thoughtlessness. It was not very easy getting the men of high title and the elders together after the excitement of the first day. they take new names for the occasion.

"How man men have lain with you since my brother first expressed his desire to marry you?""None
"How man men have lain with you since my brother first expressed his desire to marry you?""None. she prayed a thousand times. leaving a regular pattern of hair. not for hearing. with which he carried the brown snuff to his nostrils.Uchendu had been told by one of his grandchildren that three strangers had come to Okonkwo's house.The last big rains of the year were falling.Okonkwo was very happy to receive his friend. He spoke through an interpreter who was an Ibo man. and only one or two men in any generation ever achieved the fourth and highest. Guns were fired on all sides and sparks flew out as machetes clanged together in warriors' salutes. But he was so weak that his legs could hardly carry him.""But he had no wings. pointing at the far wall of his hut." said the bride. sat on a mat on the floor. "I dislike cold water dropping on my back. a cake of salt and smoked fish which she would present to Obierika's wife.His life had been ruled by a great passion??to become one of the lords of the clan. He breathed heavily. The personal dynamism required to counter the forces of these extremes of weather would be far too great for the human frame. and many farmers wept as they dug up the miserable and rotting yams. I am worried about Nwoye. And what made it worse in Okonkwo's case was that he had to support his mother and two sisters from his meagre harvest.

We do not dispute it. my friend. "she will bring you back very soon. And so they fled into Umuofia with a woeful story. It was slow and painful. "Whoever has a job in hand. Ekwefi's mind went back to the days when they were young.Seven years was a long time to be away from one's clan. not knowing what else to say. and flies went with him. But the song spread in Umuofia. woman."Unless you shave off the mark of your heathen belief I will not admit you into the church."Then I shall go back to the clan.The women had gone to the bush to collect firewood. away from the gates of God and from the tender shepherd's care. It was a tremendous sight." The boy smiled. On receiving such a message through a younger brother or sister.""I shall wait too. and his happiest moments were the two or three moons after the harvest when the village musicians brought down their instruments. Amalinze was the great wrestler who for seven years was unbeaten. "Your wrestling the other day gave me much happiness.""I think she will stay.

Bring me my daughter. He who brings kola brings life. He knew that Nwakibie would not refuse him. But the one knew what the other was thinking. You know his first wife who walks with a stick?""Yes. and others who could think of nowhere else open to escape. We must fight these men and drive them from the land."We have now built a church. The air was cool and damp with dew. His sons brought out the pots of palm-wine. Then there was perfect silence. The law of Umuofia is that if a woman runs away from her husband her bride-price is returned. they talked about everything except the thing for which they had gathered. moved to the center."Odukwe's body. She turned round sharply and walked through Okonkwo's hut. she found her lying on the mat. But it had gone on living and gradually becoming stronger."On the following Sunday. and said through gleaming white teeth firmly clenched: "Those sons of wild animals have dared to murder a daughter of Umuofia. People made way for him on all sides and the noise subsided. Okonkwo had begun to sow with the first rains. closely followed by Nwoye and his two younger brothers. People made way for him on all sides and the noise subsided.

He pressed the trigger and there was a loud report accompanied by the wail of his wives and children. that Chielo had stopped her chanting. Everyone knew then that she would live because her bond with the world of ogbanje had been broken. as if he was going to pounce on somebody. Okonkwo and his family went to the farm with baskets of seed-yams. was quite harmless." She sat down and stretched her legs in front of her. and all were happy.' he said as they flew on their way. stood immediately behind the only gate in the red walls. called the converts the excrement of the clan. But he was not a failure like Unoka. and he could hear his own flute weaving in and out of them. which were black with soot. Then everything had been broken. carrying the stamp of their mutilation??a missing finger or perhaps a dark line where the medicine man's razor had cut them.""And have you never seen them?" asked Machi. She could no longer think. They had something to say for every man. He sat down again and called two witnesses. who will hold his head up among my people."We shall be going. then. "We shall give them a piece of land.

" said Ibe.Ezinma brought them a bowl of water with which to wash their hands. He slapped the ear and hoped he had killed it. The first day passed and the second and third and fourth.And then the priestess screamed."Umuofia kwenu!" shouted the leading egwugwu. They went outside again."No. But as he flew home his long talon pierced the leaves and the rain fell as it had never fallen before. The elders said locusts came once in a generation."We still have a long way to go. and she said so. Every woman immediately abandoned whatever she was doing and rushed out in the direction of the cry. took out two leaves and began to chew them. But each time she had borne twins. they take new names for the occasion. I shall pay you. 1 owe them no cocoyams." was joyfully chanted everywhere. He had therefore put his drinking-horn into his goatskin bag for the occasion.What moved Obierika to visit Okonkwo was the sudden appearance of the latter's son. If they imagined what was inside. because there was no humanity there. In ordinary life Chielo was a widow with two children.

Ekwefi knelt beside the sick child. Those who were big enough to carry even a few yams in a tiny basket went with grown-ups to the farm." said the interpreter."He sprang to his feet. The men stood outside the circle."Just then Obierika's son." said Mr." Okonkwo said. The men stood outside the circle. cooking and eating. She would die with her. It was Ekwefl's turn to tell a story. which was strengthened by such little conspiracies as eating eggs in the bedroom. And he had all but achieved it. They had built a court where the District Commissioner judged cases in ignorance. Kiaga. alive with sinister forces and powers of darkness. 'When mother-cow is chewing grass its young ones watch its mouth. He pushed the thought out of his mind. whereupon his father beat him heavily. A man could not rise beyond the destiny of his chi. But they were very rare and short-lived." said Nwoye's mother.' 'You must return the duckling.

But the second time did not count."For the first time in three nights. "my eyelid is twitching.The confusion that followed was without parallel in the tradition of Umuofia." and Okoye saw groups of short perpendicular lines drawn in chalk. They had then drawn patterns on them in white. moved to the center." came her voice. long journey.With a father like Unoka. He was a good eater and he could drink one or two fairly big gourds of palm-wine." said one of them.""I pray she stays. pulled out his staff and thrust it into the earth again. hung above the fireplace.Although Nwoye had been attracted to the new faith from the very first day. No punishment was prescribed for a man who killed the python knowingly. Unoka. The whole church raised a protest and was about to drive these people out. She was rewarded by occasional spells of health during which Ezinma bubbled with energy like fresh palm-wine. a man who pays respect to the great paves the way for his own greatness."He said something.""Not before you have had your breakfast. "they killed him and tied up his iron horse.

had gained ground. "They have that custom in Obodoani. and you are afraid. It was only from Nwoye's mother that he heard scraps of the story.There were no stars in the sky because there was a rain-cloud. where every woman had a shallow well for fermenting her cassava. It was unbelievable. He was in fact a coward and could not bear the sight of blood. It was a day old. whereupon Ear fell on the floor in uncontrollable laughter.Everybody at the kindred meeting took sides with Osugo when Okonkwo called him a woman. to the boys and they passed it round the wooden stays and then back to him. facing the elders. And what is the result? An abominable religion has settled among you. They made single mounds of earth in straight lines all over the field and sowed the yams in them."He died this morning.' said Mother Kite to her daughter." said Evil Forest. In short. and was about to say something when the old man continued:"Yes.Nwoye struggled to free himself from the choking grip. the god who cut a man down when his life was sweetest to him."Yes.""Your chi is very much awake.

Okonkwo was sitting on a goatskin already eating his first wife's meal. and he loved the first kites that returned with the dry season. he is not too young. The three women talked excitedly about the relations who had been invited."He uncovered his second wife's dish and began to eat from it. watching. As for the boy."Agbala do-o-o-o! Agbala ekeneo-o-o-o-o. He tried in vain to force the thought out of his mind. He had cracked them himself.When she got to the big udala tree Ezinma turned left into the bush."My in-law has told you that we went to his house." roared Okonkwo. Every man wears the thread of title on his ankle. which was full of men who had offended against the white man's law. Their sound was no longer a separate thing from the living village. Yam stood for manliness. which had been dutifully eating yam peelings. Nwoye's mother. 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.The wrestlers were now almost still in each other's grip. Perhaps he had been going to Mbaino and had lost his way. She was saying again and again that Agbala wanted to see his daughter. carrying the stamp of their mutilation??a missing finger or perhaps a dark line where the medicine man's razor had cut them.

The next morning they were roasted in clay pots and then spread in the sun until they became dry and brittle.Then the tragedy of his first son had occurred.There were twelve men on each side and the challenge went from one side to the other. They sat in a half-circle and began to talk of many things. We heard of it.""I shall wait too.His anger thus satisfied. had crawled out of the shrine on her belly like a snake. Very often it was Ezinma who decided what food her mother should prepare.In the distance the drums continued to beat. who were putting the last delicate touches of razor to her coiffure and cam wood on her smooth skin." said Obierika.There were seven men in Obierika's hut when Okonkwo returned. "1 shall think of another one with a song. His actions were deliberate. He even remembered how he had laughed when Ikemefuna told him that the proper name for a corn cob with only a few scattered grains was eze-agadi-nwayi." and was allowed to go wherever it chose. cutting down every tree or animal they saw. who had taken two titles." he intoned.""That is so. I have cleared a farm but have no yams to sow. his children and their mothers in the new year. There were only three such boys in each team.

"before 1 put any crop in the earth." The man who had contradicted him had no titles."It should be ready in four days or even three. And what was more. And so they killed him. Women and children returning from the stream with pots of water on their heads wondered what was happening until they saw Okagbue and guessed that it must be something to do with ogbanje. There was a famine in those days and Tortoise had not eaten a good meal for two moons. He still thought about his mother and his three-year-old sister. The clan saw no reason then for molesting the Christians. There was coming and going between them.Perhaps it never did happen. But it was momentary. Has he thrown a hundred Cats?He has thrown four hundred Cats. The men brought their goatskin mats. untouched by the ax and the bush-fire. The pots of wine stood in their midst. Maduka vanished into the compound like lightning. There were huge bowls of foo-foo and steaming pots of soup. 'If I fall down for you and you fall down for me.Okonkwo's family was astir like any other family in the neighborhood. Maduka."Yes."We are all well." said one of the younger men.

"My son has told me about you. many years.The old man.All this anthill activity was going smoothly when a sudden interruption came. whereupon his father beat him heavily. melons and beans between the yam mounds. Okonkwo stood by. perhaps even quicker.The men in the obi had already begun to drink the palm-wine which Akueke's suitor had brought. "before I kill you!" He seized a heavy stick that lay on the dwarf wall and hit him two or three savage blows." she replied and disappeared in the darkness.""It means you are going to cry. they held them over an open fire to burn off the hair. And such was the deep fear that their enemies had for Umuofia that they treated Okonkwo like a king and brought him a virgin who was given to Udo as wife. who with his brothers and half-brothers had been dancing the traditional farewell to their father. And for many days this rare food was eaten with solid palm-oil. his harvest will be good or bad according to the strength of his arm. She was about sixteen and just ripe for marriage. "and yet he is full of sorrow because he has come to live in his motherland for a few years." But it was a different Chielo she now saw in the yellow half-light. The crowd had surrounded and swallowed up the drummers. He could not understand what was happening to him or what he had done." he said. The clan was like a lizard.

""What will I see?" she asked.When all the egwugwu had sat down and the sound of the many tiny bells and rattles on their bodies had subsided." And after a pause she said: "Can I bring your chair for you?""No.Everybody at the kindred meeting took sides with Osugo when Okonkwo called him a woman." said Obierika. was then twelve years old but was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness. armed with sheathed machetes. Ekwefi trudged along between two fears. "The evil you have done can ruin the whole clan. But if a man caused it. All else was silent. In the other group were her husband." replied the white man." Obierika replied sharply. to harvest cassava tubers. Mosquito. The man who dug it up was the same Okagbue who was famous in all the clan for his knowledge in these matters. and on their way they paid short courtesy visits to prominent men like Okonkwo.No work was done during the Week of Peace. In the morning he went back to his farm and saw the withering tendrils. How could such a man be a follower of Christ?"He needs Christ more than you and I. Amikwu and his people had taken palm-wine to the bride's kinsmen about two moons before Okonkwo's arrival in Mbanta."Your buttocks understand our language."Tortoise saw all these preparations and soon discovered what it all meant.

There were no stars in the sky because there was a rain-cloud. that Ekwensu. Once in a while Chielo was possessed by the spirit of her god and she began to prophesy. roots and barks of medicinal trees and shrubs.""Ee-e-e!""Prosperous men and great warriors. It was full of meat and fish.""Let us not reason like cowards. He just hung limp. as most people were. but inwardly they were happy for what they took to be their own foresight. She was saying again and again that Agbala wanted to see his daughter." Okonkwo said. We put our fingers into our ears to stop us hearing. Instead of saying "myself" he always said "my buttocks. greeted themselves in their esoteric language. "Who will drink the dregs?" he asked."The next day a group of elders from all the nine villages of Umuofia came to Okonkwo's house early in the morning. pulled out his staff and thrust it into the earth again. It is good in these days when the younger generation consider themselves wiser than their sires to see a man doing things in the grand. Kiaga restrained them. and men dashed about in frenzy. Okonkwo's son." Ezinma pointed out."Have you slept enough?" asked her mother.

Share-cropping was a very slow way of building up a barn of one's own. No. His body rattled like a piece of dry stick in his empty shell.' Maduka has been watching your mouth. They should have armed themselves with their guns and their machetes even when they went to market. and we shall all perish. whom she called her daughter. And how is my daughter. in your obi or in her own hut?" asked the medicine man.""I don't know how we got that law. It was a full gathering of umuada. Okonkwo and his wife followed at a respectful distance. She had borne ten children and nine of them had died in infancy.That was years ago. But on one point there was general agreement??the active principle in that medicine had been an old woman with one leg. The Ibo evangelists consulted among themselves and decided that the man probably meant bicycle. gazing into a log fire. In the other group were her husband. 'There is something ominous behind the silence. with music and dancing and a great feast. He is not my father." he said to Ikemefuna. "before i learned how to tap.""The world is large.

"1 don't know. Okonkwo's son. Although he had felt uneasy at first." said Ekwefi.""What will I see?" she asked.But.Ekwefi peeled the yams quickly. he burst out laughing. He stepped forward. The wailing of the women would not be heard beyond the village. "let her not sleep in her hut. His name was Nwakibie and he had taken the highest but one title which a man could take in the clan. it is for you. Now and again a full-chested lamentation rose above the wailing whenever a man came into the place of death.Okonkwo was well received by his mother's kinsmen in Mbanta. had gone to consult Agbala. The younger of his sons. He. But as he walked through the market he realized that people were pointing at him as they do to a madman. And as he told them of the past they sat in darkness or the dim glow of logs."I am Evil Forest. The bride-price had been paid and all but the last ceremony had been performed. and it was their counsel that prevailed in the end."I have kola.

He began to wonder why he had felt uneasy at all. Her fear had vanished. and was punished.Okagbue had again taken over the digging from Okonkwo. The younger of his sons. We would then not be held accountable for their abominations.Obierika was a man who thought about things. She broke a piece in two and gave it to Ezinma."A little more?? I said a little. Many people laughed at his dialect and the way he used words strangely. or playground. "Those that hear my words are my father and my mother. 'If I fall down for you and you fall down for me.""That is very true. He did not know who the girl was." he said. Her husband's wife took this for malevolence." said Obierika. and the lad Ikemefuna."Leave her to me. his sixteen-year-old son. We all know him. was a very exacting king. reached Okonkwo from his wives' huts as each woman and her children told folk stories.

"They are thirty?" he asked. whose eyes. The earth goddess whom you have insulted may refuse to give us her increase.His anger thus satisfied.Obierika was sitting outside under the shade of an orange tree making thatches from leaves of the raffia-palm. Elumelu. I did not send her away. As the evening wore on. As the evening drew near. nor the walls of his compound. Quick as the lightning of Amadiora. But she picked her way easily on the sandy footpath hedged on either side by branches and damp leaves. Go home and work like a man.Okonkwo knew these things." And he took another pinch of snuff. And then one morning three white men led by a band of ordinary men like us came to the clan. like something agitating with a metallic life. Let us give them a real battlefield in which to show their victory. Ekwefi's mind went back to the days when they were young. They asked who the king of the village was. It came from the direction of the ilo.Obierika's compound was as busy as an anthill. Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly. which was now surrounded by spectators.

And so on this particular night as the crier's voice was gradually swallowed up in the distance." said the joker. especially as he looked somewhat different from the others. and soon the children were chasing one of their cocks. And then the smooth. "Are you afraid you may dissolve?"The harvesting was easy.At last the two teams danced into the circle and the crowd roared and clapped.Many others spoke. She beckons in front of her and behind her. He sang the song again. He would have liked to return earlier and build his compound that year before the rains stopped.Ekwefi rose early on the following morning and went to her farm with her daughter. The wave struck the women and children and there was a backward stampede."Yes. Obiageli brought up the rear." he said. "My father." said Okonkwo. We do not dispute it."For three years Ikemefuna lived in Okonkwo's household and the elders of Umuofia seemed to have forgotten about him. nearly all the osu in Mbanta followed their example.As they spoke two other groups of people had replaced the first before the egwugwu. and the rest went back. You grew your ears for decoration.

Okonkwo had begun to sow with the first rains. came first." she replied. As soon as he heard of the great feast in the sky his throat began to itch at the very thought."There was immediate excitement and those who were sitting jumped to their feet. and I am happy you have come to see us. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic. the old man supporting himself with his stick. even into people's beds. Okonkwo rose to speak." Nwoye's mother said. closely followed by Nwoye and his two younger brothers. and he told them stories of the land??masculine stories of violence and bloodshed. and they agreed about the beating. on the day that Nwoye's mother celebrated the birth of her three sons with feasting and music. As the Ibo say: "When the moon is shining the cripple becomes hungry for a walk. She understood things so perfectly. armed with sheathed machetes. Okonkwo was only a boy then and Uchendu still remembered him crying the traditional farewell: "Mother. every man with his goatskin bag hung on one shoulder and a rolled goatskin mat under his arm. forty. Many of them spoke at great length and in fury. as the Ibo people say. Who knows what may happen tomorrow? Perhaps green men will come to our clan and shoot us.

Nwayieke lived four compounds away. But when a father beats his child. She was saying again and again that Agbala wanted to see his daughter.'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. all the descendants of Okolo. who had risen so suddenly from great poverty and misfortune to be one of the lords of the clan. 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." said the bride. and none of them died. One morning three of them came to my house."Odukwe's body.After the wine had been drunk Okonkwo laid his difficulties before Nwakibie. who was a prosperous farmer. She greeted her god in a multitude of names??the owner of the future." Umuofia obodo dike! Umuofia obodo dike! It said this over and over again. Many people looked around." Altogether there were fifty pots of wine. The muscles on their arms and their thighs and on their backs stood out and twitched. and the burial was near."Don't be afraid. Five matches ended in this way.But there were many others who saw the situation differently. tangled and dirty hair." Okonkwo said.

His name was Nwakibie and he had taken the highest but one title which a man could take in the clan. He had one consolation. Okonkwo pleaded with her to come back in the morning because Ezinma was now asleep. "As for me." ';. And then one morning three white men led by a band of ordinary men like us came to the clan. won a handful of converts and were already sending evangelists to the surrounding towns and villages. Age was respected among his people. Ozoemena??"May it not happen again. Ekwefi then became defiant and called her next child Onwuma??"Death may please himself.From that day Amikwu took the young bride and she became his wife. Okonkwo had committed the female. It must be the thought of going home to his mother.Okonkwo brought out his snuff-bottle and offered it to Ogbuefi Ezenwa.When the rain finally came. "Whether you are spirit or man. They saluted one another and then reappeared on the ilo. He never stopped regretting that Ezinma was a girl. He died and rotted away above the earth. She explained to her why they should not marry yet. I am Fire-that-burns-without-faggots. A man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does not do so to save them from starving. or took pity on their mothers."Uzowulu's body.

" replied Obierika. and she was greatly feared. he thought. Without looking at the man Okonkwo had said: "This meeting is for men." They all laughed." said Machi. Before the day was over he was dead. "His shell broke into pieces." said Obierika. "that I shall bring many iron horses when we have settled down among them." Okonkwo asked himself. There were twenty-two of them. He had a large barn full of yams and he had three wives. They danced back to the center together and then closed in. waiting for him. in silence. They were the harbingers sent to survey the land. of course. Aninta. They were very fat goats. where his friend gave them out year by year to sharecroppers.- that she did not blame others for their good fortune but her own evil chi who denied her any?At last Ezinma was born. The New Yam Festival seemed to him to be a much bigger event here than in his own village. too.

" said Ezinma. They said that some young men had chased them away from the stream with whips. The hosts nodded in approval and seemed to say. and soon they were the strongest adherents of the new faith. And you. He passed her a piece of fish. The man who dug it up was the same Okagbue who was famous in all the clan for his knowledge in these matters. and asking it if it had brought home any lengths of cloth. Although he had felt uneasy at first. Ekwefi had a feeling of spacious openness. as when she first set out. and nodded their heads in approval of all he said. They have a big market in Abame on every other Afo day and. The eight other egwugwu were as still as statues. The birds were silenced in the forests. and the whole country became the brown-earth color of the vast. There is not a single clan in these parts that I do not know very well. occasionally feeling with her palm the wet. Okonkwo worked on the outside of the wall and the boys worked from within. and they were merely her messengers.Ikemefuna came to Umuofia at the end of the carefree season between harvest and planting. trying to minimize Ojiugo's thoughtlessness. It was not very easy getting the men of high title and the elders together after the excitement of the first day. they take new names for the occasion.