know me. "In those other clans you speak of. But now she found the half-light of the incipient moon more terrifying than darkness.

which was shaved in beautiful patterns
which was shaved in beautiful patterns. spears.Seven years was a long time to be away from one's clan. The children had lost interest and were playing. Ekwefi was beginning to feel hot from her running. Even as a little boy he had resented his father's failure and weakness. lasted only a brief moment." said the joker. No one had ever beheld Agbala. Bring me my daughter. These people are daily pouring filth over us. and perhaps other women as well. The old man listened silently to the end and then said with some relief: "It is a female ochu. and the children who sang songs of welcome to them.His life had been ruled by a great passion??to become one of the lords of the clan."Akueke moved to the other end of the hut and began to remove the waist-beads."Swear on this staff of my fathers.Okonkwo and his family worked very hard to plant a new farm." said Obierika sadly. And so he changed the subject and talked about music. And although she believed that the iyi-uwa which had been dug up was genuine. And this was the message. somewhat indulgently. He asked the birds to take a message for his wife.

A woman fled as soon as an egwugwu came in sight. and the burial was near. "She has iba. "What about you? Can you answer my question?"They all shook their heads."When they had eaten." said Obierika. Obiageli. and asking it if it had brought home any lengths of cloth. but not overmuch. Unoka. Ani played a greater part in the life of the people than any other diety. As the rains became heavier the women planted maize. her wrath was loosed on all the land and not just on the offender. lasted only a brief moment.Ekwefi still had some cassava left on her farm from the previous year. Okonkwo remembered his own father. and they swore never to lend him any more money because he never paid back. The crowd followed her silently. She was nine then and was just recovering from a serious illness. and piling up his debts.""Do you think a thief can do that kind of thing single-handed?" asked Nwankwo. There was an immediate stir."The two outcasts shaved off their hair. Perhaps she has come to stay.

"before 1 put any crop in the earth.Gradually the rains became lighter and less frequent. He heard Ikemefuna cry. and most of them never did because they died too young - before they could be asked questions. as you know. A proud heart can survive a general failure because such failure does not prick its pride."I don't know why such a trifle should come before the said one elder to another. I also kill a cock at the shrine of Ifejioku.Ezeudu had been the oldest man in his village. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion." said another woman. Obierika sent word that the two huts had been built and Okonkwo began to prepare for his return. 'You are full of cunning and you are ungrateful.Low voices. Indeed he respected him for his industry and success. suddenly overcome with fury. They just pulled the stump. and. It was there that her third child was born and circumcised on the eighth day. Obierika pointed at the two heavy bags. they set off in a body. when she had seen Ogbu-agali-odu." he said." He filled the first horn and gave to his father.

but even now they have not found the mouth with which to tell of their suffering."She is ill in bed. rubbing her eyes and stretching her spare frame. After all the toil one only got a third of the harvest." he said to Okonkwo. Darkness was around the corner. men. and they each gave him a feather. He was reclining on a mud bed in his hut playing on the flute.It was going to be Okonkwo's last harvest in Mbanta." said one of the cousins. his wives and children in their houses could hear him breathe. Sometimes Okonkwo gave them a few yams each to prepare. or osu. beat him up and took our sister and her children away. But as they drew near to the outskirts of Umuofia silence fell upon them too. this feeling.A hush fell on the compound immediately. We did not see it.""What will I see?" she asked. Nwoye passed and repassed the little red-earth and thatch building without summoning enough courage to enter. He watched the sky all day for signs of rain clouds and lay awake all night." said the priestess. also carrying an oil lamp.

Obierika and half a dozen other friends came to help and to console him. Then he would show his wealth by initiating his sons into the ozo society. until crops withered and the dead could not be buried because the hoes broke on the stony Earth. At first the clan had assumed that it would not survive. Ogbuefi Idigo was talking about the palm-wine tapper. hung above the fireplace. She looked very much like her mother.The year that Okonkwo took eight hundred seed-yams from Nwakibie was the worst year in living memory." They laughed and agreed. and the rest went back. And so he was always happy when he heard him grumbling about women. But the arrivees persevered. 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. especially at festivals and also when an old man died.Very soon after. Some said Ezimili. food and palm-wine. My mother's people have been good to me and 1 must show my gratitude. 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."Unoka was like that in his last days. if a child washed his hands he could eat with kings. Two elderly neighbors were sent for. or what?"The interpreter spoke to the white man and he immediately gave his answer.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.

how many twins she has borne and thrown away. A bond of sympathy had grown between them as the years had passed. He had lost the years in which he might have taken the highest titles in the clan. she had said. I shall pay you. They came when misfortune dogged their steps or when they had a dispute with their neighbors. I did not hang myself." said Idigo. He worked. reappeared every year for seven years and then disappeared for another lifetime. too. "You will bring to the shrine of Ani tomorrow one she-goat. And what made it worse in Okonkwo's case was that he had to support his mother and two sisters from his meagre harvest. The thick mat was thrown over both. We would then not be held accountable for their abominations. But whenever they came to preach in the open marketplace or the village playground.Umuofia was feared by all its neighbors. "And you know how leaves become smaller after cooking. Would he recognize her now? She must have grown quite big. There were also pots of yam pottage. children sat around their mother's cooking fire telling stories. Mr." said the priestess. The pots of wine stood in their midst.

the sun is shining. and Ikemefuna. Maduka. "I had something better to do. The elders of the clan replied. had gained ground. Ekwefi was the only person in the happy company who went about with a cloud on her brow. He then adjusted his cloth." said the priestess. and which she no doubt still told to her younger children??stories of the tortoise and his wily ways. Nothing wouldhappen to Ezinma. Evil Forest then stood up.""I do not. And so people said he had no respect for the gods of the clan."Akueke moved to the other end of the hut and began to remove the waist-beads. She had got ready her basket of coco-yams and fish."Don't be afraid. The drums beat the unmistakable wrestling dance - quick. He was a great man. bringing the third dish.

"After the Week of Peace every man and his family began to clear the bush to make new farms. Ezinma placed her mother's dish before him and sat with Obiageli."Looking at a king's mouth. and his face beamed.'When Ekwefi brought the hoe.As night fell. they said to themselves. He pushed the thought out of his mind." he said. and had just married his third wife.""That is so. It was a story of brothers who lived in darkness and in fear. Their hosts took him as the king of the birds. "Mother Kite once sent her daughter to bring food. If it does its power will be gone. women and children. he belonged to the clan as a whole. Okonkwo's son. Its most potent war-medicine was as old as the clan itself. The oldest member of this extensive family was Okonkwo's uncle.

emerged from her hut. He was roused in the morning by someone banging on his door. holding the ancestral staff of the family. the Creator of all the world and all the men and women. Then everything had been broken. thus completing a circle with their hosts. For two or three moons the sun had been gathering strength till it seemed to breathe a breath of fire on the earth. His yams grew abundantly. He could neither marry nor be married by the free-born."The village has outlawed us. The yams put on luxuriant green leaves. He searched in it for his snuff-bottle. I have none now except that young girl who knows not her right from her left."The crowd answered-. And in all the nine villages of Umuofia a town crier with his ogene asked every man to be present tomorrow morning. So he killed himself too. The clan saw no reason then for molesting the Christians. But his whole life was dominated by fear. He ate a few more pieces of plaintain and pushed the dish aside. But he left hold of Nwoye.

But somehow Okonkwo could never become as enthusiastic over feasts as most people. waving their palm fronds. a fairly small swarm came."Be patient. He was roused in the morning by someone banging on his door. You are a great family. They thought the priestess might be going to her house. One man tied his cloth to a tree branch and hanged himself. Once in a while two young men carrying palm fronds ran round the circle and kept the crowd back by beating the ground in front of them or. Okonkwo saw clearly the high esteem in which he would be held. It was the time for treading red earth with which to build walls. Okonkwo made a present of two cocks to them. holding it by the ankle and dragging it on the ground behind him. whom he had thrown away.One morning Okonkwo's cousin."In her hut. and within a short time all the birds agreed that he was a changed man. there was no other way. Sometimes he turned round and chased after those men. you can tell a ripe corn by its look.

- they must be going towards Umuachi. He sighed again. Okonkwo was. Maduka.""I pray she stays. Okonkwo looked up from his work and wondered if it was going to rain at such an unlikely time of the year. Okonkwo came after her. Okonkwo was not a man of thought but of action. You are a great family."Uzowulu's body." she began. No. somewhat lamely. If. The women weeded the farm three times at definite periods in the life of the yams."What are you doing here?" Obierika had asked when after many difficulties the missionaries had allowed him to speak to the boy. Aninta.""Not before you have had your breakfast. The palm fronds were helpless in keeping them back." said Ezinma.

" He turned to Odukwe. I sow the yams when the first rain has fallen. because Oduche had not died immediately from his wounds. and at the end he had been taken out and handed over to a stranger." said Obierika. panting. He worshipped them with sacrifices of kola nut."They are here. There were nine of them. reappeared every year for seven years and then disappeared for another lifetime.The night was impenetrably dark. for his father's relatives to see." he said. Although her husband's wives were saying that it was nothing more than iba. facing the elders. His hands trembled vaguely on the black pot he carried. stood immediately behind the only gate in the red walls. and was not given the first or the second burial.She wore a coiffure which was done up into a crest in the middle of the head. looking up from the yams she was peeling.

will you go to see the wrestling?" Ezinma asked after a suitable interval. Okonkwo was only a boy then and Uchendu still remembered him crying the traditional farewell: "Mother. A chick that will grow into a cock can be spotted the very day it hatches." He waved at his sons and daughters.' said the young kite. to sit with him in his obi. He shrugged his shoulders and went away to tap his afternoon palm-wine. in each of the countless thatched huts of Umuofia. He still had the eight hundred from Nwakibie and the four hundred from his father's friend. a vibrant silence made more intense by the universal trill of a million million forest insects. But the Hills and the Caves were as silent as death. That woman. Okonkwo decided to go out hunting.Okagbue went back into the pit. and his happiest moments were the two or three moons after the harvest when the village musicians brought down their instruments. and on their way they paid short courtesy visits to prominent men like Okonkwo. I am not afraid of work.""We have seen it. and he knew that his father wanted him to be a man. They sat in a half-circle and began to talk of many things.

with her suitor and his relatives. It is the kind of action for which the goddess wipes out whole families. And then suddenly like one possessed he shot out his left hand and pointed in the direction of Mbaino. Evil Forest represented the village of Umueru. But she refused them all. tall. But it would be impolite to rush him."That was all he had said." pleaded from a reasonable distance. He was very good on his flute.""I shall wait too. usually before the age of three.Okonkwo called his three wives and told them to get things together for a great feast. and the whole country became the brown-earth color of the vast. He was poor and his wife and children had barely enough to eat. Spirits of good children lived in that tree waiting to be born."Why is Okonkwo with us today? This is not his clan. It was clear from his twinkling eyes that he had important news. I forgot to tell you another thing which the Oracle said. And before the cock crowed Okonkwo and his family were fleeing to his motherland.

He told them that the true God lived on high and that all men when they died went before Him for judgment. Kiaga stood firm. She hit her left foot against an outcropped root."Listen to me. "Life to all of us. who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo. She was saying again and again that Agbala wanted to see his daughter. children. years ago. But his whole life was dominated by fear.At last the two teams danced into the circle and the crowd roared and clapped. Unoka. "If I had a son like him I should be happy. with Ezinma sleeping on her back."The two men sat in silence for a long while afterwards."That is very good.All this had happened more than a year ago and Ezinma had not been ill since. The crowd roared and clapped and for a while drowned the frenzied drums."A little more?? I said a little. who was then an ailing man.

Our hosts in the sky will expect us to honor this age-old custom. or rather to his death. one of those wicked children who. perhaps even quicker." he said."I shall return very soon. its sullenness over. she prayed a thousand times. it would have been impossible to eat.All the umunna were invited to the feast.At the beginning of their journey the men of Umuofia talked and laughed about the locusts. They scrubbed and painted the outside walls under the supervision of men. "that Okonkwo and I were talking about Abame and Aninta. She then went down on one knee. and they ran for their lives. Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly. Many of them spoke at great length and in fury. Nwoye passed and repassed the little red-earth and thatch building without summoning enough courage to enter. He knew that he was a fierce fighter."Early in the afternoon the first two pots of palm-wine arrived from Obierika's in-laws.

The elders and grandees of the village sat on their own stools brought there by their young sons or slaves."Looking at a king's mouth. like the prospect of annihilation. and the smell of burning hair blended with the smell of cooking. palm-oil and pepper for the soup.""Some people say the Oracle warned him that he would fall off a palm tree and kill himself. In the end the fearless ones went near and even touched him. "And these white men."Your half-sister.Okonkwo was very happy to receive his friend. not even with broomsticks." said Obierika. be cursed with such a son? He saw clearly in it the finger of his personal god or chi. And then appeared on the horizon a slowly-moving mass like a boundless sheet of black cloud drifting towards Umuofia. they ought to know that Akueke is the bride for a king."Agbala do-o-o-o! Agbala ekeneo-o-o-o-o. He also took with him a pot of palm-wine.""Oho. and walked to its beat. And in all the nine villages of Umuofia a town crier with his ogene asked every man to be present tomorrow morning.

and to soften his heart with a song of the suffering of the sons of men. Ekwefi had nothing but good wishes for her. and our clan can no longer act like one. the messenger of earth."Abame has been wiped out. "Tortoise and Cat went to wrestle against Yams??no. but I shall be happy if you marry in Umuofia when we return home.'"'You do not know me. Their leader was called Evil Forest. and the solid mass was now broken by tiny eyes of light like shining star dust. It was not external but lay deep within himself." they said to the women." said another man. Then the foo-foo was served. called the converts the excrement of the clan. The women began to talk excitedly. None of them was a man of title."We are all well. Okonkwo helped them put down their loads. my hand has touched the ground.

refreshed and thankful. And so for three years Ikemefuna lived in Okonkwo's household.""Yes. went into an inner room and came back with a kola nut. "You will find a pot of wine there. Obiageli took the first dish and returned to her mother's hut. I began to fend for myself at an age when most people still suck at their mothers' breasts. He had been cast out of his clan like a fish onto a dry. followed by Akueke. And they were right. These sudden bouts of sickness and health were typical of her kind."My hand is on the ground. it is for you. For a long time nothing happened." he said." replied Odukwe. Most of them were sons of our land whose mothers had been buried with us. the god of the sky. And that is why we say that mother is supreme." she said.

He would teach her! But Nwoye resembled his grandfather. nor the walls of his compound."They are here. Many of these messengers came from Umuru on the bank of the Great River. Her deepening despair found expression in the names she gave her children. She went on fanning it until it burst into flames. They painted their bodies with red cam wood and drew beautiful patterns on them with uli. They would go to such hosts for as long as three or four markets." Okonkwo asked himself. They usually stay if they do not die before the age of six. Ikemefuna looked back. she returned to her mother's hut to help with the cooking. It was a deep bag and took almost the whole length of his arm. Okonkwo. Okonkwo's first son. Then they washed them and cut them up for the women who prepared the soup. It all began over the question of admitting outcasts. carrying a basket full of water. If such a thing were ever to happen.Yam.

or waist beads. We live in peace with our fellows to honor our great goddess of the earth without whose blessing our crops will not grow. On the last night before the festival. Ezinma. He was poor and his wife and children had barely enough to eat. this medicine stands on the market ground in the shape of an old woman with a fan. Ekwefi uttered a scream and sprang to her feet. a man who pays respect to the great paves the way for his own greatness. And he found that Okonkwo did not wish to speak about Nwoye. Most of them were sons of our land whose mothers had been buried with us. Okonkwo came after her. degenerate and effeminate? Perhaps he was not his son." replied Okukwe. would wipe them off the face of the earth."The crowd answered-. somewhat indulgently." He waved at his sons and daughters." replied Ekwefi. and so they stood waiting. and Ojiugo's daughter.

roots and barks of medicinal trees and shrubs. He laughed loud and long and his voice rang out clear as the ogene. In his day he was lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow." said another man. 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. Uchendu. Their hosts took him as the king of the birds. rumbling like thunder in the rainy season. but he had not expected he would be so generous. he said to Okonkwo:"That boy calls you father." he said. Okagbue emerged and without saying a word or even looking at the spectators he went to his goatskin bag. endless space in the presence of Agbala. I salute you. Nothing pleased Nwoye now more than to be sent for by his mother or another of his father's wives to do one of those difficult and masculine tasks in the home. He was still young but he had won fame as the greatest wrestler in the nine villages." said Ekwefi. Would he recognize her now? She must have grown quite big. She has the right spirit. food and palm-wine.

Among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very highly. "I warned Nwankwo to keep a sharp eye and a sharp ear. for he had no grave. boomed the hollow metal. which was only broken when a new palm frond was lifted on to the wall or when a busy hen moved dry leaves about in her ceaseless search for food. Maduka. Some of them were not at home and only four came in." Uzowulu bent down and touched the earth with his right hand as a sign of submission. His future sons-in-law would be men of authority in the clan. Yam. His priestess stood by the sacred fire which she built in the heart of the cave and proclaimed the will of the god. too. 1 know how to deal with them. and what is good among one people is an abomination with others. in which he took a pinch of snuff and sneezed noisily. gome went the gong. Ezinma brought her two legs together and stretched them in front of her. He searched his bag again and brought out a small. It was a cry in the distance: oji odu aru ijiji-o-o! (The one that uses its tail to drive flies away!)." said Ezinma to her mother.

They just pulled the stump. Her heart beat violently and she stood still."Ask Akueke's mother to send us some kola nuts." she replied. with which he carried the brown snuff to his nostrils. came into the obi from outside.""He has. Nwoye's mother carried a basket of coco-yams. They argued for a short while and fell into silence again. He was a flaming fire. what do I do? Do i shut my eyes? No! I take a stick and break his head That is what a man does. But when he reached Tortoise's house he told his wife to bring out all the hard things in the house. slanting showers through sunshine and quiet breeze.The young church in Mbanta had a few crises early in its life. I am worried about Nwoye." Mosquito went away humiliated. She determined to nurse her child to health.'"'You do not know me. "In those other clans you speak of. But now she found the half-light of the incipient moon more terrifying than darkness.