Iroso Matelekún

Orunmila lived in the land of Gogo Orun, a land full of mystery, where he was called Awó Ori Kalekun and did nothing but good, though he had many enemies. There they worshipped Ikú Lari, the great shadow of Ikú who lived in Inle Yewá and went out across the land to take whoever Olofin wanted; but she always respected Awó Ori Kalekun, and even came at night to warn him in dreams what his enemies were preparing. There were people who called on Ikú Lari to finish him off, but she said she would only take him when Olofin said so, and not when anyone else wished it.

One day the Awó saw Iroso Yekun for himself, Ikú Otonowa, and set out for Ilé Yewá with two black hens and three black doves. As he went in he came upon a skull that spoke to him; he took fright, but Yewa arrived and told him: «Do not be afraid, that is an Awó the same as you: his name is Awó Ifá Orun Abi Orun and he is going to help you». The skull asked him to set his Ifá beside it and feed it, and handed him 21 small unpeeled ikines — the secret of Osanyin that fed Ikú Lari — and Yewa gave him the bones of the right and left foot for his foundation. When Ikú Lari came and saw the secret, she embraced the Awó: «I will take you only when your turn comes, and whoever disposes of you without Olofin's leave will carry my curse, and Yewa's, and Olofin's». That is why this Awó's Ifá lives in a wooden skull, and his children carry only two names: Ifá Ori Malekun and Ifá Orun Abi Orun.

There was an Awó who was a tailor and lived very well, dressed very well and wore a black cloak; everyone envied him. When he read for himself his own Ifá came out, he made ebbó, and Ifá told him to be careful about visitors. One night Ikú came for him and knocked at the door; Iroso Yeku did not open and sent his wife, who said her husband was asleep, and Death went away. The next day she came back; the wife said the same, but Iroso Yeku, forgetting what Ifá had told him, asked who it was. His wife told him to keep quiet, he paid no attention, went out to meet the visitor, and Death took his life for disobeying, took his cloak and left.

With the cloak on, Death appeared in the market square and sat down beside Obatalá. When the traders and Ogún arrived and saw her, they ran shouting to Orunmila's house. He took a black hen, cleansed himself with it and went to the square; seeing Death, he told her: «You cannot be among the living: you have to go back where you belong», gave her the black hen, and so Death went away. That is why, when this Odù comes out, a black hen must be given to Ikú, along with the paraldo, and food to Ogún and to the Guardian Angel.

In the land of Koyeronifa lived Awó Ifá Oba Kolaye, who held the secret of the shadow for saving his children from Ikú: he sat them on a chair before his foundation, sang «Akuada Oba Yebeiye Ikú», killed a black hen behind the chair, and whatever was there vanished. Ikú would visit that land and find nothing but the chair and the hen; she would clutch her head in fury, because she could not find the Awó either, who by his virtue turned into a shadow that Ikú took for the night itself.

One day Ikú, in her resentment, came upon Elegba, whom the Awó had once refused a chicken, and together they gathered the Awoses in the land where Oba Kolaye's father lived, Awó Oba Yebeiye Ikú. His father called on him: «You have to give a chicken to Elegba, and every time you do the paraldo of your sign, bury the hen in a hole so Ikú finds no trace; and for wanting to be greater than I am, you will swear an oath with Ikú». He knelt his son and Ikú before the Awoses and made them swear the pact. For the demonstration, the Awó brought a dove and a hen, and Ikú, who had never eaten animals, ate them and said: «And you cover it over». So the changing of a life was born, and for the first time Ikú ate the flesh of animals.