Above you see a classical painting of the river Styx. In Greek mythology, the river Styx marked the boundry to the Underworld. The ferryman takes the souls of the departed across the river so that they can enter the realm of Hades. This image fits Agallu perfectly. He is the transporter and his realm is the river. He is not conncected directly to the dead, but is very close. Just as the spirits of the dead are around his tree, the ceiba, so is his domain, the river, next to the dead. We see in our studies that many of the Orishas are close to the dead. His river acts as a boundry beteen the living and the dead. Perhaps the Greeks absorbed more than we imagine from the african traditions.
Chango was abandoned by Yemaya and was raised by Obatala, whom he always considered his father. However, there is a story about when Chango met his real father, Agallu. Agallu had a nice home and due to his reputation of great power, he never locked his home and left the doors open. One day when Agallu was out of his house, Chango happened to come in and make himself at home. He sat down on the straw mat (estera) and began helping himself to all the fruits and foods that Agallu had in his house. Afterwards, he went to sleep. Shortly thereafter, Agallu came home and found this impudent young man asleep in his house, after obviously having helped himself to his food and was furious. He made a big fire and grabbed Chango and threw him into the fire. Much to his surprise, Chango did not even burn. Becoming more enraged at this, Agallu grabbed Chango and took him to the edge of the sea and was about to drown him in the ocean, when Yemaya Konla appeared and begged him not to kill their son. Of course, after that, Agallu did not kill his son, when he realized who he was. That is the story of Chango meeting for the first time his real father. There is some controversy within the religion as to whether Agallu is the real father of Chango. Some maintain that Agallu is really the elder brother of Chango. However, most elders will assert that Agallu is the father of Chango.
