medicine man's razor had cut them. He who brings kola brings life. unlike the deep and liquid rumbling of the rainy season. Uzowulu.

Is it right that you
Is it right that you. The white man has no sense.Okonkwo was provoked to justifiable anger by his youngest wife. It was as quick as the other two. and was about to say something when the old man continued:"Yes. After waiting in vain for her dish he went to her hut to see what she was doing. The clan was worried. and it ended on the left. like splitting wood. "Agbala greets you."When this was interpreted to the men of Mbanta they broke into derisive laughter. Is it right that you. Whenever the thought of his father's weakness and failure troubled him he expelled it by thinking about his own strength and success. Uchendu pulled gently at his gray beard and gnashed his teeth. Work no longer had for him the pleasure it used to have. 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. Dum! Dum! Dum! boomed the cannon at intervals. he was repentant. they say. They went back to their caves in a distant land. and with him were his father and uncle. "In Abame and Aninta the title is worth less than two cowries. Her heart beat violently and she stood still. It is more difficult and more bitter when a man fails alone.""He has." he said. for in spite of the palm fruit hung across the mouth of the pot to restrain the lively liquor. and the cannon shattered the silence. Of all his children she alone understood his every mood.

He can curse the gods of his fathers and his ancestors. They can steal your cloth from off your waist in that market. and so were his cousins and their wives when he sent for them and told them who his guest was. had entered his eye. He walked unsteadily to the place where the corpse was laid." said Okonkwo. Ezinma brought her two legs together and stretched them in front of her. Sometimes it was not necessary to dig. Does a man speak when a god speaks? Beware!"She walked through Okonkwo's hut into the circular compound and went straight toward Ekwefi's hut." ';. the wife of Amadi. These women never saw the inside of the hut. I do not owe my inlaws anything. if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and especially his women) he was not really a man."Tell my wife." He sipped his wine.Okonkwo was popularly called the "Roaring Flame. and the elders of his family. "She has iba.And then the storm burst. should bring to your mother a heavy face and refuse to be comforted? Be careful or you may displease the dead.Chielo's voice was now rising continuously. The hearing then began. How a woman could carry a child of that size so easily and for so long was a miracle. all the descendants of Okolo. and his children after him. as her father and other grownup people did. If you think you are the greatest sufferer in the world ask my daughter. gome.

He knew that he was a fierce fighter. carried him shoulder high and danced through the cheering crowd. every man with his goatskin bag hung on one shoulder and a rolled goatskin mat under his arm. but he had never yet come across them. and evil fortune followed him to the grave. He raised his voice once or twice in manly sorrow and then sat down with the other men listening to the endless wailing of the women and the esoteric language of the ekwe." Ofoedu agreed."After the Week of Peace every man and his family began to clear the bush to make new farms. so she cupped her right hand to shelter the flame. It was a smooth pebble wrapped in a dirty rag. picking his words with great care:"It is Okonkwo that 1 primarily wish to speak to. But she refused them all. and the world lay panting under the live. But when she lived on to her fourth.Okonkwo was inwardly pleased at his son's development.Ezinma took the dish in one hand and the empty water bowl in the other and went back to her mother's hut.Okonkwo had eaten from his wives' dishes and was nowreclining with his back against the wall. They told the white man and he smiled benevolently."Go to your in-laws with a pot of wine and beg your wife to return to you." said Obierika. How a woman could carry a child of that size so easily and for so long was a miracle. She slowed down her pace so as to increase the distance between them. and at the end it was decided to follow the normal course of action. led out the giant goat from the inner compound. 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. and so have Uchendu and Unachukwu and Emefo. she sat down on a stony ledge and waited." continued Odukwe. And there were indeed occasions when the Oracle had forbidden Umuofia to wage a war.

I would have asked you to get life. The old man listened silently to the end and then said with some relief: "It is a female ochu. and after that the dry season. So they made a powerful medicine. he beat her until she miscarried." they said. a good harvest and happiness. Okonkwo had committed the female. And so on this particular night as the crier's voice was gradually swallowed up in the distance. His name was Maduka. But the second time did not count. sang for mercy.The drum sounded again and the flute blew."At that moment Obierika's son.The young men who kept order on these occasions dashed about. and does not lose it even if he steals. where he thought they must be. It said that other white men were on their way. and they closed in. love returned once more to her mother. "As for me. At last the man was named and people sighed "E-u-u. It was the time of the year when everybody was at home. he took with him his flute. Uchendu. Your mother is there to protect you. And so he was always happy when he heard him grumbling about women. "is it true that when people are grown up. and she was greatly feared.

It was said that they had built a place of judgment in Umuofia to protect the followers of their religion." said Obierika. roots snapped below." His tone now changed from anger to command. some of whom now stood enthralled." The man who had contradicted him had no titles. It was also part of the night.Then the missionaries burst into song. as she had accepted others??with listless resignation. rubbing her eyes and stretching her spare frame. and so everyone in his family listened. His priestess stood by the sacred fire which she built in the heart of the cave and proclaimed the will of the god. ran out again and aimed at her as she clambered over the dwarf wall of the barn. Ezinma's voice soon faded away and only Chielo was heard moving farther and farther into the distance." said Okagbue." Obierika said to his son. closely followed by Nwoye and his two younger brothers.But apart from the church. They just pulled the stump. elina!SalaEze ilikwa ya Ikwaba akwa ogholi Ebe Danda nechi eze Ebe Uzuzu nete egwuSalaHe sang it in his mind. but they were really talking at the top of their voices. Okonkwo was only a boy then and Uchendu still remembered him crying the traditional farewell: "Mother."Before God. Then there was perfect silence. But the really exciting moments were when a man was thrown. He immediately set to work digging a pit where Ezinma had indicated. but the villagers told them that there was no king.Ikemefuna had begun to feel like a member of Okonkwo's family. Where is my daughter.

" said Obierika.He sent for the five sons and they came and sat in his obi. to harvest cassava tubers.Okonkwo's prosperity was visible in his household. and others who could think of nowhere else open to escape.Ezinma led the way back to the road. A few moments later he went behind the hut and began to vomit painfully. where he thought they must be. passed through his obi and into Ekwefi's hut and walked into her bedroom. reached Okonkwo from his wives' huts as each woman and her children told folk stories." he said."Locusts are descending. "Thank you for calling us together."There is too much green vegetable. He was imprisoned with all the leaders of his family. women and children left their work or their play and ran into the open to see the unfamiliar sight. 'She should have been a boy. Okagbue emerged and without saying a word or even looking at the spectators he went to his goatskin bag. as the Ibo people say. they settled on the roofs and covered the bare ground. He searched his bag again and brought out a small. She is buried there. No punishment was prescribed for a man who killed the python knowingly. and because of their ash-colored shorts they earned the additional name of Ashy Buttocks. and at the end of three years he had become very distant indeed. There was an oil lamp in all the four huts on Okonkwo's compound. and asked Okonkwo to have a word with him outside. Obierika. One man tied his cloth to a tree branch and hanged himself.

"You have offended neither the gods nor your fathers. as usual. Each of Uchendu's five sons contributed three hundred seed-yams to enable their cousin to plant a farm. But very few people had ever seen that kind of wrestling before. and a little hoe for digging out the tuber.As the last heavy rains of the year began to fall.' 'You must return the duckling. And whenever the moon forsook evening and rose at cock-crow the nights were as black as charcoal. they settled on the roofs and covered the bare ground. that Chielo had stopped her chanting. All that is true. He accepted the half-full horn from his brother and drank it. go home before Agbala does you harm. What did they know about the man?" He ground his teeth again and told a story to illustrate his point.""Nna ayi."You know what it is. His mother and sisters worked hard enough.But there was a young lad who had been captivated." Okonkwo said to himself again. But the Ibo people have a proverb that when a man says yes his chi says yes also."Who is that?" he growled. called round his neighbors and made merry. should he. He fell and fell and fell until he began to fear that he would never stop falling. The rainbow was called the python of the sky. She had about three teeth and was always smoking her pipe. because an old man was very close to the ancestors. Another one was wailing near his right ear."We have now built a church.

An animal rubs its itching flank against a tree." Obierika said to Nwoye. It might happen again this year. A razor was taboo to him. who was now in charge of the infant congregation. Ekwefi was the only person in the happy company who went about with a cloud on her brow. Somewhere a man was taking one of the titles of his clan. He could hear in his mind's ear the blood-stirring and intricate rhythms of the ekwe and the udu and the ogene. Then he took it away to bury in the Evil Forest. Okonkwo and his family went to the farm with baskets of seed-yams. Ekwefi and her daughter."When did you set out from home?" asked Okonkwo. let your sister go with him.Okonkwo was popularly called the "Roaring Flame. and offered prayers to them on behalf of himself. anxiety mounted in every heart that heaved on a bamboo bed that night. And there were indeed occasions when the Oracle had forbidden Umuofia to wage a war. Somewhere a man was taking one of the titles of his clan.Okonkwo took the bowl from her and gulped the water down. and people came from far and near to consult it."No. and they ran for their lives.""Very true. Ekwefi.An iron gong sounded." said Ezinma at last. but he had never yet come across them."They say that Okoli killed the sacred python. Kiaga.

His name was Maduka. If a man kills the sacred python in the secrecy of his hut. The wailing of the women would not be heard beyond the village. "Let us not presume to do so now."For the first time in three nights.Okonkwo was provoked to justifiable anger by his youngest wife. You yourselves took her. Di-go-go-di-go. and soon returned with a bowl of cool water from the earthen pot in her mother's hut. somewhat lamely. He had sown four hundred seeds when the rains dried up and the heat returned. and the women sat on a sisal mat spread on a raised bank of earth. Chielo never ceased in her chanting. His yams grew abundantly. he thought over the matter. The folk stories stopped." she replied. you have become a woman indeed. Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men had. Sometimes it poured down in such thick sheets of water that earth and sky seemed merged in one gray wetness.Even Okonkwo himself became very fond of the boy - inwardly of course. It was clear that the bags were full of cowries. As the evening wore on.Many young men and prosperous middle-aged men of Mbanta came to marry her. "They have that custom in Obodoani. We should have waited for the sun to rise and dry the leaves. His death showed that the gods were still able to fight their own battles. Ezinma wielded a strong influence over her half-sister. They faced the elders.

We have albinos among us."He said something. But no one who had ever crawled into his awful shrine had come out without the fear of his power."He uncovered his second wife's dish and began to eat from it. "Amadiora will break your head for you!"Some days later. Now and again the cannon boomed. It was very much like Obiageli. "In those other clans you speak of."Perhaps I have been away too long.""Do you think a thief can do that kind of thing single-handed?" asked Nwankwo. 'She should have been a boy. If your death was the death of nature. Amikwu. because their dreaded agadi-nwayi would never fight what the Ibo call a fight of blame. But they have cast you out like lepers. But they have cast you out like lepers. Its most potent war-medicine was as old as the clan itself. whom they had asked to leave them for a while so that they might "whisper together. and passed the disc over to his guest."That was about five years ago. should bring to your mother a heavy face and refuse to be comforted? Be careful or you may displease the dead. who was also a diviner of the Afa Oracle. His younger wives did that. where they were guarded by a race of stunted men." she said when they got to the tree. "These are now your kinsmen." Quite often she bought beancakes and gave Ekwefi some to take home to Ezinma."Yam pottage was served first because it was lighter than foo-foo and because yam always came first.At first Ikemefuna was very much afraid.

She had not as much as looked at Okonkwo and Ekwefi or shown any surprise at finding them at the mouth of the cave. in a terrifying voice."It was Wednesday in Holy Week and Mr. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic. We have tried to settle their quarrels time without number and on each occasion Uzowulu was guilty??""It is a lie!" Uzowulu shouted. Who else among his children could have read his thoughts so well? With two beautiful grown-up daughters his return to Umuofia would attract considerable attention. But I fear for you young people because you do not understand how strong is the bond of kinship."It is here." said Mr. were fixed on her. long ago." said another man. and they closed in. usually before the age of three. my dear friend. Ikeocha. May all you took out return again tenfold. The sound of her benumbed steps seemed to come from some other person walking behind her. who had given much money to the white man's messengers and interpreter.He wanted him to be a prosperous man. It was only when he had got there that it had occurred to him that the priestess might have chosen to go round the villages first. and drinking palm-wine copiously. But as the dog said.The drummers took up their sticks and the air shivered and grew tense like a tightened bow."It is not our custom to fight for our gods.It seemed to Ekwefi that the night had become a little lighter. Okonkwo had returned home and sat waiting. as husbands' wives were wont to. and on their way they paid short courtesy visits to prominent men like Okonkwo.

And he did pounce on people quite often. a machete for cutting down the soft cassava stem." He turned to Uzowulu's group and allowed a short pause. But it was impossible to refuse Ezinma anything. my daughter. the in-laws began to arrive. some of whom now stood enthralled. The pots of wine stood in their midst. Dangerous animals became even more sinister and uncanny in the dark.Okagbue went back into the pit. He could not understand what was happening to him or what he had done. because their dreaded agadi-nwayi would never fight what the Ibo call a fight of blame. But Ekwefi and Ezinma had heard the noise and run out to see what it was. In these seven years he would have climbed to the utmost heights. A sudden hush had fallen on the women. He remembered the story she often told of the quarrel between Earth and Sky long ago. There was coming and going between them. It was a good riddance. The crowd then shouted with ainger and thirst for blood. Okonkwo's house was on the way to the stream. rumbling like thunder in the rainy season. When the pot fell down and broke she burst out laughing. The goat was then led back to the inner compound. Then it went nearer and named the village: " Iguedo of the yellow grinding-stone!" It was Okonkwo's village.' Why is that?"There was silence. Okonkwo and his wife followed at a respectful distance. walked in their midst. The old man who received him was his mother's younger brother. "Poor child.

Anyone who knew his grim struggle against poverty and misfortune could not say he had been lucky. And what is the result? Their clan is full of the evil spirits of these unburied dead. and the crowd answered. If any one of you prefers to be a woman. carrying a basket full of water. wiping the foam of wine from his mustache with the back of his left hand. He was a very strong man and rarely felt fatigue. and then flew away. and so the victim could not be buried in her bowels. He was tall and huge. Amikwu and his people had taken palm-wine to the bride's kinsmen about two moons before Okonkwo's arrival in Mbanta. Okonkwo came after her. Her voice was as clear as metal. After such treatment it would think twice before coming again. but ill. She was about sixteen and just ripe for marriage. Her husband and his family were already becoming highly critical of such a woman and were not unduly perturbed when they found she had fled to join the Christians. If you think you are the greatest sufferer in the world ask my daughter. whom she called her daughter."When they had eaten.As they spoke two other groups of people had replaced the first before the egwugwu. Why do the nations rage and the peoples imagine a vain thing? He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. He still missed his mother and his sister and would be very glad to see them.The young men who kept order on these occasions dashed about. who with his brothers and half-brothers had been dancing the traditional farewell to their father. My case is finished. and filled the village with excitement.""It was always said that Ndulue and Ozoemena had one mind." He rose and left the hut.

After that nothing happened for a long time between the church and the clan. He was the oldest man in Ire. Okonkwo had returned home and sat waiting. people said it was refusing food. he had gone to consult the Oracle. Behind them was the big and ancient silk-cotton tree which was sacred. the matter lies between him and the god. Okonkwo. Obierika and half a dozen other friends came to help and to console him. Old men and children would then sit round log fires.""There is no song in the story. who had brought it from her mother's hut." said Obierika."Uzowulu's body." said Okonkwo. do not allow him a moment's rest. The ancestral spirits of the clan were abroad. Maduka.- then silence descended from the sky and swallowed the noise. These women never saw the inside of the hut." and on each occasion he faced a different direction and seemed to push the air with a clenched fist. among these people a man was judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his father.And so Obierika went to Mbanta to see his friend. suddenly found an outlet.Even in his first year in exile he had begun to plan for his return. Children no longer stayed indoors but ran about singing:"The rain is falling. overpowered him and obtained his first human head." he said. Okoye.

They all admired it and said that that was the way things should be done. and the quiet spectators murmured to themselves. There were five groups. Okonkwo had not bought snuff from him for a long time. These people are daily pouring filth over us.Obierika then presented to him a small bundle of short broomsticks. and she guessed they must be on the village ilo. as a sullen husband refuses his wife's food when they have quarrelled. with her suitor and his relatives. There is not a single clan in these parts that I do not know very well. He dared not go too near the missionaries for fear of his father. very shyly. she could not ignore the fact that some really evil children sometimes misled people into digging up a specious one. Nwoye. "You might as well say that the woman lies on top of the man when they are making the children. But Tortoise jumped to his feet and asked: Tor whom have you prepared this feast?'"'For all of you."Mr.' Everybody laughed heartily except Okonkwo. all talking in low voices. Their leader was called Evil Forest. In the end the fearless ones went near and even touched him. Okonkwo.Okonkwo was inwardly pleased at his son's development. He who brings kola brings life. He stepped forward. On ordinary days young women who desired children came to sit under its shade. and earth rose."Call your wife and child. solid drops of frozen water which the people called "the nuts of the water of heaven.

the emanation of the god of water. Ekwefi then became defiant and called her next child Onwuma??"Death may please himself. But tonight she was addressing her prophecy and greetings to Okonkwo. facing the elders. and brought out his snuff-bottle from the goatskin bag by his side. Okonkwo. It was said that when such a spirit appeared. and about some effeminate men who had refused to come with them.""The only other person is Udenkwo. The air was cool and damp with dew. and brought back a duckling. 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."It is here.He was a person dedicated to a god.""It is a lie. even into people's beds. breakfast was hastily eaten and women and children began to gather at Obierika's compound to help the bride's mother in her difficult but happy task of cooking for a whole village. The two judges were already moving forward to separate them when Ikezue." said Uchendu to his peers when they consulted among themselves. leaving what we are cooking to burn in the fire. silence returned to the world." said Okonkwo as he rose to go.So when the daughter of Umuofia was killed in Mbaino. Ezinma took it to him in his obi. They usually stay if they do not die before the age of six. and went back to her hut. It was a fierce contest.The Feast of the New Yam was held every year before the harvest began. Some of them were not at home and only four came in.

As soon as the priestess stepped into this ring of hills her voice was not only doubled in strength but was thrown back on all sides. Everybody was lean except Cat. It was also part of the night. The man who dug it up was the same Okagbue who was famous in all the clan for his knowledge in these matters. and in a basket beside her were green vegetables and beans. And then came the clap of thunder. and the tuber was pulled out. and was punished. And he went. Evergreen trees wore a dusty coat of brown. was called a flaming fire. They made single mounds of earth in straight lines all over the field and sowed the yams in them. In the end Parrot. Such a man was Ogbuefi Ugonna. called round his neighbors and made merry. This was before the planting season began.Three young men helped Obierika to slaughter the two goats with which the soup was made.""They were fools. and of the forces of nature. be cursed with such a son? He saw clearly in it the finger of his personal god or chi. "And so they killed the white man and tied his iron horse to their sacred tree because it looked as if it would run away to call the man's friends. 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. Her husband and his family were already becoming highly critical of such a woman and were not unduly perturbed when they found she had fled to join the Christians. It might happen again this year. looked forward to the New Yam Festival because it began the season of plenty??the new year. His first two wives ran out in great alarm pleading with him that it was the sacred week. Then he poured out for the others.The footway had now become a narrow line in the heart of the forest. One day as Ezinma was eating an egg Okonkwo had come in unexpectedly from his hut.

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. 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. Our hosts in the sky will expect us to honor this age-old custom. "Which is this god of yours."Because I did not want to.- one could not have known where one's mouth was in the darkness of that night. more terrible and more sinister than the anger. They passed their cloths under the right arm-pit." he asked."It is here." she called. The men brought their goatskin mats. sat on a mat on the floor. else it would break and the thousand tiny rings would have to be strung together again."Where else but in his house in the hills and the caves?" replied the priestess. and the sands felt like live coals to the feet. but he did not answer. As the Ibo say: "When the moon is shining the cripple becomes hungry for a walk." came the voice like a sharp knife cutting through the night. Nwoye's mother. for in spite of their worthlessness they still belonged to the clan. and men." roared Okonkwo."It is an ozo dance."Thank you. woman. Mighty tree branches broke away under them. Okonkwo had committed the female. "I planted the farm nearly two years ago.

It was already dusk when the two parties came to this agreement. for in spite of their worthlessness they still belonged to the clan."Yam pottage was served first because it was lighter than foo-foo and because yam always came first. And then like the sound of his cannon he crashed on the compound. facing the elders and grandees of the clan.After the wine had been drunk Okonkwo laid his difficulties before Nwakibie. On receiving such a message through a younger brother or sister. and kill him there. Then he took it away to bury in the Evil Forest. lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper. The moon must be preparing to rise. Their church stood on a circular clearing that looked like the open mouth of the Evil Forest. had gone to consult Agbala.Umuofia was feared by all its neighbors."Where are her children? Did she take them?" he asked with unusual coolness and restraint. 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. In the morning he went back to his farm and saw the withering tendrils.Okonkwo was very happy to receive his friend. which children were rarely allowed to eat because such food tempted them to steal. who went to plait her hair at her friend's house and did not return early enough to cook the afternoon meal." Ukegbu said. quietly and deliberately. But some of these losses were not irreparable. I have waited in vain for my wife to return. I have learned to be stingy with my yams. You are a great man in your clan. a loud cheer rose from the crowd. The harmattan was in the air and seemed to distill a hazy feeling of sleep on the world."Just then Obierika's son.

When they returned Ukegbu handed the bundle of sticks back to Obierika." Okonkwo said.Ezinma took the dish in one hand and the empty water bowl in the other and went back to her mother's hut. She cut the yams into small pieces and began to prepare a pottage. and it seldom did. Okonkwo came next and Ekwefi followed him. Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down."Agbala do-o-o-o! Agbala ekeneo-o-o-o! Chi negbu madu ubosi ndu ya nato ya uto daluo-o-o! ??"Ekwefi could already see the hills looming in the moonlight. his son's crime stood out in its stark enormity. rubbed his left palm on his body to dry it before tipping a little snuff into it. a fairly small swarm came.As the men drank." he swore. white foam rose and spilled over.""Yes. Why should I? But the Oracle did not ask me to carry out its decision. away from the gates of God and from the tender shepherd's care. The heathen say you will die if you do this or that. Then they washed them and cut them up for the women who prepared the soup.Okonkwo was given a plot of ground on which to build his compound. And if anybody was so foolhardy as to pass by the shrine after dusk he was sure to see the old woman hopping about."Answer truthfully."When did you set out from home?" asked Okonkwo. There was no question of killing a missionary here. old way. and turned to his sons and daughters. lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper.""Yes" said Obierika."I have heard.

as the Ibo people say. only to return to their places almost immediately."Once upon a time. But his whole life was dominated by fear. Those who were big enough to carry even a few yams in a tiny basket went with grown-ups to the farm. as on that day." asked another man. Okonkwo.But it was really not true that Okonkwo's palm-kernels had been cracked for him by a benevolent spirit. They haggle and bargain as if they were buying a goat or a cow in the market. where the white men first came many years before and where they had built the center of their religion and trade and government. All that he required was something to occupy his mind. and the quiet spectators murmured to themselves. That was his fifth head and he was not an old man yet. He was very good on his flute. "It is a strange and terrible story. She had. He ordered the outcasts to shave off their long. until crops withered and the dead could not be buried because the hoes broke on the stony Earth. I shall give you some fish to eat. One of the things every man learned was the language of the hollowed-out wooden instrument. twenty years or more. and the little children to visit their playmates in the neighboring compounds.Am oyim de de de de! flew around the dark. He raised his voice once or twice in manly sorrow and then sat down with the other men listening to the endless wailing of the women and the esoteric language of the ekwe. Kiaga had asked the women to bring red earth and white chalk and water to scrub the church for Easter. Sometimes he turned round and chased after those men. Okonkwo rose to speak. although one of them did not speak Ibo.

"Okonkwo tried to explain to him what his wife had done. I am Dry-meat-that-fills-the-mouth. the rulers and elders of Mbanta assembled to decide on their action. or playground. I clear the bush and set fire to it when it is dry. and even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was agbala.""It is already too late. I did not send her away. They will not allow us into the markets."Don't you see the pot is full of yams?" Ekwefi asked. He took the first of the empty stools and the eight other egwugwu began to sit in order of seniority after him. who went to plait her hair at her friend's house and did not return early enough to cook the afternoon meal. She looked straight ahead of her and walked back to the village. Some people even said that they had heard the spirits flying and flapping their wings against the roof of the cave. The drums rose to a frenzy. and she agreed also. The pots of wine stood in their midst. He presented a kola nut and an alligator pepper. She buried her face in her lap and waited. returning.The nine villages of Umuofia had grown out of the nine sons of the first father of the clan." roared Okonkwo. I weed ?C I??; ??Hold your peace!" screamed the priestess. That had been his life-spring. In short. It was a brief resting period between the exacting and arduous planting season and the equally exacting but light-hearted month of harvests. It was a full gathering of umuada. all the descendants of Okolo. because it would hear.

"I will come with you. The yams he had sown before the drought were his own.The drummers stopped for a brief rest before the real matches. Such a thing could never happen in his fatherland. not knowing what else to say. turning to Obierika. You will have what is good for you and I will have what is good for me. he belonged to the clan as a whole. in the land of his fathers where men were bold and warlike.""Yes" said Obierika. It was like the pulsation of its heart."He said something. was a widely-traveled man who knew the customs of different peoples. 'You are full of cunning and you are ungrateful. They formed a circular ring with a break at one point through which the foot-track led to the center of the circle. In fact he had not killed a rat with his gun."There was a long silence. therefore. but ill. It is a bad custom which these people observe because they lack understanding. and asked Okonkwo to have a word with him outside. This was a womanly clan.Qkonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. The Oracle said to him. which should be a woman's crowning glory. and of the bird eneke-nti-oba who challenged the whole world to a wrestling contest and was finally thrown by the cat. relaxed again. could not shelter under his roof."Ekwefi did as she was asked.

And then quite suddenly a shadow fell on the world." he answered. when he slept.The contest began with boys of fifteen or sixteen. But each time she had borne twins. The drums beat the unmistakable wrestling dance - quick. the men returned with a pot of wine. dug her teeth into the real thing. like a funeral. He would be very much happier working on his farm. And then it became known that the white man's fetish had unbelievable power. It was a story of brothers who lived in darkness and in fear. Do you hear that. and he had moments of sadness and depression But he and Nwoye had become so deeply attached to each other that such moments became less frequent and less poignant. which was rubbed with red earth so that it shone." replied Nwoye.""How did they get hold of Ancto to hang him?" asked Okonkwo. nor even a young wife. "Which is this god of yours." he said. the troublesome nanny goat.But before this quiet and final rite. "She should have been a boy. And how is my daughter. and the other an old and faint shadow. made up her mind. leaving what we are cooking to burn in the fire. had asked Ear to marry him." she answered.

and the hosts looked at each other as if to say. and she swore within her that if she heard Ezinma cry she would rush into the cave to defend her against all the gods in the world. Nma. He was to be called All oj you. And there were again only three. which the first wife alone could wear."Is that enough?" she asked when she had poured in about half of the water in the bowl. So he began to plan how he would go to the sky. to the boys and they passed it round the wooden stays and then back to him. A man belongs to his fatherland and not to his motherland. Go ahead and prepare your farm. "We should do something. "Where are you going?" he asked. He then broke the kola nut and threw one of the lobes on the ground for the ancestors. Two judges walked around the wrestlers and when they thought they were equally matched. "and yet he is full of sorrow because he has come to live in his motherland for a few years." said Ekwefi. or osu. carrying a basket full of water.""They are not all that young. and he prayed to the ancestors. "He seemed to speak through his nose. It had not happened for many a long year."Your buttocks understand our language. He was to be called All oj you." said Obierika.""Does the white man understand our custom about land?""How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad.'"None of the birds had heard of this custom but they knew that Tortoise. especially the youngest.

The daughters of the clan did not return to their homes immediately but spent two more days with their kinsmen. "She must have broken her waterpot. The troublesome nanny-goat sniffed about."Umuofia kwenu. called the converts the excrement of the clan."1 am one of them. She continually ran into the luxuriant weeds and creepers that walled in the path. Then she suddenly turned round and began to walk back to the road. That is all I am good for now. put down his load and sat down. he is telling a lie." replied Okukwe." said Obierika. It was a gay and airy kind of rain. and the other an old and faint shadow. into a healthy. He had court messengers who brought men to him for trial. Almost immediately the women came in with a big bowl of foo-foo. He was poor and his wife and children had barely enough to eat. If ever a man deserved his success. which the first wife alone could wear. when Mr. Later on I sold some of the seed-yams and gave out others to sharecroppers. Unoka had a sense of the dramatic and so he allowed a pause. three times. And so although Okonkwo was still young. vibrating heat.The priestess had now reached Okonkwo's compound and was talking with him outside his hut. And now he was going to take the Idemili title.

The spell of sunshine which always came in the middle of the wet season did not appear. The sickness was an abomination to the earth. 'When people are invited to a great feast like this. and his children the while praying to the white man's god. They do not decide bride-price as we do. Neither of the other wives dared to interfere beyond an occasional and tentative." he said when Okonkwo had spoken. But the boy was afraid of him and slipped out of the hut as soon as he noticed him dozing. Kiaga. Okonkwo knew how to kill a man's spirit. Elumelu. The crowd then shouted with ainger and thirst for blood. 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.""Does the white man understand our custom about land?""How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad. long ago. At the end they decided. my daughter. a vibrant silence made more intense by the universal trill of a million million forest insects."When nearly two years later Obierika paid another visit to his friend in exile the circumstances were less happy. Some of them were too angry to eat. and it seemed now as if it was happening all over again. Ezinma's voice soon faded away and only Chielo was heard moving farther and farther into the distance. "before 1 put any crop in the earth. At last Vulture was sent to plead with Sky. Almost immediately the women came in with a big bowl of foo-foo. and in the end they were received by them They asked for a plot of land to build on. are white like this piece of chalk. Then came the voices of the egwugwu. and asked no questions.

Neither of the other wives dared to interfere beyond an occasional and tentative. He tried not to think about Ikemefuna. When all seemed ready he let himself go." said Okonkwo after a pause." Okonkwo said."It is not our custom to fight for our gods. 1 know how to deal with them. her mother and half a dozen other women and girls emerged from the inner compound."After the kola nut had been eaten Okonkwo brought his palm- wine from the corner of the hut where it had been placed and stood it in the center of the group. It was only from Nwoye's mother that he heard scraps of the story."Thank you. her moments of depression when she would snap at everybody like an angry dog. in the land of his fathers where men were bold and warlike. and as if in sympathy the smoldering log also sighed. malevolent. They came to discover what the future held for them or to consult the spirits of their departed fathers. like the snapping of a tightened bow." said Nwoye. Its most potent war-medicine was as old as the clan itself.On the following morning the entire neighborhood wore a festive air because Okonkwo's friend. anxiety. "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. And so.""Ee-e-e!""This is not the first time my people have come to marry your daughter. He put them in the pot and Ekwefi poured in some water. He would remember his own childhood."Tufia-al" the priestess cursed. He remembered his wife's twin children. "We will go with you to meet those cowards.

"Oye. his head pointing to the earth and his legs skywards. She sometimes broke into a run and stopped again suddenly. "Our own men and our sons have joined the ranks of the stranger.But there was a young lad who had been captivated. She broke them into little pieces across the sole of her foot and began to build a fire. I salute you.- and in this way the cover was strengthened on the wall. As she stood gazing at the circular darkness which had swallowed them. Violent deaths were frequent. the "medicine house" or shrine where Okonkwo kept the wooden symbols of his personal god and of his ancestral spirits. "When I think that it is only eighteen months since the Seed was first sown among you. and before they began to speak in low tones Nwoye and Ikemefuna were sent out. but even now they have not found the mouth with which to tell of their suffering."Answer truthfully. Kiaga." said Obierika. He immediately set to work digging a pit where Ezinma had indicated. She is buried there.Later. and on her waist four or five rows of jigida. perhaps even quicker."Have you?" asked Obierika. for he knew certainly that something was amiss. He picked it up. carrying the stamp of their mutilation??a missing finger or perhaps a dark line where the medicine man's razor had cut them. He who brings kola brings life. unlike the deep and liquid rumbling of the rainy season. Uzowulu.