Iwori Ogunda

Ode owned a farm. For a season his animals began to go missing, and although he worked hard to discover the thief, he did not find him. He decided to keep watch without rest, day and night. On one of those nights he discovered the tracks of two beasts: a tiger and a lion. He equipped himself with a bow and two arrows and went after them.

First he came upon the lion. He climbed a tree, shot it from above and killed it on the spot. When he came down he did not notice that the tiger was prowling nearby. The big cat smelled the blood, became enraged and threw itself on Ode with fury. An unfair fight began between a man and a wild animal. Ode used his last arrow and killed the tiger, but the bites and claw marks caused his death. Man and beast perished together.

A man left his wife alone with several small children. She began working as a servant in the house of a wealthy family. It was not long before she noticed a strange presence over her body, and she went to Orunmila.

In her consultation this Ifá came out. Orunmila explained to her that in that house an Egun had attached itself to her, who in his last existence in the world had been a foreigner with white skin. She had to have an Oparaldo, that is, a cleansing to be freed of that dead one: first he would give her help in material things and then he would pass his secret on to her, and would make her pay for it with her health and her life. She never came back to do the work.

So it happened. The Egun favored her, and one morning she woke up rich. That dead man had owned a pot in life and, through a dream, showed her the place where he had kept it so that she could take it. The woman ignored the message. Some time later her legs began to swell; she grew worse until she died of the same illness that had finished the foreigner. Everything Orunmila had announced came true.

One should be careful of the Egun that attaches itself to someone: on one side it gives, on the other it makes ill.

In the land of Oba Nire lived Ogún, who had a son with Yemayá named Awo Nilorun. When the boy turned three, he received Ifá from his father, who dreamed of seeing him become chief of that place, respected by all. But Ogún could not stay: Obatalá had called him to govern Oba Nire together with Yemayá.

Ogún noticed that the boy lacked the character to command. Following Eshu's advice, he led him into the presence of Orun. On the way, Eshu rang his bell and sang a song. At every step they picked up the yaguas they found, that is, the dry sheaths of palm leaves, because the Egun had come out to accompany them so that the boy would not feel fear. When they arrived, the Egun were already waiting and greeted Eshu, Ogún, the Egun present and Awo Nilorun with moforibale.

At that moment Shangó was passing by, sent by Obatalá to find Orunmila. When he saw the scene he hid and watched everything Orun did with the boy.

Orun announced to Ogún that he would give the boy strength and power to dominate the world. He discarded the useless yaguas and asked the Egun for new yaguas and the herbs proper to this odu. The Egun brought them singing. With them they prepared a decoction and bathed the boy, who in this way received the great power of Orun. Afterward, to strengthen him, they performed a cleansing of his head with offerings. The Egun sang throughout the rite. On the boy's head, blood was offered to Ogún so that the power could pass to the son. Orun ended by telling Ogún to return to Oba Nire and keep governing, looking after his son and becoming the dread of everyone.

When they had left, Shangó came out of his hiding place, went up to Orun and reproached him for having done something behind his back. He said that the power given to those people would harm Obatalá. Orun replied with another question: what did this have to do with him? At once Shangó, who was carrying sulfur, stuck out his tongue and spread terror. Orun shuddered, cried out “Terror!” and paid moforibale to Shangó. Then Shangó answered that there were other powers besides fright, that he would no longer pass on Obatalá's message (which forbade what Orun had just done), and that he would send for his son Oni Ifá Awo, an awó of Ifá, to take that power away from father and son. He added that Orun would never achieve anything without calling on him, since only with Shangó's strength could he count on help.

Ogún returned to Oba Nire with his son. From then on, every time seven o'clock struck, the yaguas resounded and the inhabitants lived terrified by the power of the Egun. In this way, for a while, Ogún kept the whole land in alarm.

Shangó informed Obatalá of what was happening. Obatalá told him to go with his son, pass on to him the power that he himself had, and sing along the way. Shangó went passing a guinea fowl over a head and burning sulfur along the route until he reached Oba Nire. Ogún, seeing this, was filled with dread. The smell of sulfur and fire made all the Egun flee; the population woke up frightened and Ogún was trembling too.

Shangó demanded that Ogún give him the boy, took away the yaguas and proclaimed that the fright had ended in that land. Obatalá, who was arriving behind them, told Shangó and his son to gather the yaguas and build a house out of them for Ogún, where all the people would worship him. He himself would take the son and leave him with Yemayá, who would raise him in goodness.

Obatalá, Shangó and Awo Oni Ifá took doves and offered them to the inhabitants and to Ogún. In this way the fright and the terror ended in Oba Nire.