And he went." And they dispersed. His own hut. A man can now leave his father and his brothers.

and the hosts looked at each other as if to say
and the hosts looked at each other as if to say. he had not slept at all last night. Ekwefi was the only person in the happy company who went about with a cloud on her brow. pointing at the far wall of his hut." 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. Mgbafo and her brothers were as still as statues into whose faces the artist has molded defiance. "It's true that a child belongs to its father. They saluted one another and then reappeared on the ilo. Nwoye's mother.Onwumbiko was not given proper burial when he died. and on her waist four or five rows of jigida." replied Ekwefi. It ended on the right. It is a bad custom because it always leads to a quarrel. and was punished.

Ogbuefi Ezeudu. And she realized too with something like a jerk that Chielo was no longer moving forward. And he was afraid to look back. nor the walls of his compound.When she had shaken hands. and most of them never did because they died too young - before they could be asked questions. After the pot-bearers came Ibe. The crowd then shouted with ainger and thirst for blood.So Okonkwo encouraged the boys to sit with him in his obi."They are here. They called him the little bird nza who so far forgot himself after a heavy meal that he challenged his chi. he thought over the matter. She was saying again and again that Agbala wanted to see his daughter. with sticks. "They have that custom in Obodoani.

If the clan had disobeyed the Oracle they would surely have been beaten. The cloud had lifted and a few stars were out.On the third day he asked his second wife."You are right. She was the ultimate judge of morality and conduct. The man who had whispered now called out aloud. He counted them. Worshippers and those who came to seek knowledge from the god crawled on their belly through the hole and found themselves in a dark. anxiety mounted in every heart that heaved on a bamboo bed that night. Even those which Nwoye knew already were told with a new freshness and the local flavor of a different clan. They seemed to forget all about him as soon as they had taken the decision." he had said. "It is not to pay you back for all you did for me in these seven years." he said. "Where are you going?" he asked.

" the men said among themselves. And so they fled into Umuofia with a woeful story." they said. No ogbanje would yield her secrets easily." He waved at his sons and daughters. I shall not eat in the house of a man who has no respect for our gods and ancestors. Today Okonkwo was not bringing his mother home to be buried with her people. Obierika sent word that the two huts had been built and Okonkwo began to prepare for his return. Dew fell heavily and the air was cold. He accepted the half-full horn from his brother and drank it. clay and metal instruments went from song to song. Okonkwo bent down and looked into her hut. when they came. and so they stood waiting.Ikemefuna had begun to feel like a member of Okonkwo's family.

and each hut seen from the others looked like a soft eye of yellow half-light set in the solid massiveness of night. like splitting wood. 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. They were all fully dressed as if they were going to a big clan meeting or to pay a visit to a neighboring village. And so although Okonkwo was still young." said Ezinma. He walked unsteadily to the place where the corpse was laid. forty."I wish she were a boy. A few moments later he went behind the hut and began to vomit painfully. But he was happy to leave his father. "you. You grew your ears for decoration. She miscarried after she had gone to sleep with her lover."We are all well.

But in absence of work. As for his converts. and the whole country became the brown-earth color of the vast. "In those other clans you speak of. I shall give you some fish to eat. Then he and another man went before Ikemefuna and set a faster pace. It descended on him again. "Are you mad?"Okonkwo did not answer. His first two wives ran out in great alarm pleading with him that it was the sacred week.As he broke the kola. to help them in their cooking. who then unrolled the goatskin which he carried under his arm. Every man and woman came out to see the white man. Within a short time the first two bouts were over. as usual.

they say. for he had no grave. As the rain began to fall more soberly and in smaller liquid drops. "1 want Okonkwo to answer me. He was very good on his flute. As the smoke rose into the sky kites appeared from different directions and hovered over the burning field in silent valediction. Njide. The younger of his sons." said the old man. Some of them did become tired of their evil rounds of birth and death. 'Then we can eat the chick. The next morning they were roasted in clay pots and then spread in the sun until they became dry and brittle. The iron horse was still tied to the sacred silk-cotton tree. Okonkwo's first son. "What will the heathen say of us when they hear that we receive osu into our midst? They will laugh.

On the last night before the festival. and they knocked against each other as he searched.Nwoye struggled to free himself from the choking grip. He put them in the pot and Ekwefi poured in some water. But it would be impolite to rush him. and she put all her being into it. Her name was Nneka." said Ekwefi."The two outcasts shaved off their hair."Unoka was an ill-fated man. And what was more."I will come with you.. A man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does not do so to save them from starving. "I sold the big ones as soon as you left.

walked in their midst.""They dare not bring fewer than thirty pots. when the sun's heat had softened. His sons brought out the pots of palm-wine. to the boys and they passed it round the wooden stays and then back to him. Nwoye's mother. Had she been running too? How could she go so fast with Ezinma on her back? Although the night was cool. and he loved this season of the year. Nwoye." Ekwefi said firmly. Nwoye. indeed."She has gone to plait her hair. She rubbed each string downwards with her palms until it passed the buttocks and slipped down to the floor around her feet. As for Ikemefuna.

" But he was a man of commanding presence and the clansmen listened to him. The hosts nodded in approval and seemed to say. The ill-fated lad was called Ikemefuna. 'When people are invited to a great feast like this. when he was young." And after a pause she said: "Can I bring your chair for you?""No. the "medicine house" or shrine where Okonkwo kept the wooden symbols of his personal god and of his ancestral spirits. The neighbors and relations also saw the coincidence and said among themselves that it was very significant. but she was held down. solid drops of frozen water which the people called "the nuts of the water of heaven. "Let us not presume to do so now.""They were fools. It was unbelievable."Obiako has always been a strange one. long journey.

They also said I would die if I built my church on this ground. and evil fortune followed him to the grave. But I can tell you. dead. They came to discover what the future held for them or to consult the spirits of their departed fathers.""Yes. Never make an early morning appointment with a man who has just married a new wife. All others stood except those who came early enough to secure places on the few stands which had been built by placing smooth logs on forked pillars. There was pounded yam and also yam pottage cooked with palm-oil and fresh fish."Every year. I would not have believed. He still had the eight hundred from Nwakibie and the four hundred from his father's friend.As for the boy himself.Okonkwo was well received by his mother's kinsmen in Mbanta. Mr.

It was a full gathering of umuada. Unoka. 'What did the mother of this chick do?' asked the old kite. It was like the desire for woman. and. and everybody agreed that he was as sharp as a razor.When the mat was at last removed she was drenched in perspiration. deeply. They did not really want them near to the clan. He told them that the true God lived on high and that all men when they died went before Him for judgment. feeling with her palm the wet. He just carried her into his bed and in the darkness began to feel around her waist for the loose end of her cloth. For although locusts had not visited Umuofia for many years. and I am happy you have come to see us. and Ekwefi asked Nwoye's mother and Ojiugo to explain to Obierika's wife that she would be late.

Kiaga. Unoka."No. And then appeared on the horizon a slowly-moving mass like a boundless sheet of black cloud drifting towards Umuofia. It was a little village called Mbanta." But before they went he whispered something to his first wife. eating the peelings. He had felt very anxious but did not show it. Okonkwo said yes very strongly. She was used to Chielo calling her "my daughter. But the Christians had told the white man about the accident. The harvest was over. We do not pray to have more money but to have more kinsmen. "And these white men. She beckons in front of her and behind her.

Her fear had vanished. The musicians with their wood." Quite often she bought beancakes and gave Ekwefi some to take home to Ezinma. They too sat just in front of the huge circle of spectators. But Ezinma had seen clearly all the thought and hidden meaning behind the few words. astride the steaming pot. malevolent. Brown. or pounding food. One of these days your jigida will catch fire on your waist. If it does its power will be gone. After all the toil one only got a third of the harvest." said one of the cousins. 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. He slapped the ear and hoped he had killed it.

" he said. thirty-five. and we would be like Abame. sandy footway began to throw up the heat that lay buried in it. But you were a fearless warrior." he said when Okonkwo had spoken. A razor was taboo to him. It was a day old. It was only then that they exchanged greetings and shook hands over what was left of the food.- instead of thirty there were now only fifteen. as the Ibo people say. And he went." And they dispersed. His own hut. A man can now leave his father and his brothers.