came many years before and where they had built the center of their religion and trade and government.

and he spoke as he performed them:"1 hope our in-laws will bring many pots of wine
and he spoke as he performed them:"1 hope our in-laws will bring many pots of wine. As they cut grass in the morning the younger men sang in time with the strokes of their machetes:"Kotma of the ashy buttocks. She shut her eyes for a while and opened them again in an effort to see.Okonkwo was well received by his mother's kinsmen in Mbanta. And then Nkechi came in. A baby on its mother's back does not know that the way is long. Very often it was Ezinma who decided what food her mother should prepare. especially their hair."Everybody thanked Okonkwo and the neighbors brought out their drinking horns from the goatskin bags they carried. The priestess bent down on one knee and Ezinma climbed on her back. and asked Okonkwo to have a word with him outside. as if he was going to pounce on somebody. They were grieved by the indignity and mourned for their neglected farms. He sat down again and called two witnesses. and as if in sympathy the smoldering log also sighed. He walked back to his obi to await Ojiugo's return." came her voice. Every man wears the thread of title on his ankle. roasting and eating maize. from Umuofia to Mbaino. But if a man caused it. And there he stood in his hard shell full of food and wine but without any wings to fly home. Unoka. There were three men in one group and three men and one woman in the other.

She started to cry. he took up the rag with his left hand and began to untie it. She must have heard a noise behind her and turned round sharply. "But I have also heard that Abame people were weak and foolish. Okonkwo told him. He was called the Cat because his back would never touch the earth. The white man was also their brother because they were all sons of God. It was such a forest that. when Okonkwo's in-laws began to leave for their homes The second day of the new year was the day of the great wrestling match between Okonkwo's village and their neighbors. They throw away large numbers of men and women without burial. At last Sky was moved to pity. A man's life from birth to death was a series of transition rites which brought him nearer and nearer to his ancestors. So I have brought the matter to the fathers of the clan. The elders consulted their Oracle and it told them that the strange man would break their clan and spread destruction among them. And so he changed the subject and talked about music. Idigo was the man who knew how to grind good snuff. 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. Her voice was as clear as metal. Nwoye stood looking at him and did not say a word." said Ogbuefi Ezeudu. The New Yam Festival seemed to him to be a much bigger event here than in his own village. Okonkwo."Everybody thanked Okonkwo and the neighbors brought out their drinking horns from the goatskin bags they carried. shrill and powerful.

" And he arranged the requisite rites and sacrifices. that was how it looked to his father. When the women had exacted the penalty they checked among themselves to see if any woman had failed to come out when the cry had been raised. She could not see beyond her nose. a long." she began.""It is like the story of white men who. And there he stood in his hard shell full of food and wine but without any wings to fly home.That was many years ago. They became ordinary human beings again. Okonkwo had called in another medicine man who was famous in the clan for his great knowledge about ogbanje children."Early in the afternoon the first two pots of palm-wine arrived from Obierika's in-laws. Then something had given way inside him. An oil lamp was lit and Okonkwo tasted from each bowl. His greatest friend. his sixteen-year-old son. The story was always told of a wealthy man who set before his guests a mound of foo-foo so high that those who sat on one side could not see what was happening on the other." said Ofoedu.The women had gone to the bush to collect firewood. Such was Unoka's fate. The elders sat in a big circle and the singers went round singing each man's praise as they came before him. He had been cast out of his clan like a fish onto a dry. for his father's relatives to see. His mother might be dead.

with her suitor and his relatives." said another. How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us? The white man is very clever. the white man began to speak to them. When he had swallowed them."That is not the end of the story. melons and beans between the yam mounds. succulent breasts. And there was eating and drinking till night. None of them was a man of title. Some said Ezimili. He hit the bottle against his knee to shake up the tobacco. It was unheard of to beat somebody during the sacred week. Even the enemy clan knew that. melons and beans between the yam mounds. "one would think he never sucked at his mother's breast. On the second day Uchendu called together his sons and daughters and his nephew. They were mostly the kind of people that were called efulefu. "As our people say.As they trooped through Okonkwo's obi he asked: "Who will prepare my afternoon meal?""I shall return to do it. No matter how prosperous a man was."No. They set out early that morning. and there was a murmur of surprise and disagreement.

Everyone looked in the direction of the egwugwu house. Tortoise also took one. "As for me. she was dead. She understood things so perfectly. He always gnashed his teeth as he listened to those who came to consult him. but if one picked out the flute as it went up and down and then broke up into short snatches. his head pointing to the earth and his legs skywards. "You look very tired. It would not be long before the suitors came.Okonkwo's wives. All the women shouted with joy because Ekwefi's troubles were at last ended.Ezinma and her mother sat on a mat on the floor after their supper of yam foo-foo and bitter-leaf soup. but she went to Okonkwo's compound. who were putting the last delicate touches of razor to her coiffure and cam wood on her smooth skin. But there is just one question I would like to ask him. She could hear the priestess' voice.The Christians had grown in number and were now a small community of men. They danced back to the center together and then closed in. he made sacrifices of atonement and performed an expensive burial ceremony such as was done for a great man. At the end of it Okonkwo was fully convinced that the man was mad. Gome. The words of the hymn were like the drops of frozen rain melting on the dry palate of the panting earth. and long stacks of yam stood out prosperously in it.

I implore you. I married her with my money and my yams. The chalk women also returned to tell a similar story. He wanted first to know why they had been outlawed. Beyond that limit no man was suffered to go.Evil Forest began to speak and all the while he spoke everyone was silent. His mind went to his latest show of manliness. usually before the age of three. Those were good days when a man had friends in distant clans. Ekwefi tried to pull out the horny beak but it was too hard. "You are already a skeleton. and nodded their heads in approval of all he said."The missionary ignored him and went on to talk about the Holy Trinity.""Nna ayi." he said.There were twelve men on each side and the challenge went from one side to the other. They went back to their caves in a distant land. but they had never in all their lives heard of women being debarred from the stream.' he thought as he looked at his ten-year-old daughter. It was the time for treading red earth with which to build walls. And so he regretted every day of his exile. panting. but she was held down. There was an oil lamp in all the four huts on Okonkwo's compound.

Now and again a full-chested lamentation rose above the wailing whenever a man came into the place of death. the king of crops. perhaps for the first time. Do you know how many children I have buried??children I begot in my youth and strength? Twenty-two. to help them in their cooking.Go-di-di-go-go-di-go. "That is the story. and he said so with much threatening. His death showed that the gods were still able to fight their own battles. hung his goatskin bag on his shoulder and went to visit his friend. he said to Okonkwo:"That boy calls you father. This roasted yam soaked in red palm-oil and eaten in the open farm was sweeter than any meal at home. and it could not be done later because harvesting would soon set in. The suitor was a young man of about twenty-five. watching. "Kill one of your sons for me. "Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?""Where they bury children. and her arms folded across her breasts. Your duty is to comfort your wives and children and take them back to your fatherland after seven years. It was an ill omen. He hit the bottle against his knee to shake up the tobacco."Yes. Twenty. though his dialect was different and harsh to the enrs of Mbanta.

Today Okonkwo was not bringing his mother home to be buried with her people.Share-cropping was a very slow way of building up a barn of one's own. If I had not seen the few survivors with my own eyes and heard their story with my own ears. stroking her head. There were three men in one group and three men and one woman in the other. The short trees and sparse undergrowth which surrounded the men's village began to give way to giant trees and climbers which perhaps had stood from the beginning of things.On the third day he asked his second wife." said his eldest brother."Don't you see the pot is full of yams?" Ekwefi asked. 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. very shyly. Obierika. Okonkwo sprang to his feet and quickly sat down again. condemned for seven years to live in a strange land.The Feast of the New Yam was approaching and Umuofia was in a festival mood. Nwoye would feign annoyance and grumble aloud about women and their troubles. In Umunso they do not bargain at all. Umuofia. The locusts settled in the bushes for the night and their wings became wet with dew. do you know me?" asked the spirit."When nearly two years later Obierika paid another visit to his friend in exile the circumstances were less happy. How his mother would weep for joy. The relationship between them was not only that of mother and child. "It is not to pay you back for all you did for me in these seven years.

"'We know you too well." And they dispersed."Yaa!" replied the thunderous crowd.He was a person dedicated to a god. forty." Okonkwo threatened. Women and children returning from the stream with pots of water on their heads wondered what was happening until they saw Okagbue and guessed that it must be something to do with ogbanje. That was not luck. The harmattan was in the air and seemed to distill a hazy feeling of sleep on the world. were whispering together. and Obiageli told her mournful story. Do you know how many children I have buried??children I begot in my youth and strength? Twenty-two. They sat in a half-moon. That was the way the clan at first looked at it. and as it dwelt on it. He would be very much happier working on his farm. And so they fled into Umuofia with a woeful story. The women weeded the farm three times at definite periods in the life of the yams. but the ekwe carried the news to all the nine villages and even beyond. But his whole life was dominated by fear. So much of it was cooked that. had died ten years ago. No woman ever asked questions about the most powerful and the most secret cult in the clan."Ekwefi!" a voice called from one of the other huts.

If. But Ekwefi could not see her. Ekwefi picked her way carefully and quietly. Uchendu pulled gently at his gray beard and gnashed his teeth. not only in his motherland but also in Umuofia."That is not strange. He brought out a sharp razor from the goatskin bag slung from his left shoulder and began to mutilate the child. The young ailing girl who had caused her mother so much heartache had been transformed. "How much longer do you think you will live?" she asked. And not only his chi but his clan too. and the elders of his family. and in the end it was decided to ostracize the Christians." said Akukalia. my child. On his head were two powerful horns. Obierika. The air. If he had killed Ikemefuna during the busy planting season or harvesting it would not have been so bad. The man who dug it up was the same Okagbue who was famous in all the clan for his knowledge in these matters. Let her go and stay with her people. picking his words with great care:"It is Okonkwo that 1 primarily wish to speak to.The metal gong beat continuously now and the flute. The first voice gets to Chukwu. carrying a basket full of water.

carrying a basket full of water. very much shaken and frightened but quite unhurt. She was." replied the other. or old woman. He was poor and his wife and children had barely enough to eat. who was two years younger. May all you took out return again tenfold. Violent deaths were frequent. She had got ready her basket of coco-yams and fish. and so all the clan was at his funeral. "Poor child. of course. who were putting the last delicate touches of razor to her coiffure and cam wood on her smooth skin.He was tall but very thin and had a slight stoop. Obierika pointed at the two heavy bags. there was always a large quantity of food left over at the end of the day. called on Okonkwo in his obi. when the rains had stopped and the sun rose every morning with dazzling beauty. Obierika nodded in agreement. And so he did now.But there were many others who saw the situation differently. She was going to the stream to fetch water. He was quite different.

for he knew certainly that something was amiss. who had begun to play a part in the affairs of his motherland. Wherever he went he carried with him the mark of his forbidden caste??long."That is the strange part of it. And then from the center of the delirious fury came a cry of agony and shouts of horror. The two voices disappeared into the thick darkness."No. When he had swallowed them. Evil men and all the heathen who in their blindness bowed to wood and stone were thrown into a fire that burned like palm-oil. Ogbuefi Ugonna had thought of the Feast in terms of eating and drinking. Then he tried to settle the matter the way he used to settle such matters when he was a little boy. burning forehead. I did not hang myself."Looking at a king's mouth.Okonkwo and his family worked very hard to plant a new farm. when Okonkwo's in-laws began to leave for their homes The second day of the new year was the day of the great wrestling match between Okonkwo's village and their neighbors. men. At an early age he had achieved fame as the greatest wrestler in all the land. buoyant maiden." said one of the cousins." said his eldest brother." 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." and was allowed to go wherever it chose. so heavy and persistent that even the village rain-maker no longer claimed to be able to intervene.

" said Ekwefi. Only the really great men in the clan were able to do this. Why do they always go for one's ears? When he was a child his mother had told him a story about it. Many young men have come to me to ask for yams but I have refused because I knew they would just dump them in the earth and leave them to be choked by weeds. And he went. When they finished. some were orators who spoke for the clan. It was not until the following day that Okonkwo told him the full story. white dregs and said. He was the oldest man in Ire. He was very good on his flute.These outcasts. stopped them. But it was the season of rest between the harvest and the next planting season." he said. deeply. A bowl of pounded yams can throw him in a wrestling match. panting. The elders sat in a big circle and the singers went round singing each man's praise as they came before him. His younger wives did that. No woman ever did.And then the priestess screamed. You are a great man in your clan.""Too much of his grandfather.

For many market weeks nothing else happened. and the hosts looked at each other as if to say. The wave struck the women and children and there was a backward stampede. The seven wasted and weary years were at last dragging to a close. broke into life and activity. They all wore smoked raffia skirts and their bodies were painted with chalk and charcoal. Okonkwo saw clearly the high esteem in which he would be held. he was already one of the greatest men of his time. Thank you. She is buried there." replied Ekwefi. As the rains became heavier the women planted maize. It always surprised him when he thought of it later that he did not sink under the load of despair."Obiageli called her "Salt" because she said that she disliked water. I have waited in vain for my wife to return. If ever a man deserved his success."Obiageli called her "Salt" because she said that she disliked water. She rose. and on their way they paid short courtesy visits to prominent men like Okonkwo." replied Okonkwo. everybody knew by instinct that they were very good to eat. relaxed again. The priestess bent down on one knee and Ezinma climbed on her back. or the children of Eru.

He wanted Nwoye to grow into a tough young man capable of ruling his father's household when he was dead and gone to join the ancestors.But Mr. lasted only a brief moment." Altogether there were fifty pots of wine.""I shall wait too. But in this case she ran away to save her life. He cleared his throat and began:"Thank you for the kola. "Use the fan. the third highest in the land." Ezinma offered. Then the metal gong sounded and the flute was blown."'We know you too well." said Obierika. was quite harmless. and the crowd answered." she said. It was powerful in war and in magic. He had finished it on the very day the locusts came. And if you stand staring at me like that. Obierika presented kola nuts to his in-laws. She would want to hear everything that had happened to him in all these years.Ezeudu had been the oldest man in his village. afraid to go in. Okonkwo's second wife had merely cut a few leaves off it to wrap some food.

he had not slept at all last night. indeed. She will bear you nine sons like the mother of our town." said Ezelagbo. became for Ekwefi mere physical agony devoid of promise. It was a different woman??the priestess of Agbala.Okonkwo's neighbors heard his wife crying and sent their voices over the compound walls to ask what was the matter. Okonkwo and his family went to the farm with baskets of seed-yams. In the end Oduche died and Aneto was taken to Umuru and hanged. indeed."The village has outlawed us. wiping the foam of wine from his mustache with the back of his left hand. They have joined his religion and they help to uphold his government. He walked back to his obi to await Ojiugo's return." said Obierika to his son.- it was either too early or too late. It was not very easy getting the men of high title and the elders together after the excitement of the first day."Ekwefi. And he was afraid to look back. Had she been running too? How could she go so fast with Ezinma on her back? Although the night was cool."Then kill yourself. Ezinma placed her mother's dish before him and sat with Obiageli. "The children are still very young.At last the young man who was pouring out the wine held up half a horn of the thick.

"Get me a pot. he won his first three converts. Between Chielo's outbursts the night was alive with the shrill tremor of forest insects woven into the darkness. or waist beads. They each made nine or ten trips carrying Okonkwo's yams to store in Obierika's barn. white foam rose and spilled over. who saw only its back with the many-colored patterns and drawings done by specially chosen women at regular intervals. "You will find a pot of wine there.""Yes. There was a famine in those days and Tortoise had not eaten a good meal for two moons. Ezinma. watching. '1 am a changed man. and they beat the men. It was on the seventh day that he died. When they saw it they drove it back to its owner. and the smell of burning hair blended with the smell of cooking.Many years ago when Okonkwo was still a boy his father. What she had seen was the shape of a man climbing a palm tree.""Is he well?" asked Nwoye. Obierika. Anasi was the first wife and the others could not drink before her. I will only have a son who is a man.Okonkwo knew these things.

Amikwu. With the help of his mother's kinsmen he built himself an obi and three huts for his wives. And as if they had been waiting for that.Then the tragedy of his first son had occurred. and stayed. I weed ?C I??; ??Hold your peace!" screamed the priestess."I cannot understand why you refused to come with us to kill that boy. I know what it is to ask a man to trust another with his yams.""I don't know how we got that law. and he loved the first kites that returned with the dry season. He calls you his father." said Okonkwo as he rose to go. But by the end of the day the sisal rings were burned dry and gray. But as they drew near to the outskirts of Umuofia silence fell upon them too. He told them that the true God lived on high and that all men when they died went before Him for judgment. but the villagers told them that there was no king. Okonkwo. who was Okonkwo's father." said Ofoedu. She ran faster. The man who dug it up was the same Okagbue who was famous in all the clan for his knowledge in these matters. Unoka. I think. She would want to hear everything that had happened to him in all these years.

That was why Okonkwo had been Chosen by the nine villages to carry a message of war to their enemies unless they agreed to give up a young man and a virgin to atone for the murder of Udo's wife. and men. The story had arisen among the Christians themselves. "1 told you. Everybody was lean except Cat. Sometimes the sun shone through the rain and a light breeze blew." He waved his arm where most of the young men sat." they said. saw clearly that Okonkwo had yielded to despair and he was greatly troubled." Uzowulu replied. There was something in it like the companionship of equals." And he arranged the requisite rites and sacrifices. He ordered the outcasts to shave off their long. He was to be called All oj you." said the woman. Okonkwo looked up from his work and wondered if it was going to rain at such an unlikely time of the year. having enough in his barn to feed the ancestors with regular sacrifices. I weed ?C I??; ??Hold your peace!" screamed the priestess."Our father. I have done my best to make Nwoye grow into a man. And she realized too with something like a jerk that Chielo was no longer moving forward. burning forehead. prophesying. And she enjoyed above all the secrecy in which she now ate them.

She sometimes broke into a run and stopped again suddenly. Sometimes it poured down in such thick sheets of water that earth and sky seemed merged in one gray wetness. Their bodies shone with sweat. touching the earth. and all were happy. They surged forward as the two young men danced into the circle." Mosquito went away humiliated. Wherever he went he carried with him the mark of his forbidden caste??long." He presented the kola nut to them.- the only thing worth demonstrating was strength. When they saw it they drove it back to its owner."You have not eaten for two days. He remembered his wife's twin children. And he went. but he did not say it. And then suddenly she had begun to shiver in the night." Some of them had big sticks and some even machetes. but inwardly they were happy for what they took to be their own foresight. his face beaming with blessedness and peace.It was a great funeral. It is good in these days when the younger generation consider themselves wiser than their sires to see a man doing things in the grand. who was once the village beauty. But I fear for you young people because you do not understand how strong is the bond of kinship."As they spoke Ezinma emerged from the hut.

A man could not rise beyond the destiny of his chi. who was also the youngest man in the group.On a moonlight night it would be different."Oho. But Ekwefi was not thinking about that. "and yet he is full of sorrow because he has come to live in his motherland for a few years. It was a great feast." replied the other. and nodded their heads in approval of all he said. Darkness held a vague terror for these people. It was a miracle. The soup was brought out hot from the fire and in the very pot in which it had been cooked. forty. there was no other way.His anger thus satisfied. They usually stay if they do not die before the age of six. But very few people had ever seen that kind of wrestling before. condemned for seven years to live in a strange land. They chose to fly home on an empty stomach. who would not lend his knife for cutting up dogmeat because the dog was taboo to him. one of those wicked children who." said Obierika. Some years the harmattan was very severe and a dense haze hung on the atmosphere. "Those that hear my words are my father and my mother.

the sun is shining. Ezenwa took it." He paused. "Look at those lines of chalk. Dazed with fear. that night. The interpreter explained each verse to the audience." he said."Have you?" asked Obierika. asked her""Remember that if you do not answer truthfully you will suffer or even die at childbirth. you sow your yams on exhausted farms that take no labor to clear. Obierika's son. The birds were silenced in the forests. and of the bird eneke-nti-oba who challenged the whole world to a wrestling contest and was finally thrown by the cat. He was roused in the morning by someone banging on his door. won a handful of converts and were already sending evangelists to the surrounding towns and villages. It was a miracle. It was after such a day at the farm during the last harvest that Nwoye had felt for the first time a snapping inside him like the one he now felt. "do you not grow yams where you come from?"Inwardly Okonkwo knew that the boys were still too young to understand fully the difficult art of preparing seed-yams. because you understand us and we understand you. But they were very rare and short-lived."That woman standing there is my wife. Some of them came over to see for themselves. I forgot to tell you another thing which the Oracle said.

"What is iyi-uwa?" she asked in return. He stepped forward."Ekwefi. He began to wonder why he had felt uneasy at all. But Chielo's voice was still a long way away. Kiaga. when he slept. I kill a man on the day that his life is sweetest to him. when Mr. It is not bravery when a man fights with a woman." said Obierika." said another. It was not that they had been lazy. he was at a loss. "You are not a stranger in Umuofia. But he now knew that they were for foolish women and children." He paused. There was a famine in those days and Tortoise had not eaten a good meal for two moons. He had an old rusty gun made by a clever blacksmith who had come to live in Umuofta long ago. He is always in a hurry. The iron horse was still tied to the sacred silk-cotton tree. There was no festival in all the seasons of the year which gave her as much pleasure as the wrestling match. Some said Okafo was the better man.Okonkwo brought out his snuff-bottle and offered it to Ogbuefi Ezenwa.

At first Ekwefi accepted her."Akueke moved to the other end of the hut and began to remove the waist-beads. At the most one could say that his chi or personal god was good. At the end."Okonkwo tried to explain to him what his wife had done."No. The cloud had lifted and a few stars were out. She was called Crystal of Beauty. who has promised everlasting life to all who believe in His holy name. Maduka. they say. Okonkwo slept."Bring me a hoe. no matter how heavily the family ate or how many friends and relatives they invited from neighboring villages. Kiaga."Where is Mgbogo?" asked one of them. Five matches ended in this way. Hisspeech was so eloquent that all the birds were glad they had brought him. and so everyone in his family listened. who has promised everlasting life to all who believe in His holy name. Okonkwo ate the food absent-mindedly.' said the young kite. It had to be done slowly and carefully. where the white men first came many years before and where they had built the center of their religion and trade and government.