one’s lifetime. When a man dies,
orhiɔ̃ [ ˩ ˥ ] flies away and attaches
itself to the wall like a flying
animal, thus it listens to all that
is said about the deceased and
to the prayers given for his next
life (e.g. when he has been
poisoned, that it may not be
repeated)+, and looks at the
sacrifices offered, the dances
round the ukpafɛ̃ [ ˩ ˥ ˩ ] of the
room in which the deceased is
lying, and the oaths sworn by
his wives. Only when the body
is taken to be buried, does the
orhiɔ̃ leave the house. It goes to
ɛɽ̃iʋ̃i [ ˩ ˥ ˩ ] and, together with the
man’s ɛhi [ ˩ ˩ ] whom it meets
there, it goes to Osa [ ˩ ˩ ] to
“render account”. (These be-
liefs are said to be no longer
strong nowadays.) When a man
is ill, witches may come and
steal his orhiɔ̃ [ ˩ ˥ ]. They then
transform it at their meeting
into an animal which they kill
and eat. The man whose orhiɔ̃
[ ˩ ˥ ] has been stolen and killed
in this way must die. He lies on
his bed and is delirious ( “talking
at random”), the white of his
eye appears, etc. A man in this
condition can, however, tell the
name of the witch when a certain
strong charm is applied. But
the orhiɔ̃ [ ˩ ˥ ] of such a man is
still supposed to go to ɛɽ̃iʋ̃i
[ ˩ ˥ ˩ ], so that the stolen “object”
apparently is nothing but the
victim’s strength to live; orhiɔ̃-
ɽ̃ɛ̃ rie [ ˩ / ˩ / ] “his strength to
live is going away”: he is about
to die (o. fo [ \ ] “is finished” is
also said). (2) zest, power to do
something; orhiɔ̃ ni‿ɛ̃ [ ˩ ˥ ˦ / ]
