Otura She

Otura Shé had his home at the top of a mountain, and there he gathered all his power. From that height he saw the nearby villages. He moved without tiring over the mountain and among the people, and he wore an amulet that warned him when his enemies wished to harm him.

One day a band of cannibals raided a village and kidnapped the children for evil purposes. The troops of the King of that land had already lost the battle.

Otura Shé stood before the cannibals, who held the soldiers in subjection. The amulet gave him strength to defeat the wrongdoers and rescue the troops. Then he went down to the city. The King, grateful, organized a feast in his honor and called all the inhabitants.

When Otura Shé arrived, the people welcomed him with great affection and gave him all their trust. Jealousy filled the King, who ordered him locked up. But many of the King’s soldiers supported Otura Shé, and almost all the people as well. Together they brought down the King and proclaimed Otura Shé as “the Saving King.”

From this comes the saying that good is usually answered with evil. And if the osogbo changes and becomes iré, then the opposite holds: every evil ends up bringing something good.

Otura She had a very beautiful wife and knew very well the ashé that Olofin had left in a gourd for Awó Ishekute. He kept that secret hidden, because anyone who wanted to begin a venture needed it. The awó and the orishas looked for a way to seize it from him: ambition ruled its owner.

One day Awó Ishekute, that is, Otura She, told his wife Awa Lade that he was going to Obatalá’s house, whom he had not seen for a long time. Before leaving he hid the secret and asked her to guard it while he was away: better to die than to hand it over.

Some awó who were watching the house saw him leave, went in and demanded the secret from the woman. She answered that she would not give it, and that she preferred to go and live with one of them. She did so. She chose Ogbe Di, who stayed with her, but he did not obtain the secret and ended up leaving with nothing.

Ogbe Di walked along in a bad mood, because some time earlier Shangó had summoned him to reveal a trap already prepared: when Awó Ishekute returned to his house, Ogbe Di would pass himself off as Elegba and try to take the secret from Otura She. With that idea, Ogbe Di sang, calling on Elegba.

Elegba appeared at once. Ogbe Di said to him: “Eat this rooster, because I will need your help when I call you. Lend me your clothes and give me your appearance.” Elegba only answered: “Agreed.”

When Elegba finished the rooster, both walked toward Shangó’s house. As they approached they saw Awó Ishekute in the distance. Elegba doubted that it was him, and they went closer to be sure. Shangó made signals to them: Ishekute wanted to leave, but he was keeping him distracted to prevent him from reaching Obatalá’s house.

Realizing that this Elegba was really Ogbe Di, Shangó went on distracting him and convinced Ishekute that it was too late to visit Obatalá. The awó returned home, where his wife told him what had happened during his absence. Ishekute took the secret out of the gourd and held it against his chest. At that moment Ogbe Di came in wearing Elegba’s clothes and asked Otura She for some ashé. They argued with enormous violence and, at the worst of the fight, Ogbe Di made a sung call.

At once a very strong wind blew, which helped him: it knocked over Awó Ishekute’s gourd, the ashé fell and was left scattered all over the world.

There was a land where death, Ikú, ruled as an Obá under the name Ikú Doro. Osain lived in the forest and had grown so much in power that his deeds became famous, until they reached the ears of that Obá, who declared that Osain meant to take his kingdom, but that first he would finish off Osain and his son.

To attack, death gathered all the Egun of Ibuson Orú. The war was hard, and Ikú Doro advanced little by little until he had Osain and Awó Yire, his son, surrounded.

Then Osain met the awó Otura She and told him about the conflict with Ikú Doro; the awó also had unsettled matters with him. Otura She told Osain to follow him, that he would make an ebbó for him, and that the two of them, joining their powers, would defeat Ikú Doro, because before a good ebbó death cannot arrive.

He led him to a riverbank and made the ebbó there, singing to name Ikú, the ebbó, Otura She, Osain, and Awó Yire.

When Ikú Doro arrived he found only a guinea hen, since Osain had already thrown the powder with his breath. The bird flew off, tricked death, and vanished into the water. The smell of the powder, which Osain sent with the strength of Otura She, left Ikú without defense. Ikú felt ill and decided to leave the lands of Osain.

From then on, Otura She and Osain triumph over Ikú.