Ojuani Pokón

Once Ikú was going to kill a man, and decided to go and be read by Orunmila. He made her osode, saw this Ifá and told her: «You have to make ebbó, because if you do not, the blow will fall on empty air». Ikú, very arrogant, said to herself: «I, make ebbó?» — and left without doing it.

When she reached the man to strike the blow, she struck empty air, because the man had great luck, and he was saved from death. Make ebbó so what you do does not fall into empty air: if you do not, nothing you take on will come out right — if it happens even to death, it can happen to you.

There was an Awó in a wretched state who made osode with Orunmila: an ebbó with a horned goat, a rooster and a bell, with the goat's head inside, and he was to carry it out of the town himself. Once the ebbó was made, being fond of parties and there being a feast in the town, he sent his son to carry it. It was the eve of the arrival of a circus with many wild animals, which were being paraded through the city; the boy stopped to look at the animals, decided one place was as good as another, and left the ebbó on the roof of one of the cages — and there were onlookers who saw him.

The next day the animals were restless from the smell. The king's son was walking there when a vulture, trying to take the ebbó, knocked it down: it fell on him, and the goat's horns lodged in him, leaving him gravely hurt. The king looked into it, the onlookers gave the boy away, and the king had him arrested, warning the Awó: «If my son dies, I will have you killed». The Awó went back to consult, and Orunmila told him the accident was his own fault, through his carelessness: that he should make the ebbó again and carry it himself to the foot of a tree. So he did, and the injured boy improved remarkably. «How did you manage it?», asked the king. «With the ebbó». And since the king had another son who was ill, he offered a great fortune: Orunmila confirmed the ebbó, the other son recovered, and from then on the Awó was happy.

Ojuani Pokón Ikú Makuao was the greatest shadow in the world and the mother of Ikú. She lived in the land of Lerei Yeye, visited by every osobo — Arun, Ofo, Eyo, Iña, the harm of enemies — who went with her to the different lands, louder each time. Some children could hide, but most had no time. She sang «Pokón lele Ikú, Ikú moyegua», and the osobos danced around her. Obatalá told Olofin something had to be done before she grew stronger; but every time they spoke, some osobo heard them and warned Ikú Makuao, who changed her tactics and sent a different osobo to that land.

Awó Abebe Orun, frightened because there was almost nothing left in his land, went to see Obatalá, who admitted to him: «We have done everything possible, and every day Ikú Makuao is stronger: if this goes on she will leave nothing». Abebe Orun burst into tears, and Obatalá said: «Let us go to Orunmila — the only one who can save us — but to get there without trouble we must cover our heads and bodies with black cloth and our faces with white cloth». On the road they gathered three pashanes, and Obatalá struck the ground hard while Abebe Orun sang: wherever they passed, everything cleared. Orunmila, who was frightened too, took up the ókpele and Ojuani Pokón came out: «Adifafún Ikú Makuao. I have to do a great work: you must stay here seven days without going out, not even to the door». The ceremony began with a black hen and a black young rooster and both their cloths; but since they could see nothing, they imagined he was doing nothing. Ikú Makuao was coming along the road dancing and ringing her bell, and on the seventh day exactly, Abebe Orun ran out into the street — and she caught him, and was putting him into the kutún. Orunmila came straight out: he threw over Abebe Orun the hen with plenty of palm oil, the young rooster with aguardiente, the black and white cloths, the three pashanes, cocoa butter and cascarilla, and told Ikú Makuao and all the osobos to put their hands on the earth and cover the kutún: «From this moment we are going to make a pact. Eat what I am giving you, which is very good; and when I do this work for the children of the earth, you stand aside and let the land prosper». They ate gladly, kissed the ground and covered the kutún singing «Iba koleye». And so the terror Ikú Makuao had set up came to an end: the lands cleared, and the children prospered and lived longer.