Okana Meyi

Why Eshu Eats Rooster

There was a great drought, and disease was invading the homes, causing many deaths. At that time, the akuko appeared at Olofin’s house. After Olofin dressed in white, he went out into the street and met Eshu. Seeing him so elegant, Eshu was surprised and asked Olofin why he was so finely dressed.

Olofin replied that he was very pleased with the drought, and went up to heaven. On arriving, he opened the taps of the rain and the water began to fall. The rooster, who was at Olofin’s house, ran to his side to tell him he had won the wager. Olofin asked the rooster what he desired, and the rooster answered that he wanted to have all the women he pleased, the strength to keep them, and to be king.

The next day, Eshu came to the palace and found the rooster happy among his women. Eshu looked in and asked what he was doing there, to which the rooster replied that he was Olofin’s favorite. Eshu contradicted him, and the rooster, to convince him, said: is it not true that he wears Olofin’s jewels and brings him breakfast in bed, while Olofin walks about the whole house naked?

Eshu went to see Olofin and, receiving no answer, began to shout, accusing him of going about naked and saying that the rooster was wearing his jewels. Olofin, astonished, asked how he knew that, and Eshu told him the rooster had said so. Olofin punished the rooster for being a gossip, and ever since, Eshu eats the rooster. The moral of the story is that in Okana Meyi, the person dies by their own tongue.

Why the Poor and the Rich Govern

Six poor people went to the house of Orunmila. He told them to take four palm-bark yaguas and go through the whole city striking with the ridged side. The enemies fled in fright. The king sent someone to find out who they were and was told they were madmen. The king acknowledged that if it were not for those madmen, the enemies would have taken the city. Since then, the poor and the rich govern together.

Why Oyá Wears the Idefa

All the Saints had children and lived happily, except Oyá, who was the only one without children and lived in sadness because she could not have them. One day, Oyá went to consult Orunmila and received this Ifá. She performed the ebbo and put on the idefa. Then she managed to have 9 children. For this reason, Oyá’s mark is 9, and the idefa is placed on the daughters of Oyá in gratitude to Orunmila, who helped her have children.

Path 4

The akuko longed to have several women, so he set out for a land where they were plentiful. However, in that land there was a great drought, and on the road he met Eshu, who asked him where he was going. The akuko answered the other way around, saying he was going to a land where it rained heavily, to stop it from raining any longer. Eshu went off annoyed and, to spite him, used his ashe and sent a great deal of water to that place.

When the akuko arrived in that land, he said that he was the one who had brought the rain and, as a result, they granted him what he had asked for: to have many women. Since then, the akuko became the king of women.

Another Version of the Previous Patakín

There was a city where everything was going badly: the people suffered hunger and thirst, there was scarcity of everything, poor harvests, and the women could not bear children. Faced with so many calamities, Olofin sent the akuko to make a rogation to Eshu, consisting of a roasted ñame, aguado, ekru, akara, eku, eya, epo, which was to be prepared as if it were going to be given to Eshu but would then be withdrawn. The akuko set off for the city eating the ebbo along the way, and he was forbidden to give it to anyone.

Enraged, Eshu went up toward heaven, and at once a fierce, torrential downpour began to fall. The akuko rose above the current, and when he reached the city he went up to the wall proclaiming that he was the one who had brought the water. The people, grateful, granted him the highest distinction.

Shangó Is Afraid

When Shangó came into the world, he was a frightened child who trembled at the crowing of the rooster and the bleating of a goat. He understood that he could not go on living in hiding, so he went to his godfather Orunmila. Orunmila performed a consultation for him and prescribed an ebbo that included 101 otas as a defense, called afeke.

When Shangó obtained the afeke, his eyes changed color and courage filled his heart. Everyone fled at his presence, for when he grew angry, he took the otas of the afeke and hurled them. Made ready to come down to earth, Orunmila brought him down with a forked branch as a marker, which the king of bravery had brought down to hold back his wrath.

Joining other afekes together serves to destroy one’s enemies.

The 101 otas go into a hole in the yard, the forked pieces are planted in it in the shape of a fork and covered with earth; thus when Shangó eats, a rooster is given to him. When there is no earthen yard, the otas go in a small sack inside a clay vessel with the forked branches planted, and one proceeds the same way. The animals: he-goat to Elegbá, she-goat and adie to Orunmila, and akuko to Shangó.

The Cricket

In this path, the cricket, before coming into the world, decided to have himself seen by Orunmila in order to avoid the evil that would be placed upon his head, and this Oddun came out for him. Orunmila prescribed an ebbo for him, and told him afterward to put everything into the güiro and carry it to the wilderness.

The cricket paid no attention to this, and the day came when he had to descend into the world in the middle of a dense thicket. At once the grasses caught fire, and the flames engulfed the wretched insect, who searched for a way to flee but could not find even the smallest opening to escape.

His legs and his wings, once so beautiful, became long and deformed from the heat and from so much leaping to flee the fire. After this incident, the cricket became the mockery of all.

Awo Akuko and Elegbara

Awo Akuko and Elegbá did not get along, because Awo Akuko always divined and Elegbá always went against him. One day, Awo Akuko decided to go walking to other lands and arrived in the land of Mogba, where the people lamented because it never rained and there was a great shortage of water in the territory. Awo Akuko learned of the situation and asked the people of Mogba what they would give him if he brought them water. They answered that they would ask Olofin to let Awo Akuko govern those lands if he brought water.

Then the rooster went to Orunmila, who saw Okana Meyi and instructed him to make an ebbo and put it in a sack. He then told him that he would meet Eshu Elegbara on the road, and that he should ask for things the other way around and deny what he carried in the sack when Elegbara asked him. Awo Akuko returned toward the land of Mogba and met Eshu Elegbara, who asked him for some of what he carried in the sack because he was hungry. Awo Akuko refused him and said he was carrying everything needed to make an ebbo for the land of Mogba.

Elegbara let Awo Akuko go on, but cast a curse upon him. Then Elegbara used his güiro of virtue and prayed for rain to fall on Mogba. Awo Akuko was swept away by the current of water, but managed to hold on to a small board from the ebbo and reached Mogba, where the torrential rain had fallen. Thanks to this, Awo Akuko became the king of Mogba.

For this reason, in this Ifá it is recommended to ask for things the other way around, so as to gain benefit from the negative granting of one’s enemies.