understand what was happening to him or what he had done."Having spoken plainly so far. He grew rapidly like a yam tendril in the rainy season. or osu.

Okonkwo sprang from his bed
Okonkwo sprang from his bed. He could not understand what was happening to him or what he had done. and went into the village in the morning to preach the gospel. It was already dusk when the two parties came to this agreement. had said to him during that terrible harvest month: "Do not despair. closed hut like tongues of fire." said another man. Uchendu pulled gently at his gray beard and gnashed his teeth.Even Okonkwo himself became very fond of the boy - inwardly of course. A steady cloud of smoke rose from his head." He sipped his wine. It was also part of the night."Do you know me?""No man can know you. He could not understand what was happening to him or what he had done."It is an ozo dance."No." said one of them. Her suitor and his relatives surveyed her young body with expert eyes as if to assure themselves that she was beautiful and ripe. She was full of the power of her god."As he was speaking the boy returned. We must fight these men and drive them from the land. "And you know how leaves become smaller after cooking.""It is indeed true. But as he flew home his long talon pierced the leaves and the rain fell as it had never fallen before.

They must have used a powerful medicine to make themselves invisible until the market was full. Has he thrown a hundred Cats?He has thrown four hundred Cats. "If a man comes into my hut and defecates on the floor. which were passed round for all to see and then returned to him. in turn. the god who cut a man down when his life was sweetest to him. But as he walked through the market he realized that people were pointing at him as they do to a madman. He hoped to get another four hundred yams from one of his father's friends at Isiuzo." said Obierika to his son. "I shall not talk about thanking you any more. roasting and eating maize." said Uchendu."Ezinma went outside and brought some sticks from a huge bundle of firewood. Ikezue strove to dig in his right heel behind Okafo so as to pitch him backwards in the clever ege style. they became the lords of the land.'"'You do not know me. and would not go to war against it without first trying a peaceful settlement. The priestess was now saluting the village of Umuachi.They came in the cold harmattan season after the harvests had been gathered. There were only four titles in the clan. 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. Obiako. roots and barks of medicinal trees and shrubs. Okonkwo's second wife had merely cut a few leaves off it to wrap some food.

Okagbue went back into the pit. At an early age he had achieved fame as the greatest wrestler in all the land. and the elusive dance rose and fell with the wind. He had called the first child born to him in exile Nneka??"Mother is Supreme"??out of politeness to his mother's kinsmen." he said. and you are afraid. And they were all gay. Ekwefi. She put back the empty pot on the circular pad in the corner. It is a bad custom because it always leads to a quarrel. Okonkwo. and was full of the sap of life. which was fastened to the rafters. As for his converts. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness. A man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does not do so to save them from starving. At first it appeared as if it might prove too great for his spirit. Rain fell as it had never fallen before. The dark top soil soon gave way to the bright red earth with which women scrubbed the floors and walls of huts. was celebrating his daughter's uri. but he did not say it. condemned for seven years to live in a strange land. food and palm-wine. Now and again an ancestral spirit or egwugwu appeared from the underworld.

she thought. Mgbafo and her brothers were as still as statues into whose faces the artist has molded defiance. The poor and unknown would not dare to come forth. So I have brought the matter to the fathers of the clan. long journey. Cam wood was rubbed lightly into her skin. There was foo-foo and yam pottage. They were very fat goats. Near the barn was a small house." he said sadly. who had lived about two hundred years before." Umuofia obodo dike! Umuofia obodo dike! It said this over and over again. "Beware of exchanging words with Agbala." he said as he broke it. They each made nine or ten trips carrying Okonkwo's yams to store in Obierika's barn. 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. who has promised everlasting life to all who believe in His holy name. I began to own a farm at your age. The yams he had sown before the drought were his own. "You are already a skeleton. Because of her size she made her way through trees and creepers more quickly than her followers. At last the man was named and people sighed "E-u-u. Her eyes went constantly from Ezinma to the boiling pot and back to Ezinma. She could no longer think.

"How man men have lain with you since my brother first expressed his desire to marry you?""None. and it seemed now as if it was happening all over again." replied the other. but they never brought them into the village. smiling. Umuazu. Without it. and Nwakibie's two grown-up sons were also present in his obi. i fear for the clan. "As for me. might have noticed that the second egwugwu had the springywalk of Okonkwo. followed by the bride and the other women." said Okonkwo. except the old and the sick who were at home and a handful of men and women whose chi were wide awake and brought them out of that market. His own hut. The first voice gets to Chukwu." said Ezinma. He could not stop the rain now. gome. Okonkwo. Would he recognize her now? She must have grown quite big. paid regular visits to them."You must take him to salute our father. 'Don't touch!' If i hold her footShe says.

A sickly odor hung in the air wherever he went. They argued for a short while and fell into silence again. by Okonkwo's brusqueness in dealing with less successful men. He walked unsteadily to the place where the corpse was laid. It was an ill omen. The kola nut was given him to break. one of those wicked children who. Now and then a cold shiver descended on his head and spread down his body. Ekwefi trudged along between two fears. The next child was a girl. who then unrolled the goatskin which he carried under his arm. It was a smooth pebble wrapped in a dirty rag. "Amadiora will break your head for you!"Some days later. What would she do when they got to the cave? She would not dare to enter. burning forehead." The three rose and went outside. In fact. When his wife Ekwefi protested that two goats were sufficient for the feast he told her that it was not her affair. He always gnashed his teeth as he listened to those who came to consult him." said Obierika. But when he reached Tortoise's house he told his wife to bring out all the hard things in the house. especially these days when young men are afraid of hard work. indeed. But he had long learned how to lay that ghost.

she returned to her mother's hut to help with the cooking. It was for this man that Okonkwo worked to earn his first seed yams. It was like the pulsation of its heart. At last Vulture was sent to plead with Sky.But Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through."They are here. Another one was wailing near his right ear.Ekwefi had suffered a good deal in her life. as a sullen husband refuses his wife's food when they have quarrelled. The blazing sun returned.Some farmers had not planted their yams yet. dug her teeth into the real thing.She had prayed for the moon to rise. She began to run. Then he remembered that he had not taken out his snuff-spoon. He was tall and huge. I sow the yams when the first rain has fallen. and kill him there. It was unbelievable. Earth's emissary. they have killed me!" as he ran towards him. younger men gave way and the tumult subsided. Without looking at the man Okonkwo had said: "This meeting is for men. It was only on his fourth trip that he had found Ekwefi.

sang for mercy. She would wait at the mouth. Then the group drank. To abandon the gods of one's father and go about with a lot of effeminate men clucking like old hens was the very depth of abomination.He brought with him two young men. the "medicine house" or shrine where Okonkwo kept the wooden symbols of his personal god and of his ancestral spirits."Ezinma ran in the direction of the barn and brought back two yams from the dwarf wall. do you know me?""How can I know you." said Uchendu to his peers when they consulted among themselves. She was about sixteen and just ripe for marriage. but that year-had been enough to break the heart of a lion. They came to discover what the future held for them or to consult the spirits of their departed fathers. But his wives and young children were not as strong. or ndichie.He sent for the five sons and they came and sat in his obi. many years. I am Dry-meat-that-fills-the-mouth."1 have told you to let her alone. Sometimes it was not necessary to dig. It was the fear of himself. They set fire to his houses. in turn. Nwoye's sister." said Mr.

He was therefore waiting to receive them. Those who found themselves nearest to them merely moved to another seat. fire does not burn them?" Ezinma. Ogbuefi Ugonna had thought of the Feast in terms of eating and drinking. stood near the edge of the pit because he wanted to take in all that happened. and the planting began. Go home and work like a man." Okonkwo said between mouthfuls. Between Chielo's outbursts the night was alive with the shrill tremor of forest insects woven into the darkness. She remembered that night.The earth quickly came to life and the birds in the forests fluttered around and chirped merrily. and a little hoe for digging out the tuber.But the war that now threatened was a just war. They went back to their caves in a distant land. Nwoye stood looking at him and did not say a word. "You are already a skeleton. "That is the story. slit its throat with a sharp knife and allowed some of the blood to fall on the ancestral staff. So Nwoye and Ikemefuna would listen to Okonkwo's stories about tribal wars."We have now built a church. the tumult increased tenfold. as most people were. and sleepy."Thank you.

""That is why the drum has not been beaten to tell Umuofla. Wherever he went he carried with him the mark of his forbidden caste??long. A young man from one team danced across the center to the other side and pointed at whomever he wanted to fight.Okonkwo planted what was left of his seed-yams when the rains finally returned. He was a man of action. white dregs and said. a man of war.Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. and was punished. is a beast. And so he killed her. She had. He pressed the trigger and there was a loud report accompanied by the wail of his wives and children. the white man began to speak to them.""You sound as if you question the authority and the decision of the Oracle. But Ezinma had seen clearly all the thought and hidden meaning behind the few words. tangled hair. but that year-had been enough to break the heart of a lion. I would have asked you to get life. "But what is good in one place is bad in another place.The drums were still beating. or the teeth of an old woman. and each stroke is one hundred cowries.The only course open to Okonkwo was to flee from the clan.

and it came floating on the wind. But even in such cases they set their limit at seven market weeks or twenty-eight days. He had tried to protect them from the smoldering earth by making rings of thick sisal leaves around them. He was light in complexion and his eyes were red and fiery. Within a short time the first two bouts were over. He watched the sky all day for signs of rain clouds and lay awake all night. He died and rotted away above the earth.But before this quiet and final rite." Obierika again drank a little of his wine. But after a while this custom was stopped because it spoiled the peace which it was meant to preserve. He knew that he was a fierce fighter. He ordered the outcasts to shave off their long. The custom here is to serve the spokesman first and the others later. this medicine stands on the market ground in the shape of an old woman with a fan.Okagbue had again taken over the digging from Okonkwo."Has Nweke married a wife?" asked Okonkwo." said Okonkwo.As night fell. each carrying a pot of wine. But for a young man whose father had no yams. The pots of wine stood in their midst. It was the dead man's sixteen-year-old son. An oil lamp was lit and Okonkwo tasted from each bowl.""That is so.

what did the mother of this duckling say when you swooped and carried its child away?' 'It said nothing. Evil Forest represented the village of Umueru. She had not as much as looked at Okonkwo and Ekwefi or shown any surprise at finding them at the mouth of the cave. which was passed under his right arm-pit and tied above his left shoulder. and Okonkwo filled his horn again. and also a drinking gourd. One morning three of them came to my house. fresh yams and not the shriveled and fibrous crop of the previous year. At the most one could say that his chi or personal god was good. and piling up his debts. all alone in that fearful place.He was by nature a very lively boy and he gradually became popular in Okonkwo's household."Come along. She could not see beyond her nose. They sang the latest song in the village:" If I hold her handShe says. and all were happy. And immediately Okonkwo's eyes were opened and he saw the whole matter clearly.The night was very quiet."Is this yours?" he asked Ezinma. walked in their midst. looking up from the yams she was peeling. Some years the harmattan was very severe and a dense haze hung on the atmosphere. they take new names for the occasion. It was not done earlier because the rains were too heavy and would have washed away the heap of trodden earth.

So when the daughter of Umuofia was killed in Mbaino. The rainy season was approaching when they would go away until the dry season returned. Okonkwo brought out l??s big horn from the goatskin bag.Many others spoke. thought that it was possible that they would also be received." Okonkwo thought within himself." said Obierika. "He hardly ever walks. Because of her size she made her way through trees and creepers more quickly than her followers. "Are you mad?"Okonkwo did not answer. and the polite name for leprosy was "the white skin."That was all he had said."Agbala do-o-o-o! Umuachi! Agbala ekene unuo-o-ol" It was just as Ekwefi had thought. lest he strike you in his anger. beginning with the eldest man. Even the smell of gunpowder was swallowed in the sickly smell that now filled the air. Then the group drank. among these people a man was judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his father. who was the oldest man in the village. When they had eaten they talked about many things: about the heavy rains which were drowning the yams. and she was notorious for her late cooking. But it is not so."Oye. At the end.

But he always found fault with their effort. People made way for him on all sides and the noise subsided."He will do great things. and even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was agbala. The Lord shall have them in derision. and then passed two shares to Nwoye and Ikemefuna. At his age I was already fending for myself. and he saw himself taking the highest title in the land. She would want to hear everything that had happened to him in all these years. when Mr. So he waited impatiently for the dry season to come. who will hold his head up among my people. The clan was worried.""I can tell you. and there was too much saltpeter in it. At the end of it Okonkwo was fully convinced that the man was mad. He broke the nut saying: We shall all live. Surely the earth goddess would not visit the sins of the missionaries on the innocent villagers?But on one occasion the missionaries had tried to over step the bounds. Nwoye's mother was very kind to him and treated him as one of her own children. love returned once more to her mother."UGG Handbags he said and cleared his throat. Even the greatest medicine men took shelter when he was near.""How did they get hold of Ancto to hang him?" asked Okonkwo. The other wives drank in the same way.

On the last night before the festival.""Oho.- and in this way the cover was strengthened on the wall. People called on their neighbors and drank palm-wine. Okonkwo looked up from his work and wondered if it was going to rain at such an unlikely time of the year. She determined to nurse her child to health. Okonkwo!" she warned." said Okonkwo. They only saw the red earth he threw up mounting higher and higher. Machi. His enemies said his good fortune had gone to his head. That also is true. Maduka. and the solid mass was now broken by tiny eyes of light like shining star dust." she said. Most of the men and women of Abame had gone to their farms. children sought for shelter."We have now built a church. When he had swallowed them. He could hear in his mind's ear the blood-stirring and intricate rhythms of the ekwe and the udu and the ogene. he won his first three converts. He calls you his father."And why did you not say so."It was only this morning.

" said Obierika's eldest brother. She broke them into little pieces across the sole of her foot and began to build a fire. He watched the sky all day for signs of rain clouds and lay awake all night. one of the people of the sky came forward and tasted a little from each pot."Ekwefi." He turned to Uzowulu's group and allowed a short pause. New yams could not be eaten until some had first been offered to these powers. almost overnight. The chalk women also returned to tell a similar story. fresh yams and not the shriveled and fibrous crop of the previous year.The sun rose slowly to the center of the sky." he asked. "Let us not presume to do so now. It was clear from his twinkling eyes that he had important news. He therefore treated Ikemefuna as he treated everybody else - with a heavy hand. He knew the names of all the birds and could set clever traps for the little bush rodents. The relationship between them was not only that of mother and child." said Evil Forest. who must taste his wine before anyone else. Ikeocha. Nwoye. That was the way people answered calls from outside." said Obierika." He waved his arm where most of the young men sat.

He could hardly imagine that Okonkwo was not his real father. calling on her mother. He fell and fell and fell until he began to fear that he would never stop falling. turning to Obierika. But you will never hear.Okonkwo's family was astir like any other family in the neighborhood. nearly all the osu in Mbanta followed their example. The wailing of the women would not be heard beyond the village. Brown. She felt cold. You yourselves took her. Ezinma? You are older than Obiageli but she has more sense.He brought with him two young men. waving their palm fronds. neither getting too near nor keeping too far back. He was a leper. Marriage should be a play and not a fight so we are falling down again. in silence. Abame??I know them all. which was part of the night." he always said. broken now and again by singing.Ekwefi was tired and sleepy from the exhausting experiences of the previous night." he said.

" At the same time the priestess also said. At first they were afraid they might die. It ate rats in the house and sometimes swallowed hens' eggs. and she agreed also. "But you can explain to her. At first they were afraid they might die."Uzowulu's body."She is ill in bed."One of them passes here frequently. They just pulled the stump. Why should I? But the Oracle did not ask me to carry out its decision. of all people.She walked up to her husband and accepted the horn from him. 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. "How dare you. like leprosy and smallpox." said Okonkwo.The young church in Mbanta had a few crises early in its life.It was clear from the way the crowd stood or sat that the ceremony was for men.""That is why the drum has not been beaten to tell Umuofla.It seemed to Ekwefi that the night had become a little lighter. to her right and to her left. At the end they decided. She put back the empty pot on the circular pad in the corner.

Okonkwo called his three wives and told them to get things together for a great feast. The young ailing girl who had caused her mother so much heartache had been transformed. which the first wife alone could wear. about the next ancestral feast and about the impending war with the village of Mbaino. he had stalked his victim." Ezinma said.The Oracle was called Agbala. who had joined in plucking the feathers. Their leader was called Evil Forest.The royal python was the most revered animal in Mbanta and all the surrounding clans. She was alive and well.' Maduka has been watching your mouth. from where he had espied a fire. All cooking pots. If you had been a coward. Kiaga. in their proper order. thought that it was possible that they would also be received. He had cracked them himself.When the mat was at last removed she was drenched in perspiration. turning to Obierika. There were huge bowls of foo-foo and steaming pots of soup. Ekwefi tried to pull out the horny beak but it was too hard. But there is just one question I would like to ask him.

You buried it in the ground somewhere so that you can die and return again to torment your mother. As the rain began to fall more soberly and in smaller liquid drops. Nwoye went to his mother's hut and told her that Ikemefuna was going home. "As our people say. "the goddess of the earth." he began.But before this quiet and final rite. thirty-five. An evil forest was. and we would be like Abame. He was determined that his return should be marked by his people.The elders. He was the oldest man in Ire. It was instinctive. Each of them carried a long cane basket. Again and again Iguedo was called and men waited breathlessly in all the nine villages. He held a short staff in his hand which he brought down on the floor to emphasize his points.But stories were already gaining ground that the white man had not only brought a religion but also a government. almost overnight. Guns fired the last salute and the cannon rent the sky."I beg you to accept this little kola. "Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?""Where they bury children." said Ekwefi."Once upon a time.

folded her arms in front of her and began to sway her waist like a grown-up young lady." Ezinma began. People called on their neighbors and drank palm-wine. At such times. At such times. Most of them were sons of our land whose mothers had been buried with us. "We should do something. He was like the man in the song who had ten and one wives and not enough soup for his foo-foo. A man's place was not always there.The nine villages of Umuofia had grown out of the nine sons of the first father of the clan. Now and again an ancestral spirit or egwugwu appeared from the underworld."What did he say?" the white man asked his interpreter.Okonkwo did as the priest said. and they ran for their lives."The two outcasts shaved off their hair.In this way Akuke's bride-price was finally settled at twenty bags of cowries. Njide. The crowd burst into a thunderous roar. and I am still alive."That wine is the work of a good tapper. A snake was never called by its name at night. from a few cowries to quite substantial amounts. but they are too young to leave their mother. He had had the same kind of feeling not long ago.

They said that some young men had chased them away from the stream with whips.- you stay at home and offer sacrifices to a reluctant soil. Obierika presented kola nuts to his in-laws. and he had moments of sadness and depression But he and Nwoye had become so deeply attached to each other that such moments became less frequent and less poignant.Okonkwo planted what was left of his seed-yams when the rains finally returned. In Umunso they do not bargain at all. and so were his cousins and their wives when he sent for them and told them who his guest was. silencing him. and as it dwelt on it. his back shining with perspiration. as a sullen husband refuses his wife's food when they have quarrelled. The first rains were late. Do you hear that. That is why Tortoise's shell is not smooth."And why did you not say so. neither getting too near nor keeping too far back.It was a long and weary journey and Ekwefi felt like a sleepwalker most of the way. broke into life and activity. That was in fact the reason why he had come to see Unoka. It was sudden and tremendous. But let us ostracize these men. my daughter. The other people were released. But Ezinma had seen clearly all the thought and hidden meaning behind the few words.

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."No. They had built a court where the District Commissioner judged cases in ignorance. The heathen speak nothing but falsehood. the god who cut a man down when his life was sweetest to him. "I marvel at what the Lord hath wrought. or rather held out her hand to be shaken. Every nerve and every muscle stood out on their arms. His name was Uchendu."Agbala do-o-o-o! Agbala ekeneo-o-o-o! Chi negbu madu ubosi ndu ya nato ya uto daluo-o-o! ??"Ekwefi could already see the hills looming in the moonlight. and brought back a duckling. On great occasions such as the funeral of a village celebrity he drank his palm-wine from his first human head. He was light in complexion and his eyes were red and fiery. Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down.Nwoye's younger brothers were about to tell their mother the true story of the accident when Ikemefuna looked at them sternly and they held their peace. broke into life and activity." The boy smiled."It was Wednesday in Holy Week and Mr.In spite of this incident the New Yam Festival was celebrated with great joy in Okonkwo's household. when his father walked in that night after killing Ikemefuna.""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."Umuofia kwenu!" he roared. watching.""Very true.

was quite harmless. They were grieved by the indignity and mourned for their neglected farms."Everybody thanked Okonkwo and the neighbors brought out their drinking horns from the goatskin bags they carried. yet young people ran about happily picking up the cold nuts and throwing them into their mouths to melt." said Okonkwo as he rose to go. bringing the third dish. that I am not afraid of blood and if anyone tells you that I am. She turned round sharply and walked through Okonkwo's hut.At last they took a turning and began to head for the caves. If such a thing were ever to happen.When they had harvested a sizable heap they carried it down in two trips to the stream.' said Mother Kite to her daughter. But no one thought It would be as long as three years. Okonkwo ground his teeth in disgust. and something seemed to give way inside him. It contained other things apart from his snuff-bottle. the feasting and fellowship of the first day or the wrestling Contest of the second. My in-law. pushing the air with his raffia arms. and soon returned with a bowl of cool water from the earthen pot in her mother's hut. He could not understand what was happening to him or what he had done."Having spoken plainly so far. He grew rapidly like a yam tendril in the rainy season. or osu.