Rahy maty e, atao ahoana?
Fonosin-drarin-tatamo.
Ravin-tatamo tsy mahafono azy,
Fa lamba mena no mahafono azy.
Rafara O, Rafara![1]
What is it then, what is it?
Where has your husband gone?
He's gone away a-trading.
Should he be dead, what then?
Wrap him in leaves of water-lily.
Water-lily leaves won't wrap him,
But a red làmba[2] will wrap him.
Then they change the song and sing,
Very vakana aho, rizavavy!
Vakana inona, rizavavy?
Jijikely, rizavavy.
Hombaina mitady va, rizavavy?
Kilalaoko omeko andriako,
Kilalaoko omeko andriako!
I've lost my beads, lasses!
What sort of beads, lasses?
Little beads, lasses.
Shall we go with you to seek them, lasses?
My toys I'll give my lady,
My toys I'll give my lady!
And when that is finished they all rise and leap about like frogs, at the same time slapping their chests; and those who are tired first and stop are considered as beaten.
The Sakòda No. 2 is much the same kind of game, but with different words.
Another game is called Dian-tràndraka,[3] i.e. "Hedgehog steps," and is played by all the party arranging themselves in rows, those behind taking hold of those in front, all singing and bending down in imitation of the movements of the animal which gives its name to the play.
- ↑ A common name for a girl, a contraction of Rafàravàvy, the "last female," or youngest girl, in a family.
- ↑ Among the Hovas and some other tribes the dead are always wrapped tightly in a number of red cloths or làmba.
- ↑ The tràndraka is a small animal allied to the hedgehogs, belonging to the family Centetidæ, of the order Insectivora.
