days and seven nights. He had had the same kind of feeling not long ago. On his head were two powerful horns.Okonkwo sprang from his bed.

Why did they not fight back? Had they no guns and machetes? We would be cowards lo compare ourselves with the men of Abame
Why did they not fight back? Had they no guns and machetes? We would be cowards lo compare ourselves with the men of Abame. If. Ezinma.The way into the shrine was a round hole at the side of a hill.""Does the white man understand our custom about land?""How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad. gome went the gong. Ekwefi had nothing but good wishes for her. They will take him outside Umuofia as is the custom. spread her mat on the floor and built a fire." she answered simply. Who else among his children could have read his thoughts so well? With two beautiful grown-up daughters his return to Umuofia would attract considerable attention. and sleepy." said Obierika." Ezinma offered. and tears stood in his eyes. But no one who had ever crawled into his awful shrine had come out without the fear of his power. This year they were the wise ones. He said he was one of them. And so they fled into Umuofia with a woeful story.At last the young man who was pouring out the wine held up half a horn of the thick. they held them over an open fire to burn off the hair. who with his brothers and half-brothers had been dancing the traditional farewell to their father. When his wife Ekwefi protested that two goats were sufficient for the feast he told her that it was not her affair. There was no festival in all the seasons of the year which gave her as much pleasure as the wrestling match.

" said the leader of the ecjwucjwu. Her daughter was only ten years old but she was wiser than her years. now said"You told us with your own mouth that there was only one god. "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."None. his head pointing to the earth and his legs skywards. Okonkwo bent down and looked into her hut. The wave struck the women and children and there was a backward stampede. and so they suffered. He knew that he was a fierce fighter. Everybody was killed. If it does its power will be gone." Obierika replied sharply.That night a bell-man went through the length and breadth of Mbanta proclaiming that the adherents of the new faith were thenceforth excluded from the life and privileges of the clan. where he thought they must be. the distance they had covered.The young men who kept order on these occasions dashed about. His first two wives ran out in great alarm pleading with him that it was the sacred week. I forgot to tell you another thing which the Oracle said." said Ofoedu. His hands trembled vaguely on the black pot he carried. Okonkwo was the greatest wrestler and warrior alive. And that was also the year Okonkwo broke the peace."They do not understand.

It was said that when such a spirit appeared. He was in fact an outcast. But it was a resilient spirit."Tortoise turned to the birds and said: 'You remember that my name is All of you.That year the harvest was sad. And they all knew Ekwefi and her daughter very well. Okonkwo looked up from his work and wondered if it was going to rain at such an unlikely time of the year. We have tried to settle their quarrels time without number and on each occasion Uzowulu was guilty??""It is a lie!" Uzowulu shouted.""Too much of his grandfather.""Yes" said Obierika. "Your daughter will bear us sons like you. Kiaga had asked the women to bring red earth and white chalk and water to scrub the church for Easter. "But you can explain to her.""Have you heard."Ezeudu was a great man. looked left and right and turned right. although one of them did not speak Ibo. She prepared it the way he liked??with slices of oil-bean and fish. As Idigo had said. Ekwefi had been returning from the stream with her mother on a dark night like this when they saw its glow as it flew in their direction. Was it not on an Eke day that they fled into Umuofia?" he asked his two companions. He was a leper. came into the obi from outside. 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.

but offered to use his teeth. her face streaming with tears. Anyone seeing Chielo in ordinary life would hardly believe she was the same person who prophesied when the spirit of Agbala was upon her. burning forehead. "1 have brought you this little kola." replied Ekwefi. It was powerful in war and in magic. "I thought he was a strong man in his youth. The lad's name was Ikemefuna. Can you tell me." he said. Even the enemy clan knew that. and was full of the sap of life. the emanation of the god of water. He was like the man in the song who had ten and one wives and not enough soup for his foo-foo. "They are pieces of wood and stone. trying to minimize Ojiugo's thoughtlessness. went down quickly on one knee in an attempt to fling his man backwards over his head. No one had actually seen the man do it. twenty-five. and after they had shaken hands he asked Okonkwo who they were. 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. When he began again. "As for me.

Nwakibie sent for his wives.But Mr. He would have liked to return earlier and build his compound that year before the rains stopped.The sun rose slowly to the center of the sky.The young men who kept order on these occasions dashed about. It was like a man wondering in broad daylight why a dream had appeared so terrible to him at night. to roast plantains for him. woman. Rain fell as it had never fallen before. A few moments later he went behind the hut and began to vomit painfully. not dead. The story was told in Umuofia. But somehow he knew he was not going to see them. had said to him during that terrible harvest month: "Do not despair. and filled the village with excitement. He had a large barn full of yams and he had three wives. 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.""He has. and the other an old and faint shadow.She had prayed for the moon to rise. perhaps even quicker. The lizard that jumped from the high iroko tree to the ground said he would praise himself if no one else did. A mighty wind arose and filled the air with dust. yet young people ran about happily picking up the cold nuts and throwing them into their mouths to melt.

Everyone knew then that she would live because her bond with the world of ogbanje had been broken."Forgive me."The crowd answered-." said Okonkwo. and as it dwelt on it. The water began to boil. Obierika's son. The air was full of dust and the smell of gunpowder. Near the barn was a small house. followed by the bride and the other women. At any rate. "my eyelid is twitching." he said. Soon it covered half the sky. especially at festivals and also when an old man died.Ezinma led the way back to the road. The three women talked excitedly about the relations who had been invited. just a little bigger than the round opening into a henhouse. they could see from his color and his language. Those who were big enough to carry even a few yams in a tiny basket went with grown-ups to the farm.""What will I see?" she asked. Okonkwo was among them. that was how it looked to his father." said Obierika's other companion.

her blood still ran cold whenever she remembered that night. His mother and sisters worked hard enough. "These are now your kinsmen. do you know me?""How can I know you. It was on the seventh day that he died. and the whole country became the brown-earth color of the vast. The younger of his sons. Kiaga was going to send into the village for his men-converts when he saw them coming on their own. The clan saw no reason then for molesting the Christians."You think you are the greatest sufferer in the world? Do you know that men are sometimes banished for life? Do you know that men sometimes lose all their yams and even their children? I had six wives once. had crawled out of the shrine on her belly like a snake. Why do they always go for one's ears? When he was a child his mother had told him a story about it. He was tall and huge. and in one deft movement she lifted the pot from the fire and poured the boiling water over the fowl."That is not the end of the story. But all of a sudden she would go down again. came to visit him." He danced a few more steps and went away. "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. A woman fled as soon as an egwugwu came in sight."Go into that room. The fowl Ekwefi had just killed was in the wooden mortar.She wore a coiffure which was done up into a crest in the middle of the head.- instead of thirty there were now only fifteen.

But apart from the church. The New Yam Festival seemed to him to be a much bigger event here than in his own village."Ezinma ran in the direction of the barn and brought back two yams from the dwarf wall."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. "What kind of lover sleeps with a pregnant woman?" There was a loud murmur of approbation from the crowd." said Obiageli. and she guessed they must be on the village ilo. Its most potent war-medicine was as old as the clan itself. The whole church raised a protest and was about to drive these people out. Only the really great men in the clan were able to do this." said Ekwefi."I wish she were a boy. Their sound was no longer a separate thing from the living village." replied the white man. Obierika's relatives and friends began to arrive. put down his load and sat down. or how. Once he got up from bed and walked about his compound.""That is very true. and many farmers wept as they dug up the miserable and rotting yams. But although it had happened so long ago. As for the boy. When she had borne her third son in succession. thought that it was possible that they would also be received.

""The world is large. When the will of the goddess had been done. Whenever one of these ancient men appeared in the crowd to dance unsteadily the funeral steps of the tribe."Our father."Is Anasi not in?" he asked them. Ekwefi mopped her with a piece of cloth and she lay down on a dry mat and was soon asleep. It was not very easy getting the men of high title and the elders together after the excitement of the first day." he said. Okonkwo was one of them. Then the foo-foo was served. An evil forest was. She remembered that night. But after a while this custom was stopped because it spoiled the peace which it was meant to preserve.""Your words are good. But two years later when a son was born he called him Nwofia??"Begotten in the Wilderness.The young men who kept order on these occasions dashed about. and he never saw her again. Amadiora or the thunderbolt. The oldest member of this extensive family was Okonkwo's uncle. The other people were released. Nwoye went to his mother's hut and told her that Ikemefuna was going home. And so it was time for the final ceremony of confession. degenerate and effeminate? Perhaps he was not his son. the shouting and the firing of guns.

'It cried and raved and cursed me." Ekwefi said to the woman who had stood shoulder to shoulder with her since the beginning of the matches. There was coming and going between them." said Okonkwo's voice. "that Abame is no more?""How is that?" asked Uchendu and Okonkwo together.' he thought as he looked at his ten-year-old daughter. When a man was afflicted with swelling in the stomach and the limbs he was not allowed to die in the house. His mind went back to Ikemefuna and he shivered."Has Nweke married a wife?" asked Okonkwo." said Obierika. his half-sister. he took with him his flute. A man stood there with a machete in his hand. "Now they are behaving like men. The old man bore no ill will towards Okonkwo. "I sold the big ones as soon as you left." asked another man. Evil Forest addressed the two groups of people facing them. a good harvest and happiness. Any wonder then that his son Okonkwo was ashamed of him? Fortunately. They were called kotma. But when he reached Tortoise's house he told his wife to bring out all the hard things in the house.""How did they get hold of Ancto to hang him?" asked Okonkwo. The child was called Onwumbiko.

Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. And then from the center of the delirious fury came a cry of agony and shouts of horror. Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly. "He hardly ever walks. They made single mounds of earth in straight lines all over the field and sowed the yams in them." he said. He would return later to his mother and his brothers and sisters and convert them to the new faith. "I shall survive anything. 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. "Yaa!". Okonkwo had gone to a medicine man."Our father. my daughter. Nwoye." urged the other women"None?" asked Njide. The lad's name was Ikemefuna." said one man." said the joker.One of the men behind him cleared his throat. Because of her size she made her way through trees and creepers more quickly than her followers." He got up painfully. Three men beat them with sticks. And then from the center of the delirious fury came a cry of agony and shouts of horror. what did the mother of this duckling say when you swooped and carried its child away?' 'It said nothing.

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. and I am happy you have come to see us."Go into that room.Mr. You see. Nwoye's mother and Ojiugo would provide the other things like smoked fish.Umuofia was feared by all its neighbors. But Ekwefi could not see her.Uzowulu stepped forward and presented his case. Perhaps he had been going to Mbaino and had lost his way. They were called kotma. my sons." said Okonkwo. cooking and eating. And so she brought out her husband's hoes. It was even said that they had hanged one man who killed a missionary. It was true they were rescuing twins from the bush. After such treatment it would think twice before coming again. He would speak to him after the isa-ifi ceremony.- they merely set the scene. "honest men and thieves. looking at the position of the sun." he said to Okonkwo." he said.

A bowl of pounded yams can throw him in a wrestling match. especially with the children. melons and beans between the yam mounds."The two men sat in silence for a long while afterwards. 1 know you will not despair. It was after such a day at the farm during the last harvest that Nwoye had felt for the first time a snapping inside him like the one he now felt.Am oyim de de de de! flew around the dark.Ezinma took the dish in one hand and the empty water bowl in the other and went back to her mother's hut. that my children do not resemble me. Do you hear that."You must take him to salute our father." he said.Okonkwo was sitting on a goatskin already eating his first wife's meal. and had just married his third wife. fifth and sixth years. We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so. They saluted one another and then reappeared on the ilo. Old men nodded to the beat of the drums and remembered the days when they wrestled to its intoxicating rhythm. and so they made them that offer which nobody in his right senses would accept.All the umunna were invited to the feast.She had prayed for the moon to rise."Answer me. Obiageli brought up the rear." But he was a man of commanding presence and the clansmen listened to him.

The drums rose to a frenzy. If it does its power will be gone. reappeared every year for seven years and then disappeared for another lifetime. Unoka loved it all. "They use medicine. Then he tried to settle the matter the way he used to settle such matters when he was a little boy." said Ojiugo. I began to own a farm at your age.""I don't know how we got that law. speaking in a tremulous."You are a big man now. Some of them were accompanied by their sons bearing carved wooden stools.And then the egwugwu appeared. Was it not on an Eke day that they fled into Umuofia?" he asked his two companions. and in one deft movement she lifted the pot from the fire and poured the boiling water over the fowl. The crime was of two kinds." Okonkwo replied. He would have liked to return earlier and build his compound that year before the rains stopped." shouted Chielo. The interpreter explained each verse to the audience. Obierika pointed at the two heavy bags." He paused."Ogbuefi Ndulue of Ire village. But there was no doubt that he liked the boy.

"His name is Amadi. They went back to their caves in a distant land. Never make an early morning appointment with a man who has just married a new wife. And supporting his mother also meant supporting his father. paid regular visits to them. too. He threw down the gun and jumped into the barn and there lay the woman. talking was the next best. It was evening and the sun was settingUchendu's eldest daughter."That was many years ago. years ago. and two or three pieces of land on which tofarm during the coming planting season. calabashes and wooden bowls were thoroughly washed.The Oracle was called Agbala. living in a special area of the village. I do not owe my inlaws anything. tall and strongly built. They cross seven rivers to make their farms."Tortoise saw all these preparations and soon discovered what it all meant. Unoka was never happy when it came to wars. Kiaga. for as soon as the first rain came farming would begin. "all the birds were invited to a feast in the sky.The men in the obi had already begun to drink the palm-wine which Akueke's suitor had brought.

The interpreter explained each verse to the audience. The seven wasted and weary years were at last dragging to a close. and all were happy. They must have bypassed it long ago. of all people. hung above the fireplace. only to return to their places almost immediately. and the cannon shattered the silence."I am Evil Forest. "Let us give them a portion of the Evil Forest. and we shall all perish. It was even heard in the surrounding villages. The titled men and elders sat on their stools waiting for the trials to begin. Okafo seized it. a machete for cutting down the soft cassava stem. She could no longer think.Mr. It is almost dawn. stood immediately behind the only gate in the red walls." said his father."Ah."We have now built a church. "I must thank my mother's kinsmen before I go. the tumult increased tenfold.

When all the birds had gathered together. panting. Kiaga that he had decided to go to Umuofia where the white missionary had set up a school to teach young Christians to read and write. and he could hear his own flute weaving in and out of them. If any money came his way. The drums beat the unmistakable wrestling dance - quick. Okonkwo. lest he strike you in his anger. You see. therefore. His younger wives did that. Worshippers and those who came to seek knowledge from the god crawled on their belly through the hole and found themselves in a dark. She could not see beyond her nose." said Obierika. She had married Anene because Okonkwo was too poor then to marry. But I want you to have nothing to do with it. Then send him word to fight for us. The young men who kept order flew around. and he spoke as he performed them:"1 hope our in-laws will bring many pots of wine." said Okonkwo as he took his machete and went into the bush to collect the leaves and grasses and barks of trees that went into making the medicine for iba.As he broke the kola. she found her lying on the mat. His own hut. the white men had also brought a government.

how many twins she has borne and thrown away." said Okonkwo."Answer the question at once. But I can tell you. "My father." said Obierika. The lad's name was Ikemefuna. and washed away the yam heaps."It is an ozo dance. 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. Soon after. Ekwefi tried to pull out the horny beak but it was too hard."We are all well. I salute you. who came out of her hut to draw water from a gigantic pot in the shade of a small tree in the middle of the compound. Uchendu. brought in a pot of sweet wine tapped from the raffia palm. I am Fire-that-burns-without-faggots. Ekwefi was also awakened and her benumbed fears revived."Ezinma looked at her mother. food and palm-wine. 'You have taken back your sister. and the crowd yelled in answer. It was Ekwefl's turn to tell a story.

" said someone light-heartedly and the crowd laughed. She pulled again and it came off. The oldest member of this extensive family was Okonkwo's uncle. When the moon rose late in the night.They sat in a big circle on the ground and the young bride in the center with a hen in her right hand. The three white men and a very large number of other men surrounded the market. Two elderly neighbors were sent for."Sometimes I wish I had not taken the ozo title." he said. A man stood there with a machete in his hand. Earth's emissary.After the wine had been drunk Okonkwo laid his difficulties before Nwakibie. and it ended on the left. Rain fell as it had never fallen before. The young tendrils were protected from earth-heat with rings of sisal leaves. That woman. This year they talked of nothing else but the nso-ani which Okonkwo had committed. for Mr. You buried it in the ground somewhere so that you can die and return again to torment your mother. There were only four titles in the clan." She sat down and stretched her legs in front of her. His own hut. that I am not afraid of blood and if anyone tells you that I am."Ekwefi.

Obierika. She knelt on her knees and hands at the threshold and called her husband. At last the man was named and people sighed "E-u-u."As he was speaking the boy returned. closed hut like tongues of fire.It was clear from the way the crowd stood or sat that the ceremony was for men. will you go to see the wrestling?" Ezinma asked after a suitable interval. When they saw it they drove it back to its owner."When this was interpreted to the men of Mbanta they broke into derisive laughter. They guarded the prison. As for the boy. be cursed with such a son? He saw clearly in it the finger of his personal god or chi."Okonkwo was very lucky in his daughters. Every man and woman came out to see the white man."For three years Ikemefuna lived in Okonkwo's household and the elders of Umuofia seemed to have forgotten about him. He was poor and his wife and children had barely enough to eat. Okonkwo wanted his son to be a great farmer and a great man. Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man.His anger thus satisfied.He sighed heavily." said Nwoye's mother. Ezinma? You are older than Obiageli but she has more sense. It was the justice of the earth goddess. If it does its power will be gone.

" said another. stood near the edge of the pit because he wanted to take in all that happened.Nwoye struggled to free himself from the choking grip. Guns fired the last salute and the cannon rent the sky. old way. "My daughter's suitor is coming today and I hope we will clinch the matter of the bride-price. Then the foo-foo was served.The elders. Unoka was never happy when it came to wars. he burst out laughing. Then send him word to fight for us. He just carried her into his bed and in the darkness began to feel around her waist for the loose end of her cloth. cooking and eating. a man of war. People laughed at him because he was a loafer. But his whole life was dominated by fear. His hands trembled vaguely on the black pot he carried. for he knew certainly that something was amiss. guttural and awesome. Last year neither of them had thrown the other even though the judges had allowed the contest to go on longer than was the custom. I say it because I fear for the younger generation."Come."Listen to me. machetes.

Okonkwo had eaten from his wives' dishes and was nowreclining with his back against the wall.Okonkwo's wives. It was said that when such a spirit appeared. which should be a woman's crowning glory.""There is no song in the story. Young men pounded the foo-foo or split firewood. They told the white man and he smiled benevolently. He threw down the gun and jumped into the barn and there lay the woman." said another. It looked like an equal match."Perhaps I have been away too long. One mind said to her: "Woman. That is all I am good for now." replied Odukwe. sprang to his feet and gripped him by the neck. At one stage Ekwefi was so afraid that she nearly called out to Chielo for companionship and human sympathy."At last the party arrived in the sky and their hosts were very happy to see them. 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. vibrating heat. and she agreed also. He put them in the pot and Ekwefi poured in some water.His anger thus satisfied. He had not hoped to get more than four hundred seeds. In the morning he went back to his farm and saw the withering tendrils.

The happy voices of children playing in open fields would then be heard.Ezinma was still sleeping when everyone else was astir.As the years of exile passed one by one it seemed to him that his chi might now be making amends for the past disaster. And so she brought out her husband's hoes.His father. Ekwefi had been returning from the stream with her mother on a dark night like this when they saw its glow as it flew in their direction. "Poor child. Okonkwo had clearly washed his hands and so he ate with kings and elders. forty-five. but the elders counseled patience till nightfall." He prayed especially for Okonkwo and his family. and drinking palm-wine copiously. 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. She gave the dish to her father's eldest brother and then shook hands." said Uchendu to his peers when they consulted among themselves. Here was a man whose chi said nay despite his own affirmation. I say it because I fear for the younger generation. he fled to Aninta to escape the wrath of the earth. When they did. sandy footway began to throw up the heat that lay buried in it. where they were guarded by a race of stunted men. the god of the sky." said Obierika. "I will tell Obierika's wife that you are coming later.

On ordinary days young women who desired children came to sit under its shade.- one could not have known where one's mouth was in the darkness of that night. melons and beans between the yam mounds. returning. she returned to her mother's hut to help with the cooking. A child belongs to its father and his family and not to its mother and her family." he swore." He turned to Odukwe. She went in and knocked at his door and he came out. But very few people had ever seen that kind of wrestling before. indeed. Three young men from the victorious boy's team ran forward. a machete for cutting down the soft cassava stem. carrying on their heads various sizes of pots suitable to their years.The arrival of the missionaries had caused a considerable stir in the village of Mbanta. Ekwefi brought her to the fireplace. No punishment was prescribed for a man who killed the python knowingly. he had already put aside his goatskin bag and his big cloth and was in his underwear."How can I know you. They were the lazy easy-going ones who always put off clearing their farms as long as they could. It was this man that Okonkwo threw in a fight which the old men agreed was one of the fiercest since the founder of their town engaged a spirit of the wild for seven days and seven nights. He had had the same kind of feeling not long ago. On his head were two powerful horns.Okonkwo sprang from his bed.