Iroso Güiro (Iroso Wori)

In Heaven he was advised to offer sacrifice to a divinity who worked under the cover of a witch — a rooster, kolá nuts and palm wine — and to serve Eshú with a goat. Once the sacrifices were made, the twins Irosun and Iwori came down to the world together. But Irosun plotted with sixteen witches of the night to be rid of Iwori. One night, Iwori dreamed of a chamber of execution; not understanding it, he went for divination, and Ifá told him he was about to be deceived, but that it would all come to nothing if he gave a goat to Eshú and served his Ifá with a hen and dried fish wrapped up. He did so, and of the sixteen plotters, two died.

The Awoses revealed to him that his own younger brother had laid the plot. Iwori had an Osanyin able to show him what went on at the witches' gatherings: after giving it a rooster and powdered yam with ginger leaves, he was carried to that night's gathering and saw the workings of the remaining fourteen. They sensed the intruder and seized him, accusing him of spying, but he vanished before they could harm him. When he woke, Ifá told him to bathe with the leaves the priests had prepared; after the bath, the plotters, knowing they had been found out, left the place and let him be. When this Ifá comes out, the person is told that their younger brother is a sorcerer scheming against them.

Agayú lay, without knowing who she was, with the most powerful woman in those parts: Oshanlá, who had the gift of changing her shape. The encounter humiliated him as a man, since he believed it should have been he who took the lead; so he changed his terms with those who asked to cross the river: he demanded a fee from each of them, and without it he would not carry them. «Find another man and pay; otherwise you are wasting your time».

One day a boy came to him: «Agayú, I want to see my mother, who is on the other side of the river». «What is your name?» «I have no name.» «Then I cannot oblige you.» The boy wept: «It has been so long since I saw her, and I am very poor… then carry me on your shoulders, since up to now you have told nobody what you charge for that». The ferryman looked hard at him: «Boy, you have a good head on you; I will carry you». He set him on his shoulders and went into the river, and the boy grew heavier step by step until he was a load beyond bearing. «What is happening, that you have turned so heavy?» «Do not complain, and keep your word.» «Boy, I cannot go on.» «Then look at me.» Agayú turned his face and cried out, dropping him into the water: «Oduduwa!». And the boy, floating, told him: «For your effort, I give you possession of the river», and vanished.

It was Agayú Sola who beat the first great difficulty man met on his road: the river. While the others fell back beaten, he stayed by the water and made up his mind to beat it. He was a strong farmer well on in years, with the spirit of a young warrior: he took his sharp axe, felled a great tree, and out of one branch made a bonfire whose flames gave rise to fire. With the wood he built a flimsy raft with its oars and launched it into the river; after great effort he conquered it, and crossed it so many times that in the end he did it easily. Through his work, the two banks were joined, and the trade brought him great wealth.

One day a woman came to him in wide skirts, with a beautiful face and fine manners; he settled her in the boat without naming his terms. On arriving, she jumped out lightly and set about arranging herself without looking at him; he asked for his payment, and the woman took off her clothes and lay down in the grass, inviting him to take it from her body. Afterward she told him: «You have had the pleasure of lying with Oshanlá», and walked away without looking back, toward her white palace. In time the troubles of motherhood came upon her, and a boy was born named Shangó: «Shan-gó», the one who runs off course — like the zigzag of the lightning.