The women weeded the farm three times at definite periods in the life of the yams.

It filled him with fire as it had always done from his youth
It filled him with fire as it had always done from his youth.' Those men of Abame were fools. So I have brought the matter to the fathers of the clan. the feasting and fellowship of the first day or the wrestling Contest of the second." Okonkwo thought within himself. and saw those who stood or sat next to them. She was going to the stream to fetch water.The young church in Mbanta had a few crises early in its life. "But what is good in one place is bad in another place. his half-sister. Then he tried to settle the matter the way he used to settle such matters when he was a little boy. The faint and distant wailing of women settled like a sediment of sorrow on the earth. who was laid on a mat. He ordered the outcasts to shave off their long. At first Ekwefi accepted her. He had become wholly absorbed into his new family. more terrible and more sinister than the anger. The young ailing girl who had caused her mother so much heartache had been transformed.He sent for the five sons and they came and sat in his obi. he.""They were fools. I sow the yams when the first rain has fallen. pushing the air with his raffia arms.

It was this man that Okonkwo threw in a fight which the old men agreed was one of the fiercest since the founder of their town engaged a spirit of the wild for seven days and seven nights. But two years later when a son was born he called him Nwofia??"Begotten in the Wilderness." said Obierika. occasionally feeling with her palm the wet.Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. I will only have a son who is a man. At last the man was named and people sighed "E-u-u. Nwoye was there." said Obierika. The thick dregs of palm-wine were supposed to be good for men who were going in to their wives. he beat her again so that if the neighbors had not gone in to save her she would have been killed. The hosts nodded in approval and seemed to say. You are a great man in your clan. for in spite of their worthlessness they still belonged to the clan.At last the two teams danced into the circle and the crowd roared and clapped. Ojiugo. He could hardly imagine that Okonkwo was not his real father. and he sought to correct him by constant nagging and beating.""Once upon a time. The ancient drums of death beat."Two years ago. And so for three years Ikemefuna lived in Okonkwo's household.'"He began to eat and the birds grumbled angrily.

A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet. But he was always uncomfortable sitting around for days waiting for a feast or getting over it.The priestess had now reached Okonkwo's compound and was talking with him outside his hut. The daughters of the clan did not return to their homes immediately but spent two more days with their kinsmen." replied Uzowulu."Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?" asked Okagbue when Ezinma finally stopped outside her father's obi. The air was cool and damp with dew. She had already walked so long that she began to feel a slight numbness in the limbs and in the head. who were still outside the circle.""Uzowulu's body. But there was a great medicine man in the neighborhood."Ezinma went outside and brought some sticks from a huge bundle of firewood. my great friend. said Ezeugo. He was quite different."Sit like a woman!" Okonkwo shouted at her. An evil forest was. There was an oil lamp in all the four huts on Okonkwo's compound. It began by naming the clan: Umuofia obodo dike! "the land of the brave. Her voice was as clear as metal. Perhaps he had been going to Mbaino and had lost his way. Nwakibie brought down his own horn. He just carried her into his bed and in the darkness began to feel around her waist for the loose end of her cloth.

After such treatment it would think twice before coming again. The crowd followed her silently. She shut her eyes for a while and opened them again in an effort to see. The bride-price had been paid and all but the last ceremony had been performed. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat. If it does its power will be gone. The earth burned like hot coals and roasted all the yams that had been sown. the owner of all land.Obierika then presented to him a small bundle of short broomsticks. forty. At his age I was already fending for myself."My hand is on the ground. Ezinma. and was about to say something when the old man continued:"Yes. he had begun even in his father's lifetime to lay the foundations of a prosperous future. they held them over an open fire to burn off the hair. So he would make a fresh start. Those things a man built for himself or inherited from his father. guns and cannon were fired."It was in the second year of Okonkwo's exile that his friend." pleaded from a reasonable distance. There were six of them and one was a white man. gazing into a log fire.

" said Okonkwo. Ezinma. an old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb. No ogbanje would yield her secrets easily. Every nerve and every muscle stood out on their arms. she found her lying on the mat. the interpreter."Their clan is now completely empty. was quite harmless." Obierika agreed. Obiageli brought up the rear. They had the same style and one saw the other's plans beforehand. the priestess. Such a thing could never happen in his fatherland. especially with the children. He led it on a thick rope which he tied round his wrist. put down his load and sat down. Of course they had all heard the bell-man. go home before Agbala does you harm. more terrible and more sinister than the anger. lest he should be found to resemble his father."Okoli was not there to answer. who was the priest of the earth goddess.

And so excitement mounted in the village as the seventh week approached since the impudent missionaries buill their church in the Evil Forest. He knew that he had lost his place among the nine masked spirits who administered justice in the clan. and through these Okonkwo passed the rope. He pushed the thought out of his mind. it is play'. My case is finished. beginning with the eldest man. During those years no single day passed in the sky without his beating the woman. These moods descended on her suddenly and for no apparent reason. It was not very easy getting the men of high title and the elders together after the excitement of the first day. And there were indeed occasions when the Oracle had forbidden Umuofia to wage a war. You think you are still a child. But the song spread in Umuofia. "Your wife was at fault. It was a great feast."When did you become a shivering old woman. Okonkwo had committed the female. The children were also decorated. her voice cracking like the angry bark of thunder in the dry season. But they were very rare and short-lived. Nwoye's mother is already cooking." he said.' said the young kite.

Then the foo-foo was served. You do not know what it is to speak with one voice. Ofoedu ate slowly and talked about the locusts. And not only his chi but his clan too. and so have Uchendu and Unachukwu and Emefo. though his dialect was different and harsh to the enrs of Mbanta. She looked straight ahead of her and walked back to the village. He could not understand what was happening to him or what he had done. But they always returned to the long rope he trailed behind. and very strong. The crowd wondered who would throw the other this year. It was the first time for many years that a man had broken the sacred peace. "that I shall bring many iron horses when we have settled down among them. And so heavily did it rain onVulture that he did not return to deliver his message but flew to a distant land. and although ailing she seemed determined to live." His tone now changed from anger to command.""We have seen it. "1 do not know how to thank you. They surged forward as the two young men danced into the circle. It was sudden and tremendous. "Will you go?""Yes. the suitor.Nneka had had four previous pregnancies and child-births.

But the one knew what the other was thinking. Most of the men and women of Abame had gone to their farms. where every woman had a shallow well for fermenting her cassava." urged the other women"None?" asked Njide. His own hut. the priestess. "That is the story. Obierika offered him a lobe of the kola nut he had broken with Okonkwo. But he left hold of Nwoye. Anyone who knew his grim struggle against poverty and misfortune could not say he had been lucky. tapped it on his kneecap. The water began to boil. She rose from her mat. There were little holes from one side to the other in the upper levels of the wall."I sometimes think he is too sharp. the twins still remained where they had been thrown away. It was a full gathering of umuada. speaking in a tremulous. Then he took it away to bury in the Evil Forest. "and a thick mat. and many farmers wept as they dug up the miserable and rotting yams. That is all I am good for now. They had not thought about that.

" Ekwefi said to the woman who had stood shoulder to shoulder with her since the beginning of the matches. She could hear the priestess' voice. In fact he had not killed a rat with his gun. But it was useless. But that did not alter the facts. You know his first wife who walks with a stick?""Yes. Only the really great men in the clan were able to do this. sat on a mat on the floor. and any time he passed her way he told Ear that he was still alive. He knew that Nwakibie would not refuse him. She buried her face in her lap and waited. confident voice. and he sought to correct him by constant nagging and beating. Okonkwo's youngest wife also came out and joined the others. Nwoye would feign annoyance and grumble aloud about women and their troubles. The heathen speak nothing but falsehood. who was also the youngest man in the group." Obierika again drank a little of his wine. "1 shall wait here. The three women talked excitedly about the relations who had been invited.' said Mother Kite. The New Yam Festival seemed to him to be a much bigger event here than in his own village. Tortoise also took one.

Why should I? But the Oracle did not ask me to carry out its decision." the men said among themselves."That woman standing there is my wife. All that is true.""An albino. He had been cast out of his clan like a fish onto a dry. 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 there is one more question I shall ask you. And this was the message.After the wine had been drunk Okonkwo laid his difficulties before Nwakibie. No woman ever did.One day a neighbor called Okoye came in to see him. lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper. in your obi or in her own hut?" asked the medicine man. He threw down the gun and jumped into the barn and there lay the woman. succulent breasts.""That is very bad." said Nwoye. solid drops of frozen water which the people called "the nuts of the water of heaven. She explained to her why they should not marry yet. tears gushed from her eyes. Igwelo had a job in hand because he had married his first wife a month or two before. As the elders said.

"Whose cow was it?" asked the women who had been allowed to stay behind. Ikeocha. He could not understand what was happening to him or what he had done. Fortunately."Where is Mgbogo?" asked one of them. Nwoye passed and repassed the little red-earth and thatch building without summoning enough courage to enter." said Okonkwo. father? You are beyond our knowledge.Very soon after. The elders and grandees of the village sat on their own stools brought there by their young sons or slaves. Then they washed them and cut them up for the women who prepared the soup. and Ikemefuna helped him by fetching the yams in long baskets from the barn and in counting the prepared seeds in groups of four hundred. Young men pounded the foo-foo or split firewood. but no one thought the stories were true. "He hardly ever walks. Obierika had sent one of his relatives all the way to Umuike to buy that goat It was the one he would present alive to his in-laws. The story had arisen among the Christians themselves."Sometimes I wish I had not taken the ozo title. "that in some clans it is an abomination for a man to die during the Week of Peace."Father. and the crowd followed her. The oldest member of this extensive family was Okonkwo's uncle. It was a very good wine and powerful.

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. feeling with her palm the wet." Quite often she bought beancakes and gave Ekwefi some to take home to Ezinma. whose feeling of importance was manifest in her sprightly walk.Ekwefi peeled the yams quickly. It was Nwoye's mother. The sickness was an abomination to the earth. where he thought they must be. led out the giant goat from the inner compound. He lelt a relief within as the hymn poured into his parched soul. He held a short staff in his hand which he brought down on the floor to emphasize his points. He wanted first to know why they had been outlawed. which was shaved in places. He did not inherit a barn from his father. Even the very little children seemed to know. His mother's kinsmen had been very kind to him. They went outside again. Okonkwo. They all wore smoked raffia skirts and their bodies were painted with chalk and charcoal." He brought down his staff heavily on the floor. I shall do that every year until you return. the farthest village in the clan. The Lord shall have them in derision.

After all the toil one only got a third of the harvest. and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad.""What has happened to that piece of land in dispute?" asked Okonkwo. In the morning he went back to his farm and saw the withering tendrils. Living fire begets cold. I know it as I look at you."Where are her children? Did she take them?" he asked with unusual coolness and restraint." he began."I have kola. he had gone to consult the Oracle.'When Ekwefi brought the hoe."That was many years ago. who said he should die. These men must be mad. but they grew women's crops." He pulled his staff from the hard earth and thrust it back. These women never saw the inside of the hut. 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. Okonkwo was. It was therefore understood that Ekwefi would provide cassava lor the feast. the rulers and elders of Mbanta assembled to decide on their action.- Onwumbiko died in his fifteenth month.It was a great funeral.

Okonkwo's youngest wife also came out and joined the others. Obierika's relatives counted the pots as they came. won a handful of converts and were already sending evangelists to the surrounding towns and villages. It was quiet and confident. Her two children belong to Uzowulu. Ekwefi mopped her with a piece of cloth and she lay down on a dry mat and was soon asleep. Okonkwo. The crowd then shouted with ainger and thirst for blood. When everything had been set before the guests.""And have you never seen them?" asked Machi. The oldest member of this extensive family was Okonkwo's uncle." said Obierika.'"'You do not know me. Each of his three wives had her own hut. burning forehead.Okonkwo was beginning to feel like his old self again. The spell of sunshine which always came in the middle of the wet season did not appear. and they had quickened their steps. He was to be called All oj you." The man who had contradicted him had no titles.'"'You do not know me. At last I went to my in-laws and said to them. was a widely-traveled man who knew the customs of different peoples.

ivory spoon. making music and feasting. And she had agreed. nor the walls of his compound. who were putting the last delicate touches of razor to her coiffure and cam wood on her smooth skin.'"None of the birds had heard of this custom but they knew that Tortoise. It was a fierce contest. flat. "I sold the big ones as soon as you left."That is the strange part of it. The pots of wine stood in their midst."What does it all mean?" asked Mr. The cannon seemed to rend the sky.The wrestlers were not there yet and the drummers held the field. 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.Suddenly Okagbue sprang to the surface with the agility of a leopard. It was already dusk when the two parties came to this agreement.But Ekwefi did not hear these consolations. She put back the empty pot on the circular pad in the corner." replied the other.Nwoye struggled to free himself from the choking grip." And he arranged the requisite rites and sacrifices. and sleepy.

Inwardly. They had thrown down their water-pots and lain by the roadside expecting the sinister light to descend on them and kill them. and they no longer spent the evenings in his mother's hut while she cooked. And they were all gay. and since he now had three wives his guests would make a fairly big crowd. If ever a man deserved his success. butwhenever she thought she saw their shape it immediately dissolved like a melting lump of darkness. Nwoye had heard that twins were put in earthenware pots and thrown away in the forest. He walked unsteadily to the place where the corpse was laid. They usually stay if they do not die before the age of six.The Oracle was called Agbala. Nothing pleased Nwoye now more than to be sent for by his mother or another of his father's wives to do one of those difficult and masculine tasks in the home. Ezinma had not wanted to cooperate with him at first. Kiaga. Here we say he cannot climb the tall tree but he can tap the short ones standing on the ground. He walked back to his obi to await Ojiugo's return. had said to him during that terrible harvest month: "Do not despair. and all were happy. Amikwu. like a mother and her daughter. talking and laughing among themselves and with others who stood near them."Okonkwo brought the wine and they began to drink. looking at the position of the sun.

" Ukegbu said.But there were many others who saw the situation differently." said Uchendu. closed hut like tongues of fire. do you know me?" asked the spirit. one of the people of the sky came forward and tasted a little from each pot. i have only a short while to live." He then added ten sticks to the fifteen and gave the bundle to Ukegbu.""I think it is good that our clan holds the ozo title in high esteem. It must be the thought of going home to his mother. "Now they are behaving like men. It was addressed as "Our Father. Okonkwo's wives and children and those who came to help them with the cooking began to bring out the food. and they no longer spent the evenings in his mother's hut while she cooked. He would be very much happier working on his farm. The elders and grandees of the village sat on their own stools brought there by their young sons or slaves. We must cook quickly or we shall be late for the wrestling. Again and again Iguedo was called and men waited breathlessly in all the nine villages. the whole clan gathers there. "Three or four of us should stay behind. Kiaga was going to send into the village for his men-converts when he saw them coming on their own. The rain fell in thin."Ezinma is dying.

But you were a fearless warrior." Ukegbu said. The new year must begin with tasty. He did not cry. They were returning home with baskets of yams from a distant farm across the stream when they heard the voice of an infant crying in the thick forest.At last they took a turning and began to head for the caves.The women had gone to the bush to collect firewood." said the medicine man. They were locusts. Their bodies shone with sweat."When your wife becomes pregnant again."What are you doing here?" Obierika had asked when after many difficulties the missionaries had allowed him to speak to the boy. I shall pay my big debts first." replied Ekwefi. silencing him." said Ezinma. He died of the swelling which was an abomination to the earth goddess. But you are still a child. Ezinma went with her and helped in preparing the vegetables.The drummers took up their sticks and the air shivered and grew tense like a tightened bow. silencing him. who would not lend his knife for cutting up dogmeat because the dog was taboo to him. nine of the greatest masked spirits in the clan came out together it was a terrifying spectacle.

They were grieved by the indignity and mourned for their neglected farms. Even the enemy clan knew that. and from the very first seemed to have kindled a new fire in the younger boy. It came from the direction of the ilo." He paused for a long time and then said: "I told you on my last visit to Mbanta how they hanged Aneto. and Okeke says we should pretend not to see.Okonkwo was given a plot of ground on which to build his compound. 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. It began by naming the clan: Umuofia obodo dike! "the land of the brave. and he was grateful. he burst out laughing. Ekwefi was reassured. He remembered once when men had talked in low tones with his father. yet young people ran about happily picking up the cold nuts and throwing them into their mouths to melt. The saying of the elders was not true??that if a man said yea his chi also affirmed.Of his three wives Ekwefi was the only one who would have the audacity to bang on his door. and nodded their heads in approval of all he said. among these people a man was judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his father.Okonkwo planted what was left of his seed-yams when the rains finally returned. And in all the nine villages of Umuofia a town crier with his ogene asked every man to be present tomorrow morning. Thirty. and he sent his kotma to catch Aneto. Fireflies went about with their tiny green lamps.

""I did not know that. She could no longer think. whose frantic rhythm was no longer a mere disembodied sound but the very heartbeat of the people. The musicians with their wood. Ikemefuna looked back. He ate a few more pieces of plaintain and pushed the dish aside. was among them.He sighed heavily. In Umunso they do not bargain at all." said his father.""Yes.Ezeudu had taken three titles in his life. It was a fierce contest. And so for three years Ikemefuna lived in Okonkwo's household." she said. My sister lived with him for nine years. Their fathers had never dared to stand before our ancestors. Ezinma. The crowd then shouted with ainger and thirst for blood. But the Ibo people have a proverb that when a man says yes his chi says yes also. almost overnight."One of them passes here frequently. and then he continued: "Each group there represents a debt to someone.

" replied the white man." And he arranged the requisite rites and sacrifices. their hoes and machetes. and it could not be done later because harvesting would soon set in. she found her lying on the mat.On the third day he asked his second wife. and. waving their palm fronds. The moon was definitely rising. and perhaps other women as well. Kiaga stood firm. The children were also decorated." she said. Igwelo had a job in hand because he had married his first wife a month or two before. which every man kept in his obi and with which his guests drew lines on the floor before they ate kola nuts.""Somebody told me yesterday. 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."Swear on this staff of my fathers. unlike the deep and liquid rumbling of the rainy season.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. yellow and dark green. As the rain began to fall more soberly and in smaller liquid drops.There was a wealthy man in Okonkwo's village who had three huge barns.

"We do not ask for wealth because he that has health and children will also have wealth. The children were also decorated. That also is true. His actions were deliberate. At last Vulture was sent to plead with Sky. like a solitary walker at night who passes an evil spirit an the way. He always gnashed his teeth as he listened to those who came to consult him. Whenever one of these ancient men appeared in the crowd to dance unsteadily the funeral steps of the tribe. Okagbue was a very striking figure.Ikezue held out his right hand. "Those that hear my words are my father and my mother. "We will allow three or four women to stay behind. and he said so with much threatening. He then roused Ezinma and placed her on the stool."Listen to me."Where is Ojiugo?" he asked his second wife. and although ailing she seemed determined to live. Then everything had been broken. They went back to their caves in a distant land. and earth and sky once again became separate. The custom here is to serve the spokesman first and the others later. holding her breasts with her hands to stop them flapping noisily against her body. But very few people had ever seen that kind of wrestling before.

"Okonkwo was very lucky in his daughters."Yes. especially their hair. Thelocusts had not come for many. "They are pieces of wood and stone." roared Okonkwo. Old men and children would then sit round log fires." said Obierika. and Maduka brought in a pot of palm-wine. But it is your turn now.But it was really not true that Okonkwo's palm-kernels had been cracked for him by a benevolent spirit. If such a thing were ever to happen. But Unoka was such a man that he always succeeded in borrowing more. And so he changed the subject and talked about music. Where are the young suckers that will grow when the old banana tree dies? If Ezinma had been a boy I would have been happier. "What we are eating is finished. whose sad story is still told in Umuofia unto this day. When he brought out the snuff-bottle he tapped it a few times against his knee-cap before taking out some snuff on the palm of his left hand. "Whoever has a job in hand."Locusts are descending. He warmed himself in the fire and ate the entrails." Okonkwo thought within himself. The women weeded the farm three times at definite periods in the life of the yams.