Oyekun Trupon

The Congos called a certain land Salanane. Its people lived almost always in conflict, with other towns and among themselves, out of ambition for power. They turned to every kind of witchcraft and still did not prosper: backwardness was general because of so much fighting. Many died and there was nobody to bury the bodies, so an epidemic broke out that reached the neighboring towns, including the land of Yebu.

The people of Yebu brought their complaint to the chief of one of the factions. Those men saw themselves as great warriors and sorcerers, ignored the complaint and, what is more, declared war on Iyebu. The chief of Iyebu sent Osain as his envoy, who always went about with a Chinese boy in charge of guarding the entrance of the chief's house.

Osain visited Awe, who told him he must do an ebbó to draw out all that witchcraft and stop the war, and place it on the slope of a hill. He did so.

On his way back from the hill, the envoy saw the huge ebbó and shouted the name of Shangó. But Obatalá appeared, and ordered him to go to Ogún to ask the Congos to stop the fighting. He added that Shangó would be the ruler of that land and that everyone must cleanse their things as Orunmila indicated.

Shangó passed the message to Ogún. Ogún went among the Congos announcing that he would leave for other lands and begging them to give up some of their witchcraft to avoid worse evils, but they ignored him.

One night Osain was passing by. He noticed a strong smell of coal and burned sulfur, and heard murmurs. He went up to a door; in the dark his foot fell into a hole and he stepped on the Chinese boy, who had hidden there. The boy cried out and Osain picked him up to go on. Inside, the people shut the door, convinced that the cry was from an Egun. There they decided to end the fighting and live in peace, and with that the epidemics ceased.

Oló, the anus, received contempt from everyone, and nobody gave him any importance. Orí, the head, claimed to be the ruler of the human body and said that only he would give orders. When he heard this, Oló declared that the true ruler was he and that he would prove it to them. Having said this, he closed.

The days went by. On the fourth, Orí felt heaviness, and so did the stomach. Then the belly swelled, the liver hardened like a stick, Orí felt ill and fever came. Everything kept getting worse; by the seventh day the situation was difficult, because neither the arms nor the legs could move. Then they all agreed and begged the opening to open. In this way it became clear how much Oló was worth, he whom nobody had taken into account while he stayed in the dark.

From this event come the ailments of the belly and intestinal paralysis.

Olofin announced a distribution of help to the needy and called by proclamation for those who were free of guilt and sorrow to come.

Among the poor of the area, one lived worse than all the others, with hunger and many shortages. He asked only for what was essential and went to see Orunmila to have the ebbó done. Orunmila did it, since he had pointed it out to him a few days earlier. He ordered that the basket be placed with omo Oke and that the man go up, because Olofin would save him. He warned him: when you receive the command from Olofin, do not stay in any place or enter any house, or you will lose everything again.

While he was carrying the ebbó, hunger overcame him. He put the basket on the ground and went into a house to steal food. They caught him and he ran away without the basket, and so he lost everything.