Am I dead? They said I would die if i took care of twins. Every nerve and every muscle stood out on their arms.

" said Okonkwo
" said Okonkwo. they say. When she came to the main road. unlike most children." He paused. she sat down on a stony ledge and waited."Tortoise saw all these preparations and soon discovered what it all meant." Quite often she bought beancakes and gave Ekwefi some to take home to Ezinma. The hearing then began. He told you that he came to take back her bride-price and we refused to give it him. clay and metal instruments went from song to song.The only course open to Okonkwo was to flee from the clan. Then Chielo's renewed outburst came from only a few paces ahead. His words may also be good. "Every day I tell you that jigida and fire are not friends. We have tried to settle their quarrels time without number and on each occasion Uzowulu was guilty??""It is a lie!" Uzowulu shouted. Okonkwo. There are only two of them. Smoke poured out of his head."But you said it was where they bury children?" asked the medicine man. Only the really great men in the clan were able to do this. His enemies said his good fortune had gone to his head. That was a source of great sorrow to the leaders of the clan. The bush was alive with the tread of feet on dry leaves and sticks and the moving aside of tree branches.

Okonkwo." said Obierika. As soon as she got up. and in the end they were received by them They asked for a plot of land to build on. and we would be like Abame. The rain fell in thin."Why do you stand there as though she had been kidnapped?" asked Okonkwo as he went back to his hut."We are at last getting somewhere. that night. The children were also decorated. in spite of his failings in other directions."Okonkwo had just blown out the palm-oil lamp and stretched himself on his bamboo bed when he heard the ogene of the town crier piercing the still night air. was passing by the church on his way from the neighboring village. It had to be done slowly and carefully. He brought another seven baskets and cooked them himself." His staff came down again." said Akukalia. And then the smooth. my great friend."Ekwefi went to bring the pot and Okonkwo selected the best from his bundle. that was how it looked to his father."Obiageli broke her pot today. It was then uncertain whether the low rumbling of Amadiora's thunder came from above or below. who laughed uneasily because.

She turned round on her low stool and put the beak in the fire for a few moments. "who will protect us from the anger of our neglected gods and ancestors?""Your gods are not alive and cannot do you any harm. I will only have a son who is a man. He worked.They sat in a big circle on the ground and the young bride in the center with a hen in her right hand."Okonkwo had just blown out the palm-oil lamp and stretched himself on his bamboo bed when he heard the ogene of the town crier piercing the still night air. unlike most children. The sickness was an abomination to the earth."Three moons ago. the one young and beautiful. A child belongs to its father and his family and not to its mother and her family. "1 have brought you this little kola. Okonkwo brought out l??s big horn from the goatskin bag. gome. Okonkwo always asked his wives' relations."Oye."Tell my wife. but she was held down. Her back was turned on the footpath that led out of the hills. "People traveled more in those days. They had thrown down their water-pots and lain by the roadside expecting the sinister light to descend on them and kill them." said the old man. That was why he had called him a woman. Kiaga's congregation at Mbanta.

and the whole country became the brown-earth color of the vast." He drank his palm-wine. The crowd had surrounded and swallowed up the drummers. the whole clan gathers there.Ikemefuna had begun to feel like a member of Okonkwo's family. And if anything happened to her could she stop it? She would not dare to enter the underground caves."Who killed this banana tree?" he asked. which was strengthened by such little conspiracies as eating eggs in the bedroom. the rulers and elders of Mbanta assembled to decide on their action. In the end the fearless ones went near and even touched him."It has not always been so.Okonkwo and his family worked very hard to plant a new farm. "I had something better to do. Now and again an ancestral spirit or egwugwu appeared from the underworld. He asked Okonkwo a few questions about the dead child. and when they had seen it and thanked him."He led Umuofia to war in those days. and in the end they were received by them They asked for a plot of land to build on. and the crowd answered. The house was now a pandemonium of quavering voices: Am oyim de de de de! filled the air as the spirits of the ancestors. I would not have believed. Okonkwo was among them. He also took with him a pot of palm-wine. Nwoye.

Ezinma was an only child and the center of her mother's world. "I shall carry you on my back. She was alive and well. but he had never yet come across them."It is not our custom to fight for our gods. cooking and eating. The drums went mad and the crowds also. His visitor was amazed. whose sad story is still told in Umuofia unto this day. If you had been a coward. He was carried to the Evil Forest and left there to die." The three rose and went outside. They were merely cleansing the land which Okonkwo had polluted with the blood of a clansman." and Okoye saw groups of short perpendicular lines drawn in chalk. where the white men first came many years before and where they had built the center of their religion and trade and government. When we gather together in the moonlit village ground it is not because of the moon. Again and again Iguedo was called and men waited breathlessly in all the nine villages.At last the rain came."Call your wife and child. Ekwefi tried to pull out the horny beak but it was too hard. And they were all gay. palm-oil and pepper for the soup. but he went to the birds and asked to be allowed to go with them."It is near that orange tree.

I fear for you. and a girl."The white man's court has decided that it should belong to Nnama's family.But there were many others who saw the situation differently.""What has happened to that piece of land in dispute?" asked Okonkwo." said the priestess. Iweka. He hoped to get another four hundred yams from one of his father's friends at Isiuzo. It was already dusk when the two parties came to this agreement. "Let us hear Odukwe. Would he recognize her now? She must have grown quite big. Anyone seeing Chielo in ordinary life would hardly believe she was the same person who prophesied when the spirit of Agbala was upon her." said one of the priests. and the women sat on a sisal mat spread on a raised bank of earth. What would she do when they got to the cave? She would not dare to enter. like coco-yams. everybody knew by instinct that they were very good to eat.""Do you think a thief can do that kind of thing single-handed?" asked Nwankwo. Unoka had a sense of the dramatic and so he allowed a pause. Ezinma shook every tree violently with a long stick before she bent down to cut the stem and dig out the tuber. They will take him outside Umuofia as is the custom. And she had agreed. It is not bravery when a man fights with a woman. prophesying.

He trembled with the desire to conquer and subdue. Today Okonkwo was not bringing his mother home to be buried with her people. He had a slight stammer and whenever he was angry and could not get his words out quickly enough.Okagbue had again taken over the digging from Okonkwo. ivory spoon. The missionaries had come to Umuofia. But he was not a failure like Unoka.In the distance the drums continued to beat. They came to discover what the future held for them or to consult the spirits of their departed fathers. They sat in a half-circle and began to talk of many things. A child belongs to its father and his family and not to its mother and her family. but that they had many children to feed.""Don't cry." he said. else it would break and the thousand tiny rings would have to be strung together again. When everyone had drunk two or three horns.There was a wealthy man in Okonkwo's village who had three huge barns. a good harvest and happiness. were fixed on her.When the mat was at last removed she was drenched in perspiration. I have none now except that young girl who knows not her right from her left. If you are sending him on an errand he flies away before he has heard half of the message. The other wives drank in the same way. Clearly his personal god or chi was not made for great things.

Obierika nodded in agreement. greeted Okonkwo and turned towards the compound. On ordinary days young women who desired children came to sit under its shade.In the morning the market place was full. and each party brought with them a huge pot of palm-wine. Ekwefi brought her to the fireplace. He was light in complexion and his eyes were red and fiery. When Okonkwo brought him home that day he called his most senior wife and handed him over to her. children sat around their mother's cooking fire telling stories. They said that some young men had chased them away from the stream with whips.Obierika's compound was as busy as an anthill. that Chielo had stopped her chanting.He sent for the five sons and they came and sat in his obi. The oldest member of this extensive family was Okonkwo's uncle. Violent deaths were frequent."Okonkwo has spoken the truth. Ezinma was always surprised that her mother could lift a pot from the fire with her bare hands." he said. taking their bride home to spend seven market weeks with her suitor's family. Bring me my daughter. 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. but nothing like this had ever happened. who was also the youngest man in the group.The contest began with boys of fifteen or sixteen.

"I beg you to accept this little kola. Evil Forest rose to his feet and order was immediately restored. 'What did the mother of this chick do?' asked the old kite.The priestess screamed. Why do the nations rage and the peoples imagine a vain thing? He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. How his mother would weep for joy. The barn was built against one end of the red walls. and so were his cousins and their wives when he sent for them and told them who his guest was.Okonkwo sat in his obi crunching happily with Ikemefuna and Nwoye. He ordered the outcasts to shave off their long."Don't you see the pot is full of yams?" Ekwefi asked.He is fit to be a slave. Was it not on an Eke day that they fled into Umuofia?" he asked his two companions. Nothing wouldhappen to Ezinma. He could neither marry nor be married by the free-born. fantastic figures that dissolved under her steady gaze and then formed again in new shapes. The conversation at once centered on him. The blazing sun returned. But although Okonkwo was a great man whose prowess was universally acknowledged. and he could hear his own flute weaving in and out of them.As soon as day broke.""It was always said that Ndulue and Ozoemena had one mind. The lad's name was Ikemefuna.""That cannot be.

Okonkwo's fear was greater than these. just as he would not attempt to start it in the heart of the dry season. But when he reached Tortoise's house he told his wife to bring out all the hard things in the house. A bond of sympathy had grown between them as the years had passed.' replied the man. The Oracle of the Hills and the Caves has pronounced it. 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 saw clearly the high esteem in which he would be held. The pit was now so deep that they no longer saw the digger." came the voice like a sharp knife cutting through the night. But I can trust you. She could not be expected to cook and eat while her husband starved. She pulled again and it came off. Guns fired the last salute and the cannon rent the sky."Who taps your tall trees for you?" asked Obierika. passing back the disc.Qkonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. 'Your dead father wants you to sacrifice a goat to him. On her arms were red and yellow bangles. Your duty is to comfort your wives and children and take them back to your fatherland after seven years."Our father."Answer me!" he roared again. "I have felt it.There were no stars in the sky because there was a rain-cloud.

He was a very strong man and rarely felt fatigue.They came in the cold harmattan season after the harvests had been gathered. and Ikemefuna. but offered to use his teeth. We do not dispute it. But on further thought he told himself that Nwoye was not worth fighting for." came the voice like a sharp knife cutting through the night. Onwumbiko??"Death."Tortoise saw all these preparations and soon discovered what it all meant. And then appeared on the horizon a slowly-moving mass like a boundless sheet of black cloud drifting towards Umuofia.He is fit to be a slave." said the old man. "people should not talk when they are eating or pepper may go down the wrong way. greeted Okonkwo and turned towards the compound. She is called Ozoemena."Go home and sleep.Ekwefi was tired and sleepy from the exhausting experiences of the previous night. suddenly changed his mind and agreed to take the message. As the rains became heavier the women planted maize." He paused. But almost immediately a shout of joy broke out in all directions.These outcasts." He put it down to his inflexible will. "Which is this god of yours.

The next morning the crazy men actually began to clear a part of the forest and to build their house." This was interpreted to them but very few of them heard. Okonkwo. the in-laws began to arrive. let him follow Nwoye now while I am alive so that I can curse him." Altogether there were fifty pots of wine. she was dead. Smoke poured out of his head. Somebody was dead. should he. He could return to the clan after seven years. Darkness was around the corner.So when the daughter of Umuofia was killed in Mbaino. as when she first set out. He told them that they worshipped false gods. One mind said to her: "Woman. The three white men and a very large number of other men surrounded the market. but they looked on from the fringe like outsiders. It always surprised him when he thought of it later that he did not sink under the load of despair."Then kill yourself. thus completing a circle with their hosts. "Somebody is walking behind me!" she said. He pressed the trigger and there was a loud report accompanied by the wail of his wives and children."You are right.

" he said. and before they began to speak in low tones Nwoye and Ikemefuna were sent out. "Okonkwo! Agbala ekme gio-o-o-o! Agbala cholu ifu ada ya Ezinmao-o-o-oi"At the mention of Ezinma's name Ekwefi jerked her head sharply like an animal that had sniffed death in the air. "But Nweke did not appear until it was quite light. and thank Okonkwo for having looked after him so well and for bringing him back.Share-cropping was a very slow way of building up a barn of one's own. refreshed and thankful.His anger thus satisfied. The rains had come and yams had been sown." Okonkwo said. Suppose when he died all his male children decided to follow Nwoye's steps and abandon their ancestors? Okonkwo felt a cold shudder run through him at the terrible prospect. The missionaries had come to Umuofia.Okonkwo did as the priest said. That was a source of great sorrow to the leaders of the clan.Many people went out with baskets trying to catch them."Where does Agbala want to see her?" Ekwefi asked. He still thought about his mother and his three-year-old sister.He went back to the church and told Mr. Let the kite perch and let the eagle perch too. also had a basket of plantains and coco-yams and a small pot of palm-oil. and everyone filled his bags and pots with locusts.On the third day he asked his second wife. and then he continued: "Each group there represents a debt to someone. even the bravest among them.

" said the leader of the ecjwucjwu. "my eyelid is twitching. But Okagbue said he was not tired yet. who had felt more angry than the others. She had got ready her basket of coco-yams and fish. But before they left each took back the feather he had lent to Tortoise." said Okonkwo." Uzowulu bent down and touched the earth with his right hand as a sign of submission. She went in and knocked at his door and he came out.The men then continued their drinking and talking. They all have food in their own homes. I shall do that every year until you return. There was a drinking horn in it. He trembled with the desire to conquer and subdue. Okonkwo had clearly washed his hands and so he ate with kings and elders. greeted themselves in their esoteric language.He is fit to be a slave. I sow the yams when the first rain has fallen. The sickness was an abomination to the earth. Even as a little boy he had resented his father's failure and weakness."Tufia-al" the priestess cursed. Obierika's relatives and friends began to arrive. Ezinma placed her mother's dish before him and sat with Obiageli. Nobody thought that such a thing could ever happen.

Everybody in the crowd was talking. why it is that one of the commonest names we give our children is Nneka.He was by nature a very lively boy and he gradually became popular in Okonkwo's household.But there was a young lad who had been captivated. urging the others to hurry up.'"'You do not know me."He sprang to his feet. a loud cheer rose from the crowd. "In Abame and Aninta the title is worth less than two cowries. The crowd then shouted with ainger and thirst for blood. Umuofia has decided to kill him.When she had shaken hands. He knew it must be Ekwefi. He was afraid of being thought weak. There was no question of killing a missionary here. and his happiest moments were the two or three moons after the harvest when the village musicians brought down their instruments. for he had no grave. Nma. go home before Agbala does you harm. 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. He was greatly shocked and swore to beat Ekwefi if she dared to give the child eggs again.As the palm-wine was drunk one of the oldest members of the umunna rose to thank Okonkwo:"If I say that we did not expect such a big feast I will be suggesting that we did not know how openhanded our son. She would want to hear everything that had happened to him in all these years."Our father.

the Evil Forest was a fit home for such undesirable people. You have many wives and many children??more children than I have. I am an old man and you are all children. You may ask why I am saying all this."No."We shall be going. pulled out his staff and thrust it into the earth again. When everything had been set before the guests. how he had often wandered around looking for a kite sailing leisurely against the blue sky. untouched by the ax and the bush-fire. my child. Ekwefi had a feeling of spacious openness. But although Okonkwo was a great man whose prowess was universally acknowledged.Soon after Ofoedu left. "My father told me that he had been told that in the past a man who broke the peace was dragged on the ground through the village until he died. What you have done will not please the Earth." Okonkwo agreed. became quite inseparable from him because he seemed to know everything. You know his first wife who walks with a stick?""Yes. 'If I fall down for you and you fall down for me. Everybody in the crowd was talking. was a failure. but no one thought the stories were true. hungry to do harm to the living.

He had a bad chi or personal god. I am Dry-meat-that-fills-the-mouth. They were possessed by the spirit of the drums.'"'You do not know me." He paused for a long while. especially the wooden mortar in which yam was pounded. the grown-up. The thick mat was thrown over both. gome. Tortoise had no wings." said Ezinma touching the ground with her finger. a large crowd of men from Ezeudu's quarter stormed Okonkwo's compound."It is here.""Why?" asked Obierika and Okonkwo together. only more holy than the village variety. but if one picked out the flute as it went up and down and then broke up into short snatches. The oldest man present said sternly that those whose palm-kernels were cracked for them by a benevolent spirit should not forget to be humble."Nwoye always wondered who Nnadi was and why he should live all by himself. At such times. As the evening wore on. It was an ill omen. "Whoever has a job in hand. and girls came from the inner compound to dance.Ekwefi knelt beside the sick child.

Some of these prisoners were men of title who should be above such mean occupation.Okonkwo was also feeling tired."He gave his mother seven baskets of vegetables to cook and in the end there were only three."No. Ekwefi hurried to the main footpath and turned left in the direction of the voice. It was even said that they had hanged one man who killed a missionary. he was at a loss. and the sound of wooden mortar and pestle as Nwayieke pounded her foo-foo."None." At the same time the priestess also said. "They use medicine. in the sunshine. dug her teeth into the real thing. Chielo never ceased in her chanting. "In Abame and Aninta the title is worth less than two cowries.""It is already too late. and so they stood waiting. The women weeded the farm three times at definite periods in the life of the yams. and sent for the missionaries."Go and burn your mothers' genitals."We have now built a church.The land of the living was not far removed from the domain of the ancestors. One of them was so old and infirm that he leaned heavily on a stick. The women had come to the church with empty waterpots.

On ordinary days young women who desired children came to sit under its shade. "But I am greatly afraid." He filled the first horn and gave to his father. and the whole country became the brown-earth color of the vast." said his father. The old man who received him was his mother's younger brother. deeply.It was a great funeral. Go and see if your father has brought out yams for the afternoon. and a powerful flute blew a high-pitched blast.It was well known among the people of Mbanta that their gods and ancestors were sometimes long-suffering and would deliberately allow a man to go on defying them.As they spoke two other groups of people had replaced the first before the egwugwu. but to settle the dispute. folded her arms in front of her and began to sway her waist like a grown-up young lady. as was the custom. His visitor was amazed. How his mother would weep for joy. Ekwefi."This is Obierika. She was already beginning to doubt the wisdom of her coming. But it is not so.As the men drank. the sky." replied Nwoye.

He had had the same kind of feeling not long ago. Thelocusts had not come for many. Okonkwo and the boys worked in complete silence. They throw away large numbers of men and women without burial. "1 shall think of another one with a song. and for protection against their enemies. He had no patience with unsuccessful men.And the little church was at that moment too deeply absorbed in its own troubles to annoy the clan. They did not stay very long. Amikwu. watching. Ikemefuna felt like a child once more. When i say no to them they think i am hard hearted. The elders sat in a big circle and the singers went round singing each man's praise as they came before him. but they looked on from the fringe like outsiders. If we should try to drive out the white men in Umuofia we should find it easy.Unoka. followed by Akueke.Everybody at the kindred meeting took sides with Osugo when Okonkwo called him a woman. No woman ever asked questions about the most powerful and the most secret cult in the clan. "But I want all of you to note what 1 am going to say. Then he remembered that he had not taken out his snuff-spoon. which means "the good one. In that way she will elude her wicked tormentor and break its evil cycle of birth and death.

Every woman immediately abandoned whatever she was doing and rushed out in the direction of the cry. anxiety mounted in every heart that heaved on a bamboo bed that night. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart. As our people say. women and children. fifth and sixth years. who then unrolled the goatskin which he carried under his arm.Uzowulu stepped forward and presented his case. It was such a forest that." said Ezinma. one of them did something which no one could describe because it had been as quick as a flash.""It is already too late. Every market day. suddenly changed his mind and agreed to take the message." said Ekwefi.""It is indeed true. "They had been warned that danger was ahead. about their women. It was a tremendous sight. At an early age he had achieved fame as the greatest wrestler in all the land. and his children after him. she sat down on a stony ledge and waited. The priestess bent down on one knee and Ezinma climbed on her back. close to the Great Shrine.

" He turned to Odukwe. will you go to see the wrestling?" Ezinma asked after a suitable interval. The pots of wine stood in their midst.Ekwefi was tired and sleepy from the exhausting experiences of the previous night. my sons. he was asking Unoka to return the two hundred cowries he had borrowed from him more than two years before. The palm fronds were helpless in keeping them back.""The only other person is Udenkwo." He presented the kola nut to them. white foam rose and spilled over. If a clansman killed a royal python accidentally. which the first wife alone could wear. I want you to be there. sat on the floor waiting for him to finish. The earth burned like hot coals and roasted all the yams that had been sown. children. will not understand me.There was a wealthy man in Okonkwo's village who had three huge barns.Although Nwoye had been attracted to the new faith from the very first day. When your neighbors go out with their ax to cut down virgin forests. Some were great farmers. but she was held down. to the boys and they passed it round the wooden stays and then back to him. on their backs and their thighs.

That was his fifth head and he was not an old man yet."The next day a group of elders from all the nine villages of Umuofia came to Okonkwo's house early in the morning.""Your words are good." said Ezinma to her mother. The elders and grandees of the village sat on their own stools brought there by their young sons or slaves. Amadiora or the thunderbolt.The drums were still beating. If a clansman killed a royal python accidentally. Ozoemena??"May it not happen again. his children and their mothers in the new year. "We shall give them a piece of land. and kill him there. blew into it to remove any dust that might be there. with which they sat on the floor. But it is not so. Chielo was not a woman that night. Some birds chirruped in the forests around. rubbing her eyes and stretching her spare frame. overpowered him and obtained his first human head. the tumult increased tenfold. indeed." said Okonkwo. But they were very rare and short-lived. In Umunso they do not bargain at all.

'It cried and raved and cursed me. and Ojiugo's daughter.""They have indeed soiled the name of ozo. Anasi was the first wife and the others could not drink before her. Ozoemena??"May it not happen again. He was a leper. I am worried about Nwoye." said Mr. and when he recovered he seemed to have overcome his great fear and sadness. emerged from her hut. was expected to invite large numbers of guests from far and wide. In the other group were her husband. and we shall all perish. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace." But before they went he whispered something to his first wife."Ezinma is dying." said Obierika. His wives and children were very happy too. When all was laid out. so his chi agreed. I salute you. suddenly overcome with fury. Am I dead? They said I would die if i took care of twins. Every nerve and every muscle stood out on their arms.