whole village. She would want to hear everything that had happened to him in all these years.

Ekwefi screwed her eyes up in an effort to see her daughter and the priestess
Ekwefi screwed her eyes up in an effort to see her daughter and the priestess. the king of crops. was expected to invite large numbers of guests from far and wide. or osu. And he found that Okonkwo did not wish to speak about Nwoye. An animal rubs its itching flank against a tree. Even the sacred fish in their mysterious lake have fled and the lake has turned the color of blood.There were seven drums and they were arranged according to their sizes in a long wooden basket." said Okonkwo. as her mother had been called in her youth."Is that enough?" she asked when she had poured in about half of the water in the bowl. made up her mind. It had its shrine in the centre of Umuofia."Three moons ago. and even in the trees.""I shall wait too. After all the toil one only got a third of the harvest."Ogbuefi Ndulue of Ire village. Nwoye overheard it and burst into tears. And how is my daughter. with sticks. The priestess.Onwumbiko was not given proper burial when he died." said Akukalia.

The pots of wine stood in their midst.Sometimes a man came to consult the spirit of his dead father or relative."He has married Okadigbo's second daughter. There was so much food and drink that many kinsmen whistled in surprise." Then more pots came. She was the ultimate judge of morality and conduct. Her husband had brought out more yams than usual because the medicine man had to be fed. for he knew certainly that something was amiss."Mr. gome went the gong. and none of them died. It is a bad custom because it always leads to a quarrel. and stammered.'to bring out all the soft things in my house and cover the compound with them so that I can jump down from the sky without very great danger. Yam foo-foo and vegetable soup was the chief food in the celebration. were whispering together. and the solid mass was now broken by tiny eyes of light like shining star dust. The women had come to the church with empty waterpots. one saw that there was sorrow and grief there. she prayed a thousand times. Unoka was able to give an answer between fresh outbursts of mirth. If any one of you prefers to be a woman.""Ee-e-e!""Prosperous men and great warriors. "You have offended neither the gods nor your fathers.

"Do you know me?""No man can know you. The missionaries had come to Umuofia. or pounding food." her mother warned as she moved near the fireplace to bring the pestle resting against the wall. "and leave the child alone. But now she found the half-light of the incipient moon more terrifying than darkness." He looked at Okonkwo. He immediately rose and shook hands with Okoye. It was sudden and tremendous.The land of the living was not far removed from the domain of the ancestors. He cleared his throat and began:"Thank you for the kola.But some of the egwugwu were quite harmless. and they had quickened their steps. These sudden bouts of sickness and health were typical of her kind." replied Ekwefi. And when.""Somebody told me yesterday."When did you set out from home?" asked Okonkwo. "What kind of lover sleeps with a pregnant woman?" There was a loud murmur of approbation from the crowd."After kola nuts had been presented and eaten."You have all seen the great abomination of your brother. in silence.Later.The metal gong beat continuously now and the flute.

" she called. hungry to do harm to the living. Okonkwo's wives had scrubbed the walls and the huts with red earth until they reflected light. There was a light wind blowing."Another woman said. Maduka.Okonkwo did as the priest said."Tortoise turned to the birds and said: 'You remember that my name is All of you."Get me a pot. malevolent.""Very true."I have heard. especially with the children. He still had the eight hundred from Nwakibie and the four hundred from his father's friend." A cold shiver ran down Okonkwo's back as he remembered the last time the old man had visited him."Whose cow was it?" asked the women who had been allowed to stay behind. He sang. A baby on its mother's back does not know that the way is long. They haggle and bargain as if they were buying a goat or a cow in the market. The men brought their goatskin mats. The troublesome nanny-goat sniffed about. and he who could feed his family on yams from one harvest to another was a very great man indeed. which children were rarely allowed to eat because such food tempted them to steal." replied Ekwefi.

Groups of four or five men sat round with a pot in their midst. had died ten years ago. Why is it that when a woman dies she is taken home to be buried with her own kinsmen? She is not buried with her husband's kinsmen. he."Okonkwo has spoken the truth. holding the ancestral staff of the family."Unoka was like that in his last days. They passed their cloths under the right arm-pit. No woman ever did. in silence. And what is the result? Their clan is full of the evil spirits of these unburied dead."You know what it is.""That means you will see something. He searched his bag and brought out his snuff-bottle. Ikemefuna came first with the biggest pot. Okonkwo was only a boy then and Uchendu still remembered him crying the traditional farewell: "Mother. "Agbala greets you. a man of war."Two years ago. Odukwe continued:"Last year when my sister was recovering from an illness. what do we do? Do we go and stop his mouth? No." said Ekwefi. twenty-five. He watched the sky all day for signs of rain clouds and lay awake all night.

Your mother is there to protect you. They called him the little bird nza who so far forgot himself after a heavy meal that he challenged his chi. At first the clan had assumed that it would not survive. But when he reached Tortoise's house he told his wife to bring out all the hard things in the house. That was not luck."Sit like a woman!" Okonkwo shouted at her.One day a neighbor called Okoye came in to see him. Even the oldest men could only remember one or two other occasions somewhere in the dim past. he sat down in his obi and mourned his friend's calamity."Answer me.Many young men and prosperous middle-aged men of Mbanta came to marry her. Then from the distance came the faint beating of the ekwe. trying to minimize Ojiugo's thoughtlessness. Even Mgbafo took to her heels and had to be restrained by her brothers. "Beware. It was like a man wondering in broad daylight why a dream had appeared so terrible to him at night. He made him feel grown-up." he said. But the one knew what the other was thinking. We have albinos among us. the earth goddess and the source of all fertility. and Okonkwo's women and children heard from their huts all that she said. Okonkwo stood by. He watched the sky all day for signs of rain clouds and lay awake all night.

It was said that when such a spirit appeared. There was the story of a very stubborn man who staggered back to his house and had to be carried again to the forest and tied to a tree. which were passed round for all to see and then returned to him. She knelt on her knees and hands at the threshold and called her husband. Maduka. Okonkwo walked behind him. The blazing sun returned.A hush fell on the compound immediately." she answered simply. Marriage should be a play and not a fight so we are falling down again. "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. The whole church raised a protest and was about to drive these people out.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. He worshipped them with sacrifices of kola nut." said Ezinma touching the ground with her finger. They sat in a half-moon.'"He began to eat and the birds grumbled angrily. The seven wasted and weary years were at last dragging to a close. are known in all the clan for the weakness of your machete and your hoe. She knew her daughter was safe." she said."I was coming over to see you as soon as I finished that thatch. and no longer rebuked him or beat him. He cleared his throat and began:"Thank you for the kola.

As for the boy himself. She continually ran into the luxuriant weeds and creepers that walled in the path. Okafo raised his right leg and swung it over his rival's head.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. "All the gods you have named are not gods at all. They were talking excitedly among themselves because the white man had said he was going to live among them.He was tall but very thin and had a slight stoop. When his wife Ekwefi protested that two goats were sufficient for the feast he told her that it was not her affair. Unoka went into an inner room and soon returned with a small wooden disc containing a kola nut. and was now accorded great respect in all the clan. He was light in complexion and his eyes were red and fiery. they became the lords of the land." And so they all went to help Obierika's wife??Nwoye's mother with her four children and Ojiugo with her two."The night was already far spent when the guests rose to go. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness. unhappily.""That is very bad. Sometimes it poured down in such thick sheets of water that earth and sky seemed merged in one gray wetness.It was not yet noon on the second day of the New Yam Festival.Chielo's voice was now rising continuously. as usual. so that he was full of food and drink and his body filled out in his shell. and was now accorded great respect in all the clan. There were little holes from one side to the other in the upper levels of the wall.

Although her husband's wives were saying that it was nothing more than iba. Nwoye passed and repassed the little red-earth and thatch building without summoning enough courage to enter. and he could hear his own flute weaving in and out of them. and his face beamed. But he was not a failure like Unoka. He could fashion out flutes from bamboo stems and even from the elephant grass. will you go to see the wrestling?" Ezinma asked after a suitable interval. when the land had been moistened by two or three heavy rains. "Look at those lines of chalk."You need some sleep yourself. "If you had been poor in your last life I would have asked you to be rich when you come again. A man's life from birth to death was a series of transition rites which brought him nearer and nearer to his ancestors.All this had happened more than a year ago and Ezinma had not been ill since. in their due proportions. and on the other the offer of a young man and a virgin as compensation." said Obierika's other companion. as if that was paying the big debts first. They painted their bodies with red cam wood and drew beautiful patterns on them with uli. and although ailing she seemed determined to live. This roasted yam soaked in red palm-oil and eaten in the open farm was sweeter than any meal at home. saw clearly that Okonkwo had yielded to despair and he was greatly troubled. perhaps for the first time. It began by naming the clan: Umuofia obodo dike! "the land of the brave. not even with broomsticks.

Ezinma lay shivering on a mat beside a huge fire that her mother had kept burning all night. walked in their midst. They all have food in their own homes." said someone light-heartedly and the crowd laughed. do you know me?""How can I know you. Gome. The nine egwugwu then went away to consult together in their house."Since I survived that year. She had. leaving what we are cooking to burn in the fire. Ezinma went with her and helped in preparing the vegetables. "How much longer do you think you will live?" she asked. And then Nkechi came in. Nwoye's mother. No woman ever did. paid regular visits to them. He thought of his mother and his three-year-old sister and wept bitterly. Obierika offered him a lobe of the kola nut he had broken with Okonkwo. spears. "But I am greatly afraid. Earth's emissary. working feverishly from one drum to another. The hosts nodded in approval and seemed to say. But they have cast you out like lepers.

Her two children belong to Uzowulu." Uzowulu bent down and touched the earth with his right hand as a sign of submission. He held a short staff in his hand which he brought down on the floor to emphasize his points. They chose to fly home on an empty stomach. "Let us go. Are you deaf?" Okonkwo roared at her. I also kill a cock at the shrine of Ifejioku. A bowl of pounded yams can throw him in a wrestling match. And the other boy was flat on his back. No. Okonkwo worked on the outside of the wall and the boys worked from within. Then he began to speak. But a few years later she ran away from her husband and came to live with Okonkwo. The heathen speak nothing but falsehood. Ezeudu was the oldest man in this quarter of Umuofia. "I do not blame you for not hearing the cock crow. what did the mother of this duckling say when you swooped and carried its child away?' 'It said nothing. the god of the sky. Okonkwo's wives had scrubbed the walls and the huts with red earth until they reflected light. an old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb. Some said Okafo was the better man. Within a short time the first two bouts were over. And so when Okonkwo of Umuofia arrived at Mbaino as the proud and imperious emissary of war. This was before the planting season began.

Perhaps it never did happen. It was the dead man's sixteen-year-old son. After all the toil one only got a third of the harvest. with sticks. There were huge bowls of foo-foo and steaming pots of soup. Some people even said that they had heard the spirits flying and flapping their wings against the roof of the cave. he had begun even in his father's lifetime to lay the foundations of a prosperous future. And so nobody gave serious thought to the stories about the white man's government or the consequences of killing the Christians. The story was told in Umuofia. She was called Crystal of Beauty. "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. My in-law." said Okonkwo. But her love of wrestling contests was still as strong as it was thirty years ago. It was not until the following day that Okonkwo told him the full story." Okonkwo threatened. Ezinma had not wanted to cooperate with him at first.Okonkwo knew these things. Okoye."Ask Akueke's mother to send us some kola nuts. But let us drink the wine first.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. Okonkwo slept. solid drops of frozen water which the people called "the nuts of the water of heaven.

From then on." She went into the hut again and brought down the smoke-black basket in which she kept her dried fish and other ingredients for cooking soup. She is buried there.And so Obierika went to Mbanta to see his friend.He took a pot of palm-wine and a cock to Nwakibie. "But the law of the land must be obeyed. Hisspeech was so eloquent that all the birds were glad they had brought him. She shut her eyes for a while and opened them again in an effort to see. consulting among themselves and with the leaders of the two wrestling teams. roots and barks of medicinal trees and shrubs. and the hosts looked at each other as if to say. and I am still alive. Okafo seized it.""Uzowulu's body. and any time he passed her way he told Ear that he was still alive.""It is the result of a great medicine. There was a famine in those days and Tortoise had not eaten a good meal for two moons. At the most one could say that his chi or personal god was good.The woman with whom she talked was called Chielo. Ekwefi hurried to the main footpath and turned left in the direction of the voice. Everybody was lean except Cat. The younger of his sons. You have committed a great evil. An evil forest was where the clan buried all those who died of the really evil diseases.

trembling. Then there was perfect silence." He presented the kola nut to them. Dangerous animals became even more sinister and uncanny in the dark. Earth's emissary. "lest Agbala be angry with you." and on each occasion he faced a different direction and seemed to push the air with a clenched fist. Unoka. They will serve you when I have eaten.His anger thus satisfied. And not only his chi but his clan too. Earth's emissary. The only work that men did at this time was covering the walls of their compound with new palm fronds. "before i learned how to tap. she did not hear them. and Umuofia. She was alive and well. They saw the iron horse and went away again. There were five groups." he said to Ikemefuna. Everybody in the crowd was talking. shook hands with Okonkwo and went into the compound. Her back was turned on the footpath that led out of the hills." said Okonkwo.

"Because I did not want to. he was told. speaking in a tremulous. We are only his mother's kinsmen. his mother was alive. He knew that he had lost his place among the nine masked spirits who administered justice in the clan."As soon as he entered his last year in exile Okonkwo sent money to Obierika to build him two huts in his old compound where he and his family would live until he built more huts and the outside wall of his compound. and stayed.Okonkwo was also feeling tired. As the elders said."Who is that?" he growled.As for the boy himself." said one of the younger men. gome. Okonkwo made a present of two cocks to them. But the arrivees persevered. He was like the man in the song who had ten and one wives and not enough soup for his foo-foo."Okonkwo bit his lips as anger welled up within him. and filled the village with excitement. Kiaga. talking and laughing among themselves and with others who stood near them.On a moonlight night it would be different. "Let us give them a portion of the Evil Forest. Ekwefi muttered.

with which he made two wings. "1 shall wait here. He was reclining on a mud bed in his hut playing on the flute. A deathly silence descended on Okonkwo's compound. But it was momentary. in a cleared spot. and stake them when the young tendrils appear. male and female."I do not blame you."On what market-day was it born?" he asked. We should have waited for the sun to rise and dry the leaves." said Obierika. The huge voice of the crowd then rose to the sky and in every direction. for you people. "They will put off Ndulue's funeral until his wife has been buried. And then the locusts came."The missionary ignored him and went on to talk about the Holy Trinity. but in doing so he would have taken something from the full penalty of seven years." Okonkwo thought within himself. who also counted them and said:"We had not thought to go below thirty. Obierika and half a dozen other friends came to help and to console him. His words may also be good. It was a rare achievement.Okonkwo's head was bowed in sadness as Obierika told him these things.

But the second time did not count. through lonely forest paths.But somehow Okonkwo could never become as enthusiastic over feasts as most people. are white like this piece of chalk."The missionary ignored him and went on to talk about the Holy Trinity. Uchendu. smiled broadly and said to his father: "Do you hear that?" He then said to the others: "He will never admit that I am a good tapper."The weeping was now quite close and soon the children filed in. Nkechi was the daughter of Okonkwo's third wife. melons and beans between the yam mounds. and you can teach us the things of the new faith. Inwardly. and the lad Ikemefuna." They were hard and painful on the body as they fell. That was the only time Ekwefi ever saw Ogbu-agali-odu. the Creator of all the world and all the men and women. You think you are still a child. But whenever they came to preach in the open marketplace or the village playground. This was a womanly clan. just beyond the borders of Mbaino.Seven years was a long time to be away from one's clan. Without it. one saw that there was sorrow and grief there." They were hard and painful on the body as they fell.

Evil men and all the heathen who in their blindness bowed to wood and stone were thrown into a fire that burned like palm-oil." He got up painfully. It was as quick as the other two. his mother was alive.'"'You do not know me." she said. And if anything happened to her could she stop it? She would not dare to enter the underground caves."In her hut. Nwoye turned round to walk into the inner compound when his father. who stood beside her.' he thought as he looked at his ten-year-old daughter."I am Evil Forest." She went into the hut again and brought down the smoke-black basket in which she kept her dried fish and other ingredients for cooking soup. Two little groups of people stood at a respectable distance beyond the stools. returning.But somehow Okonkwo could never become as enthusiastic over feasts as most people. The happy voices of children playing in open fields would then be heard. Then send him word to fight for us. A snake was never called by its name at night."Oho. If he had killed Ikemefuna during the busy planting season or harvesting it would not have been so bad. but it was too far to see what they were. He warmed himself in the fire and ate the entrails. But the one knew what the other was thinking.

Every nerve and every muscle stood out on their arms. were fixed on her. I have learned that a man who makes trouble for others is also making it for himself. He told them that the true God lived on high and that all men when they died went before Him for judgment. I say it because I fear for the younger generation. he had not slept at all last night. If ever a man deserved his success. "I shall survive anything. and through these Okonkwo passed the rope. too. Everybody knew she was an ogbanje. "Let us not presume to do so now. but it was too far to see what they were." He turned again to Okonkwo and said." he said. He still missed his mother and his sister and would be very glad to see them.And then the egwugwu appeared. he was treated with great honor and respect. suddenly changed his mind and agreed to take the message. But on one point there was general agreement??the active principle in that medicine had been an old woman with one leg. Now he is no longer my son or your brother. "it is this eyelid. This happened in the rainy season. And so he regretted every day of his exile.

""What will I see?" she asked. The suitor just goes on bringing bags of cowries until his in-laws tell him to stop. After such treatment it would think twice before coming again. But Chielo's voice was still a long way away. Her voice was as clear as metal. Then the group drank. He had a slight stammer and whenever he was angry and could not get his words out quickly enough. and sat down. this feeling. But Okagbue said he was not tired yet. And so people said he had no respect for the gods of the clan.The elders.Many people went out with baskets trying to catch them. An oil lamp was lit and Okonkwo tasted from each bowl. He had sown four hundred seeds when the rains dried up and the heat returned.Even Okonkwo himself became very fond of the boy - inwardly of course. only more holy than the village variety. on the other hand. But the second time did not count. "Poor child. A sudden hush had fallen on the women.But the war that now threatened was a just war. she prayed a thousand times. And to their greatest amazement the missionaries thanked them and burst into song.

Then he remembered that he had not taken out his snuff-spoon. It was a tremendous sight. 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. They sang his praise and the young women clapped their hands:"Who will wrestle for our village?Okafo will wrestle for our village. As our fathers said.And now the rains had really come. in each of the countless thatched huts of Umuofia. "It pleases me to see a young man like you these days when our youth has gone so soft.His anger thus satisfied. He held out his hands to them when they came into his obi. Okonkwo came after her. It was not done earlier because the rains were too heavy and would have washed away the heap of trodden earth. He therefore treated Ikemefuna as he treated everybody else - with a heavy hand. But 1 thought you would need the money now and so I brought it. but not today. They sang songs as they went.""Let us not reason like cowards.But the most dreaded of all was yet to come. And she had agreed. I am an old man and you are all children. When one came to think of it. "It is not to pay you back for all you did for me in these seven years."Okonkwo has spoken the truth. "let her not sleep in her hut.

the troublesome nanny goat. but now sat with Okonkwo in his obi. "She should have been a boy. Rain fell as it had never fallen before. and none of them died. and Umuofia was still swallowed up in sleep and silence when the ekwe began to talk.Nwoye struggled to free himself from the choking grip." said Okonkwo. burning torches were set on wooden tripods and the young men raised a song. Ekwefi even gave her such delicacies as eggs. She had not as much as looked at Okonkwo and Ekwefi or shown any surprise at finding them at the mouth of the cave. "I warned Nwankwo to keep a sharp eye and a sharp ear." said Ekwefi. She is buried there. He slapped the ear and hoped he had killed it. In the end the fearless ones went near and even touched him. She is called Ozoemena. I salute you.The metal gong beat continuously now and the flute." continued Odukwe. women and children.Uchendu took the hen from her. He is not my father. to her right and to her left.

Amikwu." he said. Ezinma? You are older than Obiageli but she has more sense. "I thought he was a strong man in his youth. It had been early in the morning.""Once upon a time.Just then the distant beating of drums began to reach them."Go to your in-laws with a pot of wine and beg your wife to return to you. It was unheard of to beat somebody during the sacred week.Uchendu took the hen from her. and when they had seen it and thanked him. If only he could find some work to do he would be able to forget. who had begun to play a part in the affairs of his motherland. But before he could answer. Nwoye's mother was very kind to him and treated him as one of her own children." Ezinma said. The sickness was an abomination to the earth. Hisspeech was so eloquent that all the birds were glad they had brought him. And that was how he came to look after the doomed lad who was sacrificed to the village of Umuofia by their neighbors to avoid war and bloodshed. Why should a man suffer so grievously for an offense he had committed inadvertently? But although he thought for a long time he found no answer. And as he told them of the past they sat in darkness or the dim glow of logs. "People traveled more in those days. He therefore treated Ikemefuna as he treated everybody else - with a heavy hand. and everyone filled his bags and pots with locusts.

The huge voice of the crowd then rose to the sky and in every direction."Look at that wall. slanting showers through sunshine and quiet breeze."We have now built a church. It was a different woman??the priestess of Agbala. as she had accepted others??with listless resignation. guns and even his cannon. the farthest village in the clan. Your duty is to comfort your wives and children and take them back to your fatherland after seven years. Unoka was. It ended on the right." said Okonkwo's voice. and the elders of his family. The New Yam Festival seemed to him to be a much bigger event here than in his own village. asked her""Remember that if you do not answer truthfully you will suffer or even die at childbirth. He was taking his family of three wives and their children to seek refuge in his motherland. His death showed that the gods were still able to fight their own battles. And let me tell you one thing. Why had Okonkwo withdrawn to the rear? Ikemefuna felt his legs melting under him. Some of these prisoners had thrown away their twins and some had molested the Christians. In ordinary life Chielo was a widow with two children. or rather to his death. breakfast was hastily eaten and women and children began to gather at Obierika's compound to help the bride's mother in her difficult but happy task of cooking for a whole village. She would want to hear everything that had happened to him in all these years.