On Ingratitude

Ingratitude is often an issue to which those who are destined to serve their families, communities or even larger circles are confronted with. Genuine kindness & service to others which translates in an effort in terms of time, energy & resources, sometimes free of any charge [be it by simple will to help or by consideration of a client's limited means], is quite often refund not only with ingratitude but contempt. Ifá teaches us in Ògúndá akọ:

Bi ore ba po ni a poju

Ibi ni won fi n san

A difa fun oun ako ni ojo ti oun

Yio lo yo ejo ni ikun ogbe

Esu ai ko ru egba aikoteru

Ifa wa se bi ala

Overgenerosity is invariably repaid with ingratitude

Casted Ifá for Ako

When he was going to rescue the farmer from the snake

That was inside his stomach

For refusing to offer the prescribed sacrifice

Èsù taught him the lesson of his life

The story goes thus: 

A snake catcher was appointed by Orisa to go, catch & kill snakes. In order to succeed in his mission the snake catcher went to Ogunda and Obara for divination and was told to offer a sacrifice in order to succeed in his mission. The hunter did not perform the sacrifice as he was confident enough about his hunting skills. That very same awo casted Ifá for the farmer advising him to offer a sacrifice to avert the risk of becoming a victim of his own generosity. He too failed in complying with the advice and offering the sacrifice.

Meanwhile the hunter set out on his job of searching and destroying the snake that he was commissioned to kill, soon saw it and pursued the snake until reaching a nearby farm. The snake begged the farmer to accomodate him as the hunter was on his trail. The farmer agreed to accomodate the snake by hidding amidst his rubbish dump but the latter appealed that his assailant would trace him there. Even when the farmer agreed to open the door of his farm for the snake to take refuge therein, the snake would insist that the hunter would comb the entire place for him. When the farmer finally asked the snaked where exactly would he like to take refuge, the latter proposed that the only safe place would be inside his stomach & bowels. He asked the farmer to open his mouth for him his hide in his stomach. The farmer acquised to the snake's request and accomodated him inside his stomach.

When the hunter arrived to the farm, after trailing the traces left by the snake, he combed the place wshile the farmer reassured him that he had refused to accomodate the snake when the latter came by. After realizing that he had come to a dead-end, the hunter decided to leave.

As soon as the hunter was out of sight, the farmer gave the snake the all-clear to come out of his stomach but the latter refused telling the farmer that it was the only safe place that he found so far despite numerous attempts from the farmer to make the snake come out. 

The farmer begging for help came across the hen and asked her whether benevolence begets ingratitude to which the hen gave an affirmative answer [to the farmer's suprise] by narrating her own experience. She explained that after laying and hatching eggs [nurturing them to adulthood] they were all taken from her and sold in the market. With the profit made out of the sales, corn was bought from which she tried to have a taste and was beaten and driven away with a broom. The hen then asked the farmer whether that was sufficient [or not] to illustrate that generosity begets ingratitude. Realizing that it was a reflection of his own experience, the farmer left her alone.

Wherever the farmer ran to, he was given the same answer and was accused of being naive with respect to the harsh reality of existence. Eventually the farmer came across a bird called Ako who was returning home from having consulted the oracle with an awo called "overgenerosity is rewarded with crass ingratitude" who advised him to offer a sacrifice that he [Ako] refused to perform. But Ako was the first the give him a negative answer to his initial question about generosity [begetting ingratitude].The farmer began narrating his experience with the snake and the snake stated his own case from the stomach of the farmer. Ako, now acting as an impartial adjudicator, told the snake to at least show his face while narrating his case. Once the snake showed his face out of the mouth of the farmer, Ako gripped the snake's head and both started to fight. As they were fighting, the farmer picked a club and hit Ako on the neck, to which Ako shouted: "charity has indeed begotten ungratefulness".

A story (itan) rich in content that perfectly illustrates a reality many who are devoted to providing service to others often experience. Remembering a conversation with a dear friend from Togo, it is healthy to doubt on the veracity and intentions of clients, most particularly in the times in which we live as Ifa says in Èjì kòkò ìwòrì: "only Olódùmarè can make judgments by hearing one side of a story". This itan illustrates why no one diviner nor traditional healer should render services without a financial compensation nor taking preliminary precautions.

Clients [sometimes] lie or narrate their own versions of truth & facts; are not only ungrateful but contempt their benefactors /diviner/healers; betray and/or slander for which it is our duty & responsibility to take all necessary precautions [by consulting Ifá, Òrìsà, their own versions of in-dwelling forces in Nature or Ancestors] as seemingly promising situations may end in tragedy.

By Asuwada Institute ©