Ese Odi-Okanran

0 I
00
00
I I

"The palm tree by the crossroads
is carved by many a machete" and
"Two people cannot sleep
on a duiker hide" were the ones
who cast for Olokun, on the day
that Olokun was to suffer a loss.
They said that someone would suffer a loss
that year, and oh yes:
the sacrifice would be
two pigeons and 10.000 cowries.
Then, after only a short time,
Olokun's cow died, and she put the carcass
underneath a shroud, just like
she would have done with a human body.
She instructed her familiy to spread the word
that Olokun had died, and to tell the Awo's
to come and cast Ifa, exactly like
what would have happened had she really died.
When the priests came they all cast Ifa
but not one of them managed to discover the truth:
all said that now Olokun was dead
everything would be allright. These,
one might say, were incompetent Awo's.
Then Olokun's family, taken back with
the Awo's failures, asked whether somewhere else
might be an Awo left, a good one.
They answered that only "Tail" was left.
So Tail was invited, he cast his Ifa,
and promptly declared that Olokun wasn't dead,
but that she only had suffered a loss.
Then Olokun came out of her hiding place
and appointed Tail her personal Awo, because
him being the only one who had told the truth.
Tail swiftly determined Olokun's sacrifice:
two goats, a gown and 50.000 cowries, in order
not to suffer another loss.
Olokun listened and made the sacrifice.
Then she told all Awo's that,
whenever they went out to divine,
they always should have Tail with them.
And from that day on all Babalawo's have
a flyswitch, made from a cow's tail,
just like the Oni of Ife carries, with them.
They all sang a song in praise of Tail:
"I'm going home to get my Tail,
for Tail is what the King of Ife carries."


"When Olofin falls ill,
we ask the Awo's to divine
and speak about his illness"
were the ones who cast Ifa, on the day
that Olofin fell ill
and asked the Awo's to divine
and speak about his illness.
"You will tell Olofin,"
the Awo's said to the messenger
"that he must sacrifice his eldest servant
to the main Iroko tree in his district,
in order to get better and be whole again."
The messenger ran home to Olofin,
but having arrived there he deliberately
garbled the message, and told Olofin
that the Awo's had said
that he should sacrifice
his eldest son to the tree. Why?
How could a thing like this happen?
Well now, the Awo's had not known
that the messenger himself
was the eldest servant of Olofin;
they simply had read the Odu,
exactly like an Awo should.
And the messenger, of course, could not be
expected to ask Olofin for his own death,
so his omission, his garbling of the message
was only natural and human!
So Olofin gave his eldest son
to the Iroko tree while his wife was away,
for women, as we know, are rather
peculiar about these things.
When mother returned home,
she learned about what had happened.
She immediately went to the Awo's
to verify whether her eldest son
really was the sacrifice!
The Awo's, of course, replied
that this wasn't what they had said.
They informed the mother
of having told the messenger
that the eldest servant was the sacrifice.
As fast as she could run the woman
ran to the Iroko tree, she ran
over seven hills and through seven valleys.
When she reached the seventh hill
she saw her son being tied to the tree.
The Iroko tree is known as Iroko Olojudo.
She sang while she ran:
"Reremide my son, wait for me, Reremide.
It is not right to sacrifice my son
to the Iroko tree, Reremide."
Just when they were about to kill the son
the woman reached the tree,
and told the story,
and the boy was set free.
He clicked his fingers and shouted with joy,
while telling his mother that he did not want
ever to see his father again.
While his mother knelt and begged,
the young man flapped his arms,
and changed into the Agbe-bird.
He flew to the crown of the tree and sang:
"The memory of my father's deeds
against me, daily rings a bell with me."
And until the present day Agbe-birds
sing exactly this song.
The ebo is: 4 snails, 780 cowries,
some ewe from "leaf of preference"
and "leaf of comfort", crushed in water,
to thoroughly wash
one's body with.