354 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
hood. A teacher, who had been instructed in the know¬ 
ledge of the one true God, and was convinced of the folly 
and sinfulness of idolatry, happening to speak to the chil¬ 
dren one day in very disrespectful terms of Rabehaza, he 
was was severely reproved by the headmen of the village. 
The teacher defended himself, saying, that the idol was 
nothing, that even the dust of the earth was more useful 
than their god. Upon which one of the men was so 
enraged as to strike the boy with great violence. The 
affair was afterwards carried before the judges, and it was 
finally deemed most prudent to remove the teacher from 
the school. Nor did the matter end here: a short time 
after that, a heavy shower of hailstones falling, and destroy¬ 
ing quantities of rice in the plantations, the people attri¬ 
buted the calamity to the displeasure of the idol, on account 
of the children’s ceasing to believe on him. They there¬ 
fore threatened the children with the severest consequences 
of their displeasure, if they still continued to treat the idols 
with disrespect. “We have nursed you,” said the parents, 
“ we have brought you up to this day ; but now you forsake 
the customs of your forefathers. We give you time to 
think of it, and unless you determine to abide by our 
wishes and our customs, we shall complain of you to the 
king.” 
At the expiration of the period named, the children re¬ 
plied, “ We cannot control you, we cannot prevent your 
complaining to the king; but we have been taught to tell 
the truth, and if, to please you, we should say with our lips 
that we believe in the idol, yet in our hearts we cannot.” 
The people had collected as many hailstones as they 
could, and thrown them into the school-room. Afterwards, 
on carrying their taxes for payment to the capital, they 
took the opportunity of complaining to the king of the 
