hollowed-out wooden instrument. "Your daughter will bear us sons like you.

Chielo
Chielo. We heard of it. He grew rapidly like a yam tendril in the rainy season. Darkness held a vague terror for these people. Soon after. His name was Uchendu. and he was not afraid of war. We do not dispute it. They boast about victory over death. She was afraid of what might happen if Chielo suddenly turned round and saw her. It was unbelievable. The pot fell and broke in the sand. It was not external but lay deep within himself. Maduka. They saluted one another and then reappeared on the ilo. She beckons in front of her and behind her.""You do not understand. That was why Okonkwo had been Chosen by the nine villages to carry a message of war to their enemies unless they agreed to give up a young man and a virgin to atone for the murder of Udo's wife. It is a poor soil and that is why the tubers are so small."Umuofia kwenu!" roared Evil Forest. To show affection was a sign of weakness. but somehow he still preferred the stories that his mother used to tell.Okonkwo's head was bowed in sadness as Obierika told him these things.At that moment they heard someone crying just outside their compound. and his children the while praying to the white man's god. Okonkwo's second wife had merely cut a few leaves off it to wrap some food. We live in peace with our fellows to honor our great goddess of the earth without whose blessing our crops will not grow.""Not before you have had your breakfast.

"Because I did not want to. Ekwefi quickly moved away from her line of retreat. The Ibo evangelists consulted among themselves and decided that the man probably meant bicycle. And there were indeed occasions when the Oracle had forbidden Umuofia to wage a war. and would not go to war against it without first trying a peaceful settlement. Okonkwo's youngest wife also came out and joined the others. He knew that Nwakibie would not refuse him. As soon as the two boys closed in. butwhenever she thought she saw their shape it immediately dissolved like a melting lump of darkness. Okonkwo's second wife had merely cut a few leaves off it to wrap some food. Njide. from Umuofia to Mbaino. and went round the circle shaking hands with all."Ezinma is dying." said Obierika. At last Vulture was sent to plead with Sky. but no one thought the stories were true. who had been walking about aimlessly in his compound in suppressed anger.Mr. The bride's mother led the way. And he knew which trees made the strongest bows. Ogbuefi Ugonna had thought of the Feast in terms of eating and drinking.But apart from the church. and his eyes were red and fierce like the eyes of a rat when it was caught by the tail and dashed against the floor. in the land of his fathers where men were bold and warlike. in a cleared spot."Ekwefi. but he had been too surprised to weep.

"Where have you been?" he stammered. She was."Yes. said Ezeugo. all the same. closed hut like tongues of fire. When he finished his kola nut he said:"The things that happen these days are very strange. He immediately set to work digging a pit where Ezinma had indicated. Here we say he cannot climb the tall tree but he can tap the short ones standing on the ground. When the women had exacted the penalty they checked among themselves to see if any woman had failed to come out when the cry had been raised. And then it became known that the white man's fetish had unbelievable power. Those were good days when a man had friends in distant clans.When she got to the big udala tree Ezinma turned left into the bush. It throbbed in the air. it would not be done. Ekwefi trudged along between two fears."Bring me a hoe.Nwoye's younger brothers were about to tell their mother the true story of the accident when Ikemefuna looked at them sternly and they held their peace. and when he got home he went straight to Okonkwo's hut and told him what he had seen. Two judges walked around the wrestlers and when they thought they were equally matched. It was like pouring grains of corn into a bag full of holes. Ezinma placed her mother's dish before him and sat with Obiageli. "You look very tired. Whenever one of these ancient men appeared in the crowd to dance unsteadily the funeral steps of the tribe. ozo is so low that every beggar takes it. I shall give you twice four hundred yams. armed with sheathed machetes. My case is finished.

All the other dancers made way for her. "They are young tubers. At last the man was named and people sighed "E-u-u. guns and cannon were fired. Why. 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. woman. He could neither marry nor be married by the free-born. As for his converts. Behind them was the big and ancient silk-cotton tree which was sacred. not dead. Okonkwo helped them put down their loads. She remembered that night." He brought down his staff heavily on the floor." replied her mother. But tonight she was addressing her prophecy and greetings to Okonkwo."Umuofia kwenu!" shouted the leading egwugwu."And why did you not say so. But she picked her way easily on the sandy footpath hedged on either side by branches and damp leaves. "You will find a pot of wine there. Go and see if your father has brought out yams for the afternoon." Obierika said to his son. His mother and sisters worked hard enough.- it was either too early or too late. Before the day was over he was dead. As soon as she got up. He searched in it for his snuff-bottle. Every nerve and every muscle stood out on their arms.

who will hold his head up among my people. But no one was sure where it was coming from."In her hut. you wicked daughter of Akalogoli?" Okonkwo swore furiously. calling on her mother. "1 have brought you this little kola. She continually ran into the luxuriant weeds and creepers that walled in the path. And so they walked out together. That was in fact the reason why he had come to see Unoka. I kill a man on the day that his life is sweetest to him. should he. whose sad story is still told in Umuofia unto this day. At last Vulture was sent to plead with Sky. my friend."But Nwoye's mother dropped her pot of hot soup the other day and it broke on the floor. who had begun to play a part in the affairs of his motherland. There was no question of killing a missionary here.' And so Daughter Kite returned the duckling and took a chick instead. Palm trees swayed as the wind combed their leaves into flying crests like strange and fantastic coiffure. He had tried to protect them from the smoldering earth by making rings of thick sisal leaves around them."Uzowulu's body. so that he was full of food and drink and his body filled out in his shell. ignorant of the love of God. His wife had played him false. afraid to go in. Where is my daughter. For although locusts had not visited Umuofia for many years. She walked numbly along.

was passing by the church on his way from the neighboring village. and he had moments of sadness and depression But he and Nwoye had become so deeply attached to each other that such moments became less frequent and less poignant. It was difficult to say which the people enjoyed more. for you people. where they were guarded by a race of stunted men. Okonkwo cleared his throat. But they always returned to the long rope he trailed behind. How could such a man be a follower of Christ?"He needs Christ more than you and I. and he was not afraid of war. But his whole life was dominated by fear." replied Ekwefi."Two years ago. The people of the sky thought it must be their custom to leave all the food for their king.As these things went through her mind she did not realize how close they were to the cave mouth. They had no hatred in their hearts against Okonkwo. They were the harbingers sent to survey the land. her voice terrible as it echoed through the dark void. and then flew away. And they might also have noticed that Okonkwo was not among the titled men and elders who sat behind the row of egwugwu. But he has not come to wake me up in the morning for it. They were mostly the kind of people that were called efulefu. They seemed to forget all about him as soon as they had taken the decision.As the last heavy rains of the year began to fall. Uchendu before her."Do you know Ogbuefi Ndulue?" Ofoedu asked.The nine villages of Umuofia had grown out of the nine sons of the first father of the clan. It was also part of the night. "Your friend Anene asked me to greet you.

The ancient drums of death beat. He brought another seven baskets and cooked them himself. he was already one of the greatest men of his time. Okonkwo sprang to his feet and quickly sat down again. A few moments later he went behind the hut and began to vomit painfully.Chielo's voice was now rising continuously."I sometimes think he is too sharp. whom he had thrown away." Uzowulu bent down and touched the earth with his right hand as a sign of submission. but its vigor was undiminished. The moon had been rising later and later every night until now it was seen only at dawn. He felt like a drunken giant walking with the limbs of a mosquito." said Ekwefi.No work was done during the Week of Peace. Now and again a full-chested lamentation rose above the wailing whenever a man came into the place of death. He was still young but he had won fame as the greatest wrestler in the nine villages. leaving a regular pattern of hair. "and a thick mat. Why should a man suffer so grievously for an offense he had committed inadvertently? But although he thought for a long time he found no answer. But very few people had ever seen that kind of wrestling before. Although he had prospered in his motherland Okonkwo knew that he would have prospered even more in Umuofia. We put our fingers into our ears to stop us hearing. and its priests and medicine men were feared in all the surrounding country. and a great land case began. They set fire to his houses. and Nwakibie's two grown-up sons were also present in his obi. He trembled with the desire to conquer and subdue. She went on fanning it until it burst into flames.

Three young men helped Obierika to slaughter the two goats with which the soup was made. And what is the result? An abominable religion has settled among you. Nothing pleased Nwoye now more than to be sent for by his mother or another of his father's wives to do one of those difficult and masculine tasks in the home. It was like the market. She was about sixteen and just ripe for marriage.""Does the white man understand our custom about land?""How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad. and it was their counsel that prevailed in the end. Worshippers and those who came to seek knowledge from the god crawled on their belly through the hole and found themselves in a dark.He was by nature a very lively boy and he gradually became popular in Okonkwo's household. he took up the rag with his left hand and began to untie it. He hoped to get another four hundred yams from one of his father's friends at Isiuzo. 'You have taken back your sister." replied Odukwe. But her love of wrestling contests was still as strong as it was thirty years ago.""It is already too late. "We will go with you to meet those cowards. Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly. But he was struck. you sow your yams on exhausted farms that take no labor to clear. "it is this eyelid. All else was silent. and each hut seen from the others looked like a soft eye of yellow half-light set in the solid massiveness of night. How could such a man be a follower of Christ?"He needs Christ more than you and I. They made single mounds of earth in straight lines all over the field and sowed the yams in them. Even a man's motherland is strange to him nowadays."They do not understand. Dazed with fear. as was the custom.

Although her husband's wives were saying that it was nothing more than iba.""That is very bad. I married her with my money and my yams.So when the daughter of Umuofia was killed in Mbaino. and Ekwefi asked Nwoye's mother and Ojiugo to explain to Obierika's wife that she would be late." asked another man. It is the kind of action for which the goddess wipes out whole families. he was already one of the greatest men of his time."On what market-day was it born?" he asked. it is for you. He walked back to his obi to await Ojiugo's return. and who like a madman had cut the anklet of his titles and cast it away to join the Christians. But he left hold of Nwoye." replied Uzowulu. And he was already beginning to know some of the simple stories they told. the god of the sky.The wrestlers were now almost still in each other's grip. feeling with her palm the wet. When she had borne her third son in succession. that is not the beginning. And indeed he was possessed by the fear of his father's contemptible life and shameful death. As our fathers said. The first voice gets to Chukwu. his face beaming with blessedness and peace. floated on the chaos. who went to plait her hair at her friend's house and did not return early enough to cook the afternoon meal."This is Obierika. carried him shoulder high and danced through the cheering crowd.

" Uzowulu bent down and touched the earth with his right hand as a sign of submission. with sticks. anxiety. Unoka.Three young men helped Obierika to slaughter the two goats with which the soup was made. I have already spoken to you about him. And he had all but achieved it.Okonkwo was beginning to feel like his old self again. Some of them were accompanied by their sons bearing carved wooden stools. the god of the sky.""Ee-e-e!""Prosperous men and great warriors. Nwoye's mother carried a basket of coco-yams. "Life to all of us. And so he is bowed with grief. or the teeth of an old woman. beans and cassava. It was then uncertain whether the low rumbling of Amadiora's thunder came from above or below.In the distance the drums continued to beat. his heels hardly touched the ground and he seemed to walk on springs. had gained ground. dead. my dear friend.As Okonkwo sat in his hut that night."Okonkwo tried to explain to him what his wife had done. she was dead. if a child washed his hands he could eat with kings. I shall not eat in the house of a man who has no respect for our gods and ancestors. children sat around their mother's cooking fire telling stories.

He went into the obi and saluted his father." said Obierika. and he never saw her again."Go and bring me some cold water. male and female. And before the cock crowed Okonkwo and his family were fleeing to his motherland. We do not dispute it. and his happiest moments were the two or three moons after the harvest when the village musicians brought down their instruments. Ofoedu ate slowly and talked about the locusts. A mighty wind arose and filled the air with dust. who with his brothers and half-brothers had been dancing the traditional farewell to their father. "But I have also heard that Abame people were weak and foolish. And as if they had been waiting for that.""That is true." said Okonkwo. Okonkwo had returned home and sat waiting." said Okonkwo. and she was greatly feared. woman. Fortunately."I do not blame you. Even in those days he was not a man of many words. I have none now except that young girl who knows not her right from her left. It was a day old. and earth rose. Would he recognize her now? She must have grown quite big.Okonkwo called his three wives and told them to get things together for a great feast. Nwakibie brought down his own horn.

In short.At first. Are you deaf?" Okonkwo roared at her. twenty-five. had gone to consult Agbala. Then he and another man went before Ikemefuna and set a faster pace. Why is that? Your mother was brought home to me and buried with my people.""Don't cry." He threw his head down and gnashed his teeth. spread her mat on the floor and built a fire. and Ezinma brought his goatskin bag from the far end of the hut. 'If I fall down for you and you fall down for me. Okonkwo had committed the female. 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. and each wife built a small attachment to her hut for the hens. They had not thought about that.""Yes."Then I shall go back to the clan." said Okonkwo as he rose to go.""But they are beating the drums. Why is it that when a woman dies she is taken home to be buried with her own kinsmen? She is not buried with her husband's kinsmen.' said Mother Kite to her daughter.What moved Obierika to visit Okonkwo was the sudden appearance of the latter's son. But his fondness only showed on very rare occasions. his sixteen-year-old son." Mosquito went away humiliated. The troublesome nanny-goat sniffed about. skirting round the subject and then hitting it finally.

""You sound as if you question the authority and the decision of the Oracle.He is fit to be a slave. If a man kills the sacred python in the secrecy of his hut. my friend. carrying a basket full of water. how he had often wandered around looking for a kite sailing leisurely against the blue sky. "You might as well say that the woman lies on top of the man when they are making the children." he said to Okonkwo. "Where are you going?" he asked. she could bear no other person but her father. Okonkwo came after her. My in-law. Kiaga. into a healthy.The wrestlers were not there yet and the drummers held the field. Tortoise was very happy and voluble as he flew among the birds. The thick dregs of palm-wine were supposed to be good for men who were going in to their wives. She was about sixteen and just ripe for marriage. one of these women went to Ozoemena's hut and told her. wiping the foam of wine from his mustache with the back of his left hand. She put back the empty pot on the circular pad in the corner. After such treatment it would think twice before coming again. when Ogbuefi Ezeudu came in.

"I have felt it. Nwoye's mother thanked her and she went back to her mother's hut.""It is so indeed. You have a manly and a proud heart. When he walked. I have cleared a farm but have no yams to sow."But Nwoye's mother dropped her pot of hot soup the other day and it broke on the floor. It is a bad custom which these people observe because they lack understanding. where titled men climb trees and pound foo-foo for their wives. Ezinma rushed out of the hut. Had she been running too? How could she go so fast with Ezinma on her back? Although the night was cool. When everyone had drunk two or three horns. Okonkwo stood by the pit."Yes. A deathly silence descended on Okonkwo's compound. "He seemed to speak through his nose.Of his three wives Ekwefi was the only one who would have the audacity to bang on his door. and Okonkwo's women and children heard from their huts all that she said. These women never saw the inside of the hut.""They have indeed soiled the name of ozo. It was a cry in the distance: oji odu aru ijiji-o-o! (The one that uses its tail to drive flies away!). endless space in the presence of Agbala. I have learned to be stingy with my yams.

As Idigo had said. I am worried about Nwoye. He continued:"During the last planting season a white man had appeared in their clan. sang for mercy. and men dashed about in frenzy. The first rains were late."Early in the afternoon the first two pots of palm-wine arrived from Obierika's in-laws. Does a man speak when a god speaks? Beware!"She walked through Okonkwo's hut into the circular compound and went straight toward Ekwefi's hut. Obiageli brought up the rear. In Umunso they do not bargain at all. He passed her a piece of fish." she replied." said Okonkwo. holding her breasts with her hands to stop them flapping noisily against her body. Ezinma placed her mother's dish before him and sat with Obiageli. There was no festival in all the seasons of the year which gave her as much pleasure as the wrestling match. and asked no questions.But stories were already gaining ground that the white man had not only brought a religion but also a government. That was why Okonkwo had been Chosen by the nine villages to carry a message of war to their enemies unless they agreed to give up a young man and a virgin to atone for the murder of Udo's wife. They were silent for a long time. but he did not answer. Nothing that happened in the world of the animals ever escaped his notice. Okonkwo stood by.

"He took down the pot from the fire and placed it in front of the stool.Okonkwo sat in his obi crunching happily with Ikemefuna and Nwoye. whereupon his father beat him heavily." He looked at Okonkwo. 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."Where does Agbala want to see her?" Ekwefi asked. They were grieved by the indignity and mourned for their neglected farms. An osu could not attend an assembly of the free-born. For three or four moons it demanded hard work and constant attention from cock-crow till the chickens went back to roost.As the man who had cleared his throat drew up and raised his machete. He raised his voice once or twice in manly sorrow and then sat down with the other men listening to the endless wailing of the women and the esoteric language of the ekwe. A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet. They sang the latest song in the village:" If I hold her handShe says. "Welcome." said the leader of the ecjwucjwu. Listen to me and I shall tell you. And what was more. the fear of the forest. As soon as she became pregnant she went to live with her old mother in another village. He had cracked them himself. "We do not ask for wealth because he that has health and children will also have wealth.Ikemefuna had begun to feel like a member of Okonkwo's family. "His shell broke into pieces.

Okonkwo was sitting on a goatskin already eating his first wife's meal. "one would think he never sucked at his mother's breast.""What has happened?" asked Okonkwo. I have only called you together because it is good for kinsmen to meet. with her suitor and his relatives. "Mother Kite once sent her daughter to bring food."Who taps your tall trees for you?" asked Obierika. and no longer rebuked him or beat him. It was the poetry of the new religion. When they returned Ukegbu handed the bundle of sticks back to Obierika. When all seemed ready he let himself go. The pots of wine stood in their midst. But Ekwefi could not see her. a vibrant silence made more intense by the universal trill of a million million forest insects. As for his converts. Okonkwo!" she warned." The three rose and went outside." said Okonkwo.His anger thus satisfied. It is almost dawn. He knew that he was a fierce fighter. if they were stubborn. The drums begin at noon but the wrestling waits until the sun begins to sink.

breakfast was hastily eaten and women and children began to gather at Obierika's compound to help the bride's mother in her difficult but happy task of cooking for a whole village. He sang."I was coming over to see you as soon as I finished that thatch. Okonkwo walked behind him." said Okonkwo.' he thought as he looked at his ten-year-old daughter. She rose.The drummers stopped for a brief rest before the real matches. Uchendu. and when he died he was buried by his kind in the Evil Forest. Evil Forest then stood up. "We shall give them a piece of land."That was all he had said. A chick that will grow into a cock can be spotted the very day it hatches. away from the gates of God and from the tender shepherd's care. reappeared every year for seven years and then disappeared for another lifetime. She prepared it the way he liked??with slices of oil-bean and fish. One of them was a pathetic cry. But you lived long. The spirit of wars was upon them. He picked it up. A palm-oil lamp gave out yellowish light. But it is your turn now.

"Tell them.""Is he staying long with us?" she asked. I shall pay my big debts first. All the other dancers made way for her. just a little bigger than the round opening into a henhouse. But you were a fearless warrior."Okonkwo has spoken the truth. No punishment was prescribed for a man who killed the python knowingly. Those who found themselves nearest to them merely moved to another seat." She sat down and stretched her legs in front of her. one of the people of the sky came forward and tasted a little from each pot." continued Odukwe.Ikemefuna had begun to feel like a member of Okonkwo's family. and they nodded their heads. "is it true that when people are grown up." He turned again to Okonkwo and said. She went back to the hut and brought her pot. Is it right that you. Many people laughed at his dialect and the way he used words strangely." said Obierika."Don't be afraid. Young men pounded the foo-foo or split firewood.In the morning the market place was full.

"Okonkwo brought the wine and they began to drink. my daughter. Di-go-go-di-go. Ekwefi was reassured. And it began to shake and rattle.At this point an old man said he had a question. "I marvel at what the Lord hath wrought.""Ee-e-e!"The oldest man in the camp of the visitors replied: "It will be good for you and it will be good for us. He could not do anything without telling her. There are only two of them.Low voices."Everybody in the assembly spoke. they kept their imagination to themselves. Like all good farmers." he said and cleared his throat. Okoye rolled his goatskin and departed. And so he changed the subject and talked about music. tall. It was not the same Chielo who sat with her in the market and sometimes bought beancakes for Ezinma. A bond of sympathy had grown between them as the years had passed.- instead of thirty there were now only fifteen. So I have brought the matter to the fathers of the clan. "Are you mad?"Okonkwo did not answer.

And there he stood in his hard shell full of food and wine but without any wings to fly home. Her suitor and his relatives surveyed her young body with expert eyes as if to assure themselves that she was beautiful and ripe. Would he recognize her now? She must have grown quite big. Most of the men and women of Abame had gone to their farms. and went round the circle shaking hands with all. Ozoemena??"May it not happen again. The old man who received him was his mother's younger brother. impotent ash.The crowd set out with Ezinma leading the way and Okagbue following closely behind her. Okonkwo was only a boy then and Uchendu still remembered him crying the traditional farewell: "Mother. It was a good riddance."When he killed Oduche in the fight over the land." said Ekwefi. She went in and knocked at his door and he came out." he said. Although they come from a village that is known for being closefisted. and old men and women would remember their youth. Once or twice he tried to run away. and allowed a brief pause."He was not an albino. and he said so with much threatening. But let us ostracize these men. To crown it all he had taken two titles and had shown incredible prowess in two inter-tribal wars.

Maduka. of course.Suddenly Okagbue sprang to the surface with the agility of a leopard. white dregs and said. but he had never yet come across them. who was also the youngest man in the group. Ezinma? Agbala wants to see her." said Uchendu. let him follow Nwoye now while I am alive so that I can curse him. It was a day old. the earth goddess and the source of all fertility. who had been walking about aimlessly in his compound in suppressed anger." she said. "Life to you. It was like pouring grains of corn into a bag full of holes. The missionaries had come to Umuofia. The only work that men did at this time was covering the walls of their compound with new palm fronds. "So look after him.Nwoye's younger brothers were about to tell their mother the true story of the accident when Ikemefuna looked at them sternly and they held their peace. The palm fronds were helpless in keeping them back. whose sad story is still told in Umuofia unto this day. But the boy was afraid of him and slipped out of the hut as soon as he noticed him dozing. he had not slept at all last night.

All the other dancers made way for her." he said as he went. Okonkwo wondered what was amiss. Okagbue worked tirelessly and in silence. And so although Okonkwo was still young." said Okonkwo."There is too much green vegetable. Age was respected among his people. Uchendu. and sleepy. 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. broke into life and activity. It was the time for treading red earth with which to build walls.Okonkwo shook his head doubtfully. came to visit him. Although they come from a village that is known for being closefisted. "I remember when I was a young boy there was a song about them. He was light in complexion and his eyes were red and fiery. The women had come to the church with empty waterpots. passing back the disc. machetes. "my eyelid is twitching." he said.

" said Mr. Unoka prayed to their ancestors for life and health. He died of the swelling which was an abomination to the earth goddess. Okonkwo looked away. They had no hatred in their hearts against Okonkwo. She pulled again and it came off. Soon after. but to settle the dispute. When they were out of earshot." he said quietly to Ezinma. Once or twice he tried to run away." They were hard and painful on the body as they fell. She sometimes broke into a run and stopped again suddenly. who at once paid the heavy fine which the village imposed on anyone whose cow was let loose on his neighbors' crops. He still remembered the song:Eze elina.All this had happened more than a year ago and Ezinma had not been ill since. saluted the spirits and began his story. that is not the beginning."Ekwefi did as she was asked. Okonkwo always asked his wives' relations." he had said. She was called Crystal of Beauty. She will bear you nine sons like the mother of our town.

Such was Unoka's fate. it is play'. as everybody knew they would. Nwoye's mother was very kind to him and treated him as one of her own children. "Let us hear Odukwe. the interpreter. Okonkwo knew how to kill a man's spirit. "All the gods you have named are not gods at all. "when she was pregnant. Perhaps she has come to stay.He sighed heavily. "I shall carry you on my back. She will bear you nine sons like the mother of our town. As she stood gazing at the circular darkness which had swallowed them. and each party brought with them a huge pot of palm-wine."That was many years ago. fresh yams and not the shriveled and fibrous crop of the previous year. He drank palm-wine from morning till night. his half-sister. "Ee-e-e!""We are giving you our daughter today. Unoka. The first cup went to Okonkwo. Even in those days he was not a man of many words.

"honest men and thieves. or ndichie. Kiaga was going to send into the village for his men-converts when he saw them coming on their own. One of them was a pathetic cry.In the morning the market place was full.They came in the cold harmattan season after the harvests had been gathered. Ekwefi quickly took her to their bedroom and placed her on their high bamboo bed. who also counted them and said:"We had not thought to go below thirty. 1 owe them no cocoyams. Tortoise's wife sent for him and he gathered all the bits of shell and stuck them together. she thought. No. I have already spoken to you about him. Ukegbu counted them. he." asked Obierika. The heathen say you will die if you do this or that. It was then that the one-handed spirit came. before the first cock-crow. but achievement was revered. She had married Anene because Okonkwo was too poor then to marry."Ezinma began to cry.At first.

Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But Chielo ignored what he was trying to say and went on shouting that Agbala wanted to see his daughter. Even a man's motherland is strange to him nowadays. Okonkwo's house was on the way to the stream." He looked in the direction of Okonkwo. Ezinma.Yam." Some of them had big sticks and some even machetes. "I warned Nwankwo to keep a sharp eye and a sharp ear. They saluted one another and then reappeared on the ilo. She was very heavy with child. everybody knew by instinct that they were very good to eat. Okonkwo.'Ask my dead father if he ever had a fowl when he was alive."What does it all mean?" asked Mr. took out two leaves and began to chew them. Nwoye would feign annoyance and grumble aloud about women and their troubles."And why did you not say so. dressed in garbs of war. now desperate. but never heard its voice. The other wives drank in the same way.Having sworn that oath.

it is for you. she had said. When all was laid out. that man was okonkwo. And so when Okonkwo of Umuofia arrived at Mbaino as the proud and imperious emissary of war.' said her mother."He gave his mother seven baskets of vegetables to cook and in the end there were only three. who sat next to him. calling him "Our father. On ordinary days young women who desired children came to sit under its shade. He cleared his throat and began:"Thank you for the kola. the beating of drums and the brandishing and clanging of machetes increased. and he knew that his father wanted him to be a man.' said Mother Kite. Kiaga. She went on fanning it until it burst into flames."When they had eaten. A man can now leave his father and his brothers. He remembered the story she often told of the quarrel between Earth and Sky long ago. Each of them carried a long cane basket. It was always quiet except on moonlight nights. One of the things every man learned was the language of the hollowed-out wooden instrument. "Your daughter will bear us sons like you.