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IV. This poem is in the literature of Ifa and describes the honorable relationship between edun and ibeji:

May the sacrifices be accepted and blessed/ This is the verse of Ifa which talks about ibeji/ It talks about who the ibeji/ really are on earth/ And what they are from heaven/ It discusses especially how they are on earth/ In a position of honor/ And as something to be greatly regarded/ Out of the four hundred imole [spirits] of the right/ And two hundred original imole of the left/ The ibeji have been counted together with them/ Before that number was established/ They are not an addendum/ How the orisha are among human beings/ And how their honor and their ase [authority]/ Dwell with all things everywhere/ That is how the matter of ibeji also is/ This is because the Ifa verse which discusses them/ Talks about how Orunmila [deity of wisdom], nicknamed Ajana/ First gave birth to the persons who are known as ibeji/ In very ancient times/ These persons who were children of Orunmila/ Are known as edun

The Ifa priests predicted for her that she would have/ Two children at the same time./ They predicted that the children/ Would turn Orunmila into a king./ They asked Orunmila to perform sacrifice with/ Two rats and two fish/ Two hens and two pigeons/ Two goats and twenty-one cowries.../ Orunmila performed the sacrifice/ Peregun became pregnant again/ When she delivered/ She gave birth to twins/ One male and the other female/ They called them Edun [Colobus monkey]/ The male one started to study Ifa/ The Ifa which he learned/ Was not as great as the one which he knew/ Before he was born/ The boy began to visit his mother's other children/ He started to go to their homes/ He understood the language of animals very well/ Because they were his mother's children/ He understood the language of birds very well/ Because they too were his mother's children/ He also spoke the language of human beings...

At this point another story is introduced. It describes how oba Olofin of Ife needs to find medicine in the woods for his sick son. The medicine is the bark from a particular tree which he is having great difficulty finding. He is becoming discouraged and fearful. Finally, he arrives in a part of the forest inhabited by a number of Colobus monkeys.

Then Edun who had come there from the city/ Said to his colleagues:/ "Iwa" [being, life or existance] is lost/ "Iwa" is lost/ "Iwa" is lost/ This matter was not understood by his colleagues/ He then started to go towards the place where the lost king was/ Where the lost king was going up and down senselessly in the forest/ He saw Olofin/ He greeted Olofin/ Olofin also greeted him/ He then used his tail/ To sweep clean the foot of a certain big tree/ Which had plenty of shade/ Olofin said that he could not longer know where he was going.

At this time in the story edun goes to the river and offers Olofin water. He accepts and returns to the city with the monkey. Olofin refused to admit he had been lost. Because of his arrival home, many festivals and celebrations began.

The people said: "You Edun/ You are the relation of we human beings/ But you are also related to the animals/ You will henceforth reproduce yourself as a human being/ And that will allow us to live with you.../ Edun said that he would reproduce himself among human beings/ In such a way that his children would look like human beings/ But they must not call his children by any other name than Edun/ It was after that human beings started to give birth to twins/ As soon as they gave birth to twins/ They would say Edun has come/ Since then the parents of twins/ Must not eat the meat of the Colobus monkey/ Because they realize that it is he who has come to be/ reborn as a child in their home./ The parents of twins/ Must never kill the wild edun of the forest./ If they kill him/ They know for certain/ That they have killed a colleague of their children/ And they would suffer the consequences./ Therefore twin babies who were first born by Orunmila/ Are the ones who started among human beings/ The family of twins/ Since then and until today/ In all cities founded by Orunmila himself/ He has given them the commandment/ That they must not eat the meat of the Colobus monkey (1).