Iroso Ka

Olofin was worried: on earth there was nothing but war, and the saints he had sent to control it had changed nothing. One day Oshún came, saw him deep in thought and asked him what was wrong. "Will you let me, my father, end that war for you?" she said, and Olofin agreed to send her.

Once on earth, Oshún took off her clothes and, with a white flag, walked in front of the soldiers. Seeing her rise up among them, so beautiful, asking for a truce, stopped them; she used the pause and lived with one of the groups and then with the other. So the two sides were reconciled and the war was over. Out of breath, Oshún went to lie down on the grass, at the bank of a river. Orunmila had seen it all and was coming down the river with a female goat and two hens; she thought he was going to take advantage of her, but Orunmila made it clear that his intentions were good and, to back them up, he took off his ring and gave it to her. He also gave her everything he was carrying, and they ate together. By this Ifá the woman has been deceived and badly paid: they promise her marriage and then they leave her — that is why the engagement ring is worked.

There was a time when everything began to run short: women did not prosper, animals stopped giving birth, plants dried up, rivers were left without water and hunger became general. The children of the earth went to Orunmila, and this Odù came out: "The only one called to fix this situation is Oshún." Olofin was angry with his children and only she could get them forgiveness. Oshún did her ebbó — the basket of buns, the eggs, the white rooster, the honey, the arrow, the guineas and the doves — put the basket on her head and set out on the road.

Five leagues on she met Eshú, tired of guarding the road: she gave him water, rum and honey, and he let her pass and gave her advice. Then she gave two eggs to the white-haired lady and sewed her clothes, and the lady gave her the ashé and the warning about Shangó. To Oshosi, the hunter with torn clothes, she sewed them while he ate guineas and doves, and he gave her the arrow of justice: "If the tiger attacks you, defend yourself with it." To Shangó she gave the rooster, the plantains and the honey, and he went with her as far as the boys who guarded Olofin's door. Oshún handed out the buns, and when they ran out, she took out her jar of honey and poured it into the boys' mouths, singing "Oñí abe yeyeo". Drawn by the shouting and the singing, Olofin looked out the window, and when he saw her he said: "To Iban Eshu. As long as the world is the world, there will be plenty of water from the sky to water the foundations. You will be the owner of tying and untying, the one who turns the sour sweet and the sweet sour; your laughter will be weeping and your weeping laughter — sweet and kind to everyone who loves you and your children."

In the land of Inkan Osun all the children died young: Omoye Ni Saraen, who held great power over Osanyin and Ikú, did not want the children to live, and his prenda Morala rotted the earth; the children fell ill in the blood and their flesh rotted. Every year he gave him a goat and called Ikú, who came and killed them all, and the stench of that land was beyond bearing. Oshún wanted to reach it and save it, but every time she fell ill with cramps, shivering and fever, and gave it up and stayed in the river.

Eshú went to Osun's house; they ate a rooster cooked with eweriyeye, licorice root, moruro, pepper and ginger at the foot of Osun's great secret, and a voice ordered two hens to be taken to Oshún at the river. Oshún came out gladly, and they all gathered with the Awoses Ñañaré Ifá and Bebenifa: «First we have to steal Omoye Ni Saraen's secret». Osun went with four small stones, four ikines, his agogó and a staff, and Oshún with him, with four figures. Hearing the singing, Death took fright; Omoye Ni Saraen tried to flee with his secret, but Oshún sang and the rain came down in sheets, and he had to let it go. Osun knocked him senseless with a blow of the agogó; Oshún shook Ikú with the hen, and Ikú knelt and swore to respect all the children of the earth unless she received orders from Olofin. The rain washed the rot away; Oshún cursed Omoye Ni Saraen and he was turned to stone and buried. Osun planted his moruro staff and his four figures: «These will be the four columns of the world: Eshú, Ogún, Shangó and Osanyin».