and slipped out of the hut as soon as he noticed him dozing. that is not the beginning. and none of them died.

Then there was perfect silence
Then there was perfect silence. The old man bore no ill will towards Okonkwo. woman. guttural and awesome. who was a prosperous farmer. It was always quiet except on moonlight nights. when Mr. Like all good farmers. a long. My in-law. And there was eating and drinking till night. Even the few kinsmen who had not been able to come had their shares taken out for them in due term. the medicine itself was called agadi-nwayi.""Is he staying long with us?" she asked.' 'You must return the duckling.Okonkwo brought out his snuff-bottle and offered it to Ogbuefi Ezenwa. Neither of the other wives dared to interfere beyond an occasional and tentative. And so one Sunday two of them went into the church.The two teams were ranged facing each other across the clear space. Why was that?"Okonkwo shook his head. but they grew women's crops. and she swore within her that if she heard Ezinma cry she would rush into the cave to defend her against all the gods in the world. It was slow and painful. The other wives drank in the same way. And they might also have noticed that Okonkwo was not among the titled men and elders who sat behind the row of egwugwu. Nobody knew how old. These men must be mad. Now he is no longer my son or your brother.

"Umuofia kwenu!" he roared.Ezinma brought them a bowl of water with which to wash their hands. Okonkwo's youngest wife.In this way Akuke's bride-price was finally settled at twenty bags of cowries."Is Anasi not in?" he asked them. Ojiugo's children were eating with the children of his first wife."Point at the spot with your finger. Ezinma. Okonkwo sprang to his feet and quickly sat down again.Very soon after. Okoye. When they were out of earshot. entered their mothers' wombs to be born again.It was not yet noon on the second day of the New Yam Festival. His own hut. Ojiugo. Her name was Nneka. that is not the beginning. for although nobody else knew it. This was before the planting season began. Cooking pots went up and down the tripods and foo-foo was pounded in a hundred wooden mortars Some of the women cooked the yams and the cassava. Evil Forest rose to his feet and order was immediately restored. and it came floating on the wind.""What has happened?" asked Okonkwo."Is that me?" Ekwefi called back. His love of talk had grown with age and sickness.Then the missionaries burst into song. Some birds chirruped in the forests around.

Their sound was no longer a separate thing from the living village. "It is not to pay you back for all you did for me in these seven years." said Obierika to his son. They went back to their caves in a distant land. He warmed himself in the fire and ate the entrails. He played on the ogene. Now and again a full-chested lamentation rose above the wailing whenever a man came into the place of death. But before he could answer. "Who will drink the dregs?" he asked. Unoka was. and terror seized her. And so when Okonkwo of Umuofia arrived at Mbaino as the proud and imperious emissary of war. This man told him that the child was an ogbanje."The white man's court has decided that it should belong to Nnama's family. If only he could find some work to do he would be able to forget. The wavering converts drew inspiration and confidence from his unshakable faith. And now he was going to take the Idemili title. and went round the circle shaking hands with all." asked Obierika.' said Mother Kite. slanting showers through sunshine and quiet breeze. sang for mercy. and all the rest rushed away to see the cow that had been let loose. She was the priestess of Agbala. We would then not be held accountable for their abominations. they kept their imagination to themselves. was a widely-traveled man who knew the customs of different peoples. And although she believed that the iyi-uwa which had been dug up was genuine.

"How is your father?" Obierika asked. Ezinma brought her two legs together and stretched them in front of her. Okonkwo stood by the pit. He worked. said that until the abominable gang was chased out of the village with whips there would be no peace.- that she did not blame others for their good fortune but her own evil chi who denied her any?At last Ezinma was born. The first cock has crowed. Yam foo-foo and vegetable soup was the chief food in the celebration. who were putting the last delicate touches of razor to her coiffure and cam wood on her smooth skin. Nwoye. and even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was agbala. Ezinma. When Unoka died he had taken no title at all and he was heavily in debt. but the elders counseled patience till nightfall. He walked back to his obi to await Ojiugo's return."I must go home to tap my palm trees for the afternoon. His words may also be good. Her suitor and his relatives surveyed her young body with expert eyes as if to assure themselves that she was beautiful and ripe. and the cannon shattered the silence. Their fathers had never dared to stand before our ancestors. Nwoye. That was in fact the reason why he had come to see Unoka. They were very fat goats.""Nwoye is old enough to impregnate a woman. Obierika. On his head were two powerful horns. You are a great family. my friend.

There was nobody in the hut and the fireplace was cold. He was a very strong man and rarely felt fatigue. Ezenwa took it. from Umuofia to Mbaino. She continually ran into the luxuriant weeds and creepers that walled in the path." said one of the women. perhaps even quicker. Some of them were not at home and only four came in. Every man rose in order of years and took a share. when he slept. I want you to be there. and I am happy you have come to see us.Okonkwo's wives. Her arms were folded across her bare breasts.Share-cropping was a very slow way of building up a barn of one's own." he mocked. But that was only to be expected. So he would make a fresh start. In these seven years he would have climbed to the utmost heights. and from morning till night warriors came and went in their age groups. a loud cheer rose from the crowd. somewhat indulgently. who clung to her. Even the oldest men could only remember one or two other occasions somewhere in the dim past." said Ekwefi. Okonkwo."Why is Okonkwo with us today? This is not his clan. You have committed a great evil.

talking was the next best. and Okonkwo filled his horn again. As for his converts.Okonkwo spent the next few days preparing his seed-yams. a man asks his kinsman to scratch him. close to the Great Shrine. If any one of you prefers to be a woman. Because he had taken titles.It seemed to Ekwefi that the night had become a little lighter. "Welcome. It was quiet and confident. "Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?""Where they bury children. Was it waiting to snap its teeth together? After passing and re-passing by the church. They then set about painting themselves with cam wood and drawing beautiful black patterns on their stomachs and on their backs. and the rest went back. "They are pieces of wood and stone. but nothing came out. If one says no to the other.As he broke the kola."But this particular night was dark and silent. But as he walked through the market he realized that people were pointing at him as they do to a madman." He brought down his staff heavily on the floor. Not long after."We shall be late for the wrestling. who drank a cup or two each. Ikemefuna had an endless stock of folk tales. the "medicine house" or shrine where Okonkwo kept the wooden symbols of his personal god and of his ancestral spirits. "Poor child.

""That is true. "that I shall bring many iron horses when we have settled down among them."Mr. "Those that hear my words are my father and my mother. Their wives also. ozo is so low that every beggar takes it."They do not understand. after the rains. hungry swarm. I shall do that every year until you return. And if anything happened to her could she stop it? She would not dare to enter the underground caves. Nwoye's mother." said Ezelagbo. and it came floating on the wind. He saw himself and his fathers crowding round their ancestral shrine waiting in vain for worship and sacrifice and finding nothing but ashes of bygone days. and all the rest rushed away to see the cow that had been let loose. The married women wore their best cloths and the girls wore red and black waist-beads and anklets of brass.As night fell. and she put all her being into it."Listen to me. The air was cool and damp with dew. She ran faster."Go and bring me some cold water. shook hands with Okonkwo and went into the compound."He led Umuofia to war in those days. A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet."Their clan is now completely empty.The priestess' voice was already growing faint in the distance.

Dangerous animals became even more sinister and uncanny in the dark. Even the oldest men could only remember one or two other occasions somewhere in the dim past. all of a sudden. Soon it covered half the sky. This roasted yam soaked in red palm-oil and eaten in the open farm was sweeter than any meal at home. the distance they had covered. Her name was Nneka. chewing the fish. He trembled with the desire to conquer and subdue. At first Ekwefi accepted her. He went into Ekwefi's hut. But it would be impolite to rush him. '1 am a changed man. all the same."Before God." he said. When all was laid out. Rain fell as it had never fallen before. Can you tell me. He was very good on his flute." was joyfully chanted everywhere. or pounding food."Thank you."They say that Okoli killed the sacred python. food and palm-wine." He presented the kola nut to them."Obiako has always been a strange one."No.

But after a while this custom was stopped because it spoiled the peace which it was meant to preserve.' said her mother."We had meant to set out from my house before cockcrow. She immediately dropped her pestle with which she was grinding pepper. A man can now leave his father and his brothers. When your neighbors go out with their ax to cut down virgin forests." said Okonkwo. "But I want all of you to note what 1 am going to say. It was only when he had got there that it had occurred to him that the priestess might have chosen to go round the villages first. He was determined that his return should be marked by his people. solid drops of frozen water which the people called "the nuts of the water of heaven. You know his first wife who walks with a stick?""Yes. something felt in the marrow. roasting and eating maize. What is it that has happened to our people? Why have they lost the power to fight?""Have you not heard how the white man wiped out Abame?" asked Obierika. Tortoise looked down from the sky and saw his wife bringing things out. whose feeling of importance was manifest in her sprightly walk. His name was Maduka. shrill and powerful. This happened in the rainy season. Okonkwo had not bought snuff from him for a long time. He tried in vain to force the thought out of his mind. Ozoemena??"May it not happen again. overpowered him and obtained his first human head. will you go to see the wrestling?" Ezinma asked after a suitable interval. They too sat just in front of the huge circle of spectators."Answer truthfully."You think you are the greatest sufferer in the world? Do you know that men are sometimes banished for life? Do you know that men sometimes lose all their yams and even their children? I had six wives once.

Very soon after. Okonkwo and his wife followed at a respectful distance. And what was more. Now that she walked slowly she had time to think. Okonkwo had returned home and sat waiting." replied Nwoye. Her voice was as clear as metal."Umezulike. Is it right that you. speaking in a tremulous. He did not inherit a barn from his father. and the sound of wooden mortar and pestle as Nwayieke pounded her foo-foo.The footway had now become a narrow line in the heart of the forest.""They dare not bring fewer than thirty pots. Okonkwo. His mind went back to Ikemefuna and he shivered." And after a pause she said: "Can I bring your chair for you?""No.All the umunna were invited to the feast. the Evil Forest was a fit home for such undesirable people. "Our duty is not to blame this man or to praise that. sat on a mat on the floor. Many people looked around. guns and cannon were fired. Palm trees swayed as the wind combed their leaves into flying crests like strange and fantastic coiffure. "She must have broken her waterpot." said Obierika. She saw the other children with their water-pots and remembered that they were going to fetch water for Obierika's wife. Njide.

""I think she has.But Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through. and they nodded their heads. you wicked daughter of Akalogoli?" Okonkwo swore furiously.The drummers stopped for a brief rest before the real matches. And so he did now. But you were a fearless warrior. and when he got home he went straight to Okonkwo's hut and told him what he had seen." And he arranged the requisite rites and sacrifices. Ani played a greater part in the life of the people than any other diety. Am I dead? They said I would die if i took care of twins.' 'You must return the duckling. but Okonkwo was as slippery as a fish in water. Obiageli brought up the rear." said Okonkwo. and she agreed also. the Creator of all the world and all the men and women. "I have felt it. They will not allow us into the markets. ozo is so low that every beggar takes it." he said." said one of the converts. and they were merely her messengers." Okonkwo said.Ezinma was an only child and the center of her mother's world. lest he strike you in his anger. Her eyes went constantly from Ezinma to the boiling pot and back to Ezinma. For days and nights together it poured down in violent torrents.

Then he took it away to bury in the Evil Forest. And that was also the year Okonkwo broke the peace." said Mr. So he began to plan how he would go to the sky. the people of the sky set before their guests the most delectable dishes Tortoise had even seen or dreamed of. "Beware of exchanging words with Agbala."Obiageli broke her pot today. to harvest cassava tubers. She sometimes broke into a run and stopped again suddenly. Obierika. Sometimes it was not necessary to dig. Nwoye's mother thanked her and she went back to her mother's hut." said Okagbue. and he never saw her again. 'Then we can eat the chick." pleaded from a reasonable distance. He had discerned a clear overtone of tragedy in the crier's voice."On the following Sunday. Ekwefi was reassured. It was a cry in the distance: oji odu aru ijiji-o-o! (The one that uses its tail to drive flies away!). for that was his father's name."I sometimes think he is too sharp. At last Sky was moved to pity. He died of the swelling which was an abomination to the earth goddess. "You might as well say that the woman lies on top of the man when they are making the children. The bride's mother led the way. No."He will do great things.

""I don't know how we got that law." replied Obierika. They also said I would die if I built my church on this ground. A palm-oil lamp gave out yellowish light. therefore. and nodded their heads in approval of all he said. nearly all the osu in Mbanta followed their example. The elders and grandees of the village sat on their own stools brought there by their young sons or slaves. the third highest in the land. The white man has no sense. the white man began to speak to them. When she had borne her third son in succession. Here we say he cannot climb the tall tree but he can tap the short ones standing on the ground. In the end Okonkwo threw the Cat. The air was full of dust and the smell of gunpowder. 'but tell me. a man asks his kinsman to scratch him.Okonkwo sprang from his bed. Have you not heard the song they sing when a woman dies?"'For whom is it well. Kiaga.""It is the result of a great medicine. prophesying. had gained ground. my great friend.The metal gong beat continuously now and the flute. was passing by the church on his way from the neighboring village. Okonkwo cleared his throat. He did not know who the girl was.

" and they argued like this for a few moments before Unoka accepted the honor of breaking the kola. We pray for life. In the end Parrot.""You do not understand. The sun breaking through their leaves and branches threw a pattern of light and shade on the sandy footway. using some of the chicken. red in tooth and claw. was then twelve years old but was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness. with which he made two wings. Obierika. "That is the story. Some of them had been heavily whipped. We must cook quickly or we shall be late for the wrestling. She was rewarded by occasional spells of health during which Ezinma bubbled with energy like fresh palm-wine." She went into the hut again and brought down the smoke-black basket in which she kept her dried fish and other ingredients for cooking soup. they say.- and in this way the cover was strengthened on the wall."And so three goats were slaughtered and a number of fowls. Each of them carried a long cane basket. woman." said Okonkwo. "on an Eke market day a little band of fugitives came into our town. She was going to the stream to fetch water.So Okonkwo encouraged the boys to sit with him in his obi. "Life to all of us. But on one point there was general agreement??the active principle in that medicine had been an old woman with one leg.' he said as they flew on their way. only to return to their places almost immediately.

They said she was coming. Do you know how many children I have buried??children I begot in my youth and strength? Twenty-two. She was particularly fond of Ekwefi's only daughter. It was only from Nwoye's mother that he heard scraps of the story. The way he said it sent cold fear down Ikemefuna's back. and so all the clan was at his funeral." said Ezinma. Okonkwo came next and Ekwefi followed him." said his daughter Ezinma when she brought the food to him. and gave it to Ibe to fill. Obierika offered him a lobe of the kola nut he had broken with Okonkwo. and any time he passed her way he told Ear that he was still alive. men. silencing him." said Mr. But Ekwefi could not see her. all the same. He was to be called All oj you. With this magic fan she beckons to the market all the neighboring clans. His love of talk had grown with age and sickness. and he was not afraid of war. But they have cast you out like lepers." And so they all went to help Obierika's wife??Nwoye's mother with her four children and Ojiugo with her two.'When Ekwefi brought the hoe. But if a man caused it. He threw down the gun and jumped into the barn and there lay the woman. and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad. "So he must have a wife and all of them must have buttocks.

Many of these messengers came from Umuru on the bank of the Great River. Okagbue worked tirelessly and in silence. stopped them. He can curse the gods of his fathers and his ancestors. holding her breasts with her hands to stop them flapping noisily against her body. called her mother by her name. And for many days this rare food was eaten with solid palm-oil. She explained to her why they should not marry yet." As he looked into the log fire he recalled the name. Some people even said that they had heard the spirits flying and flapping their wings against the roof of the cave. Now and again a full-chested lamentation rose above the wailing whenever a man came into the place of death. as if that was paying the big debts first.And then the egwugwu appeared.The Christians had grown in number and were now a small community of men. The troublesome nanny-goat sniffed about. Then he tried to settle the matter the way he used to settle such matters when he was a little boy. old way. and it seemed now as if it was happening all over again. You may ask why I am saying all this. They did not really want them near to the clan." Okonkwo said to the lad. They boast about victory over death. Anyone who knew his grim struggle against poverty and misfortune could not say he had been lucky. Nwoye's mind had gone immediately to Nwayieke. There were many women. and it could not be done later because harvesting would soon set in. unlike the deep and liquid rumbling of the rainy season. They were very fat goats.

"But Nwoye's mother dropped her pot of hot soup the other day and it broke on the floor. sad and pleading. you wicked daughter of Akalogoli?" Okonkwo swore furiously. Hisspeech was so eloquent that all the birds were glad they had brought him. They sang his praise and the young women clapped their hands:"Who will wrestle for our village?Okafo will wrestle for our village. They sat in a half-circle and began to talk of many things. the tumult increased tenfold. She gave the dish to her father's eldest brother and then shook hands.And then the egwugwu appeared. who was fat and whose body shone as if oil was rubbed on it??"She broke off because at that very moment a loud and high-pitched voice broke the outer silence of the night. Temporary cooking tripods were erected on every available space by bringing together three blocks of sun-dried earth and making a fire in their midst. This was one of the lighter tasks of the after-harvest season. who with his brothers and half-brothers had been dancing the traditional farewell to their father. metallic and thirsty clap. Nkechi was the daughter of Okonkwo's third wife. but she must wait for Ezinma to wake. or Evil Spirit. He began to wonder why he had felt uneasy at all. and he was not afraid of war."Don't you know what kind of man Uzowulu is? He will not listen to any other decision. And so one Sunday two of them went into the church."We shall be going. How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us? The white man is very clever. And he was already beginning to know some of the simple stories they told. But that did not alter the facts."Who killed this banana tree?" he asked.Many people went out with baskets trying to catch them. Quick as the lightning of Amadiora.

"and don't allow it to boil over. Is it true that Okonkwo nearly killed you with his gun?""It is true indeed. But as the dog said. She was afraid of what might happen if Chielo suddenly turned round and saw her. "that Okonkwo and I were talking about Abame and Aninta.Ezinma did not call her mother Nne like all children. Every man rose in order of years and took a share."Do you know me?""No man can know you. Okonkwo had committed the female."You have all seen the great abomination of your brother. He was to be called All oj you.And now the rains had really come. guttural and awesome." ';. Kiaga was going to send into the village for his men-converts when he saw them coming on their own." He turned again to Okonkwo and said. why it is that one of the commonest names we give our children is Nneka. She was called Crystal of Beauty." His staff came down again. a good harvest and happiness.She wore a coiffure which was done up into a crest in the middle of the head. But although it had happened so long ago."Everybody thanked Okonkwo and the neighbors brought out their drinking horns from the goatskin bags they carried. As they cut grass in the morning the younger men sang in time with the strokes of their machetes:"Kotma of the ashy buttocks."I have kola. Of course they had all heard the bell-man. Then he poured out for the others. They were already far enough where they stood and there was room for running away if any of them should go towards them.

" said Okonkwo. The earth burned like hot coals and roasted all the yams that had been sown. and he told them stories of the land??masculine stories of violence and bloodshed."Unoka was an ill-fated man. As Idigo had said. Uchendu. and at the end it was decided to follow the normal course of action. he was asking Unoka to return the two hundred cowries he had borrowed from him more than two years before. of course. One day as Ezinma was eating an egg Okonkwo had come in unexpectedly from his hut. the god who cut a man down when his life was sweetest to him. "Life to you. who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo. They only saw the red earth he threw up mounting higher and higher. The men were seized and beaten until they streamed with blood."Ezinma began to cry."Yam pottage was served first because it was lighter than foo-foo and because yam always came first. greeted themselves in their esoteric language." he said. Although he had prospered in his motherland Okonkwo knew that he would have prospered even more in Umuofia. Young men and boys in single file. Two little groups of people stood at a respectable distance beyond the stools."We still have a long way to go. He pushed the thought out of his mind.""All their customs are upside-down. all the descendants of Okolo. as her mother had been called in her youth. But as they drew near to the outskirts of Umuofia silence fell upon them too.

This one had only one hand and it carried a basket full of water."Uzowulu's body. There was coming and going between them. We are only his mother's kinsmen. Kiaga. Nwoye's sister.""That is very true. and he sent his kotma to catch Aneto. when he saw Nwoye among the Christians. As they emerged into the open village from the narrow forest track the darkness was softened and it became possible to see the vague shape of trees.They came in the cold harmattan season after the harvests had been gathered. When they did. and Obiageli told her mournful story. All the grass had long been scorched brown." he swore. buoyant maiden." Okonkwo said to himself again."They say that Okoli killed the sacred python. Sometimes the sun shone through the rain and a light breeze blew. Everybody stood to let her pass and then filed after her. And so Nwoye was developing into a sad-faced youth. folded her arms across her breast and sighed. He had five other sons and he would bring them up in the way of the clan. He sat down again and called two witnesses. But I fear for you young people because you do not understand how strong is the bond of kinship. Marriage should be a play and not a fight so we are falling down again. That was the day it happened. and the solid mass was now broken by tiny eyes of light like shining star dust.

He looked it over and said it was done. 'but tell me. succulent breasts. a long and thin strip of cloth wound round the waist like a belt and then passed between the legs to be fastened to the belt behind. She was nine then and was just recovering from a serious illness."Umuofia kwenu. he.- they must be going towards Umuachi. When a man was afflicted with swelling in the stomach and the limbs he was not allowed to die in the house." suggested Okonkwo.The two teams were ranged facing each other across the clear space. where every woman had a shallow well for fermenting her cassava. The yams were then staked. The seven wasted and weary years were at last dragging to a close. and they had been immediately thrown away. Obierika's relatives and friends began to arrive. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Sometimes another village would ask Unoka's band and their dancing egwugwu to come and stay with them and teach them their tunes."Locusts are descending. Every man and woman came out to see the white man. meanwhile. the harvest of the previous year. bending very low at the eaves. and of the bird eneke-nti-oba who challenged the whole world to a wrestling contest and was finally thrown by the cat. You are a great man in your clan. "I must thank my mother's kinsmen before I go. To abandon the gods of one's father and go about with a lot of effeminate men clucking like old hens was the very depth of abomination. "But if the Oracle said that my son should be killed I would neither dispute it nor be the one to do it.

He had no patience with unsuccessful men."He died this morning. If I had not seen the few survivors with my own eyes and heard their story with my own ears. The law of Umuofia is that if a woman runs away from her husband her bride-price is returned."Father. rubbed his left palm on his body to dry it before tipping a little snuff into it. they set off in a body. the Oracle of the Hills and Caves. And he went. The lad's name was Ikemefuna. She broke them into little pieces across the sole of her foot and began to build a fire. At first it appeared as if it might prove too great for his spirit. women and children."Ekwefi!" a voice called from one of the other huts. They just pulled the stump. They were very fat goats. And that was also the year Okonkwo broke the peace. paid regular visits to them. conversing with his father in low tones." he bellowed a fifth time. and Ojiugo's daughter." said Akukalia. and he could hear his own flute weaving in and out of them. gazing into a log fire. hungry to do harm to the living. looked left and right and turned right. But he was so weak that his legs could hardly carry him. a debtor.

As for Ikemefuna. As she stood gazing at the circular darkness which had swallowed them. taking each string separately. on the day that Nwoye's mother celebrated the birth of her three sons with feasting and music.The men in the obi had already begun to drink the palm-wine which Akueke's suitor had brought. a vibrant silence made more intense by the universal trill of a million million forest insects. The women weeded the farm three times at definite periods in the life of the yams. She stood until Chielo had increased the distance between them and she began to follow again. Ikemefuna felt like a child once more. He was called the Cat because his back would never touch the earth. and two or three pieces of land on which tofarm during the coming planting season. and Ezinma brought his goatskin bag from the far end of the hut. She understood things so perfectly.""And have you never seen them?" asked Machi. No one had actually seen the man do it. It ended on the right. That was his fifth head and he was not an old man yet. Okonkwo stood by. Very often it was Ezinma who decided what food her mother should prepare. Uchendu. The ancient drums of death beat. called the converts the excrement of the clan. The yams were then staked." said Obierika's other companion. occasionally feeling with her palm the wet. The oldest member of this extensive family was Okonkwo's uncle. He could hear in his mind's ear the blood-stirring and intricate rhythms of the ekwe and the udu and the ogene. They were called kotma.

Ekwefi had been returning from the stream with her mother on a dark night like this when they saw its glow as it flew in their direction. I am an old man and you are all children. And if anything happened to her could she stop it? She would not dare to enter the underground caves. he is telling a lie." said Uchendu after a long silence. it said."After kola nuts had been presented and eaten. for Mr. because their dreaded agadi-nwayi would never fight what the Ibo call a fight of blame. Ekwefi uttered a scream and sprang to her feet." replied Okoye. stroking her head. Dangerous animals became even more sinister and uncanny in the dark. Only a week ago a man had contradicted him at a kindred meeting which they held to discuss the next ancestral feast. and on her waist four or five rows of jigida. and it ended on the left.As the palm-wine was drunk one of the oldest members of the umunna rose to thank Okonkwo:"If I say that we did not expect such a big feast I will be suggesting that we did not know how openhanded our son." said Ekwefi. We would then not be held accountable for their abominations."I cannot understand why you refused to come with us to kill that boy. On his head were two powerful horns.But apart from the church. How old is she now?""She is about ten years old. And so they arrived home again. Bring me my daughter. Then the group drank. it said. It had its shrine in the centre of Umuofia.

"That was about five years ago. She will bear you nine sons like the mother of our town. Nwoye."We shall be going. Their church stood on a circular clearing that looked like the open mouth of the Evil Forest. my hand has touched the ground." said Obierika. and cut them up. beans and cassava. He sat down again and called two witnesses. And then after another lifetime these men opened the caves again and the locusts came to Umuofia. Even the sacred fish in their mysterious lake have fled and the lake has turned the color of blood.-but the more he tried the more he thought about him. and after that the dry season. Akueni. who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo. they have killed me!" as he ran towards him. Obiageli. But Ekwefi could not see her.'"None of the birds had heard of this custom but they knew that Tortoise. Beyond that limit no man was suffered to go. "my eyelid is twitching."Ezinma went outside and brought some sticks from a huge bundle of firewood. As she knelt by her. Amalinze was a wily craftsman. Then from the distance came the faint beating of the ekwe. The faint and distant wailing of women settled like a sediment of sorrow on the earth. Everyone looked in the direction of the egwugwu house.

Nwoye was there. Her heart beat violently and she stood still. but it was too far to see what they were." She stood up and pulled out the fan which was fastened into one of the rafters. if it lost its tail it soon grew another. and each wife built a small attachment to her hut for the hens. because her father had called her one evening and said to her: "There are many good and prosperous people here. a thing set apart??a taboo for ever. And so they each took a new name. Thirty."Okonkwo tried to explain to him what his wife had done. But she refused them all. But in this case she ran away to save her life. The men trod dry leaves on the sand. it was in large. a man who pays respect to the great paves the way for his own greatness. my sons.His anger thus satisfied. If a man kills the sacred python in the secrecy of his hut. And she had agreed. bending very low at the eaves. It was only from Nwoye's mother that he heard scraps of the story. She cut the yams into small pieces and began to prepare a pottage." said Ezinma at last."1 have told you to let her alone. And ten thousand men answered "Yaa!" each time." said Ezinma.""It means you are going to cry.

not even for fear of a goddess." said Uchendu after a long silence. He could not stop the rain now. It was a full gathering of umuada. Kiaga that he had decided to go to Umuofia where the white missionary had set up a school to teach young Christians to read and write." said Obierika. "If you had been poor in your last life I would have asked you to be rich when you come again. Worshippers and those who came to seek knowledge from the god crawled on their belly through the hole and found themselves in a dark. and went into the village in the morning to preach the gospel. who was the priest of the earth goddess. long way from home. But no one thought It would be as long as three years. She broke them into little pieces across the sole of her foot and began to build a fire. and sat speechless. "let her not sleep in her hut. who has promised everlasting life to all who believe in His holy name. They had something to say for every man. His name was Uchendu. I know it as I look at you. His wives wept bitterly and their children wept with them without knowing why. But I can trust you. The children were also decorated." said the priestess. to sit with him in his obi. They danced back to the center together and then closed in."I wish she were a boy. Do you not think that they came to our clan by mistake."On the following Sunday.

" she replied. The new year must begin with tasty. or ndichie. and it could not be done later because harvesting would soon set in. he thought. And so. But she had lived so long that perhaps she had decided to stay. carrying a basket full of water. Then everything had been broken. Only the really great men in the clan were able to do this. Okonkwo's second wife had merely cut a few leaves off it to wrap some food."The village has outlawed us. but if one picked out the flute as it went up and down and then broke up into short snatches."Leave that boy at once!" said a voice in the outer compound." Altogether there were fifty pots of wine. When he began again. Sometimes it was not necessary to dig. he belonged to the clan as a whole. But it is not our custom to debar anyone from the stream or the quarry. These moods descended on her suddenly and for no apparent reason. you wicked daughter of Akalogoli?" Okonkwo swore furiously. But he now knew that they were for foolish women and children." she replied.As the day wore on his in-laws arrived from three surrounding villages.The night was impenetrably dark. But the boy was afraid of him and slipped out of the hut as soon as he noticed him dozing. that is not the beginning. and none of them died.