Moremi and her son.
Ife was being raided by figures in raffia that the town believed were spirits. Moremi promised the river Esimirin whatever it asked if she could save the town, let herself be captured, discovered the raiders were men in costume, escaped and told her people how to burn them. The river then asked for her only son, and she paid.
Moremi Ajasoro is the heroine of Ile-Ife and her story is commemorated in the Edi festival. Ife was being devastated by raiders who appeared covered in raffia and whom the townspeople took to be supernatural. Moremi vowed to the river spirit Esimirin to give whatever was demanded if she could save the town, allowed herself to be captured, became the wife of the raiders' leader, learned that the attackers were men of a neighbouring people wearing raffia costumes vulnerable to fire, escaped, and told her people. The raids ended. The river then required her only son, Oluorogbo, and she gave him. It is not a story with a consoling resolution: the deliverance is real, the price is exact, and it is paid. A large statue of her, among the tallest in Nigeria, was erected at Ife in 2016, and her name is invoked in Nigerian public discourse about women's courage, generally without the ending.
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