IXTEEN GREAT POEMS OF IFA, BY WANDE ABIMBQLA UNESCO| A CONTENTS: a Page PREFACE al PART I, INTRODUCTION itt | EsC0 FB © Unesco ant anno. irs THE IFA CULT AND ITS SYSTEM OF | BS DIVINATION 7 1 These Divmiy | a 2 Then cat | | 3 The Trtnng o 14 Picts & The Instuntnts of 18 Divination 5 The Pros oft Divination — € Divination Sete Taal 1. Tih aca Literacy sad Pilosophical System 29 Notes 9 | Drawings of Ifa Divination Implements 43 Nov 28 1963 PART Il, SIXTEEN GREAT POEMS OF IFA 50 i, The Birth of the Ifa Divination System 51 ji, ‘The Mythology of the Vulture And How He Became A King. B iii, Thoughts About Women 105 | iv, Ifa, Threatened By Death, Was Saved \ By the Giant Rat And Iyewa. .. 131 | ¥. Ori As Each Individual's Personal ! Orsi 158 vi Ail And The Choice of Ori 178 vii, The Consequences of Marital Neglect Or How Agbigbd Bird Acquired ‘The Pad On Its Head = 208 mnished His Unfaithful Diviners 235, HoopesThe Great Conflict Between Ayé (Earth) PREFACE and Qrun (Heaven) Or Why the This work presents a total of sixteen long poems Ifa And the Ajg In Conflict 2, literature, The method of training of Ifa priests and ‘The Orisa And The Ajé In Conflict x the mode of transmission of t repertoire represents INTERPRETATION OFTHE POEMS. 49 Kise amciann, Each pos rel by APPENDIX II. INFORMANTS AND FIELD core of its meaning. An appendix at the, end of the METHODS I 463 work provides a traditional interpretation for each poem: ix is devoted to informants and field methods featuring short notes on each informant as well as the mothod of collection, transcription and translation, AA short introduction to the whole work provides adequate information on the TRA cult, its paraphernalia of divination as well as a short exposition of is literary and philosophical system. ‘The introduction also