Iroso Yeku

In the mysterious land of Gogo Orun, Orunmila lived under the name Awó Ori Kalekun. He devoted himself to doing good to everyone, although his enemies never rested in their search for ways to harm him.

The inhabitants there venerated Ikú Lari, an enormous shadow of Ikú whose home was Ilé Yewá. They offered her doves and dedicated a song to her. She left her dwelling, walked through the region and took the people whom Olofin pointed out. With Awó Ori Kalekun, however, she always showed respect: she saw him as kind and helpful to everyone, including the children of Ikú Lari herself. At night she visited him and, while he slept, revealed to him the schemes of his enemies. For this reason they never defeated him.

Some called on her again and again to eliminate him, but her answer was that she would take him only when Olofin ordered it, and not because another person wished it.

One day the awó consulted his fortune and Iroso Yekun, Ikú Otonowa, came out. Ifá's message was that his end would come when Olofin wished, although many people were praying for his death. He set out for Ilé Yewá to meet Ikú Lari, carrying three black doves and two hens that were also black. As soon as he crossed the entrance, a skull began to speak to him and the awó felt afraid. Then Yewá arrived, greeted him with moforibale and calmed him: that skull was an awó like him, the owner of the place, and had come to help him. His name was Awó Ifá Orun Abi Orun.

The skull asked Awó Ori Kalekun to place his Ifá beside it and to feed it the birds, so that he would receive strength. The awó handed over the hens, the doves and his Ifá, and dedicated a song to Ifá Orun Abi Orun.

Then the skull told him to make a death's head, Ikú Agboran, to keep his Ifá there together with the secret that it was entrusting to him. It gave him 21 small unpeeled ikines, the secret of Osain with which Ikú Lari was fed in that country. In this way, when Ikú Lari approached, she would see the awó protected by the great secret of Yewá. Yewá also gave him the bones of both feet, the right and the left, to place with his Ifá and with the working tools of Ikú Lari.

Just then Ikú Lari appeared. She saw the secret, embraced the awó and promised to take him only when his hour came. She added that whoever decided about his life without Olofin's authorization would earn her curse, the curse of Yewá and the curse of Olofin.

With his secret, Awó Ori Kalekun went back to govern Gogo Orun, and there everyone respected him, even those who did not like him. Before that, Awó Ifá Orun Abi Orun warned him that to his children he could give only his own name or the skull's. In this way the pact would continue for the benefit of all of them.

From this episode Ikú Otorunwa was born in the odu. Ikú Lari is the great shadow of Egun and of Ikú, she dwells in the cemetery and she is one of the great mysteries of the sign. In this sign, Orunmila had to settle in Ilé Ikú, because he dreamed constantly of death, which warned him of the evil his enemies were plotting. There he installed his Ifá. For this reason the Ifá of this awó is kept differently from the others: in a wooden skull. His children receive only one of the two names, Ifá Ori Malekun or Ifá Orun Abi Orun.

A awó earned his living as a tailor and did very well. He dressed so elegantly that many people envied him. His name was Iroso Yeku and he always wore a black cape.

One day he consulted Ifá and his own sign came out. He performed the ebbó that was prescribed, and Ifá also told him to be careful with visitors.

One night Ikú, Death, went looking for him and knocked on the door. The awó did not open; he sent his wife. She opened, recognized Death and explained that her husband was asleep. Ikú withdrew, but the next night returned and asked for him again. His wife answered the same way. Then Iroso Yeku, who no longer remembered Ifá’s warning, asked from inside who was calling. She asked him to be quiet, and he, paying no attention to her, went out to see the visitor. Because he had been disobedient, Ikú took his life and also carried off his cape.

Dressed in the cape, Death appeared in the market square and sat down beside Obatalá. The merchants and Ogún, when they arrived and saw her, fled shouting toward the house of Orunmila. He asked the cause of the uproar and they told him what had happened. Then he took a black hen, passed the bird over his body to cleanse himself and went to the square.

Facing Death he said: “There is no place for you among the living; go back to your destiny.” Then he gave her the black hen, and with that Ikú departed for her destiny.

For this reason, if this odu comes out in a consultation, a black hen must be offered to Ikú, apart from the paraldo that has to be performed. Ogún is also fed and, in addition, the guardian angel of the person who was consulted.

In the land of Koyeronifa lived the awó Ifá Oba Kolaye, who had the great power of the shadow and used it to protect from Ikú everyone who lived there. His father, the awó Oba Yebeiye Ikú, had given him that foundation.

When someone was going to take an oath, Oba Kolaye sat the person on a chair in front of the foundation and sang to Ikú. Behind the chair he killed a black hen, and whatever the person left on the seat disappeared. Ikú visited that land all the time and found only the chair and the black hen. She got angry, pressed her head with her hands, and could not find the awó, because by his virtue he turned into a shadow that she mistook for the night. So Ikú could not take his children. She left upset and worried, because that was the only land where she never found anyone.

One day Ikú went to look for Olofin and did not find him. She left annoyed and on the road began to sing the name of Elegba. Elegba, who was walking nearby, saw her and asked what was wrong. Ikú told him everything: she was furious with the awó Oba Kolaye. Elegba also had a complaint, because once he had asked the awó for a chick and the awó had not given it. So he said to Ikú: “Come with me, we will gather several awós to make Oba Kolaye come.” The two went to the land of Bebeye Awó Mawada and met the other awós there.

In that land lived the father of Oba Kolaye. When he learned what was happening, he sent Elegba to fetch his son. Oba Kolaye arrived displeased and unhappy and met his father, who called him aside and said: “You must give a chick to Elegba. And every time you do the paraldo of your sign, you must bury the hen in a hole, so that Ikú never finds a trace of anything. Now you will be Ikú’s slave, because you did not do things as I taught you. You wanted to be more than me, and for that you will have a punishment: you will make an oath with Ikú.”

Oba Yebeiye Ikú made his son and Ikú kneel before the awós and said to them: “Swear that you will keep this pact forever: you will bury the hen in a hole and in this way you will save some of your children.” The awó, who was the great shadow, had to go ahead of Ikú to show her what the shadow wanted to eat. His father said to him: “Good, you throw the earth over it.” So Ikú and Oba Kolaye swore before Oba Yebeiye Ikú and the other awós.

To make the demonstration, Oba Kolaye brought a dove and a hen. Ikú, who had never eaten animals, ate them and said to him: “And you cover it.” The awó did so and, while he covered them with earth, he sang a song that repeated the name of Oba Kolaye. In this way Ikú’s life changed: she ate the flesh of animals for the first time.