Iroso Bara

A king lived from party to party and neglected his people, who suffered hunger and want. Discontent grew so much that the king ended up going to consult Orunmila. In his consultation this Ifá came out, announcing a war of great size, with a risk of defeat for him. Orunmila told him that, to be spared, he should make ebbó and prepare an enormous banquet, open to all the inhabitants.

Just then Shangó appeared in the town. Ogún had given him two Añá drums. He went to a square with them and began to play. Around his neck he wore a red scarf, pulled forward, that covered his face, and nobody knew who he was. The people gathered around to hear him.

Meanwhile, the king noticed that his banquet was still empty. He sent his servants with trumpets to call the people, and still nobody came. One of them told him the reason: everyone was thrilled listening to that musician, although nobody understood what he was playing.

The king decided to go in person. When he reached Shangó, Shangó took off the scarf and stated that the king was him. Then he told the crowd the truth: the king wanted to feed them not out of compassion for the hunger of the people, but out of fear of a great war that he knew he was going to lose. That is where the idea comes from that a throne not earned by service is lost by sheer trumpet blowing.

Oba Araisha reigned in Efon Alaye. His mother had borne twins, but the people of the palace hid one of them, killed him and buried him in the forest.

As a teenager, Oba Araisha fell ill, and his mother brought him before Orunmila. Orunmila saw this sign and wanted to know where the twin brother was, for whom funeral rites had never been held. Later, once old enough to support himself, Oba Araisha found that he could not finish anything he began. He visited Ifá, and Orunmila told him that he had to look after a dead person whose burial had never been honored. He did not understand what this meant; at home he questioned his mother, who told him what she knew.

He went to the forest, to the site of his twin's grave, and offered two chickens. From that sacrifice on he began to gather possessions. In time he wished to marry, but the women he courted scorned him. He consulted Ifá again, which told him to offer a new sacrifice to his brother. He obeyed, and then he obtained a wife and children.

Some time later, the town had to choose a new Obá. Oba Araisha wanted the position, although he was not the favorite. He turned to Ifá, where Orunmila ordered him to make an offering to his brother again. He did so, and he was crowned Obá of his land.

With the crown he fell for a very beautiful woman who took over his heart, and he gradually set aside the spirit of his twin brother. The twin visited him in dreams, but Oba Araisha ignored him. Seeing that he had been forgotten, the dead twin turned into an enormous rat, opened a tunnel underground to where the food was kept and ate it all.

When day broke, the woman discovered the damage and began to scream. The Obá asked her to be quiet, because he would give her money to replace what was lost, but she kept on. Then he ordered a hole to be dug to kill the rat. The workers dug until they reached the place of the twin. The Obá ordered them to keep digging, even farther than the forest. The animals fled; where there had been no sun, it now blazed all day, and where it had never rained, water fell without ceasing. Oba Araisha fell ill.

Seeing himself in that state, he gathered several rats and fish, and also a young girl and a boy who had not yet matured, and offered them in sacrifice in honor of his twin. But the dead one did not accept this; what he wanted was the king himself, his brother. Oba Araisha died.

Whoever has the twin of a dead person must always look after him.

Orunmila shared a small house on the hill with his wife. He had to go out to perform an ebbó, and when he consulted himself this sign appeared, so he asked his wife to stay home to avoid trouble.

He left for work. She did not obey. In the middle of the ceremony, a dove flew down to his board and began to coo; from this Orunmila understood that he had been betrayed. He addressed the bird with these words: “To Iban Eshu, as long as the world exists, I will never eat you.”

For this reason, doves are respected in this sign, and when they are used in the ebbó their wings are held, not their legs.