Odi Sa

A man lived with his only son, already grown. One day he said to him: “Son, I am old and death may come when I least expect it. Before it arrives, I would like to see you married, so that you are not left alone and I can go in peace.” The young man answered that, to please him, he would have to make a long journey until he found the one who would be his wife. Then the father gave him some advice: “Very well, but if on the road you get hungry, do not eat in a place where two roads meet. Find a secluded corner where nobody can see you.”

The young man set out happy, since he was going to look for a wife. After a long day's march, he reached a stony spot that, being so hidden, was exactly what his father had recommended. However, it did not convince him and he preferred to stop at another place nearby, whose shade invited him to rest. “Here I will eat,” he thought, without noticing that he was right at the crossing of two roads.

At once a Shishiriku arrived and, seeing him eat, asked where he was going. The young man replied that he was going to marry a lovely girl from the nearby town. “I am also going to get married,” answered the Shishiriku, and they continued the trip together. When they entered the bride's town, the Shishiriku vanished without anyone seeing it.

The young man was received with great honors and, on the agreed day, the wedding took place. On returning with his wife, he made the mistake of stopping to eat at the same spot where he had run into the Shishiriku. Barely had they begun when it reappeared, now with a huge group of other Shishiriku, all determined to carry off the woman. The young man, terrified and with nobody to ask for help, did not know how to defend her.

Just then Osain passed by. Noticing the situation, he asked the young man what was happening. The young man told him of his adventure and confessed that he had disobeyed his father's advice. His former companion, the Shishiriku, interrupted: “Have you forgotten that I also wanted to marry her?” Osain answered that he would take care of the matter, but first he asked the Shishiriku: “Let one of you bring me water from the river in this gourd; I am very thirsty.”

One of them went to the river with the gourd, but it was broken and, however hard he tried, he could not fill it. They were sent one after another, and each, on finding that it was impossible, fled in terror. In the end only Osain, the woman and the man remained.

Osain turned to the young man: “Do not be afraid, and go back home. Take this powder: if you cross paths with other Shishiriku, blow a little and they will not be able to harm you. But engrave this in your mind: whoever wishes to live many years does not look down on his father's word or the advice of the elders.” The young man strove to keep it for the rest of his long life.

Oshún was the mother of Oshún Guere, a cheerful young woman who dealt with everyone without distinction. Because of her behavior, Oshún one day drove her out of the house. The young woman went away weeping over what she had lost and over her shame, singing a song that told of her sorrow.

Yemayá heard that song and went out to meet her. Seeing her tears, she wanted to know what was happening, and Oshún Guere told her everything. Yemayá invited her to her house, and she accepted.

Yemayá's house was small, made of stone, and stood on the shore of a lagoon; the people of the town came there to collect water that she had blessed. Once inside, Yemayá explained to her that in the town they were talking about her from head to toe, that this caused her sorrow and shame, and that for this reason she should stay at her side and take five baths with herbs: siempre viva, pomegranate, romerillo, abre camino, imo de Oshún, botón de oro and orozus, as well as aguardiente and honey. Oshún Guere did as she was asked.

Soon after, Yemayá asked her to look after the house for a few days while she traveled to Ife Awado. She told her that if anyone called “Iyá,” she should answer “Modupue,” because they would be people coming to collect water from the lagoon.

Yemayá left and did not return in a few days, but after five years. When she came back, a crowd welcomed her with a celebration and accompanied her to her door, where Shangó was waiting with his batá. He began to play, and for the first time Yemayá danced her zapateo. Oshún Guere remained on her knees. When the dance ended, the two embraced.

Yemayá found an Oshún Guere very different from the one she had left: she wore her hair long and loose, she looked more beautiful and attractive than ever, and she was a respectable lady who had earned the regard of the people. Seeing that change and the calm in which she lived, Yemayá gave her house to her for good and announced that she herself would go to live in the town. She declared that, as long as the world existed, Oshún Guere would be the sovereign of all the fresh waters.

Afterward, Yemayá presented herself before Oshún with two brown hens. Asked about the gift, she explained that it was for her daughter's fault, so that Oshún would forgive her and bless her, and she reminded her that children do not turn out the same as their parents.

A man adored his wife, who was everything to him. He did not notice, however, that she did not love him and stayed with him only for the economic comfort he gave her.

When she died, he buried her at once inside his house, in a costly tomb shaped like a trestle. He lamented his luck and, unable to live without her, resolved to let himself die by eating only cassava root. All day he spoke her name and begged Ikú to come for him to reunite him with the dead woman.

He called so much that Ikú appeared to him one day and told him that the woman he wept for had never loved him and that he should leave her in peace. The man insisted on seeing her and speaking with her, without ceasing to weep. Ikú then told him how to summon her at midnight.

He did so, and the woman appeared immediately. She confessed that she had never loved him, asked him to let her rest and to build a new life with someone who truly loved him, and begged his forgiveness for so many years of deceit. As compensation, she said, she would leave him a fortune. Then she pointed to a corner of the house, suggested he search carefully there, and vanished. The next morning the man searched where she had indicated and found an enormous treasure.