The animal is similar in appearance to the water-snake and the mànditra (another serpent). It is a fierce creature, and has seven heads; and when it is grown full size each of its heads has a horn growing on it. There was a certain man named Ralàko, who conversed with me (says the narrator of this), and this he says he saw: The fanàny fought with a bull during the night, and each fought hard. And during the conflict the fanàny did not bite with its mouth, but fought with its seven horns; each of these was successively broken, until at last it was killed by the bull. Just before death it drew itself up and swelled out to the size of a mountain, so that all the villages in the neighbourhood could not be inhabited on account of the effluvium. It was a man from Imámno (the western part of Imérina, the central province) who told me this, and it was there, he said, that it happened.
There is also another story about the fanàny as follows: When it becomes big, they say it encircles a mountain (Itrìtrìva[1] is said to be one of such mountains); and when its head and tail meet and there is anything to spare besides what goes round the mountain, the creature eats it; and when that is done some say that it sticks its tail into the earth and mounts up to the sky; but others say that it goes into some great piece of water sufficient for its size. It remained in the lake of Itritriva, they say, but when it became too big for the lake it removed to Andraikìba (a lake west of Sìrabé, in the same neighbourhood), and there it remains up to the present time.
I have seen the animal called the fanàny (says the native narrator), but I have not seen either its seven heads or any appearance of them; and on asking the people the reason of this they replied that it was yet too young. The size of the creature they pointed out to me was about that of an adult mànditra, or somewhat less.
3.—The Tòkan-tòngotra or Tòkon-dìa ("Single-foot" or "Single- step"). This is a large white animal (but smaller than the son- gòmby), which has the foreleg in the middle of its chest and the hind leg opposite the position of the paps. These same legs are in each case one only, they say, whether fore or hind leg. It is an exceedingly swift animal, so that no other creature has a chance of escaping it. It eats men, and goes about at night like the songòmby. There are
- ↑ This is the name of an extinct volcano in the northern Bétsiléo country. The crater is occupied by a lake of profound depth, popularly said to be unfathomable.
