Ojuani Ofun

The man and the field of yams

The story of Ifá tells that a man decided to plant a field of yams. Yet the days and the weeks went by and his crop did not thrive. Worried, the man went to consult Orunmila, and in the osode the Ifá Ojuani Bofun came out. Orunmila told him: «You have an enemy who goes to your field every night to pass his hands over it and ask that it not prosper, wishing to ruin you. To free yourself of him and be able to get ahead, you must make an ebbo with an akuko fifeshu and a trap».

The farmer made the ebbo, offered the akuko to Elegbara and then carried the ebbo to his field, where he set it down. During the night the farmer heard a scream, coming from his enemy, who on passing his hands over the crop pricked his fingers on the trap of the ebbo. In this way the owner of the field discovered who his enemy was.

If you are a woman and you are pregnant, and witchcraft or sorcery has been worked on you to keep your belly from prospering, this speaks of enemies trying to harm you, blocking everything you do and seeking to destroy you.

The two harvesters

There were two farms that bordered each other, and in them worked two yam harvesters: one poor and one rich. A storm came and swept away the rich man’s crops, leaving him ruined. The poor harvester, whose name was Olofin, helped him and prospered.

How women got men to provide for them

This is where the obini obtained the blessing of Olofin to be provided for by men, on account of her obedience to Olofin. She had prayed to Olofin in advance to find someone who would favour her, since she was weak and full of ailments. The man, however, was very disobedient and refused to pray to Olofin, and as punishment he was ordered to care for women and feed them, and if they were naked, to give them clothing to cover themselves. Then, realising all the obligations they had towards women, men shut them up in the houses to do the domestic work. In this way women got men to provide for them, believing that the men were their slaves.

Here Eshu had to make an ebbo for men so that they would not lose their vitality. For this, a cord is made with the atiponla and, once it has turned green, it is tied around the waist. A chant is intoned and the herb is gathered, then ground with ori and iyefa and rubbed on the body.

The story of the coconut palm

Once upon a time there was a leafy coconut palm laden with coconuts, and it was very pleased and proud of itself. It thought it was the happiest mother on earth, since its many children all seemed to be in good health. For this reason it refused to make ebbo, believing it had no need of it, and neither did its healthy children.

Besides, it had many children ready to stand behind it should the need arise. Because of this, it could not be spoken to about religion, still less about ebbo. If anyone brought the matter up, it grew angry and fell into a foul mood. Yet it happened that, at the height of its joy while it enjoyed the air that nature gave it, one of its children fell — that is, a coconut. Even so, it stubbornly persisted in not making ebbo.

One day San Lázaro passed near it and greeted it, but it did not answer. Later on, San Lázaro met Eshu and told him what had happened with the ill-tempered coconut palm. Eshu explained: «It is that she feels happy and satisfied, and so she does not even stir». Then San Lázaro said: «Si no cocoro llobi, llobi, llobi, llobi cocoro».

These words spoken by San Lázaro as an adage mean: «Only the coconut knows the worm that is inside it». Little by little the coconuts began to fall one by one, and the worms ate the roots. In the end the coconut palm collapsed. Every coconut and the palm itself disappeared, victims of an invisible sickness, something akin to cancer or similar illnesses.

The prisoner and the princess

It happened once that in a certain place there lived a black man who was a slave. This man was greedy and used to tell everyone home truths, which brought him trouble and enmity. These enemies denounced him before the king.

The king ordered his guards to arrest him and bring him before him to be put to death. The king, however, had a daughter, who was a princess of his court. One night the princess had a dream in which she was shown that she must save the prisoner and set him right; a beloved dead relative told her so. The next day the princess went to her father the king and told him what had happened. She said to him: «Father, I must save that man, and I promise you that I will redeem him and correct all the faults that have brought him to this pass».

On this condition set by his daughter, the king agreed and placed the prisoner in the princess’s custody. Every day the princess devoted herself to teaching the man and giving him counsel, until all his faults disappeared. As time went by, because of the closeness between the young woman and the man, for whom she had come to feel affection and esteem, the princess gradually fell in love with him.

Unable to hold back her feelings, the princess went to her father and said: «Father, the prisoner has changed completely and no longer has a single fault». The king praised his daughter for her good work, and at that moment she confessed to him: «Father, I have fallen in love with him. I ask your permission to marry him». The king, who adored his daughter and granted her every wish, agreed at once and gave his consent. So the wedding took place, and the prisoner and the princess were very happy.

In this story the king stands for Obatalá, the prisoner for Shangó and the princess for Oshún. If the man is white, he is saved by a black woman; if the man is black, he is saved by a white woman.

The merchant and Elegbara

In a town there was a man who made his living selling household goods, but everything he tried went badly for him. So he decided to move to a nearby town and set up his business there.

That new town was ruled by Elegbara, who lived on a hill. In this place every merchant was obliged to pay tribute to Elegbara.

It happened that this man arrived in the town, settled in and paid no tribute, tax or derecho (ritual fee) to Elegbara.

One day Elegbara decided to visit the town to meet this man and see how his business was going. He came to the house where the man had set up shop, looked everything over and took an eleke of Oduduwa that was among the most valuable merchandise. Then he turned his back and left. Elegbara understood that this man had come to the town and settled there without reckoning with anyone or paying the established tributes.

Seeing what Elegbara had done, the man decided to declare war on him. The other merchants, however, came to tell him that this man was Elegbara and that he was the head of the town. Then the man realised his mistake and felt deep sorrow as he watched everything begin to go wrong for him.

He decided to return to his own town, and a short while later Elegbara appeared before him with all his merchandise. Giving it back to him, he placed the eleke of Oduduwa around his neck and said: «Since you obeyed humbly by leaving the town and following my laws, I give you everything back. For as long as the world lasts, you will be the oba of these lands». To Iban Eshu.

This person must worship Elegbara so that the paths stay open, and make sacrifice each time Elegbara asks for it. He must also wear an eleke of Oduduwa.

The neglectful adie

Once upon a time there was an adie who lived alone in a henhouse with her chicks, since her mate, a fighting akuko, had died in one of his bouts. Shortly after this misfortune another akuko was brought to live in the same place with the adie. She fell in love with him and they began to live together. The akuko would tell the adie to set her feathers in order so that they could go out walking together, but the adie would answer that she had to look after her children and could not attend to such things, which led both her appearance and her home to fall into neglect. She was the only adie living in that place.

Little by little the akuko began to drift away, and when the adie noticed, she went to Orunmila’s house looking for help. Orunmila looked at her and told her she had to take care of herself, or she would lose her mate, and that she must make an ebbo with asho timbelara of various colours. The adie, however, answered Orunmila that nothing needed to be done, since she was the only adie in those parts and no one could take him from her.

A short time later a very striking adie was brought in, with beautiful plumage adorned with every colour. On seeing her, the akuko fell in love and abandoned the neglectful adie. Instead of tidying herself up, this adie had chicks with every akuko that came to the place, but they, seeing that she did not care for herself, would leave her for any other adie on the farm.

Kaferefun eggun and Elegbá

Orishaoko made his living harvesting yams and held the secret for growing ishu, which came up handsome under his care. He had a neighbour, however, named Omo Iña, who was deeply envious of the fine crops Orishaoko obtained. Omo Iña’s ishu, by contrast, were stunted and withered. So Omo Iña decided to set thorns among Orishaoko’s yams to keep them from growing handsome and to make people start complaining.

Elegbá, who witnessed it, said to Orishaoko: «Go to Orunmila’s house so that he may look at you». Orishaoko followed his advice and went to Orunmila, who made him an osode and saw this Ifá, and then gave food to Oggún. Orunmila told him he would find out who was to blame and who the thief was.

Bogbo Eggun began to make small dolls out of the thorns, and these began to rise upwards. Omo Iña went by night to steal Orishaoko’s yams, but when he put his hand in he was pricked and cried out in pain. Elegbá, who was watching him, told Orishaoko about it.

The next day Orishaoko went and saw that in the earth there were marks of bone and blood around the ishu plant. Then Orishaoko understood the truth and thanked Elegbá, giving him an eleke of black, red and white beads as a token of his gratitude.

That is why it is recommended that yams be planted in a hole.