Òyèkú Méjì · Part IV: The Defeat of Death
A comparative exposition across three informants: Àwíṣẹ Awo Àgbáyé, Chief Wándé Abímbọ́lá · Chief Ayọ̀ Salami · Olóyè Ifálérè Ọdẹgbẹmí Ọdẹgbọlá II
Abọrú Abọyè.
The fourth and final part on Òyèkú Méjì: the Ayùnrẹ́ tree, the defeat of Death, and what the three ẹsẹ align on.
Death has been pulling down the great trees of the forest, the ooro, the mahogany, the locust-bean. He arrives at the Ayùnrẹ́, the tree sacred to this Odù, with the same confidence:
Ayùnrẹ́ níkàn ló ní òun ò gbọ́.
Ó ní ikú tí ń polójà tí ń palàdé,
Ikú tí ń pa lóókọlóókọ,
Ikú tí ń pọnílẹ̀ tí ń pàbùlẹ̀dó;
Báwo ni ikú yìí ò ṣe ní pòun?
"The only exception was the ayùnrẹ́ tree who said that he was not ripe for the fight. He asked, 'Death who kills popular men and kings, Death who kills great names, Death who kills free-born citizens and strangers, How will this death not kill him?'"
Ayùnrẹ́ challenges Death from a position of sacred belonging to this Odù.
Ikú's enemies feed him what he must not eat. Fish. Rats. Duck's egg, each in violation of his ẹ̀èwọ̀.
"The ayùnrẹ́ tree moved to one side. Death slipped suddenly, and fell, chest downward. Death slipped suddenly, and fell down with a loud noise."
Who supplied the forbidden foods? His wife. She had accepted money to tell his enemies what he must not eat.
❝ When Death is defeated, it is not by greater brute force but by his own internal contradictions. ❞
What Three ẹsẹ align on
Across Abímbọ́lá, Salami, and Ọdẹgbọlá II, the Odù's core is stable: long life, sacrifice as transformation, knowledge as protection. They present three distinct faces of the same Odù.
Abímbọ́lá presents the death-narrative face, Ikú's defeat, the social pathology of the polygamous household, the intimate betrayal that undoes the universe's most feared power.
Salami presents the abundant face. In one ẹsẹ he explores personal prosperity: Ọ̀yẹ́ di púpọ̀ / Ojú ọpọ́n kún tẹtẹẹtẹ́, "Ọyẹ becomes a pair / And the tray becomes very full."
The other ẹsẹ concerns the hidden worth within diligent effort, made visible through sacrifice. Neither ẹsẹ addresses the women theme or Ikú's defeat.
Ọdẹgbọlá II presents the liturgical face: the ẹ̀èwọ̀, the teaching on filial duty and communal responsibility, and advice for regular practice:
Kẹ̀lẹ̀ rú o, o ba baláwo kẹ̀lẹ̀tù
Aṣọ tó ó ṣebọ kò rọ̀rùn o.
"Offer sacrifice gently, you meet the babaláwo with it gently / The cloth of one who has done sacrifice does not smell."
The woman theme deserves coming back to. Òyèkú Méjì is clearly saying that witchcraft is created by the pressures of competition, rivalry, and structural subordination. It is also saying that the àṣẹ that creates it can also give life if nurtured correctly.
This is as true for the babaláwo and the women in his life as it was for Death and his wife.
For me, the one thing Òyèkú Méjì resolves brilliantly is the cultural confusion around polygamy in Yorùbá society, deepened by our present neo-colonial condition. It resolves it with social prescription, not judgement.
— Orímọlóyè Fáṣínà
Ọmọ awo, Ìbàdàn, Ọ̀yọ́
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Written 14 June 2026; revised 29 August 2026