Ogbe Juani

The cocoyam, the yam, the corn, and the plantain were about to abandon Heaven on their way to Earth, and the awós performed a divination for them. They told them to offer a sacrifice and not to set out too early, so that the danger of dying suddenly would stay away. The offering had to be the machete they took to the farm every day.

Three of them thought their machete was an indispensable tool and did not want to hand it over. Only the cocoyam carried out the sacrifice as he had been told.

The next day, the four set out toward Earth. On the way they decided to cut twigs to use as toothpicks. The three who kept their machetes cut theirs and went on walking. The cocoyam asked them to lend him one, and they refused, arguing that he himself had wasted his on a sacrifice and so they owed him no help.

Without a tool, the cocoyam tried to break the twigs with his hands and teeth, while the others moved ahead. Eshu, who benefited from the cocoyam's offering, made the task extremely hard for him. However much he insisted, he could not do it. Just when he was thinking of giving up, he managed to pull off one toothpick. By that hour the sun was shining strongly and the dew had dried. Then he resumed his march.

The other three, meanwhile, had reached the line that separates Heaven from Earth, and there they met the King of Death. He was returning to Heaven without any prey, annoyed because he had not been able to catch anyone on Earth. When he saw them, he snatched their machetes, beheaded them, and carried their bodies to Heaven. He managed to get in there before daybreak.

Right then the cocoyam arrived at that same line. The people asked him how he had managed to fool the King of Death. He told them the troubles he had had, and everyone exclaimed that he had deceived Death; since then on Earth he is called Ekoko, a name that recalls the one who managed to trick Death.

For this reason, still today, the yam, the corn, and the plantain give their fruit when their heads are cut off with a machete, while the cocoyam gives his just by being pulled off.

Ogbe Owanrin had already made other sacrifices before leaving heaven, but Orunmila, whom he asked for advice about the journey, told him that one more was missing, to be made on his way to the Earth.

The place had to be a crossing where three roads part. There he had to place three kola nuts, one of them made of three pieces, and three bottles filled with palm oil. After that, Orunmila recommended that he walk a little way, go into the bush nearby and take the first thing that came before him. Ogbe Owanrin went back to his house to get ready.

When he set out for the world, he stopped at the first crossing of that kind, called Orita Ijaloko, and left the offering there. Right away he went into the bush. He found a stone leaning on a lump of iron and, beside it, a bronze furnace. He picked up those three things and continued his journey.

For this reason it is no wonder that from his youth he worked bronze as a smith, and that this trade gave him prosperity.

Before coming into the world, Ogbe Owanrin was given a single prohibition in Heaven: he had to be careful about dancing and about going to parties with dancing, so as not to expose himself to a false accusation. He asked what he should do to avoid that danger, because he feared he would not remember on Earth what he was told in Heaven. They told him to buy a piece of cloth and give it to his wife, and he made that simple sacrifice.

Once in the world, grown into a man, he was invited to a dance held in the town. He did not remember the warning from Heaven and, at the party, he danced. Almost all the women preferred him, because he was different from the others: light skinned and very attractive. For this reason his children are often light skinned and good looking too, and they should avoid parties with dancing.

While the party went on, news came that someone had stolen a bottle of oil from the kitchen. Another person came out of there saying he had seen the thief carry it away and that it was a light skinned man. Ogbe Owanrin was the only light skinned man among all the people. As soon as he heard the accusation, he left the party and ran toward his home. On the way he came to a crossing of three roads and took one of them.

When they noticed he was gone, the people sent a group to chase him. After he had already passed the crossing, Eshu poured out a great deal of oil on the ground to confuse the trail. The pursuers reached the crossing, saw the oil running on the floor and thought some children of the house had spilled it. So they went back to the party to say that some children had spilled the oil at the crossing.

Ogbe Owanrin believed he was still accused of the theft. He reached home in a hurry and put on the garment of a dark skinned man, because it was his skin color that had caused him the trouble at the party.

When his friends came back from the party, they were amazed to see him with dark skin and asked why he had changed. He explained that his light skin and his elegance had earned him the enmity of those who wanted to shame him with a false accusation. They told him how the oil had been discovered at the crossing of the roads. He answered that he had seen his pursuers coming to defend him when they found the oil, but that when he left his hiding place he saw neither the crossing nor the oil. From this experience it is understood that the shame and the difficulties he suffered were the price of defying the advice he was given in Heaven.

Eshu came to save him because of the sacrifice he had made at the crossing of roads when he came from Heaven. Even so, Ogbe Owanrin preferred to keep his new dark skin.