Ogbe Tumako

Before coming into the world, Ogbe Tumako was warned that a brother would make trouble for him, but that if he resisted the urge to return evil for evil, he would be more prosperous than his brother. He made sacrifice, and the Awó hid a rod of virtues in his head.

In the world he became a famous Awó and a prosperous farmer, which earned him his elder brother's hatred. When his luck fell off, his Ifá reminded him not to take revenge and not to act in anger; he softened and went about his business quietly, while his brother turned the whole town against him.

On advice, he sacrificed a black she-goat to his Ifá and served Oggún. Not long after, the brother who was hunting him down to kill him died, and the people came back to him; he came to have several wives and children. The weight of death his brother had prepared, he carried himself.

The tortoise came late to God to ask for seeds, and only calabash seeds were left, on the condition that she not speak to them, since she was a great talker. She did not make the sacrifice she had been told to make.

She sowed the seeds, and when they sprouted she shouted: «my calabash has sprouted!», and the calabash answered: «my tortoise has sprouted!». And so every time: when it bore fruit, the calabash said «my tortoise is pregnant», and when she touched it, it struck her. When she went to cut the first fruit with her machete, the calabash snatched it away and tried to cut her neck.

The tortoise ran off singing and crying for help, but everyone was frightened of the mysterious calabash with no hands and no feet. In the end, the ram hid her and, with his horns, smashed the calabash to pieces. This person came out of curiosity, is a great talker and must hold back their tongue so as not to end up in a dilemma.

Iginua, a prince of Benin rejected by his people, went into exile under the name Ogbomodu — «if the head has not reached its destination, it does not stop». Serving the head of an Obá, he always prayed to his own head to take him to his destiny, which offended every king, and each one sold him on as a slave. So he passed through fifteen royal houses, until he came back to Benin in chains.

His own father, not recognizing him, condemned him to be nailed into a bronze coffin and thrown into Olokun's sea. But Eshú, because of his goat, bent the points of the nails, and not one of them touched him.

The Iwere, who were asking for a king to come by water, found the coffin floating, opened it and saw a young man alive; they crowned him king of the water (Ogiamen). Years later he visited his father, made himself known, and the Obá wept as he embraced him: «there is no armor against destiny». He was recognized as the Olua of Iwere. Prosperity is not in the land where you were born, but far from home.