Obara Oshe

Before leaving for the world, he was warned to make sacrifice, because he was going to be very prosperous but at the same time would have a great deal of trouble: the sacrifice at Orita-Ijaloko with a bundle of yams, a bunch of plantains, corn, pounded yam and a bag of coins. He carried it out, and went to God to receive his blessing before leaving heaven. On earth he set to work the land and to practice Ifism, but things did not go well and he could not afford to marry. He invited other Awoses to read for him: he was to repeat the sacrifice, decorate his Ifá altar, serve it with a hen and give himself a coconut to his head. He was so poor that he had to borrow the cloths to decorate the altar; when the hen was killed, the blood stained the borrowed cloth, and later he returned the cloths to their owner along with drinks and kola nuts.

One day, standing in front of his house very early, he saw Seke, the Obá's daughter, go by. She explained that she had come to visit him, and once in the house she told him she had come to offer herself to him in marriage, because she had noticed he had been without a wife for a long time. He replied that he was a poor farmer, with no money to keep a wife; she insisted all the same. After living with him four days, she went back to tell her father of her decision, and he asked to meet him. Obara Oshe did not want to go, having no presentable clothes — «you are not invited to a parade of fine clothes», she reasoned — and he went. The king found him very handsome, approved the marriage at once, sent his treasurers to take jewels to the husband's house, and asked no dowry: only a yearly tribute. His wife traded with her father's capital, the farm flourished, and before long he built his own house. At the end of the year he sent his father-in-law the best yams with plantains, corn and kola nuts, and had his wife sell a great many yams at the market. There, Olokun's daughter found the yams very fine, and on learning they were from Obara Oshe's farm, she resolved to meet him: she dismissed her attendants, went to his house and told him she had come to marry him. «I have nothing, I am a simple farmer», he replied; she insisted that the farm was enough, and five days later she came back with her baggage and her riches — only then was it known that she was Olokun's daughter. She told Seke not to go to the market anymore: from that moment she would trade for the family. Obara Oshe became a very prosperous man, and when the king saw it, he made him Shasere and Prime Minister of the kingdom.

«The I-know-it-all syndrome kept Awosi from reaching the same level of knowledge as Ukpere» was the name of the Awó who made the reading for Akpere and Awosi when they were going to heaven to learn how to make the tribal marks. When they came before heaven's body marker, Akpere was the first to learn; then it was Awosi's turn — and as soon as they made the first mark on his back, he told the master he was already trained to make every mark. The master dismissed them to return to earth and mark others the same way they had been marked.

Akpere was able to design tribal marks in many forms; but when Awosi got home, he only knew how to make one simple mark, and did not know how to make any others. That is why some tribes have a single tribal mark and others have many. In an ordinary reading: be patient and humble in the trade or business you are learning, so you can come to know the whole profession — avoid showing off what you know.

«Obara Oshe does not show itself for others, except for those it appears to in a reading and who make the sacrifice named»: that was the Awó who made the reading for Okpere, Onidoko's slave, when he was going to use the art of the Awó to solve his master's problems.

When Okpere found his master grieving over having no children, he decided to help him: he prepared the medicines his master and his wives were to use, and then traveled off for the practice of Ifá. After some time he came back from his journey: Onidoko's wives had each given him a child, and the family's happiness was plain to see. Onidoko thanked Okpere for his help and showed him how much he valued him by giving him his freedom. In an ordinary reading: let your servants in on what troubles you, so they can help you — they may be the ones who solve it.