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

Overview

Seven poor brothers reach seven branching roads, each belonging to a monstrous animal. Faralahy, the partly paralysed youngest brother, recognizes the danger and chooses the middle road leading to the monsters’ mother. Each captive is fed lavishly in a cave. After seven months the six older brothers are too fat to move easily, but Faralahy remains thin. The mother delays the planned common feast until he too becomes suitable for eating. He persuades her that only distant mountain water brought in woven baskets will fatten him. Mother and offspring all leave to obtain it, repeatedly failing because the water escapes through the basket gaps.

A rat trades help for white rice and identifies a fanafody leaf that the brothers hang beneath the roof. It answers the mother’s complaints in Faralahy’s place while the prisoners flee. The monsters discover the trick and run as fast as wind. Faralahy uses their favourite drum to make them dance, delaying them, and sets down an egg that becomes a river. The pursuers drink the entire river dry in an hour. An upright stake next becomes a forest, but their tails, described as knife-sharp, cut the trees down. These unusually cutting tails are an explicit bodily feature; the source supplies no precise animal species.

A pebble becomes a great rock that rises with the brothers on top. Faralahy tells the monsters to plant their spears point-up around it and throw ropes so they can be hauled to the summit. Halfway up, the brothers release the ropes: the monsters fall and die on their own weapons. Opening their bellies reveals many swallowed people and domestic animals still alive. The brothers claim them as livestock and enslaved people, with Faralahy gaining the greatest wealth from the mother’s body. They return to their parents and establish seven villages. The outcome includes rescue from the monsters but also appropriation of the released people, rather than an uncomplicated liberation.

One mother and six offspringCave captivity and deliberate fatteningWind-swift pursuitRiver drunk dryKnife-sharp tailsLiving captives inside their bellies
01

Origins & earliest records

Renel 1910, tale 2, pp. 9–16, with local collection heading. Individual contributor unnamed; collection and translation intermediaries described in introduction V–VIII.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete tale 2, pp. 9–16, 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 2, pp. 9–16, 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 2Research 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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