Odi Fun

Obatalá was ill and asked his son Aruñiña to consult Orunmila on his behalf through Osode. Orunmila found the odu Odi Ofun and informed the young man that he himself was the cause of his father's ailment. Obatalá's health depended on the young man leaving the house, and he had to do so alone, so that the world would not give him trouble.

Aruñiña decided to go, but first he took all the money his father had saved and traveled to a distant land. There he struck up a friendship with Eyo and together they spent the stolen money without measure.

Before long his troubles began and he ended up detained by the law. Obatalá, now recovered, visited Orunmila to thank him. Orunmila replied that it was not necessary, because he had not sent him anything, and asked about the son and whether he had left alone. Obatalá answered that he had. Then Orunmila urged him to check his belongings on returning home and not to let his son in when he came back with serious problems, because doing so would cost him his life.

At home, Obatalá saw that all his savings were missing. A few days later the son returned, and Obatalá, grieving, drove him out and cursed him, saying that for as long as the world existed he would always live among jails and prisons.

In Bayeku Niwe Inle, Eshu Banire Lawo, that is Odi Fumbo, served as an Awó. Calm reigned, because he obeyed his father Elegba. His brother Karako Awo, who had the odu Ofun Di, envied him greatly. Whenever Odi Fumbo prepared an ebbó, Karako cast a curse on it just when they were about to get rid of it, so that it would not work. The results came out backwards, people stopped trusting Odi Fumbo, and he gradually ended up in last place among the Awoses.

To take his place, Karako proposed to take charge of all the work himself and leave Odi Fumbo only to close the ebbó and dispose of it. But Ofun Di's ebbós smelled bad and people left upset.

Odi Fumbo consulted himself, and his odu ordered him to take something from the secret of Obalu's ebbó: some chains, which his godfather had left in Ogún's charge, and two bottles; in addition, he had to give a dog to Ogún. While he was burying the dog on the railroad track, he saw his brother turning everyone against him and understood the deceit. In tears he called for help to his father Baralayiki, who appeared and accompanied him to his house. There he caught Ofun Di finishing an ebbó and sentenced him: he was a traitor, could not stay in that land, and would always be marked by a foul smell, since he was Ofun Di. To Odi Fumbo he said that he would no longer be the first, but that even in last place they would need him to dispose of the ebbó; that before that he must present it to him to be blessed, and that he should first cleanse Ofun Di with three blows of a stick.

Hence the custom: the ebbó slides along the bottom of the board while it receives three blows, and is presented before Eshu.

Aguema, the chameleon, a son of Obatalá, knew all of Obatalá's secrets. Quietly he visited the trees, saying that Obatalá sent him, and all of them yielded their secrets except the cotton tree. At Yewa's house he talked with the dead, who warned him that he would meet a rat. Aguema made a pact of oath with the rat: it would be Obatalá's servant, would taste his food and would carry his errands. He presented the rat to Obatalá as if it were his brother, showed it the secrets and went back to his own land.

Every meal the rat tasted made everyone ill, Obatalá included. Obatalá performed sarayeye and rogación daily without improving, since the rat carried everything to Aguema, who buried it next to the guao tree.

Orunmila, who had no news of Obatalá, consulted for himself and this odu came out. He ordered Eshu to put on three parrot feathers and go with Shangó. When they arrived and saw the epidemic, Shangó leaped on the rat and restored Obatalá's head. Next he burned Aguema's secret, while Eshu, disguised as a woman with feathers and beads, got Aguema, smitten with her, to come near, and captured him. Orunmila made an ebbó for Obatalá amid songs; Eshu carried it to the cotton tree and set it at its foot, and there the rain began. From this came religious profanation and the leptospirosis that the rat transmits.