Okana Trupon

He made the reading for the horse in heaven, and warned him that he had to make sacrifice to avoid the undignified work of having to carry men's children on his back. He was told the sacrifice was a hen, a rabbit and his harness: he refused to make it.

That is why all horses became beasts of burden, and have to carry human beings' children on their backs — and not their own. In an ordinary reading: sacrifice to avoid the danger of looking after other people's children while unable to raise your own. If you are a woman: you should not carry other people's children until you are pregnant yourself.

He made the reading for Onidiro, Orunmila's wife, when she was with her husband. She was flirting with other men, and Orunmila knew about her unfaithfulness; when he asked her, she lied and said she had never behaved that way.

After listing for her the men she had lain with, Orunmila laid down his authority and cursed her, so that from that moment on, from time to time, she would have to serve her head. Onidiro is the heavenly name of the hen, who was originally Orunmila's wife before becoming a hen. In an ordinary reading for a woman: do not be unfaithful to your husband, so you are not cursed. For a man: resist the temptation to be unfaithful to your partner, because in the end you will be a pale shadow of yourself.

They had nicknamed him Okonron Tutu, the merchant, and he wanted to come into the world as a merchant too. In the reading before he came, he was warned to sacrifice: first, to serve Eshu with a goat; second, to serve his head and his Guardian Angel with a rat, an eagle and a vulture; third, to serve the joining of three roads with four pigeons and white cloth, with the priest bathing at the place; fourth, to obtain God's blessing with a white pigeon, white cloth, cascarilla and parrot feathers; and fifth, to serve Olokun with one of the pigeons. He was to serve Eshu first, so he would help him get the eagle and the vulture; then to serve Ogún with a dog. Eshu talked the eagle into flying low, where food was easier to come by, and persuaded Ogún to shoot it: while the eagle was eating plantains on a farm, the hunter brought it down and took it to Okonron Tutu; he also persuaded him to kill the vulture at the seashore. After this, Ogún the hunter caught a chill, since he was not used to working at the seashore: Orunmila made him a fire and gave him a turtle, and he got well. With the eagle and the vulture, Okonron Tutu added the rat and made the sacrifice to his head and his Angel; he made the other sacrifices and asked Olokun to come with him into the world. Olokun declined, but promised to send someone who would go with him, warning him not to forget her on earth. He set out for earth with Olokun's representative.

Once on earth, each went a different way and they could not recognize each other. Okonron Tutu became a merchant, without much success, and could not marry; Olokun's representative, off the road destiny had set for her, also idled about carelessly. He went for a reading: sacrifice to Eshu, to Ifá and to his head — the Awoses prepared him a medicine in a gourd and bathed him in the river — and he went on with his trade in coral beads at the market. She went for a reading too, to find a man to marry: a goat to Eshu, beads and a pigeon to serve her head — and her husband was to be an Awó. She served Eshu before going to the market to get the beads and the pigeon: and beads were exactly what Okonron Tutu sold. As soon as he saw her he was taken with her, and she felt drawn to him; when he told her the price, she did not have the money. Even so, he persuaded her to come to his house to make the sacrifice: she brought a pigeon and the beads to serve her head — and by tradition, when you serve your head you cannot go out: she spent the night with him, they slept together and lay together. That night he dreamed that Olokun was scolding him for not having joined sooner with the representative she had sent him: the woman sleeping with him was the one sent, the wife he was meant to have — and he was to make Olokun a sacrifice with a pigeon, cascarilla, cowries, parrot feathers and all the materials offered to her at the sea. When he got up, Ifá confirmed to him that the dream was true: without delay he took the woman as his wife, and she was soon pregnant. Prosperity flourished in his business, and they were happy and healthy for good. In Ugbodu: this person should receive Olokun; if they are not married, the next woman who comes is the wife they were meant to have; if they are married, they will meet a daughter of Olokun after their initiation. In an ordinary reading: a goat to Eshu, and the traditional offerings with a pigeon to the sea or the river, for a gift Olokun wants to give you.