It is said that in the old days the babalawos went through the city in groups of three or four, knocking at every door in case someone wanted a consultation. Once, three of them passed before the King, who made them stop and asked them to consult for him. They told him he should be kinder to his subjects, since his manner was very harsh, and that if he did not change a conspiracy would be organized and he would lose everything.
The King believed he had the affection of his people and was very proud. He insulted them before everyone: he declared that he would pay them for the offering and that, if they needed a few coins, he would give them. Humiliated, the babalawos withdrew without receiving anything and sat down on a bridge, without having eaten.
Elegba passed by and asked them whether they had fish and jutía. They said no and told him what the King had done. “So that was it. Good,” said Elegba. He went to the palace and began to sow a conspiracy against the King. Very soon the subjects, and the ministers too, abandoned him.
Alone and fearing for his life, the King put what he could into a sack that night and fled to the outskirts. The babalawos had told him: he would go hungry, be in misery and walk in torn clothes. He had never believed it. He spent the night in the countryside and, the next afternoon, hunger made him check his luggage. In his haste he had not brought money, but he had brought the crown.
At that moment a yam seller was approaching, who was Elegba, aware of everything. The King stopped him and proposed a trade: a yam for a precious stone that he pried off the crown, a large gem.
Elegba pretended not to know him and answered haughtily: trading a gem for a yam seemed absurd to him, when it cost him so much effort to farm. With no alternative, the King begged him and lowered himself before the farmer, assuring him that the gem was worth a lot. Elegba, to humiliate him further, remarked that the yam was too big for such a small stone and asked for a larger one. When the King turned toward his hiding place, Elegba noticed that his trousers were torn at the back.
In the city, Elegba showed the gem to everyone he saw and told aloud how he had obtained it. The inhabitants recognized the largest stone of the crown and understood that the King was not in the palace. They followed Elegba's directions and found him still haughty, starving and in terrible condition. They begged him to return, since the people wanted him back, but he could not show himself with torn trousers, so he waited for night to enter the palace.
He got a great surprise: nothing had changed, everything was just as he had left it. Then he remembered what the babalawos had warned him and what he had not wanted to take seriously.