happy when he heard him grumbling about women. she was dead." said Nwakibie. The children had lost interest and were playing.

Trees were uprooted and deep gorges appeared everywhere
Trees were uprooted and deep gorges appeared everywhere."He said something. He calls you his father."He led Umuofia to war in those days. and they closed in. was celebrating his daughter's uri.Ezinma grew up in her father's exile and became one of the most beautiful girls in Mbanta. but it was too far to see what they were. "I sold the big ones as soon as you left.Okagbue went back into the pit.All this anthill activity was going smoothly when a sudden interruption came. A vague scent of life and green vegetation was diffused in the air. Ekwefi tried to pull out the horny beak but it was too hard. At such times. He spoke through an interpreter who was an Ibo man. But in this case she ran away to save her life. A deep murmur went through the crowd when he said this. not even about the terrors of night." They offered them as much of the Evil Forest as they cared to take. looking at the position of the sun."My hand is on the ground. She placed Ezinma carefully on the bed and went away without saying a word to anybody. And then one morning three white men led by a band of ordinary men like us came to the clan.

in a body. They were grieved by the indignity and mourned for their neglected farms. Men stirred on their bamboo beds and listened anxiously. Ekwefi." Ezinma said." said Uchendu. who was once the village beauty. And immediately Okonkwo's eyes were opened and he saw the whole matter clearly. Your generation does not know that.""You do not understand.""Anyway. Chielo's voice now came after long intervals. Ogbuefi Ezeugo was a powerful orator and was always chosen to speak on such occasions."I am calling a feast because I have the wherewithal. Sometimes it poured down in such thick sheets of water that earth and sky seemed merged in one gray wetness." He brought down his staff heavily on the floor. Later on I sold some of the seed-yams and gave out others to sharecroppers. This was before the planting season began. "But I am greatly afraid. and went away. There were six of them and one was a white man.Okonkwo was provoked to justifiable anger by his youngest wife. He therefore treated Ikemefuna as he treated everybody else - with a heavy hand.

He had an old rusty gun made by a clever blacksmith who had come to live in Umuofta long ago.' But my wife's brothers said they had nothing to tell me. It must be the thought of going home to his mother. the priestess of Agbala. entered their mothers' wombs to be born again. to her right and to her left."Our father."Okonkwo tried to explain to him what his wife had done. He was a man of action. How could he know that his father had taken a hand in killing a daughter of Umuofia? All he knew was that a few men had arrived at their house. On ordinary days young women who desired children came to sit under its shade." And after a pause she said: "Can I bring your chair for you?""No. and people came from far and near to consult it. thus completing a circle with their hosts. "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. But now she found the half-light of the incipient moon more terrifying than darkness. "is it true that when people are grown up. 'If I fall down for you and you fall down for me. as you know. I would not have believed. It is more difficult and more bitter when a man fails alone. I salute you."Obiageli broke her pot today.

"She will bring her back soon. Nwoye's mother.The festival was now only three days away. The soup was brought out hot from the fire and in the very pot in which it had been cooked. unearthly voice and completely covered in raffia.""If we leave our gods and follow your god. and they were merely her messengers. But it is your turn now. Ezeudu was the oldest man in this quarter of Umuofia. perhaps even quicker. Such a man was Ogbuefi Ugonna. The lad's name was Ikemefuna. some of them having come a long way from their homes in distant villages. There was foo-foo and yam pottage. But he was not a failure like Unoka. "My son has told me about you. or ndichie. You have a manly and a proud heart. He ordered the outcasts to shave off their long."I do not blame you. 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. it is play'. trying to minimize Ojiugo's thoughtlessness.

Amikwu and his people had taken palm-wine to the bride's kinsmen about two moons before Okonkwo's arrival in Mbanta. Ezinma went with her and helped in preparing the vegetables. It was only from Nwoye's mother that he heard scraps of the story. Whenever one of these ancient men appeared in the crowd to dance unsteadily the funeral steps of the tribe. but the villagers told them that there was no king." And he took another pinch of snuff. Once he got up from bed and walked about his compound. Nwakibie sent for his wives. They sang songs as they went."Answer me!" he roared again. The cut bush was left to dry and fire was then set to it. and they each gave him a feather. He did not understand it. If they became more troublesome than they already were they would simply be driven out of the clan."It will not be very long now before my in-laws come. He stretched himself and scratched his thigh where a mosquito had bitten him as he slept. went into an inner room and came back with a kola nut. He had a large compound enclosed by a thick wall of red earth. And the other boy was flat on his back. The pot fell and broke in the sand. It was not done earlier because the rains were too heavy and would have washed away the heap of trodden earth. It was not until the following day that Okonkwo told him the full story. She remembered that night.

Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad. When he brought out the snuff-bottle he tapped it a few times against his knee-cap before taking out some snuff on the palm of his left hand.The wrestlers were not there yet and the drummers held the field. and he knew it was due to Ikemefuna." said Akukalia. talking excitedly and praying that the locusts should camp in Umuofia for the night. when he was young. and the man growled at him to go on and not stand looking back.' "I have no more to say to you. In the morning he went back to his farm and saw the withering tendrils.""They are not all that young. and on their way they paid short courtesy visits to prominent men like Okonkwo. Even as a little boy he had resented his father's failure and weakness. and about some effeminate men who had refused to come with them."I have kola. 'It just walked away. She turned round on her low stool and put the beak in the fire for a few moments. and then. He could fashion out flutes from bamboo stems and even from the elephant grass. They will serve you when I have eaten." he said. and the solid mass was now broken by tiny eyes of light like shining star dust.

and nodded their heads in approval of all he said. I am not afraid of work. For two or three moons the sun had been gathering strength till it seemed to breathe a breath of fire on the earth. She was rewarded by occasional spells of health during which Ezinma bubbled with energy like fresh palm-wine." he said. But there was a great medicine man in the neighborhood."How is your father?" Obierika asked. If I were you I would have stayed at home. They were duly presented to the women. Some birds chirruped in the forests around. He could hear in his mind's ear the blood-stirring and intricate rhythms of the ekwe and the udu and the ogene. They were duly presented to the women. for in spite of the palm fruit hung across the mouth of the pot to restrain the lively liquor. and she was greatly feared. Ogbuefi Ezeugo was a powerful orator and was always chosen to speak on such occasions. These sudden bouts of sickness and health were typical of her kind. Their church stood on a circular clearing that looked like the open mouth of the Evil Forest. and he pointed to a man who sat near him with a bowed head. Ofoedu ate slowly and talked about the locusts. Okonkwo was not a man of thought but of action." was joyfully chanted everywhere. and kill him there. We have albinos among us.

some of them with their water-pots to the stream. You think you are still a child. We put our fingers into our ears to stop us hearing." replied Okonkwo." He was talking about Okonkwo. "You are our teacher. silencing him. was a failure. He could not ask another man to build his own obi for him. Mr. After waiting in vain for her dish he went to her hut to see what she was doing. But if a man caused it. when his father walked in that night after killing Ikemefuna. Okonkwo had called in another medicine man who was famous in the clan for his great knowledge about ogbanje children. it was in large. It was an angry. "My son has told me about you. and the elders of his family. Ikezue strove to dig in his right heel behind Okafo so as to pitch him backwards in the clever ege style.And so Obierika went to Mbanta to see his friend.Many people went out with baskets trying to catch them. He would now have to make a bigger farm. his heels hardly touched the ground and he seemed to walk on springs.

"I have felt it. Let us give them a real battlefield in which to show their victory.As soon as the day broke. When we gather together in the moonlit village ground it is not because of the moon. or the teeth of an old woman. "If you split another yam of this size. Now and again a full-chested lamentation rose above the wailing whenever a man came into the place of death. And let me tell you one thing. People made way for him on all sides and the noise subsided. As they cut grass in the morning the younger men sang in time with the strokes of their machetes:"Kotma of the ashy buttocks.Obierika then presented to him a small bundle of short broomsticks."The two men sat in silence for a long while afterwards. At first the bride was not among them. If only he could find some work to do he would be able to forget. But he had recently fallen ill. Okonkwo cleared his throat. Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. took a long broom and swept the ground in front of his father's obi. If I were you I would have stayed at home. gome. But it was useless.Ezinma was still sleeping when everyone else was astir. scooped out two mouthfuls and fled from the hut to chew the cud in the goats' shed.

And for the first time they had a woman."Umuofia kwenu!" shouted the leading egwugwu. Women and children returning from the stream with pots of water on their heads wondered what was happening until they saw Okagbue and guessed that it must be something to do with ogbanje. palm-oil and pepper for the soup."Outside the obi Okagbue and Okonkwo were digging the pit to find where Ezinma had buried her iyi-uwa. There were nine of them. What crime had they committed? The Earth had decreed that they were an offense on the land and must be destroyed."You are a big man now. "You have offended neither the gods nor your fathers. His eldest brother broke the first one. "is it true that when people are grown up."I must go home to tap my palm trees for the afternoon. nearly all the osu in Mbanta followed their example. Cam wood was rubbed lightly into her skin. burning forehead. So he would make a fresh start. He took the first of the empty stools and the eight other egwugwu began to sit in order of seniority after him. 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." said his eldest brother. urging the others to hurry up. 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."And it died this morning?"Okonkwo said yes. he thought.

For many market weeks nothing else happened. Why was that?"Okonkwo shook his head. She could not see beyond her nose.One of the men behind him cleared his throat. They had the same style and one saw the other's plans beforehand. Nwoye would feign annoyance and grumble aloud about women and their troubles." said the woman."You have not eaten for two days." said one of the younger men."He said nothing. closely followed by Nwoye and his two younger brothers. "Look at those lines of chalk. had crawled out of the shrine on her belly like a snake. her mother and half a dozen other women and girls emerged from the inner compound. who was the oldest man in the village. He was tall and huge. for in spite of their worthlessness they still belonged to the clan. the god of the sky. He did not understand it."Umuofia kwenu!" roared Evil Forest. and of the forces of nature."You will blow your eyes out. He said he was one of them.

Am oyim de de de de! flew around the dark. young and old. There were twenty-two of them. raised the pot on his left knee and began to pour out the wine."Where else but in his house in the hills and the caves?" replied the priestess." shouted Chielo. nearly half a day's journey away. And he had all but achieved it. which was now surrounded by spectators." They laughed and agreed. trying to minimize Ojiugo's thoughtlessness. You stay at home. but they are too young to leave their mother. Ekwefi trudged along between two fears.""Uzowulu's body. "I have felt it. and had just married his third wife." They were hard and painful on the body as they fell."The next day a group of elders from all the nine villages of Umuofia came to Okonkwo's house early in the morning. I salute you. building a new red-earth and thatch house for their teacher.' Everybody laughed heartily except Okonkwo." said Obierika.

Nwoye's mother thanked her and she went back to her mother's hut." And he took another pinch of snuff. I began to fend for myself at an age when most people still suck at their mothers' breasts. 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. and so have Uchendu and Unachukwu and Emefo. Then he took it away to bury in the Evil Forest." said his daughter Ezinma when she brought the food to him."He was not an albino. when he had worked on one side of the wall and Ikemefuna and Nwoye on the other. Her fear had vanished. "But they will understand when they go to their plot of land tomorrow morning."The two men sat in silence for a long while afterwards. That was the way people answered calls from outside. She had married Anene because Okonkwo was too poor then to marry. And so they each took a new name."Ask Akueke's mother to send us some kola nuts. the Oracle of the Hills and Caves."Where else but in his house in the hills and the caves?" replied the priestess. And so he is bowed with grief. but somehow he still preferred the stories that his mother used to tell. "One of the young children had opened the gate of the cow-shed. as if he was going to pounce on somebody.And so nature was not interfered with in the middle of the rainy season.

And then the egwugwu appeared. smiled broadly and said to his father: "Do you hear that?" He then said to the others: "He will never admit that I am a good tapper.""There is no song in the story. "and yet he is full of sorrow because he has come to live in his motherland for a few years. but nothing came out. just emerged from the earth. and he prayed to the ancestors." said an old man. When he thought he had waited long enough he again returned to the shrine. They came when misfortune dogged their steps or when they had a dispute with their neighbors." said Okonkwo. "my eyelid is twitching." said Obierika. rumbling like thunder in the rainy season. The birth of her children. Obiageli. looking at Nwakibie's elder son Igwelo with a malicious twinkle in his eye. who came out of her hut to draw water from a gigantic pot in the shade of a small tree in the middle of the compound. and the tuber was pulled out. therefore."It was only this morning. of how his father.And the little church was at that moment too deeply absorbed in its own troubles to annoy the clan.

as if that was paying the big debts first."Where does Agbala want to see her?" Ekwefi asked. Some of these prisoners had thrown away their twins and some had molested the Christians. the shouting and the firing of guns. Okonkwo rose to speak. The church had come and led many astray. if one finger brought oil it soiled the others. A bond of sympathy had grown between them as the years had passed.""Your words are good. as her mother had been called in her youth. worthless. Every man of Umuofia was asked to gather at the market place tomorrow morning. Living fire begets cold. another man asked a question: "Where is the white man's horse?" he asked. I shall not eat in the house of a man who has no respect for our gods and ancestors. Ekwefi quickly took her to their bedroom and placed her on their high bamboo bed." said Obierika. and walked to its beat. He was greatly shocked and swore to beat Ekwefi if she dared to give the child eggs again. is a beast. Okoye said the next half a dozen sentences in proverbs. who was the oldest man in the village. When they did.

His life had been ruled by a great passion??to become one of the lords of the clan. and Ezinma brought his goatskin bag from the far end of the hut. took a long broom and swept the ground in front of his father's obi. long way from home. Unoka. and the whole country became the brown-earth color of the vast. He walked back to his obi to await Ojiugo's return. Okagbue worked tirelessly and in silence. the Evil Forest was a fit home for such undesirable people. the fear of the forest. Like all good farmers. They were very fat goats. she was in close communion with the departed fathers of the clan whose bodies had been committed to earth. now said"You told us with your own mouth that there was only one god. and allowed a brief pause. "I shall tell them my mind if they do."What are you doing here?" Obierika had asked when after many difficulties the missionaries had allowed him to speak to the boy. She ran faster. And for the first time they had a woman. roots and barks of medicinal trees and shrubs. Trees were uprooted and deep gorges appeared everywhere. It was quiet and confident. He had had no patience with his father.

who would not lend his knife for cutting up dogmeat because the dog was taboo to him. and regain the seven wasted years. Two elderly neighbors were sent for. and they beat the men. when he slept. she prayed a thousand times. And so nobody gave serious thought to the stories about the white man's government or the consequences of killing the Christians." Obierika again drank a little of his wine."Oho. It was the dead man's sixteen-year-old son.' Why is that?"There was silence." he said as he went.""What has happened to that piece of land in dispute?" asked Okonkwo. There was an immediate stir."Why do you stand there as though she had been kidnapped?" asked Okonkwo as he went back to his hut.Just then the distant beating of drums began to reach them. And she realized too with something like a jerk that Chielo was no longer moving forward. "In those other clans you speak of. Smoke poured out of his head. Ezeudu was the oldest man in this quarter of Umuofia. his children and their mothers in the new year. rumbling like thunder in the rainy season. And so when the priestess with Ezinma on her back disappeared through a hole hardly big enough to pass a hen.

' she called. the king of crops. I fear for you. I have none now except that young girl who knows not her right from her left." said Okagbue. could not shelter under his roof."The next day a group of elders from all the nine villages of Umuofia came to Okonkwo's house early in the morning. machetes."When this was interpreted to the men of Mbanta they broke into derisive laughter. Okonkwo remembered his own father. Onwumbiko??"Death. and tears stood in his eyes."Uzowulu's body. "But you ought to ask why the drum has not beaten to tell Umuofia of his death. That is a wise action. Ukegbu counted them. who had taken two titles. and even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was agbala. Nwoye. This one had only one hand and it carried a basket full of water. and turned to his sons and daughters. clay and metal instruments went from song to song. the white missionary.

He was a wealthy farmer and had two barns full of yams. rubbed his left palm on his body to dry it before tipping a little snuff into it. "Yaa!". became quite inseparable from him because he seemed to know everything. Okonkwo. May all you took out return again tenfold." said his eldest brother.""I can tell you. When he brought out the snuff-bottle he tapped it a few times against his knee-cap before taking out some snuff on the palm of his left hand. "One of the young children had opened the gate of the cow-shed. Okonkwo had begun to sow with the first rains. tall. Twenty.At last the rain came. ran out again and aimed at her as she clambered over the dwarf wall of the barn."He said something. or took pity on their mothers. The egwugwu with the springy walk was one of the dead fathers of the clan. And they might also have noticed that Okonkwo was not among the titled men and elders who sat behind the row of egwugwu. 'She should have been a boy. At such times she seemed beyond danger. Kiaga was praying in the church when he heard the women talking excitedly. The muscles on their arms and their thighs and on their backs stood out and twitched.

like a hunter's dog that suddenly goes mad and turns on his master. and to soften his heart with a song of the suffering of the sons of men. or Evil Spirit.At last the rain came. And he did pounce on people quite often.Ekwefi went into her hut to cook yams. She slowed down her pace so as to increase the distance between them." replied Okonkwo. I fear for you. Okonkwo.""I was only speaking in jest."There must be something behind it.At last the two teams danced into the circle and the crowd roared and clapped.But apart from the church. They said that some young men had chased them away from the stream with whips." asked Obierika. Nwoye's mother and Ojiugo would provide the other things like smoked fish. They thought the priestess might be going to her house.' said Mother Kite. The white man has no sense. 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. But you were a fearless warrior. I have cleared a farm but have no yams to sow.

She remembered that night.Ekwefi was tired and sleepy from the exhausting experiences of the previous night. She put back the empty pot on the circular pad in the corner. he is not too young. which was passed under his right arm-pit and tied above his left shoulder. A man's place was not always there. because the cold and dry harmattan wind was blowing down Irom the north. At first the bride was not among them. "Where are you going?" he asked. The crime was of two kinds.""Let them laugh. something felt in the marrow. Only then did she realize. As the Ibo say: "When the moon is shining the cripple becomes hungry for a walk. She did not marry him then because he was too poor to pay her bride-price. 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." said Obierika. long journey. Okonkwo took up his goatskin bag to go. "Are you afraid you may dissolve?"The harvesting was easy. he had allowed what he regarded as a reasonable and manly interval to pass and then gone with his machete to the shrine. Suppose when he died all his male children decided to follow Nwoye's steps and abandon their ancestors? Okonkwo felt a cold shudder run through him at the terrible prospect." Ezinma pointed out.

There were three men in one group and three men and one woman in the other. But it went from day to day without a pause." said another man. and Nwakibie's two grown-up sons were also present in his obi. and he owed every neighbor some money. or ndichie. which was strengthened by such little conspiracies as eating eggs in the bedroom. with love." He was talking about Okonkwo. He had five other sons and he would bring them up in the way of the clan. And you. moved to the center. Only then did she realize. Almost immediately the women came in with a big bowl of foo-foo. "before I kill you!" He seized a heavy stick that lay on the dwarf wall and hit him two or three savage blows. Okonkwo cleared his throat." he answered."The body of Odukwe." resumed Obierika. holding the ancestral staff of the family."Umezulike. He accepted the half-full horn from his brother and drank it. Sometimes he turned round and chased after those men.

made up her mind. he broke it and they ate. but that they had many children to feed." replied Okukwe."Uzowulu's body. He had felt very anxious but did not show it. They were possessed by the spirit of the drums."The birds gathered round to eat what was left and to peck at the bones he had thrown all about the floor."Remove your jigida first. not even with broomsticks." said Obierika." said Obierika. all strong and healthy. He had a large compound enclosed by a thick wall of red earth. Many young men have come to me to ask for yams but I have refused because I knew they would just dump them in the earth and leave them to be choked by weeds."As soon as he entered his last year in exile Okonkwo sent money to Obierika to build him two huts in his old compound where he and his family would live until he built more huts and the outside wall of his compound."'We know you too well.""All their customs are upside-down. She rose from her mat. And so he was always happy when he heard him grumbling about women. she was dead." said Nwakibie. The children had lost interest and were playing.