Iroso Ogbe

The people of the town said that Orunmila was not a true diviner. To prove it, they set up three huts. One hid gold. Another held jewels with gems. In the last one waited Ogún, machete in hand, ready to kill Orunmila if he was wrong.

Orunmila was summoned. Before going he had already consulted his Ifá: this odu had come out for him and his angel asked for a head cleansing. So he arrived with his apeterbí and with a basket full of coconuts. In front of him stood the three huts, painted white, red and black.

Before answering, he asked permission to cleanse his head. He threw the coconuts and Iroso Umbo fell, and then he declared that his angel would not allow his death. His enemies demanded that he say what each hut contained. He answered that the white one held gold, the red one held jewels, and in the black one Ogún was hiding, with the machete ready to take his life.

The black hut did not even have to be opened. As soon as he knew that Orunmila had found him out, Ogún jumped outside, let the machete fall and threw himself at his feet in moforibale. He promised that, as long as the world existed, he himself would keep wars away from Orunmila and would serve him loyally forever.

Elegba and Orunmila were rivals over who was the better diviner. Elegba claimed to be a true diviner, had Orunmila sit down and cast the ókpele for him, reading it from left to right, as was customary then. In his reading he announced that in a few days Orunmila would face a dispute and should be careful. Orunmila just watched him without saying a word.

As soon as Elegba left, Orunmila took his own ókpele and declared that his knowledge was greater. He reasoned that this kind of reading belongs to consulting the dead and to the dilogún; the true ókpele of Ifá is recognized because the larger leg lies on the right. So the right side belongs to Ifá and the left side to Elegba.

Then Orunmila had Elegba called, intending to prove his superiority. He sat him down, performed Osode, and this same odu appeared. The message was: give up vanity, offer a spiritual mass to an Egun who was demanding it, give him a rooster and make an ebbó, because a position would get him into a lawsuit. Elegba burst into tears, fled the house and shouted that Orunmila had seized his secret.

Orunmila then prepared the ebbó that the sign called for and placed it on the road leading to the town. Elegba came by, saw the animals and tried to take them, but he fell into the trap. Orunmila tied him with a rope and presented him to Olofin. Olofin left it to Orunmila to decide his fate; Orunmila only asked to keep him in his house, and there he installed him, in the outhouse called Ilé Yagbe.

As the years went by, Elegba grew sick of that corner. He also noticed that, while he had been in the house, Orunmila's wealth had increased. One day, while Orunmila was chatting with Oshún, Elegba showed up and demanded to move to the entrance, to enjoy that abundance and be greeted first as a Babalawo. For that he needed Orunmila to give him Ifá. Orunmila refused. Then Elegba leaped, threw himself against the ground and split his head open. Oshún advised Orunmila to give in and be rid of the problem. In this way Elegba received Ifá without paying anything.

Soon afterward, Inle walked past the door without greeting Elegba. Elegba complained that he should be greeted, because he was now a Babalawo. Inle challenged him to divine something. Elegba described Inle's yard: a vencedor tree grew there, and in the afternoons a cuckoo walked beneath it. Inle replied that everyone knew that. Then Elegba revealed that the day before, Olokun, his father, had scolded him for touching the buttocks of his mother Yemayá. Inle was astonished, since only Olokun, Yemayá and he knew about that; he acknowledged that Elegba was a diviner and begged him to give him Ifá.

Elegba charged Inle two cartloads of cowries, plus women and food, and with that he paid Orunmila for his own Ifá.

Here lies the secret of giving Ifá for free to people.

Oberenibate lived in a swamp and gave birth to Hilero. Her enemies wanted to prevent the child from being born and hunted her to kill her, but Olofin had granted her a power that made the birth possible. From early childhood, Hilero talked with the Sky every day. He refused any food that was offered to him, since he knew what was harmful and what was good. He kept saying that, whether his enemies liked it or not, he would be born and grow up.

When he was already a young man, one morning, just before his talk with the Sky, he sensed that something evil was entering his body, and suddenly he could not speak. He went at once to Orunmila. Orunmila consulted the odu and ordered an ebbó: later he would gather what was needed, perform a ceremony and carry it to the river, which was the place where he would regain his speech. Orunmila added a warning: everything he did for himself he also had to do for his mother; otherwise he might lose her, because the lady was in danger of being lost.

Hilero carried out the sacrifice and the ceremony at the river, and his voice returned, although from then on he always rubbed one arm. The immense power of Olofin gave him victory over all his enemies. His mother, on the other hand, passed away, because nobody offered any ebbó or ceremony for her. From then on, Hilero gathered his Abikú companions in the swamp, and together they made offerings and ceremonies in remembrance of his mother and of all his dead.