Oshe Ka

A governor had a slave among his servants. Once he caught him alone in a closed room, feeding his head. He asked what he was doing and the slave answered frankly: he was feeding his head to improve his luck.

The governor took that answer as insolence. He declared that it would soon be seen where such a head would lead, ordered a punishment, and had him shut in a wooden crate to be thrown into the sea. The man drifted for many days.

Meanwhile, in a large and distant country, the King had died, and the wise men claimed that the new ruler would come from the sea. One day a closed crate reached the coast. When they opened it they found a man, cared for him, and he recovered. The wise men, informed, declared without doubt that he was the awaited King.

To the coronation ceremony went the governors of the neighboring towns, and with them the one who had thrown the slave away. He was struck dumb with surprise at seeing the new King and recognizing him. He begged his forgiveness, and the King told him that he was grateful: without that act, he would never have become King.

At the banquet, the former master died suddenly on the table.

Akarakaniye was a land on the bank of a river, and its Obá owned many slaves. Among them stood out Eru Kayode, a son of Oshún and Oluwó of Osain. The other slaves respected him and, when they fell ill, they went to him, because he knew the virtues of herbs like nobody else.

The Obá learned of that wisdom and envied him: he was the lord of the place and knew nothing about plants. He began to think how to get rid of him.

One afternoon, Eru Kayode was gathering herbs beside the quarters where he lived and sang a song to Osain. Then he headed for the river. On the bank he saw Oshún, his mother, in the middle of the current; he knelt and sang to her. Oshún came out of the water, laid her hands on his head and blessed him. She told him that the knowledge of Osain he had was given to him by her and by Osain, but that envy and betrayal surrounded him. To triumph, he had to visit Orunmila on her behalf and bring him the herbs, along with one more, the ewé awedó, whose secret Orunmila knew.

When the gathering was done, Eru Kayode went to see Orunmila. Orunmila did the osode consultation and the Ifá of this path came out. He announced that his luck was on the other side of the river and that a woman would bring it to him, but that a great betrayal blocked his way. To overcome it he had to do the ebbó and the baths that he marked for him. Orunmila performed the ebbó and the baths, and told him to go back to the river and call there upon Osha Inle Abatá, who would save him.

On the bank, Eru Kayode played the agogó and sang. He went into the water carrying the apontipotica and a guabina fish, and went down to the bottom; there he presented the guabina with songs, covered it with the apontipotica and came up. Halfway across the river he offered the fresh snapper, singing again. Back on land, he sacrificed a white rooster. He returned to the farm and slept. He dreamed of Inle, dressed in white and light blue, who gave him a súyere to call upon him if he was in danger.

The next morning the master sent his servants to seize him. They brought him before the master, who ordered him whipped and then put him in a box, which he had thrown into the river in the hope that the current would drown him. He could not stand that a slave knew more than he did. Once in the water, in a moment of clarity, the slave said the súyere that Inle had taught him.

Then the guabina fish of the river gathered and pushed the box to the opposite shore, the land of Iyesá Modé. The King had died there shortly before, and when they consulted Ifá, an odu had come out that said: “The new Obá and good luck are coming by the river.” Seeing the chest, the people, surprised, took it out of the water and opened it. They found a dying man, surrounded by herbs and ewé awedó. They healed him, paid him moforibale and crowned him Obá of Iyesá Modé. Everyone bathed with ewé awedó.

The Obá of Akarakaniye learned that his slave was alive and reigning on the other side. He did not believe it and crossed the river. When he saw it was true, the shock was so great that he died. Then the people of Akarakaniye went over to Iyesá, greeted Eru Kayode with moforibale, knowing him by that name, and named him Obá of their land as well. So Iyesá Modé, the land of Oshún, and Akarakaniye, the land of Inle, were united. Eru Kayode ruled them with the strength of Orunmila and the power of Osain, Oshún and Inle Abatá.

When Shangó and Shakpaná were still children, Olofin created the Earth. Shangó was the first to offer to go down to it, but Olofin answered that, since the Earth had been made from Heaven, the eldest and the best would go down to it. The one who met those conditions was Shakpaná, and he was chosen.

Shangó felt jealous and held back the rain in Heaven. He hoped that the people, in despair, would go to Olofin and ask him to send Shangó instead of Shakpaná. The people began to complain: they had nothing to eat and nothing to drink, they had nothing.

Azojuano went to consult with Orunmila. This Ifá came out for him, which marked an ebbó and told him to give it to Elegba. Azojuano did so.

One day Olofin sent Elegba down to the Earth to see how things were going. Shakpaná told him that everything was wrong, because Shangó was keeping the rain from falling, and handed over the contents of the ebbó. Elegba answered that this was nothing, that he would return to Heaven and send him a messenger to tell him what he had to do.

To show Olofin what Shangó was doing, Elegba told him that water was lacking in Heaven and that everyone would die of thirst, because Shangó kept it all stored away. Then he sent his messenger, the bird Watutú, the river bird, down to the Earth with a message for Shakpaná: he was to light a very great fire, so that the smoke and the light of the flames could be seen from Heaven. As soon as this was done, Watutú began to sing.

Elegba told Olofin that he could not go to the Earth and that in his place he had sent his little helper, Watutú, who was now reporting the following: Shangó had taken the water away from Shakpaná, and the heat and drought were so great that there was fire on the Earth, and the flames threatened to destroy Heaven. Olofin looked and saw that it was true. Then he ordered Shangó to make it rain, so that Watutú would not be burned to death.

The rain fell in abundance, the Earth was saved, and Shakpaná asserted his power over it. Olofin, who until then had ignored the quarrel between Shangó and Shakpaná, reconciled them so that the war on the Earth would end.

That is why the river bird is the messenger of Elegba and Azojuano, and when it cries out, it is asking for the water of Heaven.