Iwori She

Iwori Boshensheno, an awó, had as a son Oba Bioshe: very clever, but hard on his father. When the mother, Leri Aba, died, the boy passed into the hands of Wanwa Lode Nifa, who raised him without limits and taught him to call her Egun. That Egun would come and give him great powers. In this way Oba Bioshe came to dominate the land of Leri Inle widely; but, out of ambition, he wanted to reign also where his father reigned, without heeding any advice.

The father feared losing him and consulted Orunmila, who found the odu Iwori Boshe. He said that blood should be offered to Odun and the mother's Egun should be called, to be given nine doves, since she was upset. With the doves offered, the deceased mother appeared furious and threatened to take the power from her son and leave him mad. Both Orunmila and the father begged her.

Then Oba Bioshe arrived and promised under oath to do what they told him. They gave him the loaded staff to bury it. In addition, by means of the rooster and the hen offered to the Egun, he obtained the great powers of the Egun and of the Osha. His father warned him: whoever breaks this oath loses his head.

In the land of Ifá there lived a king who owned numerous important businesses. His friend Alayeki was the one who really ran things. Among the king's many slaves, one disapproved of the treatment Alayeki gave to the royal family.

When the king died, three children were left: the eldest daughter and two sons. Alayeki took over the running of the kingdom. Years passed and the children grew up. Then the slave spoke with the young woman. He told her that he did not share the way Alayeki ruled, since the eldest of the siblings was she, and he told her how her father ran his businesses and the command he kept over him.

Alayeki became interested in the king's daughter and wanted to win her. She rejected him, and he, as revenge, gave her and her brothers barely the bare necessities. The slave, tired of putting up with it, one day assured the young woman that Olofin would soon do justice, and asked her to stop crying.

That night the slave asked Osain whether he could carry out what he was planning, and Osain said yes. Meanwhile Alayeki treated him worse and worse: he had seen him talking with the king's daughter and believed she despised him because of the slave. From then on he assigned him the heaviest chores.

One day Alayeki wanted to set up his room and his secret in a high place and entrusted the work to the slave. The slave built a platform of palm boards, but for the crossbeams that were to hold them he chose the finest canes he could find and tied them with yam vines taken from the planting next to Eshu's house. Under the boards he piled many stones: they were some that the king had left, who had traded in them during his life.

After seven days of work, the slave went to the riverbank, where he made a head cleansing offering. The next day he informed Alayeki that he had finished. Alayeki climbed up to inspect the work; the floor did not bear his weight, collapsed, and he struck the stones head first. He died almost at once. The king's daughter then took command and granted the slave his freedom, and he was her loyal adviser for the rest of his life.

Oshún lived with Shangó, who mistreated her: he gave her hard tasks, beat her cruelly and put her to work for him.

Fed up with that situation, one day she went to the bank of the river where she had once lived and came upon a tall, sturdy man who offered her affection. It was Agayú. His manly appearance and his persuasive words left her confused. Back at home she kept thinking about him; the next day she returned and saw him again, and under his insistence she finally gave in.

For a while the lovers deceived Shangó. One day he discovered them, and a war broke out between him and Agayú over Oshún.

Agayú consulted Orunmila. In the odu a praise to Oshún came out (“kaferefún Oshún”), and Orunmila pointed out an ebbó for him. To restore order, he told him, he had to invoke two orishas of Ara Onu, the ancestors of the river, named Irole and Ita, who would help him.

Agayú obeyed: with the two roosters of the ebbó he went to the bank and called the two orishas. Ita sprang from a jagüey tree and Irole from a carob tree. He made a pact with both, and they granted him the power to be invincible. Agayú showed his strength throughout the land and Shangó ended up respecting him. Thus Agayú and Oshún went on living in peace beside the river.