Ika Kana

The ologbo (the cat) was a merchant who had a lot of money, and menservants and maidservants, who were the etú (guinea hens). One day the cat began punishing his servants and whipped one of them, so the guinea hen flew off and took shelter in Obatalá's house; and he, who was washing his face with soap and water, splashed her with the foam, and she, who was black, was left with her plumage speckled with white spots.

Obatalá, seeing the guinea hen, asked her: «What has happened to you, that you are so frightened?» She told him all the bad things she had lived through in the cat's house, and asked him to be her godfather — which Obatalá accepted. And so the guinea hen stayed on living in Obatalá's house, and he prepared a room for her to live in.

On the third day the cat turned up at Obatalá's house asking after his servant. Obatalá answered: «I know nothing of what you are telling me; come in, so you can explain it to me better.»

When the cat went into Obatalá's house he saw a guinea hen, but he did not recognize her as his own, because of the spots in her plumage. The cat said: «Babá, I have been told that three days ago one of my servants came to this house, having left mine.» Since Obatalá had told the guinea hen that he was her godfather, he said to the cat: «The only guinea hen here is this one, and she has lived here a long time, because she is my goddaughter.»

The cat got into an argument with Obatalá; and since nothing could be proved, Obatalá claimed damages, and when they asked him what he wanted, he said: «For every feather she has, I want a sack of gold.» That is where Obatalá's wealth came from, and the ruin of the cat, who was a merchant. Ever since then, guinea hens have white specks.

Note: the person is envied, and must be careful with the things about them that stand for good qualities.

There was a young man who fell in love with the butterfly, but he never said anything to her, and did not know how to court her. The butterfly was all charm and was always flying from flower to flower; she carried a whistle she never let go of, since she took it wherever she went. One day the young man, who was the son of gunugún (the buzzard), while on his way to his usual work, saw the butterfly resting on a flower, and in a careless moment of hers he stole her whistle, to use it as blackmail and see whether that way the butterfly would accept him. When he got home, he gave the whistle to his mother gunugún to keep for him.

The butterfly noticed at once that her whistle was gone, and Eshu, who was hidden in the grass, came out in her defense and told her: «The thief of your talisman was the buzzard's son; but you have to go to Orunmila's house so he can spare you a sorry misfortune.»

The butterfly, who was willful, paid no attention to Eshu's warning, and so she did not go to be read by Orunmila. What she did was to keep watch on the buzzard's house, and when she saw that the son had gone out, she knocked on the door, spoke with the buzzard and told her that her son had stolen her whistle, and demanded that she give it back. And the buzzard, frightened, gave it back to her.

The buzzard's son, coming back from his work, meant to carry out his plans to draw the butterfly in, and so he asked his mother for the whistle. She answered him: «The butterfly came to claim it, accusing you of being a thief, and I handed it over to her.» The son lost his temper and fell into grave disrespect toward his mother, saying: «Who told you to hand the whistle over to the butterfly? You are high-handed and out of line.»

And the buzzard's son, seeing himself cheated of what he wanted, began to curse himself, saying: «May I never have a fixed place; may my food already be rotten when I find it; may everyone despise me for stinking.»

At that moment Obatalá was coming into the buzzard's house, and hearing the young man cursing himself, he told him: «Son, so it will be. To iban Eshu.»

The butterfly, who had left the buzzard's house very happy because she had her whistle back, was coming along the road; and Eshu, seeing her, understood that she had not gone to be read by Orunmila because she was disobedient, and feeling mocked, he decided to give her what she deserved. Just then some boys were coming along the road, and Eshu pointed her out to them; they armed themselves with switches and chased her from flower to flower, until they killed her.

Note: it marks disrespect toward the mother and taking her for granted. The person uses foul means to win a woman's favor. When the person does not get what they want, they curse themselves — and that is why they are held back. The person is unbelieving and does not listen to advice.

There was an unbelieving man, and one day he went to be read by Orunmila and this Ifá came up, which told him to make ebbó. He did it, and afterward began buying produce in the country to resell in the market, and he prospered so much that he was buying whole harvests and selling them to the resellers.

Time passed, and the man did not remember Orunmila. One day Elegba said to Orunmila: «What has become of the storekeeper who buys all the farmers' harvests?» And Orunmila said: «That is one who no longer remembers me.» Elegba put on a disguise and went to talk to the hoarder, and said: «Do you no longer remember the old man who made the ebbó for you when you were poor?» And the man told him he did not remember. So Elegba threw harm and filth on the grain and the root crops, and they began to be eaten through with bugs; and when people went to buy his goods, they saw that they were riddled and bought nothing from him, and right away he lost everything he had in storage. And seeing himself so badly off, he went once again to Orunmila's house.

Orunmila read him again, and this Ifá came up once more, and he made ebbó for him again and told him: «You are going to prosper again, but it will cost you work, and you cannot forget the santos.»

Orunmila gave him Elegba and consecrated him as omo Ifá (Ikofafún), and little by little the man got back on his feet, and became once again the man who stored the root crops and grain of that town.