Ika Yeku

Two twin brothers lived in the land of Ayó: Oyekun Bika and Ika Yekun. The younger of the two, Ika Yekun, was poor; they loved each other very much.

One day Ika Yekun did osode and his sign came out in Ifá, with an offering marked of three banana stumps, a gourd and whatever else was needed. He never did it, because he was an Awó who did not care about anything. And it happened that he went to the river, something he was forbidden to do, undressed and got into the water to bathe; careless as he was, he did not see the fence timbers the flood was dragging along, which hit him on the head and left him senseless.

His brother Oyekun Bika had also had his sign come out in an osode, with the same offering marked and the instruction to take it to the river. When he got there he was shocked to find his twin lying senseless. He then began to pray to Ifá; with the hens he did oparaldo and poured the blood of the lerí into the river, calling on Ifá and on Yalorde. He set the three banana stumps around his brother's body: to the one in the middle he gave the white dove, to the ones at the sides the white guinea, and on the skull he set the gourd.

After a while Ika Yekun got up and began to speak, asking Ifá for forgiveness. But a few days later it was his brother Oyekun Bika who died, while greatness and power came to him.

Some time later Ika Yekun asked Ifá why his brother had died, and the answer was this: if he had been consecrated and had received the osun that his sign pointed out to him, his brother would not have been lost.

Note: this osun eats with egun, and its load is: banana root, banana yam, ashé of Orunmila, lerí of hen, lerí of dove, palo moruro and ceiba root. The 16 Meyi, Ika Yekun and Oyekun Bika are prayed; it eats everything the Awó's egun eats.

Note: it is to be understood that it was the fence timbers, carried by the force of the current, that struck him the hard blow on the lerí, and that is why he lost consciousness. His brother cured him without first settling what he had pending, and changed heads.

The land of Inle Ogba Yekun was governed by Orishaoko, and Awó Ogba Orilaye lived there. Orishaoko had made him powerful by entrusting him with his great secrets, so that he could call on him and on Shangó as well.

Whenever Ogba Orilaye held one of those ceremonies, he spoke these calls: "Baba Orishaoko ogba niye Orun ogba ni inle ogbani Shangó, awa wa ori laye wawa inle ori laye, Orishaoko bayekun Olorun ogba ni Shangó ogbara laniye". Both of them always answered him, and both repeated the same advice to him: that he should never make Ifá for his two sons. That always kept him uneasy.

One day he fed Orishaoko, Inle and Shangó. It was Shangó who spoke: "Do not think you are going to fool us; you imagine one thing and another will come of it: here the ones who know are us." The Awó knelt down before them and swore always to obey whatever they ordered him. Shangó answered nothing; Orishaoko, silent, watched and listened. Then Elegba showed up; he and Shangó said to Orishaoko: "This joro joro will serve to bury Ogba Orilaye, because he is lost by the very weight of the knowledge he carries in his head."

A few days later, Ogba Orilaye sent for Elegba, handed him a chicken with its ingredients and told him the plan he had for his sons. "That is the best thing you can do," Elegba answered him, and at once wanted to know: "And when is it that you are going to the land of Awana to consecrate your sons in Ifá?" Ogba Orilaye answered that he was leaving right away, and Elegba offered to go with him.

They arrived with the two boys in the land of Awana Ifá, where all the Awó who lived there were egun and Ogba Yekun was in charge of them; the welcome was good. Awó Orilaye explained to Awó Ogba Yekun what he had come for; the other did osode for him, Ika Yekun came out, and his word was: "Think carefully about what you want to do." Ogba Orilaye kept quiet, and Elegba spoke for him: "What he wants is for his sons to be Awó no matter what." "All right, but that will be his ruin," Awó Ogba Yekun answered him. Ogba Orilaye replied that with his great powers everything would be taken care of, "since there is no one in the world who knows more than me."

With everything ready to consecrate the boys, Ogba Yekun said to Elegba: "We have to invite other Awó who live in this land." Elegba took care of that invitation, and brought them there deceived. The Ifá ceremony was done: for one of the sons Ika Yekun came out and for the other Oyekun Bika. The invited Awó were shaking with fear, because they knew what was coming.

On the seventh day they went on to the Oddun ceremony, and they sang: "Yeyere yeyere masoko yere" (twice). Right there Ogba Orilaye died for the land of Inle Ogba Yekun, and Elegba went off along the road drumming and singing: "Ogbari lona lerí egun, lerí ogborilona egun lerí, ogbani Shangó ogba nilona ile egun lerí".

In the joro joro they themselves had opened to receive their meal when he tried to fool them, Orishaoko and Shangó were waiting for the body. They threw it inside and repeated the meal. Afterwards, together, Shangó and Orishaoko gave themselves two quails on their lerí.

Note: this ebbó calls for a house with a yard, because at the end it has to be thrown into a joro joro and the animals sacrificed right there. The wooden lerí is placed with Shangó and with Orunmila; when it is placed with Orunmila, he has to be given two black hens along with the lerí of the Awó or Obá. The wooden head lives together with Shangó or with Orunmila, or with whoever takes it. On this road the salvation lies in feeding Inle Oguere; if he has Orishaoko, it has to be put to eat next to Inle Oguere. If he is Obá, his lerí has to eat two quails or guinea so that he does not die.

Orunmila had to do ebbó with ceiba leaves, so he sent all the orishas to bring them. None of them managed to climb the hill where the tree stood, and they came back empty-handed. Then Orunmila said: "I will bring them."

He did osode, saw this Ifá and did the ebbó with a rooster, ceiba leaves, a hoe, a handle and a machete; that done, he took the road to the hill. Once in front of it he could not climb it either, because the slopes were very steep, and the orishas made fun of him, saying that Orunmila was all talk.

He then took the hoe and the machete, and began to cut into the hill in circles, going up turn after turn, until he had made steps that took him to the crown where the ceiba grew. There he took the leaves, came back with them and did the ebbó with a rooster, jutía, fish, the hoe and the machete, to beat his opponents. And the orishas ended up saluting Orunmila.

Note: skill is worth more than strength. You have plenty of enemies, and it is because where you work or move about you have got things done that the others did not know how to do.