The stolen horse
As the story is told, Xangô was known in his youth for a wild, rebellious temperament — riding through the world breathing fire and leaving destruction behind him, to his father Obatalá's frequent embarrassment. One day, having left his white horse tied outside a house, Xangô found on his return that Obatalá and Odudua, two elders he did not recognize, had taken the animal. Enraged, he tracked them down and moved to attack, only to discover, once it was too late to back down gracefully, that he was confronting his own father.
Obatalá raised his staff, the opaxorô, and commanded Xangô to kneel. Disarmed, Xangô threw himself to the ground in submission.
A mark of paternity
Obatalá then broke Xangô's necklace of red beads and mixed white beads into it, declaring that this would be a sign, visible to all, that Xangô was his son. From that day, the tradition holds, Xangô obeyed the old king's authority.