Ika Kana

The cat was a rich merchant, with many male and female servants; the female servants were guinea fowl, called etú. One day he began to mistreat them and gave lashes to one, who fled flying to Obatalá's house. Just then he was washing his face with soap, and the foam that fell on the bird stained her black feathers with white.

Obatalá saw her so frightened that he wanted to know the cause. The guinea fowl told of the mistreatment she had received from the cat and begged him to be her godfather. Obatalá accepted and let her live there, in a room he prepared for her.

Three days later the cat appeared asking about his servant. Obatalá said he knew nothing and had him come in to talk the matter over better.

Inside, the cat looked at the guinea fowl, but because of the spots he could not recognize her. He explained: “Father, I was told that three days ago a servant of mine ran away from my house and arrived at yours.” Obatalá, who had already declared himself the guinea fowl's godfather, answered that the only one in the house was this one, and that she had been there a long time because she was his goddaughter.

A dispute then arose between the two, with no way to prove who was right. Obatalá demanded compensation for the harm and, when asked how much he wanted, answered: “A sack of gold for each hair of the cat.” With that dispute Obatalá became rich and the merchant cat was ruined. That is why guinea fowl today have feathers with white dots.

A young man, son of gunugún (the vulture, a carrion bird), was in love with the butterfly, but he did not dare confess it or know how to win her. The butterfly was flirtatious and lived flying from flower to flower. She always carried a whistle, her talisman, and never let go of it.

One morning, as the young man was heading to his usual work, he found the butterfly resting on a flower. She was distracted and he took the whistle from her. He planned to blackmail her with it so that she would accept him. He took it home and gave it to his mother, the vulture, to keep.

Soon the butterfly noticed it was missing. Eshu, hidden in the grass, came out to help her and told her that the one who had taken it was the son of gunugún. He also advised her to consult Orunmila, who could spare her a painful event.

But the butterfly, willful, did not take the warning seriously and did not visit Orunmila. She decided to watch the vulture's house, and when she saw the son leave, she knocked at the door. She told the lady of the house that her son had taken the whistle and demanded to have it back. The vulture, frightened, returned it.

Later the son came back from work eager to carry out his plan to attract the butterfly, and he asked his mother for the whistle. She told him that the butterfly had come to claim it, accusing him of being a thief, and that she had handed it over. The young man became very angry and treated his mother rudely: he asked who had given her permission to give the whistle to the butterfly and called her bold and meddlesome.

Seeing his plans ruined, the young man began to curse himself. He wished never to have a fixed place to live, always to find his food rotten, and that everyone would reject him for his bad smell.

At that moment Obatalá was coming through the door of the vulture's house. He heard the curses and told the young man that they would be so. He ended with a greeting to Eshu.

The butterfly was returning along the road, very happy with her recovered whistle. Eshu saw her and understood that, being disobedient, she had not gone to see Orunmila. He felt mocked and wanted revenge. Some boys happened to be passing, and Eshu showed them the butterfly. The boys took whips and chased her from flower to flower until she died.

According to the note of the passage, this road speaks of disrespect toward the mother and of one who turns to bad arts to win a woman. If he does not reach his goal, he curses himself, and from this comes his setback. He is an unbelieving person who does not heed advice.

An unbelieving man once went to consult Orunmila. In his reading an Ifá came out that asked for an ebbó, and he carried it out. From then on he bought products in the countryside and took them to sell in the market square. His business grew so much that he bought whole harvests and handed them over to other resellers.

As years passed, the man forgot Orunmila. One day Elegba asked Orunmila how that warehouse keeper was doing who took the farmers' harvests for himself. Orunmila answered that he was someone who no longer remembered him.

Elegba put on a disguise and went to talk with the hoarder. He asked whether he had forgotten the old man who made the ebbó for him in the days of his poverty. The man answered that he did not remember. Then Elegba cast harm and filth upon the grains and the tubers, and they filled with insects. The buyers saw the damaged goods and left without buying anything. Soon the man lost everything and, deeply distressed, went back to Orunmila.

Orunmila consulted again, and the same Ifá came out once more. He repeated the ebbó and warned him that he would prosper again, though with effort, and that he must never forget the saints.

Afterward Orunmila gave him Elegba and consecrated him as a son of Ifá (Ikofafún). With patience, the man recovered and was once again the warehouse keeper of tubers and grains in the town.