Unle's Ebó to Elegguá

Unle knew of the orisha Elegguá. He was on Earth, but immortal, and he was young, yet as ancient as the first stirrings of the universe itself. Elegguá was the witness to all things, the one orisha who was with Olódumare when he first awakened in Heaven and began to create. Unle sought Elegguá at the crossroads that separated Earth from Heaven.

The orisha knew Unle was coming. Elegguá knew that Unle was coming to make ebó. The odu found him there, waiting, and he pampered and plied him with gifts of fruits and cooked foods that he made with his own hands. For what seemed an eternity, the orisha did not speak. He ate and ate. Ate and ate. Ate and ate. Finally, when he was sated, Elegguá looked to Unle and smiled.

“What do you want?” he asked.

Unle prostrated himself before the orisha, and as he bid him to rise, Unle embraced Elegguá and said, “Life is hard, and I want to be prosperous. How may I ensure the blessing of owó in my life?”

Elegguá smiled. “Owó is a jealous master,” he said, his eyes narrowing in thought. “He is always jealous of Omá. Ignore Owó for Omá. Follow and pursue Omá relentlessly, never looking back for Owó. Owó will follow you, Owó will watch you, and Owó will try to seduce you with her gifts. The more you ignore her, the more she will offer and throw in your path.”

Elegguá stood tall and said, “To become prosperous, wisdom is what you must seek, and that wisdom will be your wealth.”

Unle thought about this silently under Elegguá's watchful eyes. Finally, he asked, “How may I acquire the wisdom of which you speak?”

“To acquire wisdom, you must serve each of your elders for eight years. Through service you will learn wisdom. At the end of that time, with the wisdom you acquire, you will use that wisdom to create wealth and abundance in your own life.”

Unle thanked Elegguá for his advice, and he sought out his elders. He served each of them for eight years, and learned not only what they taught openly, but the secrets they hid even from each other. At the end of that time, there was no one on Earth whose wisdom was greater than Unle's, and even though he was now an old man, he used his wisdom to create wealth and live comfortably throughout his old age. Unle gazed at himself in a mirror, and saw the very face that Olódumare had given him in Heaven staring back at him. He knew that it was time to fulfill his destiny on Earth.

These are the stories of how he did this.