Oyekun Ogunda

The Greedy One

On this path, a certain dog once went to the slaughterhouse and stole a gandinga; carrying it away, as he crossed the river the gandinga was naturally reflected in the water, and it looked far bigger than the one he held in his mouth.

Seeing that gandinga so large, the dog let go of the prize in his mouth to seize the one that looked so much more substantial, and it fell into the water. Out of greed, he was left with neither one nor the other.

The three arayes of Orunmila

Olofin went out looking for Orunmila because there were many dead and he wanted to know what should be done to prevent it. When Orunmila reached Olofin’s house and knocked at the door, out came the ram, the goat and the hen, and they told Orunmila not to go in and to run away, since Olofin was waiting for him in order to kill him.

Hearing this, Orunmila fled in haste towards the wilds and hid inside a hollow tree that stood there. A few days later a pregnant woman passed by, a woodcutter. When she went to cut the very trunk where Orunmila was hidden, he saw her and began to divine for her, telling her that she was going to earn a great deal of money.

The woman left and told Olofin about it. He located Orunmila once again and sent for him, but Orunmila, fearful, sent word back that he knew what he was wanted for — to be killed — and that he would not go on foot either.

So Olofin sent him a horse, and when Orunmila told Olofin that the dead he had seen were caused by the gossips inside his own house — the ram, the goat and the hen — Olofin had them all killed and used them for the ebbo.

The woman who sold firewood became rich and found a golden axe.

Owunko for Oshún, akuko for Eshu, osiadie opa guodo, eyele meyi for Obatalá.

When Obatalá Ate Without Salt

Obatalá never went out, and everything cooked in his house was made without salt. But one day Obatalá arranged a journey, and for that reason he instructed his trusted servant that he could salt the food of all the other servants of the house.

Since cooking without salt was already the custom, the servant forgot to add salt to the food as Obatalá had ordered. That was enough for the other servants to grow furious and to prepare a great deal of gossip about him for Obatalá’s return.

The servant, knowing what awaited him, went to Orunmila’s house so that he might get him out of that difficulty; and Eshu took care of adding what was missing.

When Obatalá came back, he tasted the food and believed nothing of what his servants told him.

When Obatalá Refused To Make Ebbo

Ifá says that Obatalá was going to make a journey to the countryside and, before setting out, wanted to know what Orunmila had to say. Orunmila told him to make ebbo before undertaking the journey, because he was going to have trouble with the law.

Obatalá answered that he was very great, very great, and that he was not going to do it. He took a sack, a rope and two coconuts, and set off. At a certain place where he had to make a leap, an enemy who was lying in wait opened the sack and put a snake inside it, leaving the sack on one side and jumping to the other, with the snake within.

Obatalá did not see it and shouldered his sack again, but his enemy’s son, who did not know the snake was inside the sack, saw the sack, put his hand in, and the snake bit him.

The police arrested Obatalá, and along the way they began to investigate who had put the snake into the sack, which they were unable to establish. But Obatalá went to Orunmila, and he told him: «The father is to blame for what happened to the boy.» Obatalá was acquitted as innocent and had to make ebbo with a sack, a rope and two coconuts.

Children Are Not Left In Someone Else’s Care

There was once a very poor woman who had a small son. She was so poor that she had no money even to buy herself a change of clothes. She tied her son to her back with vines. To support herself, this woman would go into the wilds to cut firewood and then sell it among the people of the village.

One day she went into the wilds as usual and laid her son against the trunk of a tree so that it would give him shade. In that tree there was an araguaney (a large bird), and it took the boy between its claws and carried him to the top of the tree.

When the poor woman had finished cutting the firewood, she tied it up so that she could carry it and went to pick up her son, but she could not find him. Distraught, she ran out towards the edge of the wilds, weeping and crying out for her child.

She looked upwards, imploring Olofin, when she saw the bird holding her son in its talons, and she began to sing to it in this way: «Araguaney eiye igbo igbo», which means: «Bird of the wilds and the thicket, give me back my son, here I give you my rope of vine, quickly, give me back my son».

When the woman had finished singing to the bird, the araguaney threw down a bag of coral beads. She opened the bag and saw that her son was not in it; so she threw the bag aside and sang the same thing to the bird again. This time it threw down different bags in different colours. She looked at all these treasures and did not see her son, and she sang to it a third time.

When she had finished singing, the bird came down slowly with the boy and set him gently at her feet. She took her son and placed him on her back. After doing so, she gathered up all the riches the bird had thrown down, and from poor she became rich.

When she reached her house, she put her son in a safe place, took a handful of corals and went out to offer them to the iyalores of the village. When the iyalores learned from her own mouth how she had obtained those corals, they refused to take them, and she went home.

Then one of the iyalores took the little boy of another mother and carried him off to the wilds with her. When she arrived, she did exactly what the other woman had described: she placed the child at the same tree where the other had placed hers and went off to cut firewood. When she had finished, she gathered the wood and set about tying it. Meanwhile the araguaney came down, seized the child in its talons and killed him with its beak, and began to eat him.

When the woman had finished, she began to look for the child, but she did not find him. She looked towards the tree and, seeing the bird, sang to it the same song the first woman had sung. While she was singing, the bird soiled the inside of a bag, closed it tightly and threw it down to her. When she took the bag, she found the filth and threw it away, then sang to the bird again.

This time the bird took water and poured it into the bag, and it fell on her head. Even so, she sang to it a third time. On this occasion the bird vomited up the child’s bones and threw them down to the iyare. Seeing the bones fall, she thought they were treasures and ran to look at them. However, when she realised that they were the bones of the child, she began to scream and weep, saying: «This is not my son, it is another woman’s son, whom this bird has killed». Thereupon she ran off. When she reached her house, the child’s mother came looking for her son. The iyare told her that the child was well, but that he was not with her.

The mother came many times asking after her son, until three months had passed and she still could not give the child back. Then the mother took the case before the king and told him that the iyare had come to her house and taken the child out of her hands, and that three months had gone by and she had still not returned him.

The king sent for the iyare and asked her what she had done with the child and where he was. The iyare answered: «What do you think I have done with him?» Hearing this, the king turned to the elders and asked them: «If this woman belonged to you, what would you do with her?» The elders answered: «If she were ours, we would condemn her to death.» Then the king said: «Since the people have spoken, let their command be carried out; put her to death.»

No One Can Prevail Against Orunmila

Maferefun Obatalá, Oggún, Oshún, Orunmila.

Orunmila had arayes (enemies) who were also awoses; they hurled at him everything they knew — works, dark dead — but none of it touched him. So they decided to invite him to an atefa where they prepared poison in the obi of Ozain.

As soon as Orunmila arrived, they asked him to give obi to Ozain, but Orunmila had made a consultation of Ifá and had seen this Ifá: Oyekun Mambula. Orunmila placed three atares on each obi, because Olofin had told him that with atare any poison could be overcome. Then the arayes realised that they could do Orunmila no harm, and they left him in peace.

The Oshún of this sign is called Shalda. Adifafun Oshanlá.

The Docker And Obatalá

There was once a man who worked in the market square as a docker and ran errands for Orunmila. One day, after he had received Ifá, Obatalá saw him at work and was struck that he should still be hauling loads in the square after his initiation. Obatalá told him to tell Orunmila not to use him any longer as a porter or as an errand boy in the square.

The man, having heard Obatalá, went to Orunmila and explained what had happened. Orunmila replied that he had never ordered him to do that work nor forced him to do it, and suggested that he explain as much to Obatalá. The man told Obatalá what had happened, because he believed that in this way he would be more useful. Obatalá then told him: «Well, if that is the case, you will go on being a porter.»

Where Orunmila Returned Thanks To The Children

On this path, Orunmila ruled a village, but he had to flee into the wilds because they were going to kill him. Orunmila began to go through serious hardships, since his village was going through them as well.

With things in this state, the village had no one to govern it and they decided to go and look for Orunmila, but no one dared set out in search of him until Oshún decided to go. «I have come to fetch you so that you may rule your village again», Oshún told him. Orunmila answered: «I am not going, because they want to kill me.»

Oshún was carrying four cowries with her and she handed them to Orunmila and said: «Look with these.» Orunmila, who was going deeper and deeper into the forest, said to Oshún: «You know the way, and if you cannot find it, consult the cowries.»

Oshún went back to the village and reported what Orunmila had told her, but they persuaded her and she returned to where Orunmila was, without noticing that the children had followed her. When Oshún reached Orunmila, he did not come out, but on seeing the children he came out and said to them: «Now I can indeed go; there is no longer any danger.»

Maferefun the Ibejis. A feast must be held for them. Maferefun Oshún and Orunmila.

In a hollow tree: custard, food and drink for the dead.

The Four Winds

• Before beginning the ebbo, the person will chew the small piece of obi with atare meta or merin, and will then put it all into the ebbo.
• Here is born the blowing of obi to the four winds when Ozain is made. The awó of this sign will always have to carry atare in his pockets, to add to everything he eats when the place is not to be trusted, because they want to poison him. Atare undoes any witchcraft given to the awó.

On this path there was a village where an awó lived who had many enemies. These arayes, however, did not know how to finish him off, since they had tried everything on him and could not prevail against him, neither with material works nor with spiritual ones.

One day they invited him to a plante in order to poison him, but the awó had made osode and this Ifá had come out for him, telling him that atare undid any witchcraft they might give him. The awó carried atare in his pockets, and when he arrived at the plante, the other awoses who had set the trap immediately sent him to give coconut to Ozain, because the poison was in the coconuts.

But imagine the astonishment of his enemies when they saw that the awó put atare meta into the small piece of coconut he took to chew. Then they said: «The truth is that we cannot prevail against him.»