Oshe Meyi

Oshe Meyi left heaven without telling anyone, with no divination and no sacrifice. He was born to elderly parents, with gray hair on his head, and was orphaned as a child. He did not practice Ifá or any respectable trade: he was a wandering wrestler who beat the Alara, the Ajero, the Olowo, the king of Ado — the sixteen kings of the world — and from every victory he came home empty-handed, barely earning enough to eat.

Three priests of Ifá told him he was going hungry because he was not doing the work he had come to do, and that the sacrifice he still owed had to be made in heaven. He did not take them seriously — Eshú had closed the route — but he offered a rooster to his dead father, begging for help. The father went to his son's guardian angel, and together they persuaded Sickness, the wife of the king of Death, to invite him to heaven. That night, Oshe Meyi fell suddenly ill, went into a coma and gave up his soul with nobody at his side, because he had no wife and no children.

He appeared before his guardian angel, who hid him behind a screen. At the crowing of the rooster, the good things of heaven — children, peace, wealth, health — went past reporting in, and the angel begged them once more to visit his ward on earth. They all answered together: never — he was too warlike and vengeful; a man who threw down kings and deities in wrestling would crush them between his fingers. «Good and evil do not live together», they said, and left. Behind the screen, Oshe Meyi understood that he had been chasing the wrong things in life. At last he made his sacrifice — a goat to Eshú, who washed his head and his back to bring down his devilish strength — and by a special path he blinked back onto the earth, where he came to his senses.

Three years after his return, now well and having feasted his father, his Ifá and Eshú, Oshe Meyi went back to his wrestling rounds. On the way to the palace of the Alara he met an old priest of Ifá — Eshú in disguise — who told him: «you will be able to beat your opponents, but as soon as you grab them, pretend to fall to the ground, and watch what happens: you will not regret it».

At the palace he shouted his wrestling challenge and the Alara came out. As they locked, Oshe threw him — but he let himself drop to the ground before the king fell on top of him, and he stayed down. Then Eshú unleashed an uproar like never before: the town went completely dark, the earth shook, roosters laid eggs and hens crowed, pregnant women felt false labor, the animals of the forest came into the town. The Alara begged him to get up, and the old diviner appeared out of nowhere: «it is forbidden for the son of Orunmila to fall to the ground; to make him get up he must be appeased» — with a hundred strong men, a hundred young women, cows, goats, roosters, hens and bags of money.

Once the compensation was gathered, Oshe Meyi got up; the old man blew divining powder into the air and the light and the calm came back. The next morning he did the same before the Ajero, and then before the Oragun, the Olowo, the Ooni, the king of Ado — and from every kingdom he came away with the same kind of payment, until he was an extremely rich man. That incident was the beginning of paying for divinations: throwing the okpele to the ground stands for the fall of Oshe Meyi into the hands of the kings, for which they paid. That is why there is no divination without payment — and why this sign is advised not to make shows of strength: by losing, you win.

In heaven, Oshe Meyi was one of the four senior apostles of Orunmila, but he was powerful and treacherous: as a child he set his younger brothers fighting — that is how Olugbodo, the deity of infants, was left unable to walk — and as an adult he was only known for taking fights to the four corners of heaven. His name was Ajakadi. When he was born, his father fitted medicines into his head with an axe and a rooster's comb: that is why he grew up an unbeatable wrestler. He was told to sacrifice a goat with the spine of a snake to Eshú, to season his strength, and he did not do it, trusting his own power. He beat Oggún and every one of the deities — but he could barely get food, because all the good of heaven was afraid of him.

His guardian angel, determined to weaken him so he would prosper, took Eshú the goat and the snake's spine. At the yearly competition, Ajakadi challenged Oggún for the opening bout; he lifted him in the air with all his strength — and Eshú fixed his mysterious gaze on him: miraculously, Ajakadi fell to the ground before Oggún fell on top of him. On the ground, he called Oggún to behead him: he would not bear the shame of standing up again.

When Oggún drew his sword, Eshú stepped in: if anyone dared behead Ajakadi, there would be endless catastrophe. And he made the ground of heaven shake, and it began closing in with the sky in total darkness. Oloddumare ordered him appeased, and Eshú announced the price: two hundred men, two hundred women, two hundred cows, goats, rams, dogs and bags of money. Once the reparations were paid, Ajakadi got up — the light came back — and he reached home a rich man. He gave a goat to Eshú and his best animals to his guardian angel, and understood that his wrestling days in heaven were over: it was time to go to earth.