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"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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