Oyekun Di

After creating the earth, Olofin gave power and ashé to the Orishas he himself had made. In time he thought his work was finished, because each Orisha, through his astral force, reached many people at once, who came under his protection. Those who received that force stopped being their usual selves and spoke without knowing what they said: the Orisha mounted them. At first no one understood the phenomenon, and everything went along calmly.

Later each mounted person believed himself better than the others, and wars broke out, some with weapons and others over knowledge, hidden or open. Since each one believed in a different god, according to what he had learned, the inhabitants of the earth almost disappeared.

Olofin sent Elegba to travel the world and look. What he saw made him so angry that he questioned a man who boasted of being wise: he wanted to know why there were so many wars. The man answered proudly that Osain was his father and preferred him above all, that he came down to his head and gave him the knowledge that was needed, since no one knew more than he did. Elegba was bothered by that vanity. He warned him that Olofin would not approve of that conduct, because neither Olofin nor the Orishas tolerated so many wars. The son of Osain replied that he was a king and that no one would remove him from the throne. Elegba heard the same thing everywhere and withdrew angry.

When he returned, he reported to Olofin what had happened. Olofin thought about how to fix it and decided that the Orishas themselves would speak with their children. First went Obatalá, without success. Then he sent the others, one after another, and none of them achieved anything.

Finally he called Orunmila and told him that he wanted peace, and that every person occupied by the astral energy of an Orisha believed himself superior to the rest. Orunmila offered: “I will put all human beings in order, but I will never descend on a person's head.” Olofin said: “To Iban Eshu.”

For this reason Orunmila does not descend on the head of any Omofá or Awó.

The world was going badly, and Orunmila announced that he would take charge of repairing it. Olofin wanted to know when he would succeed, but Orunmila kept silent.

He went to Atikun, a land where no woman had ever had children, and asked for lodging in a house. The owners asked who he was, and he answered that his name was Oloyu Ekun. When asked about his trade, he said it was to speak well, and that to hear him they had to contribute money. They did so. Orunmila took his Ekuele and cast it: Oyekun Di came out. He then declared to them: “Your life has no direction, since you eat, sleep and pass the time and nothing more; you must perform an ebbó.” For the ebbó he asked for a goat, a rooster, a hen, a dove and $16.80, and while it was carried out he sang his name, Oloyu Ekun. When it ended, the older women who had never given birth began to have children, the plants also filled with fruit, and the land was repaired.

Orunmila left, and many years went by before his return. Those who had been born in his absence were parents by now. The elders tried to identify him, but time had erased his face; when they realized who he was, they exclaimed: “You are Oloyu Ekun!” He confirmed that he was. The elders gathered the people and told them that the ebbó, performed so that the women could have children, had saved them all.

From then on each person kept asking him for different things. Orunmila explained that those requests depended only on Olofin, and then everyone resolved to confront Olofin. Orunmila offered to go with them, on the condition of taking a goat and a rope in front; he would walk behind the animal and the others behind him. But the goat kept going into the undergrowth and getting caught; Orunmila stopped to free it, and meanwhile the others went ahead of him and reached Olofin first.

Olofin ordered them all put to death and arranged each one according to what he believed that person deserved. Orunmila appeared last. Olofin asked him the reason for his arrival, and he answered that they had forced him to go and that was why he came unhurried. Olofin did not allow him to pass: he showed him the bodies and warned him that he would not enter until he had set the world right. Orunmila went back to the world, but he left it just as he found it, and for that reason he turned out the only one saved. Ifá’s lesson for the awó is not to change anyone: let each person go on being as he is.

Once Orunmila had to work very hard for the good of the town where he lived, but the people did not know how to be grateful for his sacrifice. Orunmila ended up exhausted: he grew tired of life, wished for death, and withdrew to live in a cave.

From that day everything began to get worse in the town, and the inhabitants went to consult another Awó, for whom the sign came out that they must make an ebbó. One of them made it and reached the cave where Orunmila was. When he saw him, the man was frightened and ran away, but Orunmila called him. The man came back and told him what had happened. Then Orunmila told him to take some pieces of coconut, with which they could speak, and that when he came to see him he should come alone, casting the coconut. From the cave, through that man, Orunmila could help the town, because he would never enter it again.

The story closes with praise for Orunmila. According to this Ifá, what departs does not return.