1How he healed the deity of prosperity
Ola Aje, prosperity, was bitten at night by his enemies turned into rats. With a special soap, Ogbe Ate made a cat appear that killed them in a dream. On Eshú's advice he opened the right door and won the crown.
Ola Aje, the deity of prosperity, kept falling ill because his enemies turned themselves into rats to bite him at night. He had three rooms: one with Death, another with a devouring sorcerer, and the third with all the gifts of prosperity. The Awó who healed him were told to knock on one door as their payment, and every one of them knocked on the wrong door and died.
Ogbe Ate (Abaketekete) prepared a special soap. He bathed Ola Aje and gave him a white cloth to sleep in; in the dream, a cat came out of the soap dish and killed the wives and the servant who, turned into rats, were coming to bite him. At daybreak the plotters were found dead, and Ola Aje was well.
As payment, Ola Aje told him to open a door. Eshú, disguised as a child, warned him not to go into the first two and to greet them only in passing; in the third, a child handed him a crown. Ola Aje locked him in to test him, and with steadiness and Eshú's help he came out with all the riches. Spread your kindness carefully, so as not to lose your life through ingratitude.
2Why fish do not come out of the water
Olokun did not serve Eshú, and Eshú invited men to eat her children, the fish. After the sacrifice, Eshú smeared them with a slippery liquid so no one could catch them by hand; that is why the fish is slippery and does not leave its parents' house.
When Olokun was coming into the world, Ogbe Ate told her to sacrifice shells and a cat for Eshú, so she would not lose her many children to the treachery of the world. She made the sacrifice, but she forgot Eshú.
On earth, Olokun had many children — the fish of the sea — and Eshú invited men to feed on them. Seeing that she was losing them, she went back for divination, and was told to serve Eshú with a goat and a cat.
Afterward, Eshú rubbed the bodies of the fish with a slippery liquid that made it impossible to catch them by hand — that is why the fish is slippery — and warned the children not to leave their parents' house, so as not to fall victim to their enemies. That is why fish do not come out of the water.
3Ogbe Ate spreads the worship of Orunmila
Ogbe Ate refused to rule over fish, over rats, and over a land where people ate without washing their hands. In Ibere Aiye he healed the king's son by unmasking the sorcerers; because of what he did, the king has knelt ever since before every shrine of Orunmila.
Ogbe Ate refused to be king of the land of the fish and of the rats, because he served his Ifá with them, and of another land where people ate without washing their hands. At last he came to Ibere Aiye, where, keeping silent for five days, he learned through his medicine that the king's son was ill.
On the sixth day he divined for the king and ordered the sacrifice of the three leaders of the palace's sorcerer-doctors — descendants of the cruel sorcerers who had escaped from heaven. When the king came back from the last sacrifice, his son was well and embraced him.
Ogbe Ate refused lands and rewards; he asked only for the freedom to help people outside the palace, and that the king kneel before every shrine of Orunmila. That is why the Obá of Benin, on finding a shrine of Orunmila, touches the ground with his forehead, and why he hardly ever visits houses. So Ogbe Ate spread the worship of Orunmila across the whole kingdom.
4The War Lord of Ife🔒 Babalawo
5The mask of Egun (why the bottles go under the armpit)🔒 Babalawo
6Ogbere and the Olowu of Owu🔒 Babalawo
7The shadow at the foot of the ravine🔒 Babalawo
8Osain paid for his betrayal of Orunmila🔒 Babalawo
9When they threw Orunmila into the river🔒 Babalawo
10The leopard and the son who would not listen🔒 Babalawo
11The monkey was left in chains🔒 Babalawo
12Orunmila always does something for women🔒 Babalawo
13Here it was born that Osain lives with Shangó🔒 Babalawo
14The great traitor🔒 Babalawo
15Saint Vitus' dance was born: the brain and the cerebellum🔒 Babalawo
16The sacrifice of animals begins🔒 Babalawo
17Where Odé was born🔒 Babalawo
18The crucifix: torture was born🔒 Babalawo
19When men did not work🔒 Babalawo
20Why Elegbá does not eat a full-grown goat🔒 Babalawo
21The Elegbá of shell was born🔒 Babalawo
22The road of the strongbox🔒 Babalawo
23The plague was born🔒 Babalawo
24The manatee🔒 Babalawo
25The mother of Abita🔒 Babalawo
26The boy who kept falling asleep🔒 Babalawo
27When the king threw the women out for lying🔒 Babalawo
28When Oshún neglected her husband for her son🔒 Babalawo
29The witch and the queen🔒 Babalawo
30From princess to empress🔒 Babalawo