Orunmila teaches that whoever wants to follow his paths must learn to be steady and patient. Medicines and harmful preparations may fail; patience does not, because it is as firm as heaven and earth. It demands self control and resisting the urge to avenge a wrong. Someone who is offended is not asked to take revenge: he is asked to leave judgment to the divinities, who end up stepping in for what is just. Getting angry is natural, but anger must not last beyond one night, since boiling water cools before the day dawns. Orunmila never forgives anyone who seduces his wife, although in the face of seduction he stays calm. Both the seducer and the wife who lets herself be seduced end up paying a high price.
Ewuré, the goat, was the wife of Orunmila, and she loved to boast of admirers who surpassed him in attractiveness. One day she gave him an ultimatum: a suitor had been courting her for some time, and if Orunmila did not let her be with him, she would leave to marry that man. An awo had divined for her when she decided to flirt with her lover. Orunmila answered that she could invite the man to the house, rather than risk her life in secret affairs.
She asked whether there was any man able to withstand the burning gaze of her husband and dare to seduce her. She got ready, went to see her lover and invited him to her married home. He did not suspect that she was the wife of Orunmila. Once in the house, Orunmila received him and invited him to the meal he had ready. Then he prepared the bed and made a sign to his wife to lie down with the visitor, who would spend the night in another room. She went up to him and caressed him, but after a while of hesitation the man refused: he did not know what the husband was plotting. Before dawn he ran out. Orunmila, meanwhile, had brought water from the river so the two could bathe, and then went off to see some friends.
When she understood that fear of Orunmila had held back her lover, the next morning she did her hair in the style called Shuuku, with two braids crossing at a right angle, and went to live with him. She spent three years there. Orunmila showed no sign of anger, and the other divinities began to mock his lack of courage to confront the lover. This was Sakpana, the divinity of epidemics.
When three years had passed, Ogún visited him and called him a fool. Orunmila asked whether he was upset by the conduct of his wife. Ogún answered that if a divinity offended him that way, he would act with the ferocity of a lion. Orunmila invited him to fight in his name if he could not bear the rage. Ogún wanted to know what he would gain if he made the woman return, and Orunmila promised him a rooster.
That night Ogún waited for her to fall asleep, entered her bedroom and struck her on the head. The pain was so intense that the woman lost consciousness and fell into a coma. Sakpana consulted divination, and they told him to hand over a rooster to the man who had been her husband. At dawn he took it to Orunmila's house, and Orunmila passed it on to Ogún as payment. The woman recovered, but she did not return to Orunmila.
A few days later Shangó came and reproached Orunmila for not using his powers to get her back. Once more Orunmila replied that he would be bothered if Shangó too were ashamed of him, and he encouraged him to show his wrath however he could. Shangó wanted to know his payment; Orunmila promised another rooster, and Shangó went to Sakpana's house.
At nightfall the clouds gathered, and Oyá, the wife of Shangó, turned the light into lightning so that he could see Orunmila's wife. Shangó entered Sakpana's house and thundered over the roof where she slept. The woman had a heart attack and lost her senses. Sakpana consulted again, and this time they ordered a second rooster for her former husband. He sent it, Orunmila gave it to Shangó, and she healed, but she did not return either.
The divinities were burning with anger because their efforts had been of no use. It was time for Orunmila to use his own powers. He sent Eshu, his favorite arbiter, with the promise of a rooster for bringing Akpeterbi back and so saving his divine honor, and of a billy goat once the unfaithful wife was home again. In the morning Eshu entered the woman's room, tied her throat, her chest, her hands and her feet, and struck her on the head.
Sakpana saw her asleep, but the day went on and she did not wake; when he came close, he found her unconscious. He tried to revive her and there was no response. Then he understood that he was fighting a lost battle and resolved to flee. He told Akpeterbi's mother to come for her daughter's body and ran into the forest, where he remains to this day.
The mother brought her daughter before Orunmila and begged him to save her life. Orunmila ordered a goat to be given to Eshu. Once the sacrifice was made, Akpeterbi woke. On her knees, she asked for forgiveness. Orunmila pointed at her with his iruke, the staff of authority, and spoke thus: “Ewuré, you challenged my authority as a husband and stained my manhood and my divine dignity. You took three years to repent, and you did it only at the edge of death. From today you will walk leaning on your hands and feet, as you are now. And the hairstyle you wore when you went off with another man will turn into horns on your head.”
She pleaded for forgiveness with three cries of “Moobee” and was transformed into the goat that the Yoruba call Ewuré, after the name of the unfaithful wife. Her bleat is that of the goats of today.