Oshe Trupon

One man’s loss is also another’s

There was a man who made his living selling yams, corn, fodder and other produce. Orunmila, on making his osode, saw this Ifá and warned him: «Be careful with the heavy loads you carry, do not be lost, because with your loss there will be another one in your family.» And he told him to make ebbó.

But the man was a disbeliever and paid no heed to Orunmila’s advice. One day, while walking along a narrow, slippery path carrying three sacks of obi, he thought: «I really cannot go on with this load.» All at once he slipped and fell down a nearby ravine, dying on the spot.

When his wife learned what had happened, the shock was so great that she died as well. All of this came about because the man had not taken Orunmila’s warning seriously.

OSOBO Ikú KOTON Ikú: the person dies of the fright of seeing another person die, or of the shock of learning of the death of a relative or of someone he loves and holds dear.

The traitor

There was a king who ruled over many slaves, but among them there was one who was his favourite and knew all the king’s movements and the secrets on which his power rested. This king was very powerful, feared and ambitious, and so he had many enemies who could not defeat him.

In the neighbouring land there lived another king, less powerful but more cunning. Everything he had done up to that point had not been enough to bring down king Oshe Trupon. So he decided to approach that king’s favourite slave through a very attractive woman, so that she would draw his secrets and his powers out of him. In this way Oshe Trupon went on losing wealth and power, falling into misery and oblivion, since no one sought him out or asked for his help any more.

This Ifá speaks of the loan shark: here the person gives nothing unless he gets the greater profit.

Another version of the previous story

The king never knew that it was his slave who had betrayed him, for he trusted him blindly. But when the man’s home tribe learned what had happened, the slave was punished and sent into the jungle to die of hunger and thirst. Even so, the slave, with his intelligence and cunning, managed to survive in the jungle and became a great hunter and gatherer of fruit and plants.

One day the king of that home tribe, searching for new allies and new trade, went deep into the jungle and came upon his former slave, who presented himself under a new name and with a new appearance. The former slave, with his wisdom and his knowledge of the jungle, helped the king to find new trade routes and to make alliances with other tribes, which allowed the tribe to recover from the ruin it had fallen into.

Although the king never knew that his former slave had been the one who betrayed him, he learned the lesson of not underestimating the capacity of those beneath him, and he thanked the former slave for his help and his wisdom. From then on, the former slave was treated as an equal and as a valued member of the tribe.

Do not mock anyone’s misfortune, for your own comes right behind

On this path a ship was sailing across the ocean, and for days it had sighted no land, when suddenly the lookout gave the cry: land ahead. A party of men went ashore on the island at once to take on supplies, since they were running short. One of them caught sight of a bird of many colours whose speech was unknown to them; they took it prisoner, caged it and carried it aboard.

Finding itself captive, the bird began in its own tongue to curse and hurl insults. When the ship drew away from the coast, it began to list under a load that was too heavy, and in one of those lurches the parrot got out of its cage and flew up to perch on the ship’s mast, and from there it mocked the whole crew, for the ship was already taking on water. The parrot did nothing but jeer at the men, who drowned one after another until the ship went down altogether, and with it the mast and the parrot.

Oshún finds what was lost

In the osode he made for Oshún, Orunmila saw that she had made a promise to the Orishas and had not kept it, and that this was why she was not receiving the blessing she needed. He told her to make ebbó with adié, akuko, owo, oñí and the other ingredients so that she could fulfil her promise, and also to keep away from bad company.

Oshún made the ebbó that Orunmila had prescribed and from then on her life began to improve: she found what she had lost and reached her goals. Grateful to Eshu for having brought her before Orunmila, Oshún promised him an offering of roasted bush rat, and so she kept her promise to the Orishas, obtaining their blessing and prosperity in her life.

Orunmila made osode for Oshún and saw this Ifá for her; he told her she was to make ebbó with akuko fifesho, adie meyi, ewe obure, ewe dara and ewe dayan. After the ebbó she was to make oshinshin with the ewe obure and take it to ibu losa. With the other ewe she was to bathe in the ibu to change her situation. Orunmila also advised her to be careful in doing favours so as not to take on more hardship, and warned her that she would go through an embarrassment that would in fact do her good. He asked her to leave her clothes at the river when she bathed.

Oshún followed Orunmila’s instructions, and on returning from her bath in the river she went back to Orunmila’s house to collect her belongings. But Orunmila, seeing her so changed, fell in love with her, and they had relations; they did ofikale, and at that moment Oshún’s menstruation came, which had been held back for a long time. Although Oshún was ashamed, at the same time she rejoiced at the coming of ashupa.

After the ebbó, the akuko and the adie meyi are given to Oshún, and with the ewe obure an oshinshin is made and set before Oshún; the other ewe are used for baths.

The güira and Ozain

On this path the güira was going through hard times financially and thought she needed an okuni to settle her bad situation. So she went to Ozain’s house and, among other things, let him know her need, but Ozain ignored her and slighted her. Very much put out, the güira left Ozain’s house and considered how to solve her situation. She then dressed herself in beads of all the colours of the male Orishas and went to Orunmila’s house so that he would look at her.

Orunmila made osode for her and marked ebbó. The güira gathered everything that was needed and Orunmila made the ebbó for her, but he fell in love with her in the course of it. One day the güira came across Ozain in the street, but she did not look at him, and he realised that he had lost her when he saw how beautiful she was.

Through this Ifá comes the obini who arrives at his house to subdue him (she says she comes for a reading, but she is trying to subdue him).

Beko Bense the warrior

The dead man’s brother managed to win over the Olomonbue and Nomlee Milak to his cause, and together they formed an army of great size to face the Osumo. The Osumo, however, did not sit idle, and they too gathered their best warriors for the defence of their people.

The battle was long and bloody, with both sides fighting fiercely. At one point in the battle, Ngema Eshugo, the famous warrior of the Osumo, met Ekang Ngomo, the dreaded warrior of the dishabifos tribe, in hand-to-hand combat. It was an epic fight, in which both showed their courage and their skill in war.

At last, after hours of fighting, the Osumo won thanks to their greater numbers and to the skill of their finest warriors. The enemy fled in disarray, and Ngema Eshugo became a hero to his people for his courage in the battle.

From that moment on the tribes were reconciled and a lasting peace was established between them. The memory of the fallen warriors was kept alive in the songs and legends of the tribes, as a mark of respect and admiration for their courage and their sacrifice in the fight for their people.

The enraged brother brought about the union of all these chiefs, who four days later gathered at the head of their forces in an agreed place to study the plan of battle. Then the great offensive against the Osumo people began. This invasion made for the town of Enjema Eshugo, and camped nearby. As was the custom, they sent emissaries to the Osumo to tell them that, within a short time, if they did not surrender, the invaders would reach the settlement and sack it by force.

When this news reached Osumo, a renowned warrior named Beko Bense called the people together and promised them that he alone would face the invasion. Besides his skill at arms, Beko Bense had won great fame through the power granted him by the marvellous secrets he possessed. To prove his resources before the people, who listened to him sceptically at such madness, he performed the following tests.

Beko Bense had a large abo brought to him, a fine bunch of plantains, an ayakua and a pot big enough to cook a great quantity of food. He shut himself alone in a house with guards at the door and prepared the abo, the bunch of plantains and the ayakua, consuming them all in a single night without leaving a trace of the great banquet.

The next day, the astonishment of those who entered the guarded hut was beyond words. After everyone had gathered in the house of speech to close the first demonstration, this man ordered a great basket to be brought to him. Once at the river, where everyone went with him, that marvellous man plunged the basket into the water and drew it out full, without losing a single drop through the countless holes of the woven basket. With the water from the basket he had each of those present sprinkle their arms and legs, which the crowd did, convinced that this powerful man was able to withstand the announced invasion on his own.

And more still: he obtained a very fine fibre from a plantain tree and stretched it across the middle of the street, tied high at both ends; standing back at a safe distance, he threw his spear at it and split it into two perfectly equal halves. All of this filled the people with amazement, and they believed in him. The day after these remarkable events, the invasion was announced, and it was held back by the thick, sturdy stockade that ringed the Osumo settlement. Olonomlee, the chief leader of the invasion, addressed Beko Bense and invited him to open the gate of the stockade, but Beko Bense told him that first they had to withdraw to a safe distance.

The invaders did so, while Beko Bense opened a narrow passage through which barely one person could pass at a time. As they tried to pass one by one, the four foreign warriors were pinned by spears handled with the same precision as before, when he split the thin plantain fibre. So died those leaders of the invasion of the Osumo people. Seeing what had happened, the invading warriors ran in fear to take shelter in the nearby forest, where they stayed for the rest of the day.

Seeking revenge, the defeated, seeing that by arms they could do nothing against the Osumo people, decided to set fire to the town and flee. When night came they did so, but Beko Bense not only destroyed the leaders of the invasion: at the same time, with the water he still had in the basket, he was able to put out the fire that threatened the destruction of the town, and so he defeated those who wanted to destroy it.

: Once the ebbó is finished, the awó will give the abo, the ayakua and the akuko meyi to Shangó kabiosile, and the adie meyi to Oshún. This path speaks to us of the great power of Shangó and of the union with Oshún.