1How fish came to be known in the world
Mankind was dying of hunger and sickness. Shangó begged Olofin, who gave him the Ejá-Tuto (fresh fish); it fell from the sky like rain and made men's bones and brains strong.
Mankind was going through great hardship: there was no health and no food, consumption and stomach illnesses were doing damage, and bones had no strength. Men, led by the imoles —who later became orishas—, begged Olofin to have mercy.
Shangó had the gift of being listened to. Olofin told him to offer men a food they did not know yet —the Ejá-Tuto, fresh fish— and gave him a secret to keep it. Then, in the form of rain, every kind of fish fell to the earth, and mankind tasted their meat, which made their bones and their brains strong and let them move forward.
Among them, two fish kept the hidden secrets of the religion: the Ejá-Bo (the snapper) and the Ejá-Oro (the guabina). That is why in this Ifá it is advised to eat fish and yam, and the secret of giving Ejá-Tuto to Shangó was born.
2The disobedience of the Oba of the fish
The king of the fish made ebbó and multiplied, but his wife refused the ebbó that would protect them from men. When human beings dried up the rivers, they ate them.
Awó Oyé —Orunmila in the land of the fish— marked an ebbó for the king of the fish so that he would have many children, and so it was: his offspring filled the seas and the rivers. Then he marked a second ebbó to save them from the attack that human beings would make on them in the future.
The king was willing, but his wife refused: «how are we going to have enemies, if I can see my children safe at the bottom of the waters?». She took Awó Oyé for a swindler and Eshú for a liar, and turned a deaf ear.
When men developed, they took hoes, machetes and nets, dammed the rivers and, once they were dry, caught the fish. Shangó and Eshú cooked them with yam and told the men: «eat them, they are great food». For not making the ebbó, the fish were left at the mercy of man.
3The son of Shangó who was sick in his stomach
A son of Shangó was always sick in his stomach and death was following him. He made ebbó and found a treasure, but he stopped making ebbó, went back to poverty and died.
There was a son of Shangó who was always sick in his stomach, very weak, and death was following him. He went to see Orunmila, who saw Oyekun Meyi for him and told him to make ebbó, warning him that he had to keep making it from time to time so that he would not fall back.
He took the ebbó to a ruined palace. As he was placing it, the tree where he was going to put it came down and, underneath it, he found a treasure, which he shared with his family.
But he forgot what Orunmila had told him: he stopped making ebbó, went back to poverty, got sick again and death took him. Because of this Ifá you have to keep making ebbó all the time, both for your health and to prosper.
4When the trees did not make ebbó🔒 Babalawo
5Why the elders give permission to the young🔒 Babalawo
6The two friends who dressed alike🔒 Babalawo
7The agreement of the Itá (the three cloths)🔒 Babalawo
8The betrayal of the obini of Barekoko🔒 Babalawo
9The tool seller🔒 Babalawo
10The creation of Lucifer🔒 Babalawo
11The forming of the earth (Oranniyán)🔒 Babalawo
12Sacred writing was born🔒 Babalawo
13When the Oshúns lived together (the staff of Oshún)🔒 Babalawo
14The secrets of pottery🔒 Babalawo
15Why Oyeku takes care of the night🔒 Babalawo
16Where feeding Death was born🔒 Babalawo
17The birth of Efe, the manatee🔒 Babalawo
18Oyeku Meyi, the Babalawo of the land of the Eggun🔒 Babalawo
19Oshún Aboyemi, the one who divines through the Eggun🔒 Babalawo
20Body paint and tribal marks🔒 Babalawo
21The man sentenced to twenty years and the scissors🔒 Babalawo
22The woman and the salt (why the sea is salty)🔒 Babalawo
23The Egyptian oracle🔒 Babalawo
24The spoken rules🔒 Babalawo