Iroso refused the sacrifice before coming down to earth and lived in poverty. He went back to heaven to ask for his wishes, tricked the mother of obstacles, and she marked him: that is why at birth we forget what we asked for in heaven.
Before leaving heaven, the priests of Ifá told Iroso Meyi to sacrifice to the deity of misfortune and to give a goat to Eshú. He refused, and on earth he was so poor that he could not marry or have children; out of frustration he wanted to throw away his Ifá seeds. In a dream, his guardian angel showed him that the cause was the sacrifice he had ignored.
So he made the sacrifice and travelled back to heaven to renew his wishes. In the divine palace he was received by Yeyé Muwo, the mother of obstacles, who kept stalling him by asking for firewood, water, oil, pepper, salt, okra, tobacco and a rooster — but Iroso had come prepared and pulled it all out of his bag. He asked for his wishes kneeling on the tortoise he had brought, Oloddumare blessed him with his divine mace, and Eshú signalled to him to run at once.
The mother of obstacles went after him and, when she could not catch him, she stretched out her thumb and tore his back: that is the groove that runs along the spine to this day. With that mark she declared that nobody would remember their heavenly wishes once they reached earth, and that before seeing them come true they would grope around in the dark. The pain made Iroso pass out; he woke up in his bed, on earth, remembering nothing. Later he went back to his business and in time he prospered.