him.But Ezinma's iyi-uwa had looked real enough. There were only four titles in the clan." Obierika thought. It was a warrior's funeral.

taking each string separately
taking each string separately. in the other hand.And so Obierika went to Mbanta to see his friend. Then the bride. "Let us not presume to do so now. like a funeral. Nothing happened at its proper time. Whenever Nwoye's mother sang this song he felt carried away to the distant scene in the sky where Vulture. like a solitary walker at night who passes an evil spirit an the way. or playground. "you. She would want to hear everything that had happened to him in all these years.""He tapped three of my best palm trees to death. Okonkwo. He changed them every day. "I am an old man and I like to talk. When all was laid out. butwhenever she thought she saw their shape it immediately dissolved like a melting lump of darkness. And they began to shoot. But Ekwefi was not thinking about that. Ezinma.Even in his first year in exile he had begun to plan for his return.""That is true. Amikwu and his people had taken palm-wine to the bride's kinsmen about two moons before Okonkwo's arrival in Mbanta. Obierika's son."Have you?" asked Obierika."Where have you been?" he stammered." said Mgbogo's next-door neighbor. Nwoye stood looking at him and did not say a word.

carrying a wooden dish with three kola nuts and alligator pepper. Rain fell as it had never fallen before." said some of the elders." He paused. When all seemed ready he let himself go. i have only a short while to live. worthless. Palm trees swayed as the wind combed their leaves into flying crests like strange and fantastic coiffure. children sat around their mother's cooking fire telling stories. She did not marry him then because he was too poor to pay her bride-price.The drums beat and the flutes sang and the spectators held their breath. Okonkwo's youngest wife also came out and joined the others. He could hardly imagine that Okonkwo was not his real father.The confusion that followed was without parallel in the tradition of Umuofia. Unoka. 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. when he saw Nwoye among the Christians. She had balanced it on her head. He then invited the birds to eat.Okonkwo planted what was left of his seed-yams when the rains finally returned. Some of these prisoners had thrown away their twins and some had molested the Christians. will you go to see the wrestling?" Ezinma asked after a suitable interval. The men were seized and beaten until they streamed with blood. and each party brought with them a huge pot of palm-wine. Ezeudu was the oldest man in this quarter of Umuofia. and was full of the sap of life. At one stage Ekwefi was so afraid that she nearly called out to Chielo for companionship and human sympathy. He began to wonder why he had felt uneasy at all."No.

He had a bad chi or personal god. astride the steaming pot.Soon after Ofoedu left. She had."He said nothing. Sometimes he decided that a yam was too big to be sown as one seed and he split it deftly along its length with his sharp knife. and went back to her hut. who lived near the udala tree.He was tall but very thin and had a slight stoop. But Ekwefi could not see her. and was punished. and drinking palm-wine copiously. he was treated with great honor and respect. as the saying goes. When they finished." He put it down to his inflexible will. Marriage should be a play and not a fight so we are falling down again. the grown-up. Nwoye had heard that twins were put in earthenware pots and thrown away in the forest."He took down the pot from the fire and placed it in front of the stool.He is fit to be a slave. She hit her left foot against an outcropped root. Okonkwo always asked his wives' relations.Ezinma was an only child and the center of her mother's world. But his whole life was dominated by fear. He put them in the pot and Ekwefi poured in some water. '1 am a changed man. through lonely forest paths. He did not cry.

" He drank his palm-wine. The women and children sent up a great shout and took to their heels. and the sound of wooden mortar and pestle as Nwayieke pounded her foo-foo. Our hosts in the sky will expect us to honor this age-old custom. On his head were two powerful horns.""You sound as if you question the authority and the decision of the Oracle.""Nna ayi. is a beast. "Life to you. He had therefore put his drinking-horn into his goatskin bag for the occasion. "I planted the farm nearly two years ago." pleaded from a reasonable distance. and two days later he returned home with a lad of fifteen and a young virgin. Tears of gratitude filled her eyes.Chielo's voice was now rising continuously. his head pointing to the earth and his legs skywards." said Okonkwo. "So look after him. I salute you. She slowed down her pace so as to increase the distance between them. 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."For the first time in three nights.The priestess screamed. her voice cracking like the angry bark of thunder in the dry season. Okonkwo's first son. but no one thought the stories were true. The fact was that Obiageli had been making inyanga with her pot.Okonkwo was also feeling tired. and the meeting continued.

It had not happened for many a long year.Okonkwo sprang from his bed. Unoka. But if a man caused it. The neighbors sat around watching the pit becoming deeper and deeper. It was the fear of himself. A snake was never called by its name at night. "Somebody is walking behind me!" she said. the harvest of the previous year. And when he got there he found it was a man making a sacrifice. who was now in charge of the infant congregation. and looked at her palms. Kiaga was going to send into the village for his men-converts when he saw them coming on their own. was a failure. they became the lords of the land. especially these days when young men are afraid of hard work.Okonkwo turned on his side and went back to sleep.He sent for the five sons and they came and sat in his obi. Okonkwo would take care of meat and yams. The other people were released. But it is your turn now.Dusk was already approaching when their contest began. But some of these losses were not irreparable. and the women sat on a sisal mat spread on a raised bank of earth. where they were guarded by a race of stunted men. It is a poor soil and that is why the tubers are so small. silencing him. Tortoise looked down from the sky and saw his wife bringing things out. "Every day I tell you that jigida and fire are not friends.

The same thought also came to Okonkwo's mind. Kiaga's joy was very great. Spirits always addressed humans as "bodies." she began. The lad's name was Ikemefuna."I cannot understand why you refused to come with us to kill that boy." said another. using some of the chicken.Ekwefi put a few live coals into a piece of broken pot and Ezinma carried it across the clean swept compound to Nwoye's mother. paid regular visits to them."They do not understand. "and leave the child alone. A vague scent of life and green vegetation was diffused in the air. He remembered once when men had talked in low tones with his father. It is against the will of God. in silence."The birds gathered round to eat what was left and to peck at the bones he had thrown all about the floor. A sickly odor hung in the air wherever he went." he said. carrying on their heads various sizes of pots suitable to their years.The drummers took up their sticks and the air shivered and grew tense like a tightened bow. They were already far enough where they stood and there was room for running away if any of them should go towards them. Only the really great men in the clan were able to do this. There is not a single clan in these parts that I do not know very well." said some of the elders.' said her mother. Okonkwo stood by. and piling up his debts.As the men drank.

The kola nut was given him to break. and went away. Go home and work like a man. And so they killed him. He knew the names of all the birds and could set clever traps for the little bush rodents. "Somebody is walking behind me!" she said. This was one of the lighter tasks of the after-harvest season. Once upon a time there was a great famine in the land of animals. a long. that Ekwensu. He had fallen ill on the previous night. That was his fifth head and he was not an old man yet. had died ten years ago.The Oracle was called Agbala." replied the white man. At the opposite end of the compound was a shed for the goats. and any time he passed her way he told Ear that he was still alive. 'Your dead father wants you to sacrifice a goat to him."Will you give Ezinma some fire to bring to me?" Her own children and Ikemefuna had gone to the stream. With the help of his mother's kinsmen he built himself an obi and three huts for his wives. And so he changed the subject and talked about music. It was even heard in the surrounding villages. 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. like a solitary walker at night who passes an evil spirit an the way. who then unrolled the goatskin which he carried under his arm."When did you become a shivering old woman. It was like a man wondering in broad daylight why a dream had appeared so terrible to him at night. and he could hear his own flute weaving in and out of them.Umuofia had indeed changed during the seven years Okonkwo had been in exile.

Her basket was balanced on her head. behind the crowd. but they grew women's crops. Ezeudu is dead. He was greatly shocked and swore to beat Ekwefi if she dared to give the child eggs again." said the priestess. looked left and right and turned right."I will come with you."Nwakibie cleared his throat. But a few years later she ran away from her husband and came to live with Okonkwo. After a few more hoe-fuls of earth he struck the iyi-uwa. If you are sending him on an errand he flies away before he has heard half of the message. How a woman could carry a child of that size so easily and for so long was a miracle.Ezinma was still sleeping when everyone else was astir. or playground. He was taking his family of three wives and their children to seek refuge in his motherland." he said.""He tapped three of my best palm trees to death. I shall give you some fish to eat. this medicine stands on the market ground in the shape of an old woman with a fan. But his wives and young children were not as strong. Ekwefi could now discern the figure of the priestess and her burden." she began. On ordinary days young women who desired children came to sit under its shade. hungry swarm. Chielo was not a woman that night. But it was the season of rest between the harvest and the next planting season.Of his three wives Ekwefi was the only one who would have the audacity to bang on his door. But when he reached Tortoise's house he told his wife to bring out all the hard things in the house.

"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. "I remember now."Why is Okonkwo with us today? This is not his clan. He said he was one of them. and also a drinking gourd. and. But his whole life was dominated by fear.As soon as the day broke. They would go to such hosts for as long as three or four markets. Okonkwo brought out l??s big horn from the goatskin bag.""He tapped three of my best palm trees to death. It must be the thought of going home to his mother. "They want to ruin us. He woke up once in the middle of the night and his mind went back to the past three days without making him feel uneasy." said the convert. but not overmuch. tangled hair."It is here.Soon after Ofoedu left."Ekwefi turned the hen over in the mortar and began to pluck the feathers. Without further argument Okonkwo gave her a sound beating and left her and her only daughter weeping. moved to the center. And he knew which trees made the strongest bows.Okonkwo's family Jimmy Choo UGGSwas astir like any other family in the neighborhood. perhaps for the first time. Okonkwo's wives and children and those who came to help them with the cooking began to bring out the food. and he knew it was due to Ikemefuna. The lad's name was Ikemefuna. His wives.

he is not too young. she thought. He slapped the ear and hoped he had killed it. Then she suddenly turned round and began to walk back to the road. When all seemed ready he let himself go. It was sudden and tremendous. The elders said locusts came once in a generation. Ezinma brought her two legs together and stretched them in front of her. He could not take any of the four titles of the clan. Nwoye's mother swore at her and settled down again to her peeling. and Obiageli told her mournful story."It is an ozo dance. The white man had gone back to Umuofia. Di-go-go-di-go. "I know what it is??the wrestling match. But you are still a child.""Once upon a time. It was on the seventh day that he died. In fact he had not killed a rat with his gun. the wife of Amadi. His future sons-in-law would be men of authority in the clan." asked Obierika. A great evil has come upon their land as the Oracle had warned. Obierika's second wife followed with a pot of soup. After that nothing happened for a long time between the church and the clan. As our people say. Why should I? But the Oracle did not ask me to carry out its decision."They want a piece of land to build their shrine. was among them.

"But I want all of you to note what 1 am going to say. These sudden bouts of sickness and health were typical of her kind. It had not happened for many a long year."Ekwefi went to bring the pot and Okonkwo selected the best from his bundle. If any money came his way."Okonkwo never did things by halves. whose name was Ibe. Sometimes Okonkwo gave them a few yams each to prepare. sang for mercy. first with little sticks and later with tall and big tree branches."How can I know you. in turn. and on the other the offer of a young man and a virgin as compensation. go home before Agbala does you harm. hung his goatskin bag on his shoulder and went to visit his friend. malevolent. He wanted first to know why they had been outlawed. but so great was the work the new religion had done among the converts that they did not immediately leave the church when the outcasts came in. was among them."Have you slept enough?" asked her mother. She went in and knocked at his door and he came out. I also kill a cock at the shrine of Ifejioku. But there was one woman who had no doubt whatever in her mind. a light rain had fallen during the night and the soil would not be very hard. suddenly overcome with fury. But such was her anxiety for her daughter that she could not rid herself completely of her fear. On his head were two powerful horns. Perhaps she has come to stay. Another one was wailing near his right ear.

do not allow him a moment's rest. If. But there is one more question I shall ask you. Near the barn was a small house. 'You have done very well. The young men who kept order flew around." said the convert. He was a wealthy farmer and had two barns full of yams. At such times she seemed beyond danger. Then she suddenly turned round and began to walk back to the road. They also said I would die if I built my church on this ground. "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. Ekwefi quickly moved away from her line of retreat. He tried not to think about Ikemefuna. after the rains. The iron horse was still tied to the sacred silk-cotton tree. "they killed him and tied up his iron horse. They were the lazy easy-going ones who always put off clearing their farms as long as they could.The men then continued their drinking and talking.""I pray she stays. It was a smooth pebble wrapped in a dirty rag. He breathed heavily. he beat her until she miscarried. It rose and faded with the wind??a peaceful dance from a distant clan. They were already far enough where they stood and there was room for running away if any of them should go towards them." he answered. It was not external but lay deep within himself." said Okonkwo." said Obierika.

But apart from the church. Many people laughed at his dialect and the way he used words strangely. He picked it up."1 have told you to let her alone. or rather held out her hand to be shaken. "do you not grow yams where you come from?"Inwardly Okonkwo knew that the boys were still too young to understand fully the difficult art of preparing seed-yams." said Ezinma. for in spite of their worthlessness they still belonged to the clan. He looked terrible with the smoked raffia "body. Okonkwo. that Ekwensu.Onwumbiko was not given proper burial when he died. Her heart beat violently and she stood still. Tortoise looked down from the sky and saw his wife bringing things out." At the same time the priestess also said. The white man has no sense. roots and barks of medicinal trees and shrubs."Yam pottage was served first because it was lighter than foo-foo and because yam always came first. on their backs and their thighs. they ought to know that Akueke is the bride for a king. Why do the nations rage and the peoples imagine a vain thing? He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. machetes. who had given much money to the white man's messengers and interpreter."I sometimes think he is too sharp. where the white men first came many years before and where they had built the center of their religion and trade and government. Nwakibie brought down his own horn. Her heart beat violently and she stood still. turning to Obierika. the earth goddess and the source of all fertility.

" replied the white man. Ezinma went with her and helped in preparing the vegetables. and she put all her being into it.In the distance the drums continued to beat. A young man from one team danced across the center to the other side and pointed at whomever he wanted to fight. She was very friendly with Ekwefi and they shared a common shed in the market. Do you hear that. It was like the market. I sow the yams when the first rain has fallen." said Evil Forest. with a start. And so they killed him.""What did the white man say before they killed him?" asked Uchendu. he was asking Unoka to return the two hundred cowries he had borrowed from him more than two years before. As they emerged into the open village from the narrow forest track the darkness was softened and it became possible to see the vague shape of trees. "I dislike cold water dropping on my back. "How much longer do you think you will live?" she asked."Ezinma ran in the direction of the barn and brought back two yams from the dwarf wall. But you were rich. Machi. which was part of the night. and it was not until late in the evening that one of them saw for the first time his in-law who had arrived during the course of the meal and had fallen to on the opposite side. There was no question of killing a missionary here. Obierika's son. He still thought about his mother and his three-year-old sister. as she had accepted others??with listless resignation. People called on their neighbors and drank palm-wine. He heaved a heavy sigh and went away with the gun. that was how it looked to his father.

How could she know that Ekwefi's bitterness did not flow outwards to others but inwards into her own soul. My mother was one of you. No! he could not be. Okonkwo worked on the outside of the wall and the boys worked from within." said Obierika to his son.' Everybody laughed heartily except Okonkwo."This is Obierika. then. a huge wooden face painted white except for the round hollow eyes and the charred teeth that were as big as a man's fingers. trembling. As Idigo had said. He searched his bag and brought out his snuff-bottle. and we would be like Abame." Ekwefi said firmly. or Evil Spirit. "So you must finish this. An evil forest was where the clan buried all those who died of the really evil diseases. They faced the elders." he said. But that did not alter the facts. and thank Okonkwo for having looked after him so well and for bringing him back." said Obierika. But he thought that one could not begin too early. And when she returned he beat her very heavily. and the man growled at him to go on and not stand looking back.""I do not. her mother and half a dozen other women and girls emerged from the inner compound. gazing into a log fire. The yams he had sown before the drought were his own.

" said Okonkwo's voice."Just then Obierika's son. "And these white men.As the day wore on his in-laws arrived from three surrounding villages. There were five groups." he said. Obiageli. They boast about victory over death. They were grieved by the indignity and mourned for their neglected farms. Before the day was over he was dead. We do not pray to have more money but to have more kinsmen. and sat down. Yam. Nwoye. It was instinctive. decorating them with a colorful and plaintive tune. Every man and woman came out to see the white man. who was fat and whose body shone as if oil was rubbed on it??"She broke off because at that very moment a loud and high-pitched voice broke the outer silence of the night."Look at that wall.Umuofia was feared by all its neighbors. It began by naming the clan: Umuofia obodo dike! "the land of the brave." lied Nwoye's mother. And what is the result? An abominable religion has settled among you. he was asking Unoka to return the two hundred cowries he had borrowed from him more than two years before." He put it down to his inflexible will.Okonkwo returned from the bush carrying on his left shoulder a large bundle of grasses and leaves. Ekwefi was reassured. Go and see if your father has brought out yams for the afternoon. and although ailing she seemed determined to live.

And when she returned he beat her very heavily. Her name was Nneka."Uzowulu's body. he was treated with great honor and respect. She was full of the power of her god. and it was he who had received Okonkwo's mother twenty and ten years before when she had been brought home Irom Umuofia to be buried with her people.At the beginning of their journey the men of Umuofia talked and laughed about the locusts. made up her mind. who were putting the last delicate touches of razor to her coiffure and cam wood on her smooth skin. and stammered. They had built their church there. he. But although Okonkwo was a great man whose prowess was universally acknowledged." Obierika replied sharply. He worked." replied Ekwefi. Later in the day he called Ikemefuna and told him that he was to be taken home the next day. thus completing a circle with their hosts. Do you not think that they came to our clan by mistake." But she could not. for he knew certainly that something was amiss. Ezinma went deeper and deeper and the crowd went with her. The saying of the elders was not true??that if a man said yea his chi also affirmed. Mgbafo and her brothers were as still as statues into whose faces the artist has molded defiance. Why do the nations rage and the peoples imagine a vain thing? He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. like something agitating with a metallic life. and when he got home he went straight to Okonkwo's hut and told him what he had seen.Everybody agreed that Igwelo should drink the dregs. Unlike his father he could stand the look of blood.

"Perhaps you can already guess what it is.Okonkwo knew these things. I salute you. I also kill a cock at the shrine of Ifejioku. In Umunso they do not bargain at all. She trudged slowly along. The villagers were so certain about the doom that awaited these men that one or two converts thought it wise to suspend their allegiance to the new faith.And then quite suddenly a shadow fell on the world. She called her by her name.The arrival of the missionaries had caused a considerable stir in the village of Mbanta. and they took up fans and began to fan themselves.She did not know how long she waited. He was merely led into greater complexities. and the hosts looked at each other as if to say.Yam. And not only his chi but his clan too." he said. "all the birds were invited to a feast in the sky."The weeping was now quite close and soon the children filed in. and soon returned with a bowl of cool water from the earthen pot in her mother's hut.Okonkwo was beginning to feel like his old self again. who stood beside her."I have kola."For three years Ikemefuna lived in Okonkwo's household and the elders of Umuofia seemed to have forgotten about him. At the end. and hung their goatskin bags and sheathed machetes over their left shoulders. For three or four moons it demanded hard work and constant attention from cock-crow till the chickens went back to roost. almost overnight. "Our duty is not to blame this man or to praise that.

It ate rats in the house and sometimes swallowed hens' eggs. All the grass had long been scorched brown." said the leader of the ecjwucjwu. another man asked a question: "Where is the white man's horse?" he asked. "That is the story. And yet we say Nneka - 'Mother is Supreme. But I can trust you. It was evening and the sun was settingUchendu's eldest daughter. The lad's name was Ikemefuna. and went back to her hut. taking their bride home to spend seven market weeks with her suitor's family."Thank you. Twenty. Old men and children would then sit round log fires. And when he did this he saw that his father was pleased. and was not given the first or the second burial. You are a great family. In his day he was lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow. chewing the fish. and went back to her hut." the convert maintained. a man of war. Young men and boys in single file. Uzowulu. on their backs and their thighs. and his children after him. he broke it and they ate. impotent ash. he beat her until she miscarried.

' said her mother.Okoye was also a musician. But tonight she was addressing her prophecy and greetings to Okonkwo. and by then he had become gravely worried. And he went. What you have done will not please the Earth." he said quietly to Ezinma. slanting showers through sunshine and quiet breeze. they ought to know that Akueke is the bride for a king. and the tuber was pulled out. "Blessed is he who forsakes his father and his mother for my sake. Their fathers had never dared to stand before our ancestors. Okonkwo.Unoka."Who killed this tree? Or are you all deaf and dumb?"As a matter of fact the tree was very much alive. She was the priestess of Agbala."Unoka was like that in his last days. Her suitor and his relatives surveyed her young body with expert eyes as if to assure themselves that she was beautiful and ripe. and his face beamed.Okonkwo cleared his throat and moved his feet to the beat of the drums. "If you split another yam of this size. 'It cried and raved and cursed me.As for the boy himself. And when a man is at peace with his gods and his ancestors." said Obierika. Sometimes it poured down in such thick sheets of water that earth and sky seemed merged in one gray wetness."I will not have a son who cannot hold up his head in the gathering of the clan. he was at a loss. If we put ourselves between the god and his victim we may receive blows intended for the offender.

Okonkwo had returned home and sat waiting. The hearing then began. They had no hatred in their hearts against Okonkwo. Nwoye's mother.There were seven men in Obierika's hut when Okonkwo returned. "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." said Mr."Then kill yourself. but no one thought the stories were true. and they. And so people said he had no respect for the gods of the clan. She put back the empty pot on the circular pad in the corner. "honest men and thieves. and soon returned with a bowl of cool water from the earthen pot in her mother's hut."Who killed this banana tree?" he asked. That is all I am good for now. The men stood outside the circle. the one young and beautiful. I did not hang myself. When all seemed ready he let himself go. egusi soup and bitter-leaf soup and pots and pots of palm-wine. In the end he decided that Nnadi must live in that land of Ikemefuna's favorite story where the ant holds his court in splendor and the sands dance forever. who only stayed in the hope that it might come to chasing the men out of the village or whipping them. There was pounded yam and also yam pottage cooked with palm-oil and fresh fish. 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. The saying of the elders was not true??that if a man said yea his chi also affirmed."How can I know?" Ekwefi wanted her to work it out herself. but they are too young to leave their mother. The iron horse was still tied to the sacred silk-cotton tree.

He knew the names of all the birds and could set clever traps for the little bush rodents. Her deepening despair found expression in the names she gave her children. and it was his firmness that saved the young church. Okonkwo came after her.""What has happened to that piece of land in dispute?" asked Okonkwo. The happy voices of children playing in open fields would then be heard. she could bear no other person but her father. Ezinma went with her and helped in preparing the vegetables. If only he could find some work to do he would be able to forget.Ekwefi went into her hut to cook yams. not knowing what else to say."Your half-sister. where he thought they must be. One man tied his cloth to a tree branch and hanged himself."There was immediate excitement and those who were sitting jumped to their feet. because it judged a man by the work or his hands. into a healthy. Two judges walked around the wrestlers and when they thought they were equally matched."He was not an albino. and all the rest rushed away to see the cow that had been let loose. and two others after her. Men and women. We are all children of God and we must receive these our brothers. Ojiugo. She will bear you nine sons like the mother of our town. the wife of Amadi. He asked Okagbue to come up and rest while he took a hand. the women who had gone for red earth returned with empty baskets."There is one important thing which we must not forget.

And then the smooth. Okonkwo was clearly cut out for great things." Obierika said to his son. Ezinma shook every tree violently with a long stick before she bent down to cut the stem and dig out the tuber. and the crowd followed her. Then the rain became less violent. Each of his three wives had her own hut. "That boy calls you father."Looking at a king's mouth."Bring me my bag."Agbala do-o-o-o! Agbala ekeneo-o-o-o-o."Those who knew Amadi laughed. Hisspeech was so eloquent that all the birds were glad they had brought him. He then broke the kola nut and threw one of the lobes on the ground for the ancestors. "Let us give them a portion of the Evil Forest. She would wait at the mouth. Evil Forest then stood up."Outside the obi Okagbue and Okonkwo were digging the pit to find where Ezinma had buried her iyi-uwa. She had balanced it on her head."He has married Okadigbo's second daughter. or "Mother is Supreme?" We all know that a man is the head of the family and his wives do his bidding. Early that morning as he offered a sacrifice of new yam and palm oil to his ancestors he asked them to protect him.At last they took a turning and began to head for the caves. on their backs and their thighs."They are here. They passed their cloths under the right arm-pit. dug her teeth into the real thing. They sympathized with their neighbors with much shaking of the head. because Oduche had not died immediately from his wounds.

dug her teeth into the real thing. She was. Kiaga had asked the women to bring red earth and white chalk and water to scrub the church for Easter. Temporary cooking tripods were erected on every available space by bringing together three blocks of sun-dried earth and making a fire in their midst. It was like the pulsation of its heart.' 'You must return the duckling. He was like the man in the song who had ten and one wives and not enough soup for his foo-foo. Some of them had been heavily whipped. Umuofia."Ezeudu was a great man." said Nwoye's mother." His tone now changed from anger to command. and the lad Ikemefuna. But it was really a woman's ceremony and the central figures were the bride and her mother. "I shall not talk about thanking you any more. Ekwefi quickly moved away from her line of retreat. She went. It began by naming the clan: Umuofia obodo dike! "the land of the brave. Then it went nearer and named the village: " Iguedo of the yellow grinding-stone!" It was Okonkwo's village. my child." said Mr."Agbala do-o-o-o! Umuachi! Agbala ekene unuo-o-ol" It was just as Ekwefi had thought." Ezinma pointed out. and went round the circle shaking hands with all. the god of yams. Now and then a cold shiver descended on his head and spread down his body. asked her""Remember that if you do not answer truthfully you will suffer or even die at childbirth."Ezinma's voice from the darkness warmed her mother's heart.' said her mother.

"Ee-e-e!""We are giving you our daughter today. It was unheard of to beat somebody during the sacred week.Mr. "But they will understand when they go to their plot of land tomorrow morning. She knelt on her knees and hands at the threshold and called her husband. Ekwefi was the only person in the happy company who went about with a cloud on her brow. but many of them believed that the strange faith and the white man's god would not last. 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. Okoye said the next half a dozen sentences in proverbs."Answer the question at once. It was an ill omen. If it does its power will be gone. The daughters of the clan did not return to their homes immediately but spent two more days with their kinsmen. and went back to her hut. a cake of salt and smoked fish which she would present to Obierika's wife. Yam foo-foo and vegetable soup was the chief food in the celebration. who were still outside the circle. Is it true that Okonkwo nearly killed you with his gun?""It is true indeed. She felt cold. go home before Agbala does you harm. and allowed a brief pause. If you are sending him on an errand he flies away before he has heard half of the message. There were many women. The meat was then shared so that every member of the umunna had a portion. He also took with him a pot of palm-wine. called her mother by her name. Every man can see it in his own compound." replied Okonkwo. They were all fully dressed as if they were going to a big clan meeting or to pay a visit to a neighboring village.

In the morning the market place was full. he had stalked his victim. took the lump of chalk. somewhat indulgently. she was dead.Many people went out with baskets trying to catch them.The contest began with boys of fifteen or sixteen." said Okagbue. It contained other things apart from his snuff-bottle."Will you give Ezinma some fire to bring to me?" Her own children and Ikemefuna had gone to the stream. paid regular visits to them. 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. She rose from her mat. one of those evil essences loosed upon the world by the potent "medicines" which the tribe had made in the distant past against its enemies but had now forgotten how to control. He dared not go too near the missionaries for fear of his father." he said. won a handful of converts and were already sending evangelists to the surrounding towns and villages." said Obierika.The wrestlers were not there yet and the drummers held the field. The men trod dry leaves on the sand. He searched in it for his snuff-bottle. where he thought they must be. The story had arisen among the Christians themselves. She turned round on her low stool and put the beak in the fire for a few moments. It was a great feast."Who are the young men with you?" he asked as he sat down again on his goatskin. The first people who saw him ran away. There was once a man who went to sell a goat. Kiaga.

"Mother Kite once sent her daughter to bring food. Three young men from the victorious boy's team ran forward. and drinking palm-wine copiously. She was Okonkwo's second wife Ekwefi. let him follow Nwoye now while I am alive so that I can curse him. and each wife built a small attachment to her hut for the hens.Large crowds began to gather on the village ilo as soon as the edge had worn off the sun's heat and it was no longer painful on the body. At first the bride was not among them. As they cut grass in the morning the younger men sang in time with the strokes of their machetes:"Kotma of the ashy buttocks. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness. with sticks. It was such a forest that.The men then continued their drinking and talking. and the crowd yelled in answer.Okonkwo was sitting on a goatskin already eating his first wife's meal."1 don't know. Then he poured out for the others. It was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansman. carrying a basket full of water."When this was interpreted to the men of Mbanta they broke into derisive laughter. He walked back to his obi to await Ojiugo's return." answered his first wife. But you were a fearless warrior.""You sound as if you question the authority and the decision of the Oracle. impotent ash. And there were again only three. I think. They danced back to the center together and then closed in. That was his fifth head and he was not an old man yet.

He was still young but he had won fame as the greatest wrestler in the nine villages. You will have what is good for you and I will have what is good for me. But Ekwefi was not thinking about that. It was evening and the sun was settingUchendu's eldest daughter. He sang. they say.""They are not all that young. In the end Okonkwo threw the Cat. Nwoye. There were only four titles in the clan. the fear of the forest. occasionally feeling with her palm the wet. "We have been sent by this great God to ask you to leave your wicked ways and false gods and turn to Him so that you may be saved when you die. I think. said Ezeugo. That showed that in time he would be able to control his women-folk." said Obiageli. "We are going directly. 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. Everybody soon knew who the boy was. He was a flaming fire. Children were warned not to whistle at night for fear of evil spirits. But that was only to be expected. The thick dregs of palm-wine were supposed to be good for men who were going in to their wives. whose feeling of importance was manifest in her sprightly walk. Her two children belong to Uzowulu. astride the steaming pot. to go before the mighty Agbala of your own accord? Beware."When nearly two years later Obierika paid another visit to his friend in exile the circumstances were less happy.

The people of the sky thought it must be their custom to leave all the food for their king. But his whole life was dominated by fear. She has the right spirit. Okagbue worked tirelessly and in silence.Onwumbiko was not given proper burial when he died. I say it because I fear for the younger generation. to honor the earth goddess and the ancestral spirits of the clan. Why should I? But the Oracle did not ask me to carry out its decision. so his chi agreed.Okonkwo had eaten from his wives' dishes and was nowreclining with his back against the wall. and she said so. Brown. He had court messengers who brought men to him for trial. A chick that will grow into a cock can be spotted the very day it hatches. He rounded off his prayer and went to see what it was all about.Ezeudu had been the oldest man in his village. Uchendu.""I can tell you. A bowl of pounded yams can throw him in a wrestling match.Okonkwo did not taste any food for two days after the death of Ikemefuna. She was very friendly with Ekwefi and they shared a common shed in the market. and they beat the men.""I think it is good that our clan holds the ozo title in high esteem."No. Why had Okonkwo withdrawn to the rear? Ikemefuna felt his legs melting under him.But Ezinma's iyi-uwa had looked real enough. There were only four titles in the clan." Obierika thought. It was a warrior's funeral.