Atoromofe was a land whose diviner, the awó Ada Ilu, had a twin brother: the awó Ada Ifa. Their odu was the same, Ojuani Wori, also known as Tanshela. Both had talent and intelligence, but they were not alike in temperament: Ada Ilu was proud and stubborn, while Ada Ifa was gentle, methodical, and thoughtful. Both, famous babalawos and osainistas, taught their trade to sixteen children each. The first preferred evil works (ishé ogú); the second, those that do good.
The king's enemies, the Fon, attacked Akishale, the Obá of that land, who consulted the two brothers through osode. Ada Ifa advised an ebbó to get out of the difficulty. Ada Ilu proposed cutting off heads. Since the king knew how much harm the latter could cause, he asked him to prepare the sorcery against his enemies.
The talisman that Ada Ilu made was fearsome: it was buried inside a pot and it fed on blood. When Ada Ilu sent it on the offensive, it finished off all of Akishale's enemies. After a time, with the bones of the defeated already white under the sun, the talisman turned against the kingdom's own people and warriors, and among its victims were Ada Ilu's sixteen children.
With almost everyone dead, they had to call Ada Ifa to learn what could be done. He spoke to his brother like this: “Your violent character brought you this. Obey Orunmila and make ebbó. Otherwise, however much you triumph over your enemies, the evil thoughts that your power engenders will become reality and will hound you.”
Ada Ilu then sought shelter in Orunmila and carried out the ebbó. With that he solved his problems and managed to master the monster of evil he had created, but his children were no longer alive and he had to mourn them, destroyed by his own force. From here comes the sorcerer's pot (ikokó de ogú), of great destructive power, which demands prudent handling. In this Ifá, proud power leads to loss.
What is created to destroy can turn against its creator. Pride and anger, joined to great power, are stopped only by obedience to Orunmila and by ebbó.
This path has its own ebbó; the full list is in the complete treatise.