Oggunda Ka

There was a hunter who went to be read by Orunmila; he made osode for him and told him to make ebbó so he would not suffer ofo. But the hunter did nothing. Every time he went hunting and loosed his arrow, he could not find the kill, because Eshu played the trick of making his catch disappear on him. One time an elephant went through that land, but that animal was on its way to die in the mountain.

The hunter was in such a bad way that he went back to Orunmila's house, and Orunmila told him that now it cost him double. He made the ebbó with two roosters, seven sprigs of sage, jutía, fish, corn, palm oil, an axe and white cloth. And so the hunter did. When he went out hunting, he met the elephant that was on its way to die in the mountain; he shot it with his arrow and it staggered, but went off across a bridge, which was made of sage. The hunter followed it, and on the other side of the mountain he found all the game that had disappeared on him. Happy with that, he began tying up all the elephants' tusks and putting them in his bag to carry away; but when he got to nine, no more would fit. So he cut off their tails, and people came for the meat. But one man struck the elephant's head with an axe and found an aweba with a lid. He took it and brought it to Orunmila, and Orunmila told him: «Do not open it: make it a cover, honor it and ask it for whatever you want; and when you have to feed it, take the cover off, but do not open it — give it the food from outside». Note: Elegba has to be made, and if you have him, you have to see what has to be done for him or put right. It marks things falling apart or being crushed; there is one here who wants to leave.

On this road, in the land of Bebe Oriaye Olofin was not known, and there was a Babalawo called Funke, whom the Awoses went to seek out to make Ifá. The Orishas went to that land to seek out that Awó to make Ifá for their children, and he refused because Olofin did not exist there, and they got angry. One day, Awó Funke was read by Orunmila and this Odù came out, Oggunda Ka, and Ifá told him to take a gourd, put Oggunda Ka inside it, give it a ram calling Shangó, put the head inside the gourd and bury it at the foot of the ceiba; and to cook the meat and feed all the Babalawos in his house. When he went to kill the ram, he went calling Orí Baba Olorun and singing: «Ori layee ori layekun Baba lorun ori layee babayerun yemi Ifa Olofin layeni Orun». And he felt something great in his head; he took two pigeons, and beside the gourd holding the ram's head, he fed his head along with the ram's head, saying: «Fori eye eye lekun fiba Ejiogbe Baba lekun ori eye» — and went on praying through the 16 Meyi. He got up and cooked the pigeons with onions, dry wine and cocoa butter, and ate them; he put the bones in the gourd and covered it, and fell asleep.

He heard a voice in his dreams telling him: «My name is Baba Oriye: I am going to tell you your great secret and where you have to go to look for it so you find it. You will find the elephant and you will meet Shangó, who will tell you what to do with the gourd». In his dream, Funke woke frightened; but just then Shangó knocked at his door, and Egun was with him. Shangó told him: «Give me a rooster to give Egun, who is hungry». Egun set to eating the rooster, and Shangó began talking with Funke and told him: «Ebbó has to be made; we have to go to the land of Belekun Ori Aye, which you cannot just walk into, because there is a great river where the elephants go to die; but we have to call the Egun called Ori Onilogun Egun Maye Afefetekun». They fed Egun a ram, and while it was eating a wind rose that began tearing up plants, bringing sage to the feet of Shangó and Funke; and Shangó put an odu-ará on Funke's head and a cap, and they carried that sage and threw it into the river, and a great bridge formed. Shangó told Funke: «You have to say: Ogunda Ka Awo bayeni Awo Funke Baba yeku lelekun aguani eun Baba ori aye Olofin» — and as he crossed the bridge, he went on saying it.

Shangó told him: «I will wait for you here to go to Ori Aye's house». And he set about crossing the river; Shangó sent thunder and lightning, everything there went dark, and Awó Funke took a gourd holding the elephant's head and turned back. Shangó took a coconut he was carrying, broke it, chewed it and put cocoa butter, cascarilla, palm oil and a powder he had on it, and put it into the gourd he had taken from Ayebelekun; he took the odu-ará off his head and put it in the gourd, and put cocoa butter on Funke's head. Shangó and Funke set out, taking Egun with them again, and told him: «Go and tell Elegba to send me Obatalá's agogó». And at that moment hot and cold water began to fall from the sky, and Shangó went on walking. Obatalá gave the agogó to Elegba to be given to Egun, and he began playing it and singing: «Baba Olofin Ifa ni leyekun agogo layele». And they reached Orí's house, who let them in and told them: «I will make your great secret for you, so you can make Ifá on earth». To Iban Eshu. Note: here it was born that to make Ifá you have to have Olofin; and for the Babalawo who is given Olofin, the three paraldos have to be made at the riverbank — with a speckled hen, a black one and a white one — each with a sprig of sage, thrown into the river.

There were two hunters who went deep into the forest. Every time they wounded an animal they could never catch it, because it was lost to them in the thick. They went on like this for a long time, hunting elephants: when they managed to hit one with their weapons, it escaped across a wide river whose ford the animals knew. The two hunters were left lost in front of the river's quicksand and asked each other: «How is it possible that, having them within reach, they disappear?». One of those days they wounded an elephant again and followed its trail. The elephant forded the river and was able to cross it at the firmest part of the quicksand. The hunters had gone into the sand trying to follow the elephant's trail; reaching it cost them a great deal, because the ground was higher and they slipped in the mud.

In such a hard spot, the younger hunter said to the older one: «I am going to climb onto your shoulders to reach firm ground; then I will pull you up with a rope». And in that moment, the young man, worked up, threatened the older man with his spear and abused him: the old man chose to lose his good name rather than his life. Some time later, the younger hunter was in the company of several young women when he saw the older one. One of the women asked him: «Why has that man, who is your friend and your hunting companion, not come over to greet you? What is the trouble between you?». The younger hunter said nothing; but the woman insisted so much, and the drink had such an effect, that he told what had happened between them in the forest. The talk reached the old man's ears: in the town they began doubting his morals, and he had to go and live somewhere else. Note: from here comes the ruling of this Ifá — better to lose your life than to lose your good name, because whoever loses it lives with nothing left of himself for the rest of his life; and the ban on alcohol, because with it you give away private secrets that damage your standing among people.