Malagasy folklore

One bright morning in the highlands of Imerina, Madagascar, two notorious tricksters, Kotofetsy and Mahaka, wandered past a rice field where an old woman bent low among the weeds. Her back was stooped, her hands roughened by years of toil, and the sun bore heavily on her. The two tricksters, clever and mischievous by nature, watched her intently. They were not