Iwori Osa

The fellowship of the three friends

Once, three men sat brooding over their poverty on the bank of a river, when a rich man passing by asked them the cause of their worry and offered them work on his estate. The three men accepted, on the condition that they could return to their own lands once they had fulfilled their commitment.

Before accepting the work, the men consulted Orunla, who advised them to make ebbo and to satisfy Eshu so that he would not destroy them. None of the three, however, believed Orunla’s predictions.

After completing their work well, one of the men asked for a pig instead of his wages, while the other two received the agreed pay. The three set off for town with their earnings; one bought a cooking pot and the other a sack of rice. With the pig, the pot and the sack of rice, they made their way back to the riverbank where they had first met the rich man who gave them work.

The man who had bought the pot lamented having spent his money on it with nothing to put inside. The man with the pig said he needed a pot to cook it in. The third suggested they put the three things together and use them to make their meal, since all were worth the same and no one would come out the worse.

The three men prepared the meal together, and the last of them went to fetch water from the nearby spring. While he was there, Eshu whistled at him; going to investigate, the man fell down a ravine and died. The second man was also sent to fetch water and met the same tragic end.

Meanwhile, the man with the rice rejoiced at having all that abundant food to himself. But Eshu disguised himself as a beggar and asked him for food. When the man tried to strike him with a piece of wood, Eshu mocked him, and the man chased him at full speed until he fell down the same ravine as his companions.

The landowner was Eshu, who arranged the destruction of the three men for having doubted the word of Orunla.

Owunko’s secret pact with Ikú

In the land of Bokun Akoba lived an awo named Bereni Awo, who governed that land with great wisdom, even though it was a land of struggles and stumbling, for everyone wanted to do things as they pleased for their own benefit. There also lived Owunko, who bore the same name as that land, Bokun Akoba, and who kept secret dealings with Ikú (death).

Owunko Bokun Akoba visited every house and spent the night wherever nightfall caught him, and the people of that land died with great ease and speed. Elegbara lived troubled by this and by everything else happening in that land, and he prayed constantly to Olofin:

«Elegbá Mamashe Mío, Babá Olofin, Omo Kinshe Mamashe Mío, Olofin Babá, Omo Kinshe Omi».

Bereni Awo, who was Elegbara’s oyugbona, heard him calling on Olofin and set out at once. When he arrived, he performed osode for Elegbara and saw this Ifá, in which Elegbara and the other people of that land were weak. Bereni Awo told him: «The fault for all this lies with Owunko; he has a pact with Ikú to finish off all the people of this land of Bokun Akoba and save only himself and his children.»

Bereni Awo gathered ewe piñón de botija, rompe saraguey, salvia, tábano and borraja, and made omiero. Then he gave an osiadie to Elegbara and bathed him with it, and Elegbara felt strong. Bereni Awo said to Elegbá: «Let us walk this land of Bokun Akoba to find Owunko.» Elegbara answered: «This land is very large — how will we know where he is?» Bereni Awo replied: «We will know him by his stench. It is by that stench that Ikú finds his way through the land of Bokun Akoba, and when Owunko cries out at night, he is calling Ikú to come and carry off the people of this land.» They set out on their way, singing:

«Arikiti Dide, Elegbara Odara, Omo Okuo Lona, Añañafun Owunko Weweni Omo Bokun».

After walking for a while, they found him by his stench, and Elegbara fed him grated obi with awado and ishu, telling him: «Come, I am going to dress you up handsomely for the feast we are going to give.» When Owunko was well pleased, Bereni Awo gave him otí with etubon to drink, and before long Owunko began to sneeze violently, covering Elegbara with the grated obi, awado and ishu he had eaten, and what he spewed out reeked terribly.

After that, ishu was drawn by the smell of Owunko’s stench, but on arriving saw that Bereni Awo was killing him and giving him to Elegbara while he sang:

«Owunko Ikú Oku Boro Boro Ota Elegbara Oba Oba Ona Yale Eshu».

Ikú took fright and fled that land, though he carried off many people with him. Then Bereni Awo went out along the roads and among the people to bathe them with the herbs and the osiadie, performing oparaldo for them and telling them: «The children of Owunko who live in this land must be given to Elegbara, and never again keep Owunkos in your houses, except when you give them to the Saints. Thus Ikú will not finish you off, and you will live in better health.»

The distribution of offices that Olofin made on earth

In the distribution of offices among the deities, Ayaguna was appointed creator of quarrels, and he always governed by force of arms, provoking fights with his neighbors across much of Africa. When Olofin heard the complaints, he summoned Ayaguna and asked him why he was so quarrelsome, when what he himself wanted was peace for all. Ayaguna answered that Olofin was always seated and did not feel the passion of blood.

To see whether Ayaguna would change his ways, Olofin sent him to Asia, where he found calm, peaceable people who never wanted to fight. Ayaguna decided he had to change that and taught them to fight, and from then on he went on spreading war and discord wherever he went.

In the end the whole world burned with war, and the peoples accused Ayaguna before Olofin. Olofin asked Ayaguna to stop the wars and seek peace, but Ayaguna answered that without discord there would be no progress in the world. Olofin accepted his answer and said the world would remain so until Ayaguna decided to stop provoking wars and rest.

Oshún, Shangó and Abeyi

There was a time when Oshún lived with Shangó in a town where she was the seduction of every man in the place. Without her asking for anything, the men laid everything at her feet, but Oshún had set her heart on one man alone: Shangó. He accepted everything Oshún gave him, though he knew she obtained it at the expense of her body.

In time, Shangó began to mistreat her and to enjoy with other women what Oshún offered him, making her life impossible. Oshún suffered in spirit and in soul, but she did not want to leave him. At last she decided to take revenge on Shangó and began a relationship with his brother, Abeyi.

Abeyi gave Oshún everything she asked for and cared for her, which Shangó did not do. When Shangó learned of the affair, he confronted Abeyi, but Abeyi told him that Oshún had been mistreated and humiliated by him, and that he was only giving her what Shangó was not. He reproached Shangó for having abandoned and mistreated her, while he himself had given her everything Shangó had never known how to give.

The goat’s pact with Ikú

There was a land full of owunkos, and among them was one who had made a pact with Ikú so that he would never die. This owunko would alert Ikú when everyone was asleep, and so Ikú would come to the village to kill whomever he pleased. One day Orunla arrived in that land, and on learning of the unexpected deaths that kept happening in the night, he performed osode for the people of the region.

Orunla saw Ifá and told them: «There is one who has made a pact with Ikú so as not to die, and who alerts him at night. When everyone is asleep, you must capture him and hand him over to Eshu to free yourselves from him and from Ikú.»

That night the people went to bed as usual, but since they were on guard, when the owunko began to cry out they realized he was the culprit. They rushed out of their houses and captured him, and the next day Orunla sacrificed him to Eshu. Thus the dying ended in that land.

By this Ifá, goats may not be kept in the house.

The path of the babalawos

Once, the awoses were angry and mistrustful of one another, but Ifá had spoken to Orunla in an osode early that morning, directing that all the awoses sit down at the table and wash their hands before eating, for the salt was tainted and the poison was under their fingernails.

After the dinner, Orunla told all the awoses to take a yam and a silver peso each and make ebbo, so that from then on all of them could achieve the same.

Ifá SAYS: That whoever is pursued is sooner or later caught; let no one sit at your table without washing their hands. That within the family there is a war, and for that reason Orunla says that one half fights against the other half.