surrounding towns and villages. slit its throat with a sharp knife and allowed some of the blood to fall on the ancestral staff. full of power and beauty.

Do you hear that
Do you hear that. but Okonkwo sat unmoved. he is telling a lie. All cooking pots. He rounded off his prayer and went to see what it was all about. Ekwefi mopped her with a piece of cloth and she lay down on a dry mat and was soon asleep. They were very happy and began to prepare themselves for the great day. But she had grown so bitter about her own chi that she could not rejoice with others over their good fortune. forty-five."Have you slept enough?" asked her mother."That wine is the work of a good tapper." Okonkwo made a sound full of disgust. Why should I? But the Oracle did not ask me to carry out its decision. there was no other way. making music and feasting. "people should not talk when they are eating or pepper may go down the wrong way. He heaved a heavy sigh and went away with the gun. As for Ikemefuna." replied Okonkwo. Ezinma took it to him in his obi.

Unoka. Gome. After that nothing happened for a long time between the church and the clan. And that was how he came to look after the doomed lad who was sacrificed to the village of Umuofia by their neighbors to avoid war and bloodshed. and was punished.Ikemefuna heard a whisper close behind him and turned round sharply. Somewhere a man was taking one of the titles of his clan. Ezinma. The harvest was over. In ordinary life Chielo was a widow with two children. He just hung limp. On her arms were red and yellow bangles. She gave the dish to her father's eldest brother and then shook hands. In Umunso they do not bargain at all. He had court messengers who brought men to him for trial.""But someone had to do it. only waking to full life when Chielo sang. Uchendu. Most of them were sons of our land whose mothers had been buried with us.""Ee-e-e!""Prosperous men and great warriors.

and because of their ash-colored shorts they earned the additional name of Ashy Buttocks. And if they could not help in digging up the yams. There was so much food and drink that many kinsmen whistled in surprise. There are only two of them.Unoka."Okonkwo never did things by halves. setting up a wave of expectation in the crowd. He did not inherit a barn from his father. The oldest man present said sternly that those whose palm-kernels were cracked for them by a benevolent spirit should not forget to be humble. His wives and children were very happy too. became quite inseparable from him because he seemed to know everything. And he found that Okonkwo did not wish to speak about Nwoye.It was a great funeral. turning to Obierika. beginning with the eldest man. The titled men and elders sat on their stools waiting for the trials to begin. Ezinma was crying loudly now. The sun breaking through their leaves and branches threw a pattern of light and shade on the sandy footway. There were little holes from one side to the other in the upper levels of the wall. and brought back a duckling.

And whenever the moon forsook evening and rose at cock-crow the nights were as black as charcoal. the interpreter. so she cupped her right hand to shelter the flame. and Obiageli told her mournful story. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace. His words may also be good. like a hunter's dog that suddenly goes mad and turns on his master. The Oracle said to him. He ran a few steps in the direction of the women.Many others spoke. He told you that he came to take back her bride-price and we refused to give it him. At last I went to my in-laws and said to them."As he was speaking the boy returned. They argued for a short while and fell into silence again. The egwugwu house into which they emerged faced the forest. where they were guarded by a race of stunted men. The fact was that Obiageli had been making inyanga with her pot. A child belongs to its father and his family and not to its mother and her family. I greet you. They all wore smoked raffia skirts and their bodies were painted with chalk and charcoal.

Ezinma did not call her mother Nne like all children. A few moments later he went behind the hut and began to vomit painfully. be cursed with such a son? He saw clearly in it the finger of his personal god or chi. roots and barks of medicinal trees and shrubs. At first Ekwefi accepted her."Ezinma ran in the direction of the barn and brought back two yams from the dwarf wall. He would stamp out the disquieting signs of laziness which he thought he already saw in him. But they always returned to the long rope he trailed behind. He asked Okagbue to come up and rest while he took a hand. Our elders say that the sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on those who kneel under them. All the neighbors and relations who had come to mourn gathered round them. Let the kite perch and let the eagle perch too. which was fastened to the rafters. lest he should be found to resemble his father."He sprang to his feet. had gained ground. "who will protect us from the anger of our neglected gods and ancestors?""Your gods are not alive and cannot do you any harm. rubbing her eyes and stretching her spare frame. though his dialect was different and harsh to the enrs of Mbanta. as her father and other grownup people did.

meanwhile. They were called kotma. and in a basket beside her were green vegetables and beans. the god of the sky. and they closed in. Okagbue was a very striking figure. Ekwefi quickly moved away from her line of retreat. They were the lazy easy-going ones who always put off clearing their farms as long as they could. Old men and children would then sit round log fires. Is it true that Okonkwo nearly killed you with his gun?""It is true indeed. the grown-up. And so he feigned that he no longer cared for women's stories. old way. I have only called you together because it is good for kinsmen to meet.""If we leave our gods and follow your god.""Once upon a time.""And so everybody comes. There was pounded yam and also yam pottage cooked with palm-oil and fresh fish. But when he reached Tortoise's house he told his wife to bring out all the hard things in the house.Ezinma and her mother sat on a mat on the floor after their supper of yam foo-foo and bitter-leaf soup.

they could see from his color and his language. who with his brothers and half-brothers had been dancing the traditional farewell to their father. And that could not be. hung above the fireplace. 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." As he looked into the log fire he recalled the name. by Ezeani. prophesying. and she said so. that is a boy's job." Ekwefi said firmly." Okonkwo was surprised. They were talking excitedly among themselves because the white man had said he was going to live among them."I am Evil Forest. The rain fell in thin." she called.Okonkwo's wives.Umuofia had indeed changed during the seven years Okonkwo had been in exile. watching. worthless.

It is against the will of God. and Ekwefi asked Nwoye's mother and Ojiugo uggs for saleto explain to Obierika's wife that she would be late. father? You are beyond our knowledge. "I dislike cold water dropping on my back.The priestess' voice came at longer intervals now. a machete for cutting down the soft cassava stem. Nwoye returned home. They were merely cleansing the land which Okonkwo had polluted with the blood of a clansman. "Let us give them a portion of the Evil Forest. Okoye rolled his goatskin and departed. And you. He was always alone and was shaped like a coffin. had died ten years ago. After such treatment it would think twice before coming again." said his father. He was called the Cat because his back would never touch the earth.As they spoke two other groups of people had replaced the first before the egwugwu. There was a light wind blowing. and four or five others in his own age group. The same thought also came to Okonkwo's mind.

Alone Nnadi is cooking and eating. Anasi was the first wife and the others could not drink before her. "As for me. which was rubbed with red earth so that it shone. He looked it over and said it was done. butwhenever she thought she saw their shape it immediately dissolved like a melting lump of darkness. Abame??I know them all. But good men who worshipped the true God lived forever in His happy kingdom." shouted Chielo. like a hunter's dog that suddenly goes mad and turns on his master."He said nothing." said Uchendu after a long silence."As they spoke Ezinma emerged from the hut. but he went to the birds and asked to be allowed to go with them. Iweka. urging the others to hurry up. and very strong. His mother's kinsmen had been very kind to him. This roasted yam soaked in red palm-oil and eaten in the open farm was sweeter than any meal at home. something felt in the marrow.

But all he said was: "When shall I go home?" When Okonkwo heard that he would not eat any food he came into the hut with a big stick in his hand and stood over him while he swallowed his yams. the fear of the forest. I salute you. deeply. when he had worked on one side of the wall and Ikemefuna and Nwoye on the other.As the men drank. Okonkwo!" she warned. to help them in their cooking. and when they had seen it and thanked him. Onwumbiko??"Death. He had felt very anxious but did not show it. What you have done will not please the Earth.By the time Onwumbiko died Ekwefi had become a very bitter woman. Ekwefi and her daughter.Obierika then presented to him a small bundle of short broomsticks. I shall give you some fish to eat. why it is that one of the commonest names we give our children is Nneka. without serious danger to his own health. Anyone who knew his grim struggle against poverty and misfortune could not say he had been lucky. came into the obi from outside.

the "medicine house" or shrine where Okonkwo kept the wooden symbols of his personal god and of his ancestral spirits. and saw those who stood or sat next to them. "and leave the child alone.""One of the men told me. twenty years or more. which."One of them passes here frequently. They have a big market in Abame on every other Afo day and. from where he had espied a fire. But for a young man whose father had no yams." the convert maintained. Of all his children she alone understood his every mood. A young man from one team danced across the center to the other side and pointed at whomever he wanted to fight."Nwoye always wondered who Nnadi was and why he should live all by himself. and only the old people had seen them before. whose eyes. He lelt a relief within as the hymn poured into his parched soul. Ofoedu ate slowly and talked about the locusts. especially the youngest. Guns fired the last salute and the cannon rent the sky.

" he asked. A chick that will grow into a cock can be spotted the very day it hatches." And he told him what an osu was. Beyond that limit no man was suffered to go. Ekwefi. Unoka. It is the kind of action for which the goddess wipes out whole families.She had prayed for the moon to rise. She understood things so perfectly."Ekwefi!" a voice called from one of the other huts." And after a pause she said: "Can I bring your chair for you?""No." he said to Okonkwo. and the polite name for leprosy was "the white skin." said Mgbogo's next-door neighbor. Why is that? Your mother was brought home to me and buried with my people."Every year. calabashes and wooden bowls were thoroughly washed.Okonkwo's prosperity was visible in his household. When Okonkwo brought him home that day he called his most senior wife and handed him over to her. and stammered.

Why is that? Your mother was brought home to me and buried with my people.As for the boy himself. He was merely led into greater complexities. Even as a little boy he had resented his father's failure and weakness. and his happiest moments were the two or three moons after the harvest when the village musicians brought down their instruments. He was a good eater and he could drink one or two fairly big gourds of palm-wine. and the others to the chalk quarry. and was not given the first or the second burial. and there was no hurry to decide his fate. We do not dispute it. She presented the cock to the musicians and began to dance. There must have been about ten thousand men there. except his priestess. The clan was worried. They had something to say for every man.He did not sleep at night. "And he was riding an iron horse. when she had seen Ogbu-agali-odu."Come and shake hands with me. which.

But his wives and young children were not as strong.Everyone was now about.He was tall but very thin and had a slight stoop. But tonight she was addressing her prophecy and greetings to Okonkwo."Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?" Okagbue had asked Ezinma.' said the young kite. A man can now leave his father and his brothers. She had balanced it on her head. who was fat and whose body shone as if oil was rubbed on it??"She broke off because at that very moment a loud and high-pitched voice broke the outer silence of the night." Okonkwo replied. The medicine man ignored him. He was ill for three market weeks. gods of wood and stone. and the little children to visit their playmates in the neighboring compounds. Why did they not fight back? Had they no guns and machetes? We would be cowards lo compare ourselves with the men of Abame. Mgbafo and her brothers were as still as statues into whose faces the artist has molded defiance. making music and feasting. Every man wears the thread of title on his ankle. He changed them every day."Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?" asked Okagbue when Ezinma finally stopped outside her father's obi.

looking at the position of the sun. and Umuofia. Old men nodded to the beat of the drums and remembered the days when they wrestled to its intoxicating rhythm." said some of the elders.The missionaries spent their first four or five nights in the marketplace. especially as he looked somewhat different from the others. Ikemefuna came into Okonkwo's household. silencing him. A snake was never called by its name at night. she was in close communion with the departed fathers of the clan whose bodies had been committed to earth." said Okagbue. Okafo raised his right leg and swung it over his rival's head."I cannot understand why you refused to come with us to kill that boy."When he killed Oduche in the fight over the land." said the priestess. and stammered. some of whom now stood enthralled. Nwoye's mother and Ojiugo would provide the other things like smoked fish. They were already far enough where they stood and there was room for running away if any of them should go towards them. and two or three pieces of land on which tofarm during the coming planting season.

A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet." said Okonkwo. The hearing then began." said Okonkwo after a pause.'"Tortoise had a sweet tongue. "is it true that when people are grown up. only waking to full life when Chielo sang."When they had cut the goats' throats and collected the blood in a bowl. "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. and they each gave him a feather. Was it waiting to snap its teeth together? After passing and re-passing by the church.Yam. Evil Forest rose to his feet and order was immediately restored. The man who had whispered now called out aloud."Who killed this banana tree?" he asked. The daughters of the clan did not return to their homes immediately but spent two more days with their kinsmen. He wore a haggard and mournful look except when he was drinking or playing on his flute. She was the ultimate judge of morality and conduct. The women weeded the farm three times at definite periods in the life of the yams." the medicine man told Okonkwo in a cool.

"Tufia-al" the priestess cursed."Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?" asked Okagbue when Ezinma finally stopped outside her father's obi. who must taste his wine before anyone else. the farthest village in the clan. Each of Uchendu's five sons contributed three hundred seed-yams to enable their cousin to plant a farm. as usual."That wine is the work of a good tapper."Ask Akueke's mother to send us some kola nuts. "I had something better to do. The Ibo evangelists consulted among themselves and decided that the man probably meant bicycle. "They are young tubers.""Somebody told me yesterday. The child was called Onwumbiko. They were merely cleansing the land which Okonkwo had polluted with the blood of a clansman. Even the enemy clan knew that. he had allowed what he regarded as a reasonable and manly interval to pass and then gone with his machete to the shrine. especially with the children. A bond of sympathy had grown between them as the years had passed.Nneka had had four previous pregnancies and child-births. broke into life and activity.

Okonkwo was clearly cut out for great things. He did not cry. How a woman could carry a child of that size so easily and for so long was a miracle. She was the priestess of Agbala. gome went the gong. but they grew women's crops. He had discerned a clear overtone of tragedy in the crier's voice. but she went to Okonkwo's compound. Ikemefuna came first with the biggest pot. drank a little and handed back the horn.He is fit to be a slave. The story was always told of a wealthy man who set before his guests a mound of foo-foo so high that those who sat on one side could not see what was happening on the other. and the smallest group had ten lines. At last Sky was moved to pity. in the land of his fathers where men were bold and warlike. She rubbed each string downwards with her palms until it passed the buttocks and slipped down to the floor around her feet. but they grew women's crops. It was there that her third child was born and circumcised on the eighth day. Okonkwo. They were returning home with baskets of yams from a distant farm across the stream when they heard the voice of an infant crying in the thick forest.

as on that day. 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." said Obiageli. Nwoye's sister. That was a source of great sorrow to the leaders of the clan.""Nwoye is old enough to impregnate a woman. Kiaga. and he pointed to a man who sat near him with a bowed head. Three young men from the victorious boy's team ran forward. It was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansman. "who will protect us from the anger of our neglected gods and ancestors?""Your gods are not alive and cannot do you any harm. do not allow him a moment's rest." said the priestess. "You are already a skeleton. pointing at the far wall of his hut. as a sullen husband refuses his wife's food when they have quarrelled." said Ekwefi. The moon was shining. Even in those days he was not a man of many words. whereupon Ear fell on the floor in uncontrollable laughter.

a large crowd of men from Ezeudu's quarter stormed Okonkwo's compound. If there is any one among you who thinks he knows more let him speak up."That was many years ago. When he began again. It was there that her third child was born and circumcised on the eighth day. also had a basket of plantains and coco-yams and a small pot of palm-oil. There were five groups. Ezeudu is dead. It was Nwoye's mother. and the elders of his family.- the only thing worth demonstrating was strength. They had built a court where the District Commissioner judged cases in ignorance. living in a special area of the village. like a solitary walker at night who passes an evil spirit an the way."That is not strange."They say that Okoli killed the sacred python. and everyone filled his bags and pots with locusts. won a handful of converts and were already sending evangelists to the surrounding towns and villages. slit its throat with a sharp knife and allowed some of the blood to fall on the ancestral staff. full of power and beauty.