Iroso Tolda

This Odù made a specialty in Heaven of divining for those who wanted to prosper on Earth, and watching his colleagues leave, he decided to go down as well. God blessed him but warned him to complete the blessing with divination and sacrifice, because of Eshú's influence on Earth; his Guardian Angel advised him at least to travel with a bag of food to give to whoever came near him. He did not listen and set out empty-handed. On the road he refused food to Emu, to Eshú (whom he promised to pay in the world), to Elenini — the Obstacle — and to the Madman.

On Earth his life tangled: he was rough in his ways, nobody took him seriously, and every gift God sent him, Elenini turned aside. The Obstacle sent him a wife whose sick child ate up his last money and then died. He decided to go into the forest and take his own life; but Eshú let him fall into a vision where he saw the prosperous life he would have enjoyed had he paid in Heaven: seven days he lived that dream, until Eshú set fire to it and woke him in the middle of the bush. He ran with no direction; Eshú asked him for a goat, which his Guardian Angel provided, and pointed him toward Orunmila. At home, Elenini asked for a she-goat and pounded yam; he gave the feast, the Awoses prepared his Ifá in seven days, he married a second wife who gave him many children, the Obstacle left him, and he lived modestly prosperous to a great age. When this Ifá comes out at Igbodun, the person has likely wandered through Christianity before receiving Ifá; serve Elenini with a she-goat so your first wife leaves you, since she is the Obstacle's agent.

Orunmila went to work in Ifé for a woman named Aiye, the World, who had no children; with the sacrifice of the ewe, the she-goat and the duck, and with his medicines, she bore three children. She also had several servants; the oldest was called Eyin-uwa, who, once the children were grown, went off to settle near the sea. Aiye died, and her things were shared among the three children, who forgot Orunmila, their benefactor, and forgot Eyin-uwa.

Some time later, Orunmila went to claim his share, and they, with an answer he could do nothing with, told him they had set aside for him their mother's oldest slave — without the least idea where he was. Unknown to them, Eyin-uwa had done very well by the sea and had become very rich. Orunmila consulted Ifá: a goat for Eshú, and to serve his head with a gourd of wine at the roadside. While he was praying with kolá nut and palm wine for Eyin-uwa's return, he saw a procession of riders go by; the attendants heard that this man was saying their master's name. Eyin-uwa recognized Orunmila, got down from his horse and knelt: he was coming back with his retinue to swear loyalty to the man who was now his master after the death of his mistress Aiye. They set Orunmila on a horse at the head of the procession, and Eyin-uwa handed him all his wealth: riches in an instant. Look after Orunmila very well; and if you have no Ifá, receive it.

God had a most beautiful daughter, Olose, «the beauty the eyes take in without blinking». Death, Night and Orunmila all asked for her, and God left the decision to Elenini, who proclaimed: the first to bring 201 fresh human skulls would marry the girl. Easy for Death and for Night; impossible for Orunmila, who did not kill human beings. Ifá marked him a goat for Eshú, a guinea fowl and 16 snails for Ifá; he was to tie the 16 shells to a forked stick and walk to the border of Heaven and Earth at the first crowing of the cock, striking the ground and singing that if he met Death, he would fight her to the end.

Death was coming back from Earth with her bags of skulls when she heard that thundering sound that shook the foundations: «Bima niku ma baja, Iwori wo ji wo wo». For the first time, the divinity of Death herself was frightened: she threw down the bags and fled. Orunmila gathered the 201 skulls and presented them to Elenini, and Olose was given to him in marriage. The two losers swore to destroy him; but Orunmila, getting ahead of them, set out on the road fried rabbit meat, plantains roasted in their skins and corn, and a roasted goat. Night ate the rabbit and Eshú accused her of theft: she dropped her complaint in exchange for a pardon. Death arrived at dawn with a cudgel, and Eshú lit up the roasted corn and the plantain — her two taboos —: she fled home. And Orunmila enjoyed his bride in peace. Whoever receives their Ifá early will prosper; and they must not eat plantain roasted in its skin.