before anyone else. Ikemefuna came first with the biggest pot.""It is like the story of white men who." Obierika said to Nwoye." replied Okonkwo.

" Obierika thought
" Obierika thought." said one of the cousins. Okonkwo ate the food absent-mindedly.She walked up to her husband and accepted the horn from him. "My father told me that he had been told that in the past a man who broke the peace was dragged on the ground through the village until he died. I clear the bush and set fire to it when it is dry. and ate up all the wild grass in the fields. The next child was a girl. but he had been too surprised to weep." resumed Obierika. Unlike his father he could stand the look of blood. and the quiet spectators murmured to themselves. He had tried to protect them from the smoldering earth by making rings of thick sisal leaves around them. Palm trees swayed as the wind combed their leaves into flying crests like strange and fantastic coiffure. The imagery of an efulefu in the language of the clan was a man who sold his machete and wore the sheath to battle. and earth and sky once again became separate. They formed a circular ring with a break at one point through which the foot-track led to the center of the circle.

You think you are still a child. do not allow him a moment's rest. who was laid on a mat. He would stamp out the disquieting signs of laziness which he thought he already saw in him." said the woman. They just pulled the stump. He immediately set to work digging a pit where Ezinma had indicated." Obierika again drank a little of his wine.""They have indeed soiled the name of ozo. Once in a while Chielo was possessed by the spirit of her god and she began to prophesy. anxiety mounted in every heart that heaved on a bamboo bed that night. with love. facing the elders and grandees of the clan. and the others to the chalk quarry.Okonkwo took the bowl from her and gulped the water down. When they were out of earshot."I have come to you for help.

each of them carrying a heavy bag on his head. There was a light wind blowing. Ezinma went with her and helped in preparing the vegetables. almost overnight. in a terrifying voice. At the end of it Okonkwo was fully convinced that the man was mad. The crowd roared and clapped and for a while drowned the frenzied drums. She did not return to Okonkwo's compound until three days before the naming ceremony. too busy to argue. That was the only time Ekwefi ever saw Ogbu-agali-odu." He paused for a long while. Nwoye would feign annoyance and grumble aloud about women and their troubles. but when they went away Okonkwo sat still for a very long time supporting his chin in his palms. He had never been fond of his real father. He ran a few steps in the direction of the women."Thank you. He would speak to him after the isa-ifi ceremony."The next day a group of elders from all the nine villages of Umuofia came to Okonkwo's house early in the morning." said Okonkwo. And so he did now. He would return later to his mother and his brothers and sisters and convert them to the new faith. Do you hear that. He who brings kola brings life. Cooking pots went up and down the tripods and foo-foo was pounded in a hundred wooden mortars Some of the women cooked the yams and the cassava." he said. Umuofia has decided to kill him.""Oho. 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.

"Umuofia kwenu."Don't be foolish. He presented a kola nut and an alligator pepper. There is only one true God and He has the earth. talking and laughing among themselves and with others who stood near them. But such was her anxiety for her daughter that she could not rid herself completely of her fear. empty men."'We know you too well."Our father. The oldest member of this extensive family was Okonkwo's uncle. Almost immediately the women came in with a big bowl of foo-foo. Then he burst out:"Never kill a man who says nothing. The lizard that jumped from the high iroko tree to the ground said he would praise himself if no one else did.And then the egwugwu appeared." Ezinma offered. She had got ready her basket of coco-yams and fish. She stood until Chielo had increased the distance between them and she began to follow again. and they had quickened their steps. "I planted the farm nearly two years ago. And when. At first they were afraid they might die. she has told me about it. though his dialect was different and harsh to the enrs of Mbanta. You buried it in the ground somewhere so that you can die and return again to torment your mother."Okonkwo brought the wine and they began to drink. But his wives and young children were not as strong."I have heard." said another man.

" came her voice. Today Okonkwo was not bringing his mother home to be buried with her people. or God's house. Okonkwo would take care of meat and yams. "She has iba. and was now accorded great respect in all the clan. he has learned to fly without perching. suddenly changed his mind and agreed to take the message.""They dare not bring fewer than thirty pots. The lad's name was Ikemefuna. Unoka was able to give an answer between fresh outbursts of mirth." urged the other women"None?" asked Njide.As the man who had cleared his throat drew up and raised his machete. After the pot-bearers came Ibe. he was not a hunter. but Okonkwo was as slippery as a fish in water. Okonkwo and the boys worked in complete silence. and Odukwe bent down and touched the earth. This was about eight days after the fight.""That means you will see something. Ekwefi and her only daughter. On her arms were red and yellow bangles. twenty-five. But each time she had borne twins. "is it true that when people are grown up. But in spite of these disadvantages. But when a father beats his child. He would build a bigger barn than he had had before and he would build huts for two new wives.

She walked numbly along. then. She was called Crystal of Beauty. and we shall all perish. And that was also the year Okonkwo broke the peace. Everyone knew then that she would live because her bond with the world of ogbanje had been broken. "So you must finish this.""Too much of his grandfather." he said when Okonkwo had spoken. Ekwefi was reassured."One of them passes here frequently."The market of Umuike is a wonderful place. It was a great feast. But when there is sorrow and bitterness he finds refuge in his motherland. moved to the center. Ekwefi was the only person in the happy company who went about with a cloud on her brow."Three moons ago." and on each occasion he faced a different direction and seemed to push the air with a clenched fist. you and me and all of us. people said it was refusing food. It was a gay and airy kind of rain.The drummers stopped for a brief rest before the real matches. he said to Okonkwo:"That boy calls you father." asked another man. A deathly silence descended on Okonkwo's compound. the people of the sky set before their guests the most delectable dishes Tortoise had even seen or dreamed of. The elders and grandees of the village sat on their own stools brought there by their young sons or slaves. therefore.

It descended on him again." he said.It was not yet noon on the second day of the New Yam Festival. something felt in the marrow." said Mr. Okonkwo brought out l??s big horn from the goatskin bag. Some kinsmen ate it with egusi soup and others with bitter-leaf soup. He broke the nut saying: We shall all live. urging the others to hurry up. I shall break your jaw. The white man has no sense."Bring me a low stool for Ezinma. This year they were the wise ones. but that year-had been enough to break the heart of a lion.'Ask my dead father if he ever had a fowl when he was alive.""Ee-e-e!""And this will not be the last. They set fire to his houses.- you stay at home and offer sacrifices to a reluctant soil.Large crowds began to gather on the village ilo as soon as the edge had worn off the sun's heat and it was no longer painful on the body. "We have been sent by this great God to ask you to leave your wicked ways and false gods and turn to Him so that you may be saved when you die. only waking to full life when Chielo sang. On ordinary days young women who cheap uggs for saledesired children came to sit under its shade. Anyone seeing Chielo in ordinary life would hardly believe she was the same person who prophesied when the spirit of Agbala was upon her. 'If I fall down for you and you fall down for me. on their backs and their thighs. Ikemefuna looked back. She believed because it was that faith alone that gave her own life any kind of meaning. some of them having come a long way from their homes in distant villages.

but not overmuch. perhaps for the first time. that is not the beginning. All this happened many years ago. And she enjoyed above all the secrecy in which she now ate them. Then they washed them and cut them up for the women who prepared the soup. when Mr. It was this man that Okonkwo threw in a fight which the old men agreed was one of the fiercest since the founder of their town engaged a spirit of the wild for seven days and seven nights. or God's house. that man was okonkwo. who would not lend his knife for cutting up dogmeat because the dog was taboo to him. People made way for him on all sides and the noise subsided.""Your chi is very much awake. who was also a diviner of the Afa Oracle. His mother might be dead. Then something had given way inside him. Every nerve and every muscle stood out on their arms. which had been dutifully eating yam peelings. And when he did this he saw that his father was pleased. Ekwefi had nothing but good wishes for her. I say it because I fear for the younger generation. They were duly presented to the women."Bring me a hoe."Although they were almost the same age. When they had gone round the circle they settled down in the center. He sat down again and called two witnesses.There was a wealthy man in Okonkwo's village who had three huge barns. but somehow he still preferred the stories that his mother used to tell.

He had therefore put his drinking-horn into his goatskin bag for the occasion. but in doing so he would have taken something from the full penalty of seven years.""I can tell you. and he owed every neighbor some money. He ate a few more pieces of plaintain and pushed the dish aside. She would want to hear everything that had happened to him in all these years. Umuofia has decided to kill him. "How much longer do you think you will live?" she asked. He was therefore waiting to receive them. She felt cold. trembling.It was not yet noon on the second day of the New Yam Festival. They must have bypassed it long ago." Then more pots came. like splitting wood. when they came. It was one of those gay and rollicking tunes of evangelism which had the power of plucking at silent and dusty chords in the heart of an Ibo man. But it would be impolite to rush him.The sun rose slowly to the center of the sky. What did they know about the man?" He ground his teeth again and told a story to illustrate his point.Ekwefi put a few live coals into a piece of broken pot and Ezinma carried it across the clean swept compound to Nwoye's mother. The earth goddess whom you have insulted may refuse to give us her increase. But the drought continued for eight market weeks and the yams were killed. and was not given the first or the second burial. And then the locusts came. Even the few kinsmen who had not been able to come had their shares taken out for them in due term. especially as he looked somewhat different from the others. They said that some young men had chased them away from the stream with whips.

Ekwefi picked her way carefully and quietly." As he looked into the log fire he recalled the name. Her husband had brought out more yams than usual because the medicine man had to be fed. It was one of those gay and rollicking tunes of evangelism which had the power of plucking at silent and dusty chords in the heart of an Ibo man. making music and feasting. The neighbors and relations also saw the coincidence and said among themselves that it was very significant. He would teach her! But Nwoye resembled his grandfather. The married women wore their best cloths and the girls wore red and black waist-beads and anklets of brass. and then turning to his brother and his son he said: "Let us go out and whisper together.""You sound as if you question the authority and the decision of the Oracle. There was once a man who went to sell a goat.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. but not overmuch. Evil men and all the heathen who in their blindness bowed to wood and stone were thrown into a fire that burned like palm-oil. and they had been immediately thrown away.Thus the men of Umuofia pursued their way. it would not be done. Kiaga was going to send into the village for his men-converts when he saw them coming on their own. but he did not answer. who at once paid the heavy fine which the village imposed on anyone whose cow was let loose on his neighbors' crops.The moon was now up and she could see Chielo and Ezinma clearly. who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo."Ezinma looked at her mother. Ekwefi mopped her with a piece of cloth and she lay down on a dry mat and was soon asleep. That was how Okonkwo first came to know that agbala was not only another name for a woman. Those who were big enough to carry even a few yams in a tiny basket went with grown-ups to the farm. Cam wood was rubbed lightly into her skin."I must go home to tap my palm trees for the afternoon.

"It is a strange and terrible story.Anasi was a middle-aged woman. And it began to shake and rattle. or obi. who lived near the udala tree. The folk stories stopped. he thought.As the last heavy rains of the year began to fall." she said."You have all seen the great abomination of your brother. Her two children belong to Uzowulu. None of his converts was a man whose word was heeded in ihe assembly of the people.In the morning the market place was full.' Do you know what he told the Oracle? He said. There is only one true God and He has the earth. He was determined that his return should be marked by his people. These women never saw the inside of the hut. Ekwefi was beginning to feel hot from her running. to sit with him in his obi. The personal dynamism required to counter the forces of these extremes of weather would be far too great for the human frame. for he had no grave. He would have liked to return earlier and build his compound that year before the rains stopped. the anger on his face was gone. The lad's name was Ikemefuna. and the planting began. If one says no to the other.""Go and bring our own.He did not sleep at night.

greeted Okonkwo and turned towards the compound. like a son."What is iyi-uwa?" she asked in return. who had brought it from her mother's hut."Point at the spot with your finger. But although Okonkwo was a great man whose prowess was universally acknowledged. indeed. He worshipped them with sacrifices of kola nut. and asking it if it had brought home any lengths of cloth. which was now surrounded by spectators.The Feast of the New Yam was held every year before the harvest began. And so. '1 am a changed man."As they spoke Ezinma emerged from the hut. He played on the ogene. And so he killed her. the grown-up. who was the priest of the earth goddess. He could not understand it until he looked back and saw that what he led at the end of the tether was not a goat but a heavy log of wood. gods of wood and stone. the priestess of Agbala."Is Anasi not in?" he asked them. The medicine man ignored him.Ekwefi still had some cassava left on her farm from the previous year. And this was the message."There is one important thing which we must not forget. Okonkwo's gun had exploded and a piece of iron had pierced the boy's heart." Okonkwo thought within himself.

""I think it is good that our clan holds the ozo title in high esteem.Ezeudu had taken three titles in his life. He sighed again. It was in fact one of them who in his zeal brought the church into serious conflict with the clan a year later by killing the sacred python.""You do not understand." he said. and the meeting continued." Obierika again drank a little of his wine. The sickness was an abomination to the earth.Ekwefi still had some cassava left on her farm from the previous year.'"Parrot promised to deliver the message. "But I cannot understand these things you tell me." said Obierika. The daughters of the clan did not return to their homes immediately but spent two more days with their kinsmen. The dark top soil soon gave way to the bright red earth with which women scrubbed the floors and walls of huts. He remembered his wife's twin children. and the planting began. "I sold the big ones as soon as you left. Everybody was killed. and all over her body were black patterns drawn with uli. If there is any one among you who thinks he knows more let him speak up. and was not given the first or the second burial. but six."Go into that room. The young ailing girl who had caused her mother so much heartache had been transformed."Go home and sleep. And then after another lifetime these men opened the caves again and the locusts came to Umuofia. and there was no hurry to decide his fate.

and the burial was near. but if one picked out the flute as it went up and down and then broke up into short snatches. 'Don't touch!'But when I hold her waist-beads she pretends not to know. except his priestess. but they grew women's crops. "who will protect us from the anger of our neglected gods and ancestors?""Your gods are not alive and cannot do you any harm." He paused. it was in large."In her hut. and the new faith was a mad dog that had come to eat it up. and he loved this season of the year.Ezinma brought them a bowl of water with which to wash their hands. But I can tell you. He looked it over and said it was done. It is not bravery when a man fights with a woman.At last the two teams danced into the circle and the crowd roared and clapped."Don't cry. Then everything had been broken. some were orators who spoke for the clan. But that was only to be expected. It was said that they had built a place of judgment in Umuofia to protect the followers of their religion." he mocked. But in this case she ran away to save her life. Darkness held a vague terror for these people. In short. She is called Ozoemena. was passing by the church on his way from the neighboring village. Those were good days when a man had friends in distant clans.

At last they took a turning and began to head for the caves. Her husband's first wife had already had three sons. Obiako.It seemed to Ekwefi that the night had become a little lighter." Ezinma said.Okonkwo's neighbors heard his wife crying and sent their voices over the compound walls to ask what was the matter. The white man had gone back to Umuofia. they settled on the roofs and covered the bare ground. it seeks sympathy in its mother's hut." He laughed a mirthless laughter. Nwoye's mother carried a basket of coco-yams.Onwumbiko was not given proper burial when he died." He prayed especially for Okonkwo and his family. Dew fell heavily and the air was cold." said Nwoye's mother.' said Tortoise. And then like the sound of his cannon he crashed on the compound." asked another man. who had been talking. At the end they decided."Yes. He was in fact an outcast. all strong and healthy."Have you?" asked Obierika. She rose.""That means you will see something.When she got to the big udala tree Ezinma turned left into the bush. with sticks.

The fact was that Obiageli had been making inyanga with her pot. and went round the circle shaking hands with all. Although her husband's wives were saying that it was nothing more than iba.""It was always said that Ndulue and Ozoemena had one mind. Aninta. I would not have believed. His younger wives did that. 'It just walked away. 1 know you will not despair.At the beginning of their journey the men of Umuofia talked and laughed about the locusts."Is that not Obiageli weeping?" Ekwefi called across the yard to Nwoye's mother."Tufia-al" the priestess cursed." And they dispersed.The only course open to Okonkwo was to flee from the clan. They must have used a powerful medicine to make themselves invisible until the market was full. "They have that custom in Obodoani. But the arrivees persevered." He put it down to his inflexible will. especially the wooden mortar in which yam was pounded. "one would think he never sucked at his mother's breast.The earth quickly came to life and the birds in the forests fluttered around and chirped merrily." said Okonkwo's voice. but never heard its voice. and you can teach us the things of the new faith. building a new red-earth and thatch house for their teacher. Nwoye went to his mother's hut and told her that Ikemefuna was going home. "Three or four of us should stay behind. Thirty.

Everyone knew then that she would live because her bond with the world of ogbanje had been broken. Ekwefi screwed her eyes up in an effort to see her daughter and the priestess. The neighbors and Okonkwo's wives were now talking. An animal rubs its itching flank against a tree. But the Hills and the Caves were as silent as death. He told them that the true God lived on high and that all men when they died went before Him for judgment. the harvest of the previous year. The heathen say you will die if you do this or that. His wives wept bitterly and their children wept with them without knowing why."Odukwe was short and thickset. malevolent. Was it not on an Eke day that they fled into Umuofia?" he asked his two companions. The hosts nodded in approval and seemed to say.A hush fell on the compound immediately. It was then uncertain whether the low rumbling of Amadiora's thunder came from above or below. I salute you. It was such a forest that. and Okeke says we should pretend not to see. She was Okonkwo's second wife Ekwefi." And they dispersed. beginning with the eldest man. He did not cry." said Obierika. who must taste his wine before anyone else. Ikemefuna came first with the biggest pot.""It is like the story of white men who." Obierika said to Nwoye." replied Okonkwo.