"Osossi"

 “Osossi”

A West African myth from the Ifa corpus recorded by Pierre Verger

For (Osa Ika)

“Olofin was an African king in the land of Ife, the origin of all of the Yoruba people. Each year at harvest time, The king would commemorate his reign with an yam festival. The festival date came and the king assembled his wives,  ministers and kingdom people for the celebration. The festivalgoers ate and drank wine in celebration of the new yam. Just the festival was in full swing, an enormous black bird flew over the palace. The bird flew to the right, and then the left. The giant bird finally came to rest on the roof of the palace.

The strange, enormous bird had been sent by the Iyami, the witches who were furious because they were not invited to the festival. The bird frightened all of those present at the festival. It was so large that the king thought a giant cloud had covered the city at first. When it stretched its wings, it covered the entire width and breath of the palace. It’s enormous tail feathers blocked the exits at the back of the palace. It’s enormous festers on its head blocked the entrance at the front of the palace.

The townspeople quickly became frightened and beseeched the king. “ Kabiesi, who can deliver us from this sinister and evil creature?”

The King said “We will summon the most skillful hunters in all of the kingdom to kill this malevolent creature.”

From Ido they brought Oxotogun, the Hunter Of 20 arrows. The king ordered him to kill the troublesome bird with his 20 arrows.

Oxotogun assured him: “ You may cut off my head if I do not kill this bird with my arrows”. The hunter let loose his 20 errors but the bird was not wounded in the least.  The king ordered that the hunter be remanded to the palace

Prison.

From Morê came Osotogi, the hunter with 40 arrows. The king ordered the hunter kill the bird with his 40 arrows. Osotogi Promised the king that he would kill the bird. He said “You may condemned me to death if I fail to kill the bird”.

The Osotogi let loose his 40 arrows but none of them harmed the enormous animal. The king remanded him to the palace prison.

From Ilare came Osotadota, the hunter with 50 arrows.  He addressed the king and said “Your Majesty, you may kill my entire family if I fail to kill this malevolent bird.”

The hunter of 50 arrows launched all 50 of his arrows but not one of them was able to harm the giant bird. With great disappointment, the king ordered his soldiers to remand the hunter with 50 arrows to the Palace prison along with the other hunters who had failed.

Finally from Irema came Osotokansoso, the hunter with 1 arrow. The king addressed the Hunter and said “Venerable Hunter, kill this giant bird with your 1 arrow.”

The hunter with one arrow faced the king and said “Your majesty I will kill this

Bird with my one arrow. If I fail, you may hack me to pieces. “

The mother of Oxotokansoso hearing her only child’s oath ran to her Babalawo to see what she could do to help her only child.

Osa-Ika appeared on the mat. The diviner told her “Your son is at the crossroads of death or of great riches. Perform sacrifice so that death will be transformed into riches.” The diviner told the woman how to offer the sacrifice to placate the Iyami.

The mother quickly sacrificed a hen, opened it breast, ran to the crossroads. She cried out 3 times “May the breast of the giant bird accept this sacrifice!”

At exactly this moment, when his mother made her offering at the crossroads, the hunter with one arrow let loose his arrow at the giant bird. The prayer, incantation of the hunter’s mother reached the giant bird. Oxotokansoso’s arrow pieced the giant bird’s chest and heart. The terrifying animal fell from the roof of the palace to the ground and died.

The townspeople shouted in amazement and joy “Osotokansoso, the hunter with 1 arrow, killed the giant bird! The king promised whoever killed

The bird and freed the kingdom of this menace would receive half of the king’s fortune!”

All of the wealth of the kingdom was divided into two parts. Half of the wealth was given to the hunter with one arrow. The other hunters were freed. To each of them, Osotokansoso gave them some money.  The hunters began to sing the Osotokansoso’s praises. The Babalawo joined the hunters and sang to the music of the agogo bell:

“Osowusi, Osowusi, Osowusi!”

“The Hunter, Oso is popular!”

And this is how Osotokansoso became Osowusi, also known as Ossosi.”

Art: Carybe