Irete Lazo

– The leri of Oke

Osun carried an ikordie of Alakoso tied to him. Then the question arose of who would climb to the leri of Oke to bring it back. Alakoso performed the ebbó and climbed up there to find it. When he found it, he brought it to Olofin. On realizing what Alakoso had brought him, Olofin struck Osun hard, and Osun fell spinning into the courtyard of Igbin.

The trap set for Orunmila

Orunmila lived in a wooden house and had many enemies. Seeing that Orunmila knew everything and was a diviner, they agreed to burn down his ile (house of prayer). From the street door they dug an underground tunnel all the way to Orunmila’s room without his noticing. Through a crack in the floor, they saw where he sat every day to perform osode (consult the oracle). Then, in that room, they set four strong crossbeams to keep the floor from collapsing, packed in rubbish and firewood, and set it on fire.

Osun, who stood at Orunmila’s right, moved because of the heat. Seeing Osun move, Orunmila set him in front of himself, and the osode told him there was a trap. Orunmila said many prayers and took many buckets of sacred water (omí) to put out the fire. Then he broke through the floor with a heavy bar and saved himself. All his enemies came out and surrendered, telling Orunmila to do with them as he wished. Orunmila told them that the only thing he wanted was for them to make Ifá (consult the oracle) so that they would know what he knew. Orunmila understood that Osun was a saint whose function was to warn him and protect him from everything evil in his path. Therefore, this oddun (sacred chant) prescribes that Osun is the staff of Orunmila.

Why Shangó eats with Azowano

Oggún and Shangó were at the door of their house when they saw an old man staggering along the road. Shangó pointed him out to Oggún and said: «Look how that old man is coming; something seems to be wrong with him.» When the old man reached them, Shangó asked him: «Old man, what is the matter with you?» The old man replied: «I am very ill and very weak.» Oggún, moved to pity, invited him in and offered him lodging and hospitality. Oggún had an unmarried daughter who lived with him, and he offered her services to care for the old man. The old man turned out to be an azoqueño. In time, the young woman healed the old man with her devotion and care, and the old man fell in love with her and seduced her; they had relations, and the young woman became pregnant. She began to feel very unwell because of the pregnancy, so Oggún took her to the doctor. The doctor examined her and told her that the symptoms were normal in a pregnant woman. Oggún was surprised and bewildered at once, unable to understand how his daughter was in that state, so he called her and asked her how it had happened. The young woman said: «Father, I have had a relationship with the old man we are caring for in the house. He fell in love with me and I with him. I grew fond of him and never once thought of the shame or the dishonor that might fall upon me.» Oggún reflected, and then thought: I took in the old man, I offered him lodging, food, attention, and even the medicines he needed, and I gave him my daughter as his nurse. This is how he repays me: he dishonors my child and leaves her pregnant.

Oggún and his daughter returned home, and there Oggún sent for the old man to come to his room and said to him: «I know what ails my daughter. First the doctor told me, then I called her and she told me everything. You will be carried by six men to distant lands, and you will never show yourself here again.» Oggún’s men carried the old man far from where Oggún lived and abandoned him there. Shangó, who had been walking through other lands, returned to Oggún’s house, and not seeing the old man, asked after him. Oggún told him what had happened, and Shangó, incredulous, set out with one of the men who had taken the old man to those other lands, and after much walking, found him. Shangó asked the old man: «Is what Oggún told me true?» The old man, grieved and ashamed, answered: «Yes, it is true.» Shangó noticed that the poor old man had wounds and sores on his skin and said to him: «Wait for me here; I will bring you water and some herbs so that you can heal.» Shangó returned with everything needed, and the azoqueño, grateful, said to him: «As long as the world is the world, whenever they feed me, they will also have to feed you. To Iban Eshu.»

Awo Oba Tele

There was once an Awo with many godchildren, who slandered him until he came to feel utterly alone. This caused him such sorrow that he died of it. He was buried in a high place, and every year his godchildren went there to pay him tribute and perform ceremonies for him. When his remains were exhumed, they saw that the body had not decayed despite the passage of time. This led them to investigate the cause of such preservation, and they concluded that he had died without fulfilling his destiny because of the evil influence of the arayes he had in life. Olofin had preserved him in order to turn him into a new deity: Aggayú, to whom homage must be rendered as to the other saints. The Awo at the center of this story was Oba Tete.