Ika Di

Shangó had a comfortable life in his town, because the position he enjoyed had already cost him years of hardship; even so he was not satisfied, since he wanted greater power, and with that idea he knocked on Orunmila's door. They did osode for him, this Ifá came out and the word was this: "You will reign in another land; but to get that kingdom you have to make ebbó with two roosters, a chain, a trap, an arrow and a small chair, so you escape a trap they are going to set for you. When they offer you a chair or something similar to sit on, you must shake it if the bottom is wood; and if it is upholstered, you must refuse by every means to sit on it, so your enemies do not defeat you. And to keep that good fortune Ifá foretells for you, you have to make offerings from time to time and not go around with many women."

Once the offering was done, Shangó set out to look for the fortune Ifá had announced to him.

It so happened that, some distance from those lands, a king had fallen gravely ill. Since all his ministers wanted the throne, and so they would not tear each other apart and the people pay for it, he called them together and declared: "My successor will come from another land, wearing a red cape." At once he had an edict drawn up so his last will would reach everyone's ears.

The king died a few days later, and the ministers agreed to kill the stranger who came to claim the throne. They lifted the lining of the seat, left a very fine poisoned arrow point standing there and covered it again with the lining of the throne's seat: when he sat down, the foreigner would prick himself and die.

When Shangó set foot in that land, the people recognized him on sight as heir to the crown and led him to the palace. A cool-headed man, he chose from among those people the youngest and strongest, ordered them to gather every spear and arrow they could find, and took them as his trusted escort.

The coronation came with the palace packed: guests had come from the provinces of the kingdom and from other lands. The ministers pointed to the throne so he would take his seat and the ceremony could begin, but Shangó answered: "I prefer that you crown me standing."

So it was done. With the crown already on, he walked toward the throne and, to everyone's astonishment, left it empty: he settled into the one that belonged to the queen, in case the king was married.

He then sent for the dead king's ministers. He ordered the one nearest him to take the throne at his side, and the man excused himself, saying he was not worthy of such an honor. The second did the same, and the third, and none of them would obey. Shangó then ordered his escort to seize them and put them all to death. Afterward, in front of the guests, he had the lining torn open, and the betrayal they had set up for him was there for everyone to see.

His rule lasted some years; but he forgot Orunmila's warnings, filled his life with women and let down his guard. And since soldiers loyal to some of the executed ministers were still in that palace, they set a second trap for him: he fell into it and lost the crown.

There was a young babalawo named Okan Lifa, who stood out for his knowledge: he had gathered it by obeying the orders of his Oluo.

Learning cost him dearly in Arakesa, his land: there they treated him badly and humiliated him a lot. And no sooner had he begun his training than the elders noticed how much his understanding was growing, and they agreed on something: every time he took part in a ceremony, they would reject everything he predicted, to take away his merit.

Okan Lifa saw through the maneuver. At night he fed his Ifá two black hens and, with the earth and with what was left over from that meal, he made ebbó; then he went away to the land of Inale, where things went very well for him.

Sixteen days later a great war broke out: the king was taken prisoner and killed. They then went looking for the palace Oluo, and the Oluos fled one after another, afraid that they would be killed too.

That is how they reached Inale, where Okan Lifa lived, to ask him for shelter and to tell him what they had left behind in Arakesa.

Okan Lifa set out back to his native land. As soon as he set foot there, as Oluo of the defeated government, the neighbors themselves swore that he had never belonged to the king; and the new government took him as a friend, because he came back, and named him their absolute king.

In a certain land people ate fish, but before that they took the heads off the fish and threw them into the sea.

In that sea lived a fish who wanted to reign, and he came before Orunmila. The instruction was to make ebbó with water from the far shore.

The fish went to bring that water, the water from the shore opposite the one where he lived; he came back and did the ebbó. Then he moved to the other shore, and since the fishermen there could not catch him, he became king.