Otrupon Guede

Here Oshún, with her curiosity stirred, wanted to look at what Ashikulu was doing; and on seeing what was none of her business she got such a fright that she fell into the river unconscious. She went to the bottom, and there she was left tangled in the root of the ashibata.

That same day Orunmila did an osode for himself and this Ifá came out; he prepared the ebbó that goes with this Odù and went down to the river to throw it away.

When he let it go, he caught sight of something moving down below. He put the irofá in the water and pulled out the roots of the ashibata little by little; on one of them came Oshún, tangled up, and that is how she was saved, thanks to Orunmila.

Note: whoever does not do what Oshún orders, dies.

On this road, Ikú lived in a land where she never got a bite to eat: no matter how much she looked, her food did not turn up. With such bad luck on her, she decided to get a reading, and Orunmila saw this Odù for her, Otrupon Oggunda. Ifá told her to make ebbó; once it was done, she had to leave that town and feed only on fruit when it was ripe.

Ikú listened. She went off to a land where everyone came into the world sick, and she fed on them; she lived happily, because she was never short of food.

There was a married couple there, and the wife was pregnant. When she realized it she started thinking: "I am going to consult with Ifá," she decided. And Orunmila, seeing this Ifá for her, told her to make ebbó.

She left Orunmila's house determined, but she had nothing to pay with; so she put together a collection among her relatives and went back to have it done. When the ebbó was finished, Orunmila told her to take it to the cemetery and not to look back on the way home. He also asked Onibode to go with her, not to leave her side, and to guard the child from Ikú when she was born.

Emule was born and Onibode was there, waiting so that she would not get sick and to free her from death. But the relatives found out what the money from the collection had been spent on and they all started to complain; Elegba heard every word, got upset and left. The mother asked herself: "What will become of Emule and me?"

One evening, at nightfall, the fever got into Emule: she was pouring sweat, her body was covered in sores, and she could not see. Her mother cried and cried to see her like that. She pulled herself together and went for her relatives: they had to pray to heaven and call Onibode. They all prayed together, and Onibode, after saying "this is very good," took the girl away.

Once she was a young woman, the girl was abikú: thinking gave her a headache, and although her sight was short, she could see a long way off. When she turned 16, Onibode told her: "I am going to take you to where your mother is, but first I will take you to Obatalá's house." Onibode took Emule (the one condemned to death) to her mother's house, and Ikú could not eat her.

A lame man and a blind man lived in the same town, where they dragged along so much need and misery that they were already close to dying of hunger.

One day, the blind man made his friend an offer: "My friend, before we die of hunger here in the town, let us go die of hunger in the countryside." The lame man climbed onto his shoulders and, holding a stick, marked out for him which way to go. When they reached the woods they came upon a dead elephant. "We have found food now," said the lame man; he got down from his friend's shoulders, took out his knife and began to cut meat off the elephant to roast it.

A toad came by. The lame man grabbed it and roasted it too. With the meat already cooked, he handed the toad to the blind man, making him believe it was a piece of the elephant, and the blind man began to eat it. As he chewed it, the toad's milk jumped into his eyes and with it his sight came back. When he found out they had given him toad, he turned on the lame man: "You shameless man, you eat elephant meat and you gave me toad to eat." He picked up the stick at once and landed him a tremendous blow; the lame man ran off as fast as he could, and from that run his lameness was cured.

Note: kashé tutu, the saint speaks through Orunmila's mouth. Intori Ikú: whoever does not do what Eshu orders, dies. The prayer is done with all the clothes you are wearing.