James Sibree

“ All the hairs of the head cannot bind death, and tears cannot hold him; therefore give up the dead, for the earth is the forsaking-place of the beloved ones, the dwelling of the living, the home when dead. ”

“ It is universally recognised as the privilege of all to give admonition to others, even to those highest in rank, if it is administered in the form of advice or anatra. There are a great many references to animals in these admonitions; almost every bird known to the Malagasy is used as a simile, and its habits are described with great accuracy; so that a complete collection of all the references to the animal life of Madagascar found in the proverbs and fables would throw no little light upon the fauna of the island. ”

“ It must be borne in mind that the Malagasy had no written language before mission work was commenced by the London Missionary Society in the interior of Madagascar about sixty years ago. They had, therefore, no books, or manuscripts, or inscriptions, so that all the “unwritten literature”—if we may so call it—which has recently come to light, in the shape of proverbs, oratorical adornments of speech, songs, legends, nursery stories, and folk-tales, has been preserved, up to about five years ago, solely in MS. or tradition. ”

“ This facility of divorce and the general looseness of the marriage relation is one of the least pleasing features of Malagasy society; the power of divorce being usually in the husband’s hands, and being often exercised for the most trivial reasons, and effected in an absurdly easy fashion. ”

“ And just so with men: to them come prosperous days and days of misfortune; they have their days of youth, and of old age, and of death; but those who die happy and in heaven follow Impòina [13] and Radàma, [13] they are the fortunate ones.
A feature in native ideas is shown by another piece, which enforces the doctrine that “It is better to die than to suffer affliction.”
Many of the compositions in this section of the book are in praise of wisdom and denunciation of folly; in fact no people perhaps are more ready to give and receive good advice than are the Malagasy. ”

“ Thou art indeed childish and dost not perhaps consider that the crocodile, when he lies in the deep pools and does not dive, there is the warm place where he sleeps; and when he lies still in the water, not moving a foot, that there is the place where he obtains his food. So let that teach you that the old fellow is not dead by any means, but is still looking after business. ”

“ Thou dost not perhaps remember the sayings of the ancestors: Consider, young folks, your stay here on the earth, for the trees grow only, but are not joined together, for if they were they would reach the skies. But it is not thus, for they have their time of springing, and of growing, and of being cut down. ”

“ A careful study of these Malagasy sayings, together with the native proverbs, throws considerable light upon the notions of the people as regards morals. Many of them contain much good counsel as to the avoidance of various vices and follies, together with rebukes of the loose native habits as regards marriage; for example, there is one against forsaking one’s wife to marry a richer one! ”

“ The good and the evil man are compared, patience under misfortune is commended, and we are cautioned against trusting in appearances in the following references to the habits of the crocodile, the most dreaded of all the animals inhabiting Madagascar:—
The Slow-going one is to be feared. ”

“ Here is a bit of “tall talk,” in which the powers of nature are invoked to help against an enemy. It should be noted that all the natural objects mentioned are personified by adding to them the personal prefix Ra-, which can hardly be paralleled in English by our prefixes Mr. or Mrs. &c. without a somewhat comic effect, which is quite absent in the Malagasy:—
The far-reaching power of the Imagination. ”

“ It will be observed how large a number of figures there is in these few sentences; some of the allusions are explained in foot-notes, but other points are somewhat obscure to those unacquainted with the habits and customs of the Malagasy.
Many of the shorter of these “flowers of oratory” have the sententious forms of the proverbs; and others take the shape of a conversation between imaginary persons, whose names often afford a key to the sentiments they express. The language readily lends itself to such coinage of names ”

“ I am a child left by its companions, and playing with dust [6] all alone; but still, should I not be utterly weak and given up to folly, if I blamed my friend for going home?
Some of the pieces remind us of the English nursery rhymes of the type of the “Old woman who could not get home to get her husband’s supper ready”; as is the following:—
The Bird who could find no Place to lay her Eggs.
I (sought to) lay, says the bird, upon high tree. [7] The high tree was blown by the wind; the wind was stopped by the hill; the hill was burrowed by the rat; the rat was food for the dog ”

“ It has been justly remarked that “the proverbial sayings [of the Malagasy] present the fullest exhibition of the grade of mind among the people, both intellectually and morally.”
Two years later, Mr. Cousins published another small volume of 58 pp., containing twenty-six Kabàry or royal and other speeches and proclamations, dating from 1787 to 1872. These public addresses are not only of considerable interest as historical documents, but they have a great value as preserving archaic words and obsolete or obsolescent forms of construction, and thus throwing important light upon the language. ”

“ Therefore, hark ye, take good care of property; for when property is gone, gone is adornment; and the lean ox is not licked by its fellows, and the desolate person is not loved. So do not waste the rice, for those whose planting-rice is gone, and who have to enter into the fellow-wife’s house, are in sad case. ”

“ Dahle’s collection.
Translations into English of about a dozen Malagasy folk-tales have been made by the Rev. J. Richardson, also of the L. M. S. Mission, and were published in the 1877 and 1878 numbers of the Antanànarìvo Annual; but as the circulation of this magazine is chiefly confined to those resident in or closely connected with Madagascar, probably very few people have seen these Malagasy stories. ”

“ In the same year (1877) several Europeans residing at Antanànarìvo, chiefly those connected with the L. M. S. Mission, formed a little society for the purpose of collecting and printing the folk-lore of Madagascar. Each member was expected to forward to the publisher, from time to time, any specimens of the native literature possessing interest, that might come under his notice, such as tales, fables and allegories, proverbs, public speeches, &c. ”

“ The most valuable contribution to our knowledge of Malagasy Folk-tales has been made by a learned member of the Norwegian Lutheran Mission, the Rev. Louis Dahle, who published in the early part of 1877 a volume of 457 pages, small octavo, entitled Specimens of Malagasy Folk-lore. ”