle, then as she passes onto the roof. She continues upward rather than accepting his appeals.

Outside, the king offers a hundred cattle and a thousand enslaved people for her return. Rasoa answers that her father already has both and bids him farewell: he will not see her again. The king remains in the courtyard in rain and dry weather, still waiting, but she never returns. He dies and his people bury him. The preserved ending is permanent separation following a broken speech taboo; it does not identify her father, supply wings or describe a later reconciliation.

Bleeding-tree emergenceSimpona-descent insult tabooAscent along house postRefusal of cattle and enslaved peoplePermanent departure
01

Origins & earliest records

Renel 1910, tale 31, pp. 175–177, with regional/local heading. Introduction V–VIII explains teacher-mediated collection and French translation; no individual narrator is named for this episode.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete tale 31, pp. 175–177, heading and explanatory notes read in retained primary text. Each participant’s actions and the complete ending remain separately attributed.

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 31, pp. 175–177, complete, with local 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 31Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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