The tale
In this version, the Iroko-man is a tree spirit accustomed to hearing the prayers of women who kneel before him asking for children, and he sets a high price for granting his help. Oluronbi, who has nothing else to offer, promises her firstborn child in exchange. When the child is born, Oluronbi and her husband, a woodcarver by trade, cannot go through with the promise, and the story turns on the spirit's response to being refused.
A story about the wood, not the ritual
Like the story of Oluronbi, this is presented here as the cultural lore surrounding the iroko tree in West Africa, not as part of Santo Daime doctrine. It is included as background on why the wood used for instruments such as the bougarabou drum is regarded as more than an ordinary building material in the traditions it comes from.