Variations: Songomby, Songaomby, Tsiombiomby, Tsongomby, Bibiaombe; Brech, Brek (probably); Habeby, Fotsiandre (probably); Mangarsahoc (probably); Tòkantòngotra, Tòkandìa. Tokatomboka (probably)
The Songòmby is an unusual carnivorous animal from the folklore of Madagascar. The name may be derived from sònga, “having the upper lip turned upwards”, and òmby, “ox” according to Sibree. The word songòmby is taken to mean “lion-hearted” or “courageous”. Another name, bibiaombe , means “ox-animal”. Molet offers two derivations for songòmby: from the Swahili songo ngomby, “snake ox”, or a corruption of the alternative name tsiombiomby (“looks like an ox”). Domenichini-Ramiaramanana gives a popular etymology as derived from the question many ask when seeing it: Sangoa omby re izany? (“Isn’t that just an ox?”), and a more serious one from songo and omby where songo refers to virgin land allowed to go wild; in this case, the reference is to a feral ox.
Consistent across the descriptions is that the songòmby is the size of an ox or a horse, exceedingly fast, burdened with floppy ears, and a man-eater. It looks something like a horse, a mule, or an ox. It has flaring nostrils and terrible incisors. Its prominent ears dangle over its eyes and can distract it at crucial moments.
Gabriel Ferrand says it has the body of an ox and a hornless horse’s head. It lives in forests and eats plants, insects, and humans. Its speed is beyond compare – a distant songòmby can reach its prey immediately. If its human prey tries to escape by climbing a tree, it will wait at the base of the tree and try to bring the human down by ruse. If that fails it directs a jet of urine at its prey. The victim loses their grip, falls, and is devoured by the songòmby.
R. P. Callet says the songòmby looks like a donkey with spots. It eats grass but if it sees people it chases them. It comes out at night to graze. When climbing mountains they are fast as horses, but when they go down they move slowly because their ears flop over their eyes.
Domenichini-Ramiaramanana describes the songòmby as white in color, very fast, like both a horse and an ox, and with a single horn. It sprinkles itchy hair (lay) from its nostrils. If its prey tries to escape by climbing a tree, the itchiness brought on by the lay will make the victim try to scratch itself, falling out of the tree. Thus, if climbing a tree to avoid a songomby, one must be sure to tie oneself to the branches with lianas. The creature is patient though and will wait till morning at the foot of the tree.
In northern Madagascar the songòmby is like the donkey or the mouflon. It has tufts of hair at its feet. It may have backswept horns or no horns at all. Its hooves are so hard they strike sparks from the ground. Most unusually of all, “it is only seen in profile and looking behind it”. This final clue suggests to Molet that the songòmby evolved from the decorative ch’i-lin on Chinese plates, which is often depicted in profile and looking backwards. The people of Madagascar would have seen those on Chinese plates brought by Arab traders – a trade which was stopped by the Portuguese, leaving the origin of the songòmby to distant history.
To catch a songòmby, a child is tied up in front of the songòmby’s den while a net is put over the entrance. The child’s crying attracts the songòmby, which is snared in the net. Worse than that, children were punished by putting them outside and telling them the songòmby would eat them. But this was not without its risks. A child was once put outside, and the parents called out “Here’s your share, Mr. Songòmby!” As luck would have it, a songòmby was passing by. “Oh, he really is here!” cried the child, but the parents ignored him, replying “Let him eat you!” thinking the child was mistaken. After a while they opened the door to find their child was gone. They followed the trail of blood all the way to the entrance of the songòmby’s cave.
Fortunately the songòmby is not invincible. A man going out by night once met a songòmby, but as he was strong and brave, fought it all night without being hurt. The hero Imbahitrila once defeated a songòmby by arming himself with two magical eggs from the angavola bird. They answered his wish to overcome the songòmby by causing it to trip and fall. Once on the ground the songòmby was easily slain by Imbatrihila’s spear.
The Tòkantòngotra or Tòkandìa (“single-hoof”) is very similar to the songòmby. It is white in color, large (but smaller than the songòmby). Its feet are single hooves, like those of a horse (but not one foot in front and one in the back, as some authors have interpreted). Like the songòmby, it is very fast, travels by night, and is a man-eater.
Flacourt describes an animal called the Mangarsahoc. It is a large beast with a horse’s round hooves and long dangling ears. When it comes down from the mountains, the ears cover its eyes and impair its vision. It brays like a donkey – and, indeed, Flacourt decides that it must be some kind of wild donkey. A mountain 20 leagues from Fort Dauphin is named Mangarsahoc after the animal. Flacourt also mentions an animal called the Brech or Brek, about the size of a goat kid and with a single horn on its forehead. It is very wild in nature. Flacourt determines that “it must be a unicorn”. Both of those seem close enough to the songòmby to be worth mentioning.
The Habeby or Fotsiandre (“white sheep”) looks like a white sheep with long, dangling ears, staring eyes, and short wool. Reclusive and shy, it is not carnivorous, but the description once again recalls the songòmby.
When the horse was first brought to Madagascar, it was believed to be a songòmby (it was eventually saddled with the name soavaly, derived from the French cheval).
References
Domenichini-Ramiaramanana, B. (1983) Du ohabolana au hainteny: langue, littérature et politique à Madagascar. Karthala, Paris.
de Flacourt, E. (1661) Histoire de la Grande Isle Madagascar. Francois Clouzier, Paris.
Molet, L. (1974) Origine Chinoise Possible de Quelques Animaux Fantastiques de Madagascar. Journal de la Soc. des Africanistes, XLIV(2), pp. 123-138.
Sibree, J. (1896) Madagascar Before the Conquest. Macmillan, New York.
I’m grateful to see so many updates during a week when some of us could use a few extra creatures, and this is one of your loveliest—and funniest—illustrations. The design is so elegant it’s almost funny. There are no more lines than necessary; the songómby is mostly just one big curve. But then there’s one hilarious hump sticking up in the middle, like a tiny hill in the middle of a vast desert. I kind of want a songómby to keep me company, even if theoretical mathematicians say it comes in only two dimensions.
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Goodness me 😮
I was trying to make it look like a ki-lin, or a pastiche of one at any rate
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I’ve been searching for such a site since forever, and I was so lucky to find it today… There were so many of them that I couldn’t find on the internet, for they were forgotten. I didn’t even imagine there were this many unheard of mythical creatures. May I suggest a few more Arabian, Ethiopian and Ghanaian ones, I would be filled with unlimited joy if you accepted my recommendations. A last world to say, your project is gorgeous!!!
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I love seeing all the variants of creatures
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Would you be up for posting miscellanea (trivia, behind the scenes, book reviews, etc.) every Wednesday?
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I can try
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I’ve been searching for such amazing site since forever, and I finally found you’re site today. I’m really beyond pleased by you’re unique project that I’ve never imagined I will ever find such one… Although I’m new here, but I’ve already know much more about mythical creatures. Not only do you post about unheard of ones, but also you elaborate the information in a nice way. A last word to say, your work is quite gorgeous and magnificent!!!
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I hope you would do more Arabian, Ethiopian and Ghanaian based creatures.
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Sure! Any suggestions?
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Maybe you can start with the Sila (Si’lat) from Arabian folklore?
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Oh and I was wandering is the anqaa (Arabian mythology) the same as the Phoenix??
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No! Definitely no! Nor is it the same as the simurgh for that matter!
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There’s a face-like quality to its snout that, combined with the way its ears hide its actual eyes, makes it at first seem like some kind of ghoul-centaur.
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Madagascar seems to favor large man-eating quadrupeds.
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With floppy ears
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Another variation is the Kabsasiomby, “yeah, that’s totally not an ox”.
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I could also imagine this as a touristic scam-sort of thingy. The local tells great lengths about an uniquely-looking animal, which they go and search for. They spot it from afar, and yes, it looks a bit similar to an ox, but up close it’s completely different, no we can’t get closer, it eats people.
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The habeby sounds strangely adorable. 🙂
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Big-eyed lost sheep O_O
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