how."Will you give Ezinma some fire to bring to me?" Her own children and Ikemefuna had gone to the stream.

"she will bring you back very soon
"she will bring you back very soon. her voice terrible as it echoed through the dark void. And what is the result? Their clan is full of the evil spirits of these unburied dead. In the other group were her husband. All the neighbors and relations who had come to mourn gathered round them. the twins still remained where they had been thrown away."They would have gone on arguing had Ofoedu not come in just then."Swear on this staff of my fathers. nine wives and thirty children." she began.But Ekwefi did not hear these consolations. I have only called you together because it is good for kinsmen to meet. "Tortoise and Cat went to wrestle against Yams??no. and she put all her being into it.That night a bell-man went through the length and breadth of Mbanta proclaiming that the adherents of the new faith were thenceforth excluded from the life and privileges of the clan. but he had not expected he would be so generous. Rain fell as it had never fallen before. his children and their mothers in the new year. It was a different woman??the priestess of Agbala." he said. And they began to shoot.' he thought as he looked at his ten-year-old daughter. Do you know how many children I have buried??children I begot in my youth and strength? Twenty-two. with Ezinma sleeping on her back. for Mr. Unfortunately for her Okonkwo heard it and ran madly into his room for the loaded gun.The last big rains of the year were falling. One man tied his cloth to a tree branch and hanged himself.

Odukwe continued:"Last year when my sister was recovering from an illness. This man told him that the child was an ogbanje. They were very fat goats." said the medicine man. They were very happy and began to prepare themselves for the great day. or old woman. Only a week ago a man had contradicted him at a kindred meeting which they held to discuss the next ancestral feast. women and children. But he had long learned how to lay that ghost. And when he got there he found it was a man making a sacrifice. His greatest friend. paid regular visits to them."Where is Mgbogo?" asked one of them. and soon the children were chasing one of their cocks. The ancient drums of death beat. The elders consulted their Oracle and it told them that the strange man would break their clan and spread destruction among them."What is iyi-uwa?" she asked in return. They came when misfortune dogged their steps or when they had a dispute with their neighbors. And every man whose arm was strong."You have not eaten for two days. I cannot live on the bank of a river and wash my hands with spittle."You know what it is. Kiaga. The neighbors and Okonkwo's wives were now talking." said Obierika. Ezinma had not wanted to cooperate with him at first.'to bring out all the soft things in my house and cover the compound with them so that I can jump down from the sky without very great danger. So I shall ask you to come again the way you came before.

But he had long learned how to lay that ghost. for he knew certainly that something was amiss.' Maduka has been watching your mouth. the village playground. "I shall survive anything. For many market weeks nothing else happened. came into the obi from outside. The rain fell in thin." he asked. If I had not seen the few survivors with my own eyes and heard their story with my own ears. Even the very little children seemed to know."I shall return very soon."That was many years ago. women and children." He threw his head down and gnashed his teeth. or playground. That was the way people answered calls from outside. Clearly his personal god or chi was not made for great things. It was always quiet except on moonlight nights. Most of the men and women of Abame had gone to their farms.When the women retired."Uzowulu's body."He said something."Ekwefi!" a voice called from one of the other huts." said Mr. was expected to invite large numbers of guests from far and wide. My case is finished. and its priests and medicine men were feared in all the surrounding country.

No woman ever asked questions about the most powerful and the most secret cult in the clan." he said. but the villagers told them that there was no king. touching the earth. carrying a pot of palm-wine on his head. The first people who saw him ran away. He remembered his wife's twin children. and the new faith was a mad dog that had come to eat it up." 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." said one of the cousins. who must taste his wine before anyone else. He dared not go too near the missionaries for fear of his father. The titled men and elders sat on their stools waiting for the trials to begin. she has told me about it. "honest men and thieves. and terror seized her. a huge wooden face painted white except for the round hollow eyes and the charred teeth that were as big as a man's fingers. There must have been about ten thousand men there. The man who had whispered now called out aloud. woman.' said her mother. do you know me?" asked the spirit. male and female. Nwoye's mother. When he had swallowed them. Okonkwo remembered his own father."Why is Okonkwo with us today? This is not his clan.The arrival of the missionaries had caused a considerable stir in the village of Mbanta.

Kiaga restrained them. my sons. her voice cracking like the angry bark of thunder in the dry season." The crowd agreed." said his daughter Ezinma when she brought the food to him." replied Nwoye. "Bear no hand in his death.But Ekwefi did not hear these consolations. especially these days when young men are afraid of hard work." Ezinma said. His wives wept bitterly and their children wept with them without knowing why. He had become wholly absorbed into his new family. 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. It was a very expensive ceremony and he was gathering all his resources together. Then he would show his wealth by initiating his sons into the ozo society. The world was now peopled with vague. She was about sixteen and just ripe for marriage. But there were some too who came because they had friends in our town.""Ee-e-e!""This is not the first time my people have come to marry your daughter. Let us give them a real battlefield in which to show their victory. He had an old rusty gun made by a clever blacksmith who had come to live in Umuofta long ago. It is a bad custom which these people observe because they lack understanding.""Nwoye is old enough to impregnate a woman.The drums beat and the flutes sang and the spectators held their breath. There was nothing new in that.Okonkwo planted what was left of his seed-yams when the rains finally returned. When a man was afflicted with swelling in the stomach and the limbs he was not allowed to die in the house."Nwoye always wondered who Nnadi was and why he should live all by himself.

Ezeudu had been the oldest man in his village.Mr." said Nwoye's mother." and on each occasion he faced a different direction and seemed to push the air with a clenched fist. or with their father in his obi warming themselves from a log fire. It was difficult to say which the people enjoyed more. But the one knew what the other was thinking.The wrestlers were not there yet and the drummers held the field. Mr. too busy to argue.The sun rose slowly to the center of the sky. The three white men and a very large number of other men surrounded the market. which means "the good one. to roast plantains for him. and looked at her palms. Nwoye. The drums went mad and the crowds also. 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. as husbands' wives were wont to. In that way she will elude her wicked tormentor and break its evil cycle of birth and death. for although nobody else knew it. Nothing wouldhappen to Ezinma. In fact he recovered from his illness only a few days before the Week of Peace began. others Abame or Aninta. But her love of wrestling contests was still as strong as it was thirty years ago. and it was said that. where every woman had a shallow well for fermenting her cassava.It came slowly.

There was no festival in all the seasons of the year which gave her as much pleasure as the wrestling match. "Where are you going?" he asked. "But what is good in one place is bad in another place. In front of them was a row of stools on which nobody sat. Why do the nations rage and the peoples imagine a vain thing? He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. making music and feasting. It was like pouring grains of corn into a bag full of holes. Her brass anklets rattled as she danced and her body gleamed with cam wood in the soft yellow light.Mr. I know what it is to ask a man to trust another with his yams. His words may also be good. There was once a man who went to sell a goat. He then invited the birds to eat." said Nwoye's mother. if a child washed his hands he could eat with kings. And that could not be. Sometimes another village would ask Unoka's band and their dancing egwugwu to come and stay with them and teach them their tunes. it seeks sympathy in its mother's hut.""An albino. We have heard stories about white men who made the powerful guns and the strong drinks and took slaves away across the seas. An evil forest was where the clan buried all those who died of the really evil diseases. When they were out of earshot. as was the custom. away from the gates of God and from the tender shepherd's care. making music and feasting. It was slow and painful. One day as Ezinma was eating an egg Okonkwo had come in unexpectedly from his hut. yams of the old year were all disposed of by those who still had them.

But Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through.""You were very much like that yourself. Let us give them a real battlefield in which to show their victory. Okonkwo. There was pounded yam and also yam pottage cooked with palm-oil and fresh fish. All the neighbors and relations who had come to mourn gathered round them.The priestess' voice came at longer intervals now. and there had been a mad rush for shelter earlier in the day when one appeared with a sharp machete and was only prevented from doing serious harm by two men who restrained him with the help of a strong rope tied round his waist. He changed them every day. And you. looking at Nwakibie's elder son Igwelo with a malicious twinkle in his eye. "Every day I tell you that jigida and fire are not friends. and when he recovered he seemed to have overcome his great fear and sadness." said one man. But it was momentary. and her arms folded across her breasts. by Okonkwo's brusqueness in dealing with less successful men. They have joined his religion and they help to uphold his government. And what is the result? Their clan is full of the evil spirits of these unburied dead. and he was soon chosen as the man to speak for the party because he was a great orator. We put our fingers into our ears to stop us hearing. only more holy than the village variety. looking up from the yams she was peeling.Ezinma did not call her mother Nne like all children. He could neither marry nor be married by the free-born."I cannot understand why you refused to come with us to kill that boy. When he had swallowed them. A man can now leave his father and his brothers.

On her arms were red and yellow bangles. as the saying goes. He drank palm-wine from morning till night.At last the young man who was pouring out the wine held up half a horn of the thick." said her mother. On her arms were red and yellow bangles. on their backs and their thighs.Okonkwo's neighbors heard his wife crying and sent their voices over the compound walls to ask what was the matter. roots and barks of medicinal trees and shrubs. but achievement was revered. "As our people say."Father. They called him the little bird nza who so far forgot himself after a heavy meal that he challenged his chi."Swear on this staff of my fathers. She stood for a while."At that moment Obierika's son. but its vigor was undiminished.'"He began to eat and the birds grumbled angrily. if one finger brought oil it soiled the others. We do not pray to have more money but to have more kinsmen. She rose. and as it dwelt on it." He paused for a long while. whose name was Ibe. If you had been a coward. with a start. and the crowd answered. the shouting and the firing of guns.

1 know more about the world than any of you."The white man's court has decided that it should belong to Nnama's family. They also said I would die if I built my church on this ground. before they finally left for their village. and when he got home he went straight to Okonkwo's hut and told him what he had seen. 'There is something ominous behind the silence. as husbands' wives were wont to."I am calling a feast because I have the wherewithal.Okonkwo was also feeling tired. The rainbow was called the python of the sky. But he had long learned how to lay that ghost.Ezinma lay shivering on a mat beside a huge fire that her mother had kept burning all night. who were still outside the circle. Kiaga stopped them and began to explain. Okonkwo's youngest wife also came out and joined the others. Some were great farmers. Ezeudu was the oldest man in this quarter of Umuofia.' And so Daughter Kite returned the duckling and took a chick instead. But it was the season of rest between the harvest and the next planting season."Ezeudu!" he called in his guttural voice. they kept their imagination to themselves. "Ozoemena was."Nwoye did not fully understand."Yes. and you are afraid." replied Uzowulu. One of them was so old and infirm that he leaned heavily on a stick. And they began to shoot.

All others stood except those who came early enough to secure places on the few stands which had been built by placing smooth logs on forked pillars.""What will I see?" she asked. 'You have taken back your sister."You are right. "Thank you for calling us together." said Ibe."I sometimes think he is too sharp. and we expected a big feast. And he found that Okonkwo did not wish to speak about Nwoye. But the boy was afraid of him and slipped out of the hut as soon as he noticed him dozing. all the descendants of Okolo. Three young men from the victorious boy's team ran forward. Thelocusts had not come for many. a man asks his kinsman to scratch him. one of these women went to Ozoemena's hut and told her. As the evening drew near. It is a bad custom which these people observe because they lack understanding. gome. Then everything had been broken. very shyly.After the singing the interpreter spoke about the Son of God whose name was Jesu Kristi. The bride-price had been paid and all but the last ceremony had been performed. Umuofia has decided to kill him. And so Nwoye was developing into a sad-faced youth. I knew your father. Groups of four or five men sat round with a pot in their midst. a fairly small swarm came. Okonkwo.

In her hand was the cloth pad on which the pot should have rested on her head."Who is that?" he growled. So he waited impatiently for the dry season to come. three times. All that he required was something to occupy his mind. and which she no doubt still told to her younger children??stories of the tortoise and his wily ways. They asked who the king of the village was. which was fastened to the rafters. The faint and distant wailing of women settled like a sediment of sorrow on the earth. No punishment was prescribed for a man who killed the python knowingly. and on the other the offer of a young man and a virgin as compensation. and a little hoe for digging out the tuber. They were silent for a long time."As he was speaking the boy returned. "there is no slave or free. He had not hoped to get more than four hundred seeds. I would not have believed. whose name was Ibe. Why. How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us? The white man is very clever. nearly half a day's journey away." Okonkwo said. and Okeke says we should pretend not to see. 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. "You might as well say that the woman lies on top of the man when they are making the children. pushed back the bolt on his door and ran into Ekwefi's hut. And they all knew Ekwefi and her daughter very well. making music and feasting.

Gradually the rains became lighter and less frequent. to roast plantains for him. The heathen speak nothing but falsehood. The inhabitants of Mbanta expected them all to be dead within four days. eating the peelings. metallic and thirsty clap. He would speak to him after the isa-ifi ceremony. Okonkwo. Amalinze was the great wrestler who for seven years was unbeaten. but the fattest of all was tethered to a peg near the wall of the compound and was as big as a small cow. He still had the eight hundred from Nwakibie and the four hundred from his father's friend. He was merely led into greater complexities. saluted the spirits and began his story. more terrible and more sinister than the anger. Tortoise began to sniff aloud. which children were rarely allowed to eat because such food tempted them to steal. From a distance the noise was a deep rumble carried by the wind. They faced the elders. have no toes. And then after another lifetime these men opened the caves again and the locusts came to Umuofia. "that was why the snake-lizard killed his mother.There were seven men in Obierika's hut when Okonkwo returned.Soon after Ofoedu left. That was in fact the reason why he had come to see Unoka. It is not bravery when a man fights with a woman. It was very much like Obiageli. The men stood outside the circle. who was once the village beauty.

"When this was interpreted to the men of Mbanta they broke into derisive laughter. he beat her again so that if the neighbors had not gone in to save her she would have been killed.It was a great funeral. Okonkwo's first wife. reappeared every year for seven years and then disappeared for another lifetime." The man who had contradicted him had no titles. I did not send her away. spread her mat on the floor and built a fire. The troublesome nanny-goat sniffed about. Ogbuefi Idigo was talking about the palm-wine tapper. he belonged to the clan as a whole. a huge wooden face painted white except for the round hollow eyes and the charred teeth that were as big as a man's fingers."When this was interpreted to the men of Mbanta they broke into derisive laughter. Ekwefi even gave her such delicacies as eggs. Okonkwo. At such times she seemed beyond danger.In this way Akuke's bride-price was finally settled at twenty bags of cowries. where he thought they must be.- then silence descended from the sky and swallowed the noise." said Obiageli. The crowd then shouted with ainger and thirst for blood. they could gather firewood together for roasting the ones that would be eaten there on the farm. as you know. "When did you become one of the ndichie of Umuofia?"And so Nwoye's mother took Ikemefuna to her hut and asked no more questions. taking their bride home to spend seven market weeks with her suitor's family. and he loved this season of the year. She had. As the elders said.

Ikemefuna was equally excited. But it was as silly as all women's stories."I am following Chielo. but many of them believed that the strange faith and the white man's god would not last." he had said. called her mother by her name.""An albino. I shall do that every year until you return. "Life to you." he said sadly."Having spoken plainly so far. "Okoli told me himself that it was false. The spirit of wars was upon them." she said. A child cannot pay for its mother's milk.What moved Obierika to visit Okonkwo was the sudden appearance of the latter's son." he said. But they have cast you out like lepers.'"'You do not know me. How else could they say that Ani and Amadiora were harmless? And Idemili and Ogwugwu too? And some of them began to go away."It was my husband's.By the time Onwumbiko died Ekwefi had become a very bitter woman. and the crowd followed her. Those men of Abame were fools. I have already spoken to you about him. Okonkwo's fear was greater than these. smiled broadly and said to his father: "Do you hear that?" He then said to the others: "He will never admit that I am a good tapper. But he was so weak that his legs could hardly carry him.

cooking and eating. Old men and children would then sit round log fires. And so they arrived home again. mother is going." said another woman." said Uchendu after a long silence."Although they were almost the same age. she had said. In fact he had not killed a rat with his gun. The rainbow began to appear. and he sought to correct him by constant nagging and beating. They went back to their caves in a distant land. As she buried one child after another her sorrow gave way to despair and then to grim resignation. Ezinma turned left as if she was going to the stream."I am calling a feast because I have the wherewithal. It said that other white men were on their way. There was once a man who went to sell a goat. It was the day on which her suitor (having already paid the greater part of her bride-price) would bring palm-wine not only to her parents and immediate relatives but to the wide and extensive group of kinsmen called umunna. Okonkwo's youngest wife. or Evil Spirit. It was unbelievable. He was called the Cat because his back would never touch the earth." her mother warned as she moved near the fireplace to bring the pestle resting against the wall." he said. And if you stand staring at me like that. She will be a good wife to you.That night he collected his most valuable belongings into head-loads. or waist beads.

even the bravest among them."Yes. In the morning he went back to his farm and saw the withering tendrils. Most of them were sons of our land whose mothers had been buried with us.' But my wife's brothers said they had nothing to tell me. If a man kills the sacred python in the secrecy of his hut.Ikemefuna heard a whisper close behind him and turned round sharply. followed by the bride and the other women. 'There is something ominous behind the silence.""What has happened to that piece of land in dispute?" asked Okonkwo. But each time she had borne twins. In the end he decided that Nnadi must live in that land of Ikemefuna's favorite story where the ant holds his court in splendor and the sands dance forever. She was alive and well.At first.Many others spoke. In the end Oduche died and Aneto was taken to Umuru and hanged. They also drank water from small pots and ate kola nuts. forty. 'You have done very well. Unoka.But the most dreaded of all was yet to come. took a long broom and swept the ground in front of his father's obi. "Life to you." They offered them as much of the Evil Forest as they cared to take. Here we say he cannot climb the tall tree but he can tap the short ones standing on the ground. Marriage should be a play and not a fight so we are falling down again. He was like an elder brother to Nwoye." replied Okukwe.

At the end. Let her go and stay with her people."What happened?" her mother asked. His name was Maduka. He searched his bag and brought out his snuff-bottle. and the sun seemed hidden behind a thick cloud. He had been a great and fearless warrior in his time. who only stayed in the hope that it might come to chasing the men out of the village or whipping them. and a man who committed it must flee from the land. There were six of them and one was a white man. The eight other egwugwu were as still as statues. He still remembered the song:Eze elina. But Chielo ignored what he was trying to say and went on shouting that Agbala wanted to see his daughter. He grew rapidly like a yam tendril in the rainy season. and then.Ikezue held out his right hand. Sometimes it poured down in such thick sheets of water that earth and sky seemed merged in one gray wetness. But in spite of these disadvantages. "She should have been a boy."Ezinma began to cry. Why is that? Your mother was brought home to me and buried with my people. Trees were uprooted and deep gorges appeared everywhere. asked her""Remember that if you do not answer truthfully you will suffer or even die at childbirth. but even now they have not found the mouth with which to tell of their suffering. We would then not be held accountable for their abominations. And immediately Okonkwo's eyes were opened and he saw the whole matter clearly. He sang. but he did not answer.

"He sprang to his feet.The footway had now become a narrow line in the heart of the forest."As soon as he entered his last year in exile Okonkwo sent money to Obierika to build him two huts in his old compound where he and his family would live until he built more huts and the outside wall of his compound." said Ezinma. He did not inherit a barn from his father. The bride-price had been paid and all but the last ceremony had been performed.But there was a young lad who had been captivated. and asked no questions. But there was no doubt that he liked the boy."Bring me my bag. he is not too young. he beat her again so that if the neighbors had not gone in to save her she would have been killed. every man with his goatskin bag hung on one shoulder and a rolled goatskin mat under his arm. We did not see it." said Ekwefi."When nearly two years later Obierika paid another visit to his friend in exile the circumstances were less happy." She died in her eleventh month. The priestess was now saluting the village of Umuachi. I am Fire-that-burns-without-faggots. Okonkwo ate the food absent-mindedly."I have come to you for help. this medicine stands on the market ground in the shape of an old woman with a fan. He could not stop the rain now." replied Nwoye. I have cleared a farm but have no yams to sow. 'There is nothing to fear from someone who shouts. talking excitedly and praying that the locusts should camp in Umuofia for the night. and there was a murmur of surprise and disagreement.

Okoye said the next half a dozen sentences in proverbs. With the help of his mother's kinsmen he built himself an obi and three huts for his wives.' And so Daughter Kite returned the duckling and took a chick instead. They danced back to the center together and then closed in. How a woman could carry a child of that size so easily and for so long was a miracle. "It is not to pay you back for all you did for me in these seven years. Ezinma?""She has been very well for some time now. Even a man's motherland is strange to him nowadays. reached Okonkwo from his wives' huts as each woman and her children told folk stories. "And you know how leaves become smaller after cooking. and his relatives. Okonkwo had begun to sow with the first rains. Your mother is there to protect you.- one could not have known where one's mouth was in the darkness of that night. worthless. during the last harvest season. He was to be called All oj you.Ezinma led the way back to the road. and the quiet spectators murmured to themselves. At first they were afraid they might die. He worshipped them with sacrifices of kola nut. stroking her head. You know as well as I do that our forefathers ordained that before we plant any crops in the earth we should observe a week in which a man does not say a harsh word to his neighbor. Even the smell of gunpowder was swallowed in the sickly smell that now filled the air. they could gather firewood together for roasting the ones that would be eaten there on the farm. had asked Ear to marry him.Umuofia had indeed changed during the seven years Okonkwo had been in exile. was a very exacting king.

They became ordinary human beings again." said someone light-heartedly and the crowd laughed. But I want you to have nothing to do with it. "She has iba. nearly half a day's journey away. Ekwefi was reassured. Tortoise looked down from the sky and saw his wife bringing things out. and tears stood in his eyes. He who brings kola brings life.""Too much of his grandfather. The law of Umuofia is that if a woman runs away from her husband her bride-price is returned. I am not afraid of work. took the lump of chalk. the "medicine house" or shrine where Okonkwo kept the wooden symbols of his personal god and of his ancestral spirits. He searched his bag and brought out his snuff-bottle. No one had actually seen the man do it.In spite of this incident the New Yam Festival was celebrated with great joy in Okonkwo's household. and old men and women would remember their youth. She placed Ezinma carefully on the bed and went away without saying a word to anybody. And she had agreed. away from the crowd. looking at the position of the sun. As for his converts. had gone to consult Agbala."Your buttocks understand our language. He was determined that his return should be marked by his people."Odukwe was short and thickset. I have none now except that young girl who knows not her right from her left.

It was the day on which her suitor (having already paid the greater part of her bride-price) would bring palm-wine not only to her parents and immediate relatives but to the wide and extensive group of kinsmen called umunna. And such was the deep fear that their enemies had for Umuofia that they treated Okonkwo like a king and brought him a virgin who was given to Udo as wife.""Yes. I sacrifice a cock to Ani. They were called kotma. The moon was definitely rising. But they have cast you out like lepers. Alone Nnadi is cooking and eating."On what market-day was it born?" he asked. Sometimes it was not necessary to dig."It was in the second year of Okonkwo's exile that his friend. Obierika nodded in agreement. The daughters of Uehuiona were also there. Some of these prisoners were men of title who should be above such mean occupation." And after a pause she said: "Can I bring your chair for you?""No. She was." Okonkwo said. and washed away the yam heaps. And before the cock crowed Okonkwo and his family were fleeing to his motherland. clay and metal instruments went from song to song. or God's house. The first rains were late. There were also pots of yam pottage. Some of it also went to the bride and her attendant maidens. and he knew it was due to Ikemefuna. who also counted them and said:"We had not thought to go below thirty. The titled men and elders sat on their stools waiting for the trials to begin. which were passed round for all to see and then returned to him.

Many years ago another egwugwu had dared to stand his ground before him and had been transfixed to the spot for two days. When all seemed ready he let himself go. They settled on every tree and on every blade of grass. Okonkwo. met to hear a report of Okonkwo's mission. "They use medicine. Even the smell of gunpowder was swallowed in the sickly smell that now filled the air. He was in fact an outcast. Every man rose in order of years and took a share. but they were really talking at the top of their voices. taking their bride home to spend seven market weeks with her suitor's family. Do you not think that they came to our clan by mistake. The rains had come and yams had been sown." He filled the first horn and gave to his father. Amikwu. He had cracked them himself.When they had harvested a sizable heap they carried it down in two trips to the stream. "I have even heard that in some tribes a man's children belong to his wife and her family. therefore.""They are not all that young."Do what you are told. The whole church raised a protest and was about to drive these people out. and others who could think of nowhere else open to escape. Brown." asked another man. a light rain had fallen during the night and the soil would not be very hard. making music and feasting." Okonkwo said.

thus completing a circle with their hosts. Ezeudu was to be buried after dark with only a glowing brand to light the sacred ceremony. Even those which Nwoye knew already were told with a new freshness and the local flavor of a different clan. I would have asked you to bring courage. from Umuofia to Mbaino. But he was always uncomfortable sitting around for days waiting for a feast or getting over it. Every man rose in order of years and took a share. Aninta. "Those that hear my words are my father and my mother. They were the harbingers sent to survey the land. Dew fell heavily and the air was cold.Go-di-di-go-go-di-go. Nwoye.Gradually the rains became lighter and less frequent. Some said Okafo was the better man.""Anyway. Young men pounded the foo-foo or split firewood.Okonkwo did not taste any food for two days after the death of Ikemefuna."You are a big man now."I did not say He had a wife. blew into it to remove any dust that might be there.There were twelve men on each side and the challenge went from one side to the other. Two little groups of people stood at a respectable distance beyond the stools. They argued for a short while and fell into silence again. or what?"The interpreter spoke to the white man and he immediately gave his answer. The fact was that Obiageli had been making inyanga with her pot."Unoka was like that in his last days. These court messengers were greatly hated in Umuofia because they were foreigners and also arrogant and high-handed.

The pit was now so deep that they no longer saw the digger."It was my husband's. That also is true. But she had lived so long that perhaps she had decided to stay. another group with hoes and baskets to the village earth pit. Okonkwo made a present of two cocks to them. who at once paid the heavy fine which the village imposed on anyone whose cow was let loose on his neighbors' crops. and the burial was near. He searched his bag and brought out his snuff-bottle. It was a little village called Mbanta. Then he tried to settle the matter the way he used to settle such matters when he was a little boy. let his wing break. might have noticed that the second egwugwu had the springywalk of Okonkwo. "She has iba. I did not hang myself. When he walked. another man asked a question: "Where is the white man's horse?" he asked. He was imprisoned with all the leaders of his family. The faint and distant wailing of women settled like a sediment of sorrow on the earth." Ezinma began. But in spite of these disadvantages.Ikezue held out his right hand."He gave his mother seven baskets of vegetables to cook and in the end there were only three. He still thought about his mother and his three-year-old sister. nor even a young wife. each carrying a pot of wine.""Oho. "And these white men.

The water began to boil. Ani played a greater part in the life of the people than any other diety. smiled broadly and said to his father: "Do you hear that?" He then said to the others: "He will never admit that I am a good tapper. Ezeudu was to be buried after dark with only a glowing brand to light the sacred ceremony. The daughters of the clan did not return to their homes immediately but spent two more days with their kinsmen.As these things went through her mind she did not realize how close they were to the cave mouth. That is a wise action. Most of the men and women of Abame had gone to their farms. how many twins she has borne and thrown away. "It is a strange and terrible story. A deep murmur went through the crowd when he said this. A sudden fury rose within him and he felt a strong desire to take up his machete. Her mother always took her into their bedroom and shut the door. The pot fell and broke in the sand.When they had harvested a sizable heap they carried it down in two trips to the stream. The Oracle of the Hills and the Caves has pronounced it. And so people said he had no respect for the gods of the clan. He sat down again and called two witnesses." said Uchendu. Now that she walked slowly she had time to think. They sympathized with their neighbors with much shaking of the head. in spite of his failings in other directions. 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. leaving what we are cooking to burn in the fire. not only in his motherland but also in Umuofia. walked in their midst. The suitor just goes on bringing bags of cowries until his in-laws tell him to stop. That woman.

sad and pleading."Uzowulu's body. His eldest son. They were already far enough where they stood and there was room for running away if any of them should go towards them. that is a boy's job. and men. drew some lines on the floor. It all began over the question of admitting outcasts. Such a thing could never happen in his fatherland. Maduka."You must take him to salute our father. Today Okonkwo was not bringing his mother home to be buried with her people. the rulers of Mbanta gave to the missionaries. then. The pots of wine stood in their midst. If we allow you to come with us you will soon begin your mischief. It was even said that they had hanged one man who killed a missionary. Okonkwo slept. That was a favorite saying of children.It was clear from the way the crowd stood or sat that the ceremony was for men." said Obierika." And they dispersed. and the solid mass was now broken by tiny eyes of light like shining star dust. as her mother had been called in her youth. beat me up and took my wife and children away. Once upon a time there was a great famine in the land of animals. 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. "Umuofia kwenu.

Here was a man whose chi said nay despite his own affirmation. which was shaved in beautiful patterns. they settled on the roofs and covered the bare ground. She often called her Ezigbo. nor the walls of his compound.Ekwefi went into her hut to cook yams. And so he changed the subject and talked about music."Who killed this tree? Or are you all deaf and dumb?"As a matter of fact the tree was very much alive. "One of the young children had opened the gate of the cow-shed. and Ezinma brought his goatskin bag from the far end of the hut."I beg you to accept this little kola. The three white men and a very large number of other men surrounded the market. "Blessed is he who forsakes his father and his mother for my sake. "We should do something. "Somebody is walking behind me!" she said. We are better than animals because we have kinsmen. rubbed his left palm on his body to dry it before tipping a little snuff into it. 1 owe them no cocoyams. And what made it worse in Okonkwo's case was that he had to support his mother and two sisters from his meagre harvest. If I were you I would have stayed at home. "The world has no end. or took pity on their mothers. Then he began to speak. and ate up all the wild grass in the fields. And there he stood in his hard shell full of food and wine but without any wings to fly home." said Mr. or how."Will you give Ezinma some fire to bring to me?" Her own children and Ikemefuna had gone to the stream.