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Ese Okanran-Oshe
I 0 00 I 0 0 I
"If you don't know what to do yourself, how can anybody else tell you?" were the ones who cast for my Father Oshoosi, on the day that 401 conflicting instructions reached him, about how he was expected to act. There was Oshoosi: how could he ever figure this out? One person said: "Do this!" while the other said: "Do that!" and strangely enough "this" and "that" were never even remotely similar. Father said to himself: "If I don't know what to do myself, how can anybody else tell me then?" Well now, that made sense, of course. So Oshoosi took his bow and arrow, and a-huntin' he went. As usual one person said: "Go hither!" while the other said: "Go thither!", whereupon the first changed his opinion and quickly said: "Go thither" which gave the second person cause to re-direct: "Go hither!" Father Oshoosi, being thoroughly fed up with this nonsense, replied: "Until you finally figure out whatever it is you want or mean, I will go my own way, follow my own nose until I arrive where the game is hiding. Anything else?" No, there was not anything else, so the quarreling continued without Father Oshoosi, who trotted off happily into the woods and heard, echoing behind him, still the know-it-alls: "Aim high!", "No! Aim low!", "No, absolutely aim high!", "No! Of course aim low!" Oshoosi shrugged his shoulders, aimed his arrows exactly where he himself thought he should aim, and of course all his arrows found their targets. He who tries to teach Oshoosi how to shoot is like a man explaining to a woman how exactly to give birth to a child. Father danced and rejoiced, praising the Awo's who in turn praised Ifa, because his diviners had spoken the truth. "If you don't know what to do yourself, how can anybody else tell you?" Those were the ones who cast Ifa for my Father Oshoosi, on the day that 401 conficting instructions reached him on whatever to do, on the day that he left his quarrelsome advisors behind him, and became free and succesful again.
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