was a little village called Mbanta.There were no stars in the sky because there was a rain-cloud. Okonkwo remembered his own father.

"He was not an albino
"He was not an albino. waiting for the women to finish their cooking."Bring me a low stool for Ezinma. A new cover of thick palm branches and palm leaves was set on the walls to protect them from the next rainy season. Then from the distance came the faint beating of the ekwe. Do not bear a hand in his death. whose feeling of importance was manifest in her sprightly walk. Amalinze was a wily craftsman. His own hut."They do not understand. The first day passed and the second and third and fourth. had gone to consult the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves to find out why he always had a miserable harvest. Now and then a cold shiver descended on his head and spread down his body. 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 nine egwugwu then went away to consult together in their house.

"Take away your kola nut. the farthest village in the clan. Igwelo had a job in hand because he had married his first wife a month or two before. "one would think he never sucked at his mother's breast.As the palm-wine was drunk one of the oldest members of the umunna rose to thank Okonkwo:"If I say that we did not expect such a big feast I will be suggesting that we did not know how openhanded our son. So Nwoye and Ikemefuna would listen to Okonkwo's stories about tribal wars. like leprosy and smallpox. Are you deaf?" Okonkwo roared at her. when he had worked on one side of the wall and Ikemefuna and Nwoye on the other. If any money came his way. It began by naming the clan: Umuofia obodo dike! "the land of the brave.""They were fools. She had about three teeth and was always smoking her pipe. She was full of the power of her god." said the joker.

Without it. the twins still remained where they had been thrown away. He was imprisoned with all the leaders of his family. about their women. She hit her left foot against an outcropped root. he is not too young. And so Nwoye was developing into a sad-faced youth. Okonkwo." He waved at his sons and daughters. and so all the clan was at his funeral. waiting for the women to finish their cooking. "Okoli told me himself that it was false. Of all his children she alone understood his every mood." answered his first wife. he burst out laughing.

I shall pay my big debts first." said Okonkwo. Okagbue's voice was unchanged. 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 refused to join in the meal. And perhaps those not so young would be playing in pairs in less open places. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic. "Life to all of us. The inhabitants of Mbanta expected them all to be dead within four days." He prayed especially for Okonkwo and his family. sat on the floor waiting for him to finish. so that even when it was said that a ceremony would begin "after the midday meal" everyone understood that it would begin a long time later. it was in large. he burst out laughing. the in-laws began to arrive.

because it judged a man by the work or his hands. I am Fire-that-burns-without-faggots." said Uchendu." Ezinma said." he asked. but she was held down. It was the fear of himself. not only in his motherland but also in Umuofia. It was even said that they had hanged one man who killed a missionary. that they have strayed from their way to a land where everybody is like them?"Okonkwo's first wife soon finished her cooking and set before their guests a big meal of pounded yams and bitter-leaf soup. My case is finished. the king of crops. where they were guarded by a race of stunted men. Okafo was swept off his feet by his supporters and carried home shoulder high."Has Nweke married a wife?" asked Okonkwo.

should bring to your mother a heavy face and refuse to be comforted? Be careful or you may displease the dead. who saw only its back with the many-colored patterns and drawings done by specially chosen women at regular intervals. and each wife built a small attachment to her hut for the hens."Ekwefi came out from her hut carrying her oil lamp in her left hand. She just jogged along in a half-sleep. Now he has won our brothers. spears. she did not hear them."Agbala do-o-o-o!?? Agbala ekeneo-o-o-o! ??" Ekwefi trudged behind. But they were very rare and short-lived. His wives and children were very happy too. They came when misfortune dogged their steps or when they had a dispute with their neighbors. his wives and children in their houses could hear him breathe. Earth's emissary. The three white men and a very large number of other men surrounded the market.

"1 don't know.He was a person dedicated to a god. Ekwefi picked her way carefully and quietly. Some said Ezimili. He brought another seven baskets and cooked them himself.Anasi was a middle-aged woman. He looked it over and said it was done.It was late afternoon before Nwoye returned.She did not know how long she waited."Unoka was an ill-fated man. "and leave the child alone. It was as if water had been poured on the tightened skin of a drum. and you can teach us the things of the new faith. Stories about these strange men had grown sim one of them had been killed in Abame and his iron horse tied to the sacred silk-cotton tree. He was a great man.

silence returned to the world. and was not given the first or the second burial.He is fit to be a slave. The woman was Mgbafo and the three men with her were her brothers. He tried in vain to force the thought out of his mind. beans and cassava."Don't you see the pot is full of yams?" Ekwefi asked."That wine is the work of a good tapper. and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad."Okonkwo thanked him again and again and went home feeling happy. Now Ekwefi was a woman of forty-five who had suffered a great deal in her time."Outside the obi Okagbue and Okonkwo were digging the pit to find where Ezinma had buried her iyi-uwa. calling on her mother. "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. to her right and to her left.

too old to attend Ndulue during his illness. all strong and healthy. "that I shall bring many iron horses when we have settled down among them. The moon had been rising later and later every night until now it was seen only at dawn."It will not be very long now before my in-laws come.He is fit to be a slave." replied her mother." said Uchendu"I swear. for his father's relatives to see.A hush fell on the compound immediately. "I warned Nwankwo to keep a sharp eye and a sharp ear. and what is good among one people is an abomination with others. And when he got there he found it was a man making a sacrifice. He had called the first child born to him in exile Nneka??"Mother is Supreme"??out of politeness to his mother's kinsmen. I have waited in vain for my wife to return.

Nwoye's mother. or obi. but she must wait for Ezinma to wake. He called his son.""He tapped three of my best palm trees to death. but even if you came into your obi and found her lover on top of her. and only then realized for the first time that the child had died on the same market-day as it had been born. He also took with him a pot of palm-wine. "I have even heard that in some tribes a man's children belong to his wife and her family. If your in-law brings wine to you. he had stalked his victim. Evil Forest then stood up. The imagery of an efulefu in the language of the clan was a man who sold his machete and wore the sheath to battle. Nwoye knew that Ikemefuna had been killed. And then suddenly like one possessed he shot out his left hand and pointed in the direction of Mbaino.

But it was as silly as all women's stories. he thought." said Uchendu. If we allow you to come with us you will soon begin your mischief. The bush was alive with the tread of feet on dry leaves and sticks and the moving aside of tree branches."I will come with you. Even Mgbafo took to her heels and had to be restrained by her brothers. who was laid on a mat. They had built their church there. Okonkwo.The wrestlers were now almost still in each other's grip. Okonkwo had called in another medicine man who was famous in the clan for his great knowledge about ogbanje children.""But someone had to do it. 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. Ezinma.

As soon as the day broke. who had been walking about aimlessly in his compound in suppressed anger." said another woman. The young men who kept order flew around.But Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through." They laughed and agreed. his son's crime stood out in its stark enormity." said Ezinma."Umuofia kwenu!" roared Evil Forest. which was passed under his right arm-pit and tied above his left shoulder." He turned to Uzowulu's group and allowed a short pause. There was nobody in the hut and the fireplace was cold. His wife had played him false.One day a neighbor called Okoye came in to see him. quietly and deliberately.

If a man kills the sacred python in the secrecy of his hut. His priestess stood by the sacred fire which she built in the heart of the cave and proclaimed the will of the god. I did not hang myself. but the fattest of all was tethered to a peg near the wall of the compound and was as big as a small cow. Although they come from a village that is known for being closefisted. It looked like whispering. the feasting and fellowship of the first day or the wrestling Contest of the second. "In Abame and Aninta the title is worth less than two cowries. shook hands with Okonkwo and went into the compound."I will come with you." He turned again to Okonkwo and said. he immediately bought gourds of palm-wine. Somebody was dead. A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet. Some of them did become tired of their evil rounds of birth and death.

The meat was then shared so that every member of the umunna had a portion.The priestess had now reached Okonkwo's compound and was talking with him outside his hut.As the men drank. A man could not rise beyond the destiny of his chi. that they have strayed from their way to a land where everybody is like them?"Okonkwo's first wife soon finished her cooking and set before their guests a big meal of pounded yams and bitter-leaf soup. In the center of the crowd a boy lay in a pool of blood. These sudden bouts of sickness and health were typical of her kind."Yes. They must have used a powerful medicine to make themselves invisible until the market was full.Ogbuefi Ezeudu. Wherever he went he carried with him the mark of his forbidden caste??long. her left palm closed on her fish and her eyes gleaming with tears. Okonkwo's fear was greater than these."One of them passes here frequently. After all the toil one only got a third of the harvest.

He searched in it for his snuff-bottle. "before 1 put any crop in the earth. It was a full gathering of umuada. Only then did she realize.""Ee-e-e!""And this will not be the last. Some of them came over to see for themselves.As the man who had cleared his throat drew up and raised his machete. As they emerged into the open village from the narrow forest track the darkness was softened and it became possible to see the vague shape of trees. The younger of his sons. How could he have begotten a woman for a son? At Nwoye's age Okonkwo had already become famous throughout Umuofia for his wrestling and his fearlessness. and thank Okonkwo for having looked after him so well and for bringing him back. And for many days this rare food was eaten with solid palm-oil. It was a little village called Mbanta.There were no stars in the sky because there was a rain-cloud. Okonkwo remembered his own father.