7 – The three sisters who married wild beasts

 

(Izy telo mirahavavy nanambady fosa)

 

Text: Ny Eja, Illustrations: Rainforest

 

 

(4) Once upon a time there were three sisters: they were called: Ravavimatoa – the eldest, Ravaviaivo – the second, and Rafaravavy the youngest.

 They also had a little brother called Ifaralahy.
The three young women were proud, even arrogant, refusing every man’s proposal of marriage. They wouldn’t accept any man for a husband, they said, unless he was handsome, well-built, and above all
– rich.


(6) One day, three men turned up in their village and proposed to them, all very elegantly dressed and extremely handsome.  The three young women immediately fell in love with them, and without thinking twice accepted to follow them.

 

(8) When Ifaralahy saw that his sisters were leaving to get married, he wanted to go with them and pleaded  « Take me along, please, wherever you are going! »

 Ravavimatoa, the eldest, refused saying to him: « We’re going a very long way, too long for you, little brother »

 But he had none of that and insisted on  going with them, so the three sisters finally relented.

 

 (10) They had not gone very far before the three husbands said : « Rest here for a while, we’re going to find food for all of us.»

 Then Ifaralahy noticed that the three men had long ears and he whispered  to his sisters : « Your husbands aren’t men at all but fosas [Malagasy carnivors, big cats like pumas]”.

 At first the three sisters did not believe him.

 

(12) They didn’t get to their destination until late that afternoon. Night had already fallen and they were about to fall asleep, when the three men  outside called out to the young women :

 « Are you asleep Ravavimatoa? »

 « Are you asleep Ravaviaivo? »

 « Are you asleep Rafaravavy and Ifaralahy? »

 Ifaralahy replied : « We’re not asleep, because we’re rather frightened. The woods are too dense  here and there are a lot of wild beasts about. »

 The three accomplices cut back the thickets. And the three sisters saw that each of the men had a long tail.

 That’s when they came to realise that their husbands were in fact not human beings at all. So the three sisters and their little brother thought up ways of making their escape.

 

 (14) Later that night the three accomplices called out again :

 « Are you asleep Ravavimatoa? »

 « Are you asleep Ravaviaivo? »

 « Are you asleep Rafaravavy and Ifaralahy? »

 But no‐one replied to their calls.

 In fact, they wanted to eat them. The three fosas leapt into the room to devour the young people … But… to their dismay, on the mat where the brother and sisters were meant to be sleeping, they found only four pieces  of banana trunks.

 

(16) The wild beasts flew into a fury of rage. They rushed outside in search of the sisters and their brother.

 Blinded with their temper and outside themselves they overlooked  the big hole that was in the courtyard. All three of them fell headlong into it and had no end of trouble trying to climb out. In the meantime, the three sisters and the brother were already far. But the beasts  ran so fast that they  soon caught up with them.

 

(18) When the three sisters and their brother saw the beasts coming closer and closer to  them, they hurriedly climbed up a tall tree. Arriving at the foot of the tree, the fosas tried to climb after them but the young people beat them off with long cudgels. The animals went in search of pieces of branches themselves. The young people came down from the tree and ran as fast as they could.

 

(20) A little further on, they reached a rock which they jumped onto singing :

 « Oh dear stone, dear stone, rise, rise up, and protect us from the fossa coming after us.”

 And really, the rock started to grow, and  grow, and  grow, and the three sisters and their little brother soon found themselves perched on the peak of a high rock .

 

(22) Within no time, the three fosas arrived at the foot of the rock. They called out to the four young people with sweet beguiling  voices :

 « Come on down, join us. We’re not going to harm you. »

 Ifaralahy replied: « All right, we’re going to jump down.»

 You can’t imagine how happy the beasts were hearing that answer. They opened their mouths as  widely as possible hoping their preys  to make   delicious mouthfuls.

 But the four had prepared some red-hot stones which Ifaralahy sent sliding down the rock. The three beasts swallowed them like flies and instantly fell down dead.

 

(24) The three sisters were  overjoyed at having been saved, and said to their little brother :

 « Thank you Ifaralahy, without you, these evil wild beasts would have killed us. »

 

(26) Ifaralahy and his sisters returned safely  to their parents. They told them what had happened. Their parents were so happy to see that the wild beasts had not killed their children.

 From that day on, the three sisters’ characters changed. They became kind and friendly, well-mannered and modest. Their  arrogance was gone and they found good husbands that were just right for them.

 

Tales, tales, stories, stories!

 I tell them, you, you listen.

 

(905) C, ropf