Iroso Meyi

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.

In heaven, Iroso Meyi was called Akpejo Uku: the man who can change the course of death. He advised the two hundred deities that, when they reached earth, they should not pass rigid laws, and that they should get the support of Eshú with a goat. They all refused; only Orunmila sacrificed.

Once on earth, the first ruling of the deities was that whoever grew gray hair had to go back to heaven — that is, to die. One by one they died, until gray hair took over Orunmila's head. His Ifá told him to give a goat to Eshú, to grind dry water yam with ashes, to hang that powder in a raffia bag at the door of his house, and to treat all the deities to a pig at his farewell feast.

Since it was the custom to take off your cap when going in, Eshú brushed the powder over each visitor's hair, and it turned gray at once without them knowing. When the meal was over, they asked Orunmila when he was going to die, and he answered that he was ready for the mass death of that night: let them take off their caps. They all uncovered heads that were completely gray. Confused, they passed a new ruling: only those old enough to die should die. That is how Orunmila changed the deadly decree, because if it had stayed, nobody would live past forty or fifty.

In one kingdom the people elected a king, and after the crowning a group of men from the court would take him on a tour of the palace up to a room with a trapdoor in the floor. Since the king walked in ahead of the party, he fell and was killed; the inner circle went on ruling in his name and, after a while, announced his death so another king would be elected, who met the same fate.

One day the people elected Iroso Meyi. Before accepting he got a reading and saw his own sign, which told him to take the post but first to make ebbó with a rooster, a rope and a ladder, taking it to a hole, because a trap would be uncovered.

When they crowned him, the inner circle wanted to show him the palace, but Iroso, forewarned, asked for the plans and visited every apartment, always going in after the others. One room was left. Iroso invited the group to show it to him and, seeing that this time none of them wanted to go in first, he invited them to go ahead. Not one accepted: that is how the trap and the crimes were uncovered, and Iroso was able to rule that town in peace and safety.