THE ORATORY, SONGS, LEGENDS, AND FOLKTALES OF THE MALAGASY.
By the Rev. James Sibree, Junior.
THE SERPENT AND THE FROG
ONCE upon a time the serpent called mánditra [a species of boa] swallowed a frog, and the frog began to revile the serpent thus: "What a speckled appearance, and a blunt head, and goggle eyes! What's become of your feet and hands?" So the serpent answered, "My feet are worn off in pursuing you frogs; and my eyes stand out because dim with looking after you; and my skin is speckled because I'm full of your precious father!"
So the frog was angry and cursed the serpent; and that is why it is hotly pursued by the serpents.
THE RICE AND THE SUGAR-CANE.
The sugar-cane, they say, came to the rice, to seek friendship with it, and spake thus to it: "I say, Sir Rice, come, let us be relatives and friends together, and share together the difficult and the bitter, making no difference, for we have one origin, for each is the produce of the ground; besides that, alike are the things befalling and the things obtained; equal while living, similar in death. Why look, our names even are almost alike, there's but a slight difference between vàry (rice) and fàry (sugar-cane); so let us strike up a firm friendship."
The rice, however, it is said, answered thus: "Your words are true enough when you relate and particularize our origin, for we certainly are both the produce of the ground, equal while living, and similar in death. But still, here's something which prevents us agreeing, so it's no use, for it's a thing we can't agree about; so let there not be that friend-
