Nwoye's mother and Ojiugo would provide the other things like smoked fish.

"It was in the second year of Okonkwo's exile that his friend
"It was in the second year of Okonkwo's exile that his friend. and they ran for their lives. before the first cock-crow. They must have used a powerful medicine to make themselves invisible until the market was full."1 don't know. His mother might be dead. If it does its power will be gone. It was full of meat and fish." Altogether there were fifty pots of wine. and how Sky withheld rain for seven years. When the moon rose late in the night. and any time he passed her way he told Ear that he was still alive. her moments of depression when she would snap at everybody like an angry dog.""They dare not bring fewer than thirty pots. he was treated with great honor and respect." They offered them as much of the Evil Forest as they cared to take. Uchendu before her. The personal dynamism required to counter the forces of these extremes of weather would be far too great for the human frame. sat near the fireplace waiting for the water in the pot to boil. When they did.

And in fairness to Umuofia it should be recorded that it never went to war unless its case was clear and just and was accepted as such by its Oracle - the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves.""It was always said that Ndulue and Ozoemena had one mind. confident voice. and the planting began. Then he would show his wealth by initiating his sons into the ozo society. dug her teeth into the real thing. such as befitted a noble warrior. The cannon seemed to rend the sky.The men then continued their drinking and talking. He immediately set to work digging a pit where Ezinma had indicated. She stood for a while. and Maduka brought in a pot of palm-wine. not even with broomsticks. He had sown four hundred seeds when the rains dried up and the heat returned."Who killed this tree? Or are you all deaf and dumb?"As a matter of fact the tree was very much alive. After such treatment it would think twice before coming again. But that was only to be expected.The night was very quiet."Perhaps I have been away too long. in spite of his failings in other directions.

I have cleared a farm but have no yams to sow."Umuofia kwenu!""Yaa!""Umuofia kwenu!""Yaa!"Evil Forest then thrust the pointed end of his rattling staff into the earth."Locusts are descending. It was the fear of himself.""You were very much like that yourself."Come along. Okonkwo brought out kola nut and placed it before the priest. Three converts had gone into the village and boasted openly that all the gods were dead and impotent and that they were prepared to defy them by burning all their shrines. They will not allow us into the markets." she replied.""It is indeed true. but I shall be happy if you marry in Umuofia when we return home. She broke them into little pieces across the sole of her foot and began to build a fire. And then after another lifetime these men opened the caves again and the locusts came to Umuofia. This man told him that the child was an ogbanje. When everyone had drunk two or three horns. His name was Nwoye. I would have asked you to bring courage. "You look very tired. Indeed he respected him for his industry and success.

and thank Okonkwo for having looked after him so well and for bringing him back. But a few years later she ran away from her husband and came to live with Okonkwo. It was Okonkwo's uncle. who was once the village beauty. Okonkwo. Mr." came her voice. And then the locusts came. somewhat indulgently. He worshipped them with sacrifices of kola nut. But on further thought he told himself that Nwoye was not worth fighting for.""How did they get hold of Ancto to hang him?" asked Okonkwo. I have come to pay you my respects and also to ask a favor. And whenever the moon forsook evening and rose at cock-crow the nights were as black as charcoal. Our elders say that the sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on those who kneel under them.An iron gong sounded. Ezinma struggled to escape from the choking and overpowering steam."When they had cut the goats' throats and collected the blood in a bowl." He prayed especially for Okonkwo and his family. with her suitor and his relatives.

She miscarried after she had gone to sleep with her lover. The water began to boil. The goat was then led back to the inner compound. There were nine of them. who said he should die. Ikemefuna felt like a child once more. Ekwefi had nothing but good wishes for her. Ekwefi trudged along between two fears.At last the young man who was pouring out the wine held up half a horn of the thick. butwhenever she thought she saw their shape it immediately dissolved like a melting lump of darkness. Young men and boys in single file. it could also mean a man who had taken no title." he said. Okonkwo wondered what was amiss. Work no longer had for him the pleasure it used to have. and they no longer spent the evenings in his mother's hut while she cooked. I sow the yams when the first rain has fallen. As soon as she became pregnant she went to live with her old mother in another village. and they no longer spent the evenings in his mother's hut while she cooked. Most of the men and women of Abame had gone to their farms.

but when they went away Okonkwo sat still for a very long time supporting his chin in his palms. The crowd had surrounded and swallowed up the drummers. Ekwefi then became defiant and called her next child Onwuma??"Death may please himself. He had a large barn full of yams and he had three wives. that the girl should go to Ogbuefi Udo to replace his murdered wife. Ogbuefi Idigo was talking about the palm-wine tapper.After the wine had been drunk Okonkwo laid his difficulties before Nwakibie. and about some effeminate men who had refused to come with them. Nwoye went to his mother's hut and told her that Ikemefuna was going home. When a man blasphemes. but they never brought them into the village. or obi. who was now the eldest surviving member of that family. "We are going directly.""In future call her into your obi. "But if the Oracle said that my son should be killed I would neither dispute it nor be the one to do it." Obierika thought." replied Obierika. blew into it to remove any dust that might be there."Come and show me the exact spot.

Some of them did become tired of their evil rounds of birth and death. But the song spread in Umuofia. nine wives and thirty children. And what is the result? An abominable religion has settled among you. He worked. and soon returned with a bowl of cool water from the earthen pot in her mother's hut. Dazed with fear.""It was always said that Ndulue and Ozoemena had one mind. 1 know how to deal with them. a huge wooden face painted white except for the round hollow eyes and the charred teeth that were as big as a man's fingers. "before 1 put any crop in the earth. Many people laughed at his dialect and the way he used words strangely. He had had the same kind of feeling not long ago." said one of them. As the rain began to fall more soberly and in smaller liquid drops. As far as the villagers were concerned. My case is finished. Whenever Nwoye's mother sang this song he felt carried away to the distant scene in the sky where Vulture. At any rate."That was many years ago.

Then it went nearer and named the village: " Iguedo of the yellow grinding-stone!" It was Okonkwo's village." said the young man Who had been sent by Obierika to buy the giant goat "There are so many people on it that if you threw up a grain of sand it would not find a way to fall to earth again. I also kill a cock at the shrine of Ifejioku. Throughout that day Nwoye sat in his mother's hut and tears stood in his eyes." said Obierika. 'but tell me.He brought with him two young men."Nwakibie cleared his throat."Two years ago. facing the elders and grandees of the clan. in turn."After the kola nut had been eaten Okonkwo brought his palm- wine from the corner of the hut where it had been placed and stood it in the center of the group.That year the harvest was sad. Some of them did become tired of their evil rounds of birth and death." came the voice like a sharp knife cutting through the night. which was only broken when a new palm frond was lifted on to the wall or when a busy hen moved dry leaves about in her ceaseless search for food. But although Okonkwo was a great man whose prowess was universally acknowledged. The relationship between them was not only that of mother and child."But you said it was where they bury children?" asked the medicine man. "The children are still very young.

"Okonkwo brought the wine and they began to drink. Okonkwo was only a boy then and Uchendu still remembered him crying the traditional farewell: "Mother. Even the very little children seemed to know. she had said. Nothing that happened in the world of the animals ever escaped his notice.From that day Amikwu took the young bride and she became his wife. burning torches were set on wooden tripods and the young men raised a song. She was afraid of what might happen if Chielo suddenly turned round and saw her. A proud heart can survive a general failure because such failure does not prick its pride.Ekwefi still had some cassava left on her farm from the previous year. She shut her eyes for a while and opened them again in an effort to see. He had discerned a clear overtone of tragedy in the crier's voice. holding the ancestral staff of the family." said his father. What did they know about the man?" He ground his teeth again and told a story to illustrate his point. Then the crier gave his message. It was like a man wondering in broad daylight why a dream had appeared so terrible to him at night."He gave his mother seven baskets of vegetables to cook and in the end there were only three. It was a tremendous sight. in your obi or in her own hut?" asked the medicine man.

You know as well as I do that our forefathers ordained that before we plant any crops in the earth we should observe a week in which a man does not say a harsh word to his neighbor. And he was already beginning to know some of the simple stories they told. Chielo.""Too much of his grandfather."Odukwe was short and thickset. and Okeke says we should pretend not to see." lied Nwoye's mother. tangled hair. before they finally left for their village.He went back to the church and told Mr.Ekwefi had suffered a good deal in her life." said Obierika. They were merely cleansing the land which Okonkwo had polluted with the blood of a clansman. Umuofia has decided to kill him. Uzowulu. The air was full of dust and the smell of gunpowder. Ezinma. "before i learned how to tap."There was immediate excitement and those who were sitting jumped to their feet. 'Your dead father wants you to sacrifice a goat to him.

You have committed a great evil. And he did pounce on people quite often. and about some effeminate men who had refused to come with them." he said. Okonkwo's first son. indeed.""Ee-e-e!""And this will not be the last. who was now in charge of the infant congregation." said Ekwefi." Okonkwo said. After a few more hoe-fuls of earth he struck the iyi-uwa. to honor the earth goddess and the ancestral spirits of the clan. The palm fronds were helpless in keeping them back.When the mat was at last removed she was drenched in perspiration. young and old.But there was a young lad who had been captivated. That was a source of great sorrow to the leaders of the clan. It was a cry in the distance: oji odu aru ijiji-o-o! (The one that uses its tail to drive flies away!)."Tell my wife. A man belongs to his fatherland and not to his motherland.

"The medicine man then ordered that there should be no mourning for the dead child. Unfortunately for her Okonkwo heard it and ran madly into his room for the loaded gun. who sat next to him. Uzowulu. and Odukwe bent down and touched the earth. and soon returned with a bowl of cool water from the earthen pot in her mother's hut. Everybody knew she was an ogbanje. and soon the children were chasing one of their cocks."Where have you been?" he stammered. I know it as I look at you.""It is like the story of white men who. and the polite name for leprosy was "the white skin. This was before the planting season began. "But if the Oracle said that my son should be killed I would neither dispute it nor be the one to do it. was telling two other men who came to visit him that the punishment for breaking the Peace of Ani had become very mild in their clan. They thought the priestess might be going to her house. The old man listened silently to the end and then said with some relief: "It is a female ochu. beat me up and took my wife and children away. The egwugwu house into which they emerged faced the forest. But Ezinma had seen clearly all the thought and hidden meaning behind the few words.

Brown. At the opposite end of the compound was a shed for the goats."Who killed this banana tree?" he asked."It was my husband's."On what market-day was it born?" he asked. to Obierika's compound. And so they each took a new name. Once or twice he tried to run away.At the beginning of their journey the men of Umuofia talked and laughed about the locusts. Some said Ezimili. And so the stranger had brought him. The two judges were already moving forward to separate them when Ikezue. But when a father beats his child. who had been talking."Five women stayed behind to look after the cooking-pots. said Ezeugo."But this particular night was dark and silent. But there were some too who came because they had friends in our town.""The Earth cannot punish me for obeying her messenger. It was said that they had built a place of judgment in Umuofia to protect the followers of their religion.

and he owed every neighbor some money. All that is true.- and in this way the cover was strengthened on the wall. because their dreaded agadi-nwayi would never fight what the Ibo call a fight of blame. long ago." replied Odukwe. I know what it is to ask a man to trust another with his yams. but not today. the "medicine house" or shrine where Okonkwo kept the wooden symbols of his personal god and of his ancestral spirits. Obierika."1 have told you to let her alone." He turned again to Okonkwo and said. She trudged slowly along. Ekwefi hurried to the main footpath and turned left in the direction of the voice. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace. That is all I am good for now. She immediately dropped her pestle with which she was grinding pepper. his three wives and eight children. and the quiet spectators murmured to themselves." He paused.

She has the right spirit. fifth and sixth years. and he gave to Vulture rain wrapped in leaves of coco-yam. and its priests and medicine men were feared in all the surrounding country. Some years the harmattan was very severe and a dense haze hung on the atmosphere. The priestess was now saluting the village of Umuachi. It was a good riddance.' said the young kite. his face beaming with blessedness and peace. The young ailing girl who had caused her mother so much heartache had been transformed. having enough in his barn to feed the ancestors with regular sacrifices. a man who pays respect to the great paves the way for his own greatness. She placed Ezinma carefully on the bed and went away without saying a word to anybody.Umuofia had indeed changed during the seven years Okonkwo had been in exile. He changed them every day. He was ill for three market weeks. An animal rubs its itching flank against a tree. "1 have brought you this little kola.Anasi was a middle-aged woman."Where have you been?" he stammered.

The crime was of two kinds. Some of these prisoners had thrown away their twins and some had molested the Christians."Have you slept enough?" asked her mother. The elders consulted their Oracle and it told them that the strange man would break their clan and spread destruction among them."Tell my wife. But they soon returned and everyone was gazing at the rag from a reasonable distance. Let us give them a real battlefield in which to show their victory. But it is your turn now. and the man growled at him to go on and not stand looking back. But somehow he knew he was not going to see them. As for Ikemefuna. the farthest village in the clan.""It is the result of a great medicine. And although she believed that the iyi-uwa which had been dug up was genuine. In the center of the crowd a boy lay in a pool of blood. So I shall ask you to come again the way you came before. Okonkwo's youngest wife also came out and joined the others." ';. His name was Nwakibie and he had taken the highest but one title which a man could take in the clan. for as soon as the first rain came farming would begin.

Mosquito. who was the eldest of the nine sons. I would not have believed. They do not decide bride-price as we do. The crowd followed her silently. there was no other way. He even remembered how he had laughed when Ikemefuna told him that the proper name for a corn cob with only a few scattered grains was eze-agadi-nwayi. As soon as she became pregnant she went to live with her old mother in another village. And she went into her hut to warm the vegetable soup she had cooked last night. Ani played a greater part in the life of the people than any other diety. Everybody had been invited??men. But I can trust you."I beg you to accept this little kola. Everybody was killed. His two younger brothers are more promising. It descended on him again. Ezeudu was the oldest man in this quarter of Umuofia. Why should I? But the Oracle did not ask me to carry out its decision. His name was Uchendu. Kiaga.

" he said. "Bear no hand in his death."As they stood there together. Okonkwo and the boys worked in complete silence. 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. It was true they were rescuing twins from the bush. A great evil has come upon their land as the Oracle had warned. You grew your ears for decoration. but that year-had been enough to break the heart of a lion. Ekwefi mopped her with a piece of cloth and she lay down on a dry mat and was soon asleep."I was coming over to see you as soon as I finished that thatch. And he told them about this new God." said one of the cousins. some of them with their water-pots to the stream. He held out his hands to them when they came into his obi. The dark top soil soon gave way to the bright red earth with which women scrubbed the floors and walls of huts. "It's true that a child belongs to its father."'We know you too well. All the women shouted with joy because Ekwefi's troubles were at last ended."Do what you are told.

But the Ibo people have a proverb that when a man says yes his chi says yes also."The missionary ignored him and went on to talk about the Holy Trinity. Ezinma took it to him in his obi.""It was always said that Ndulue and Ozoemena had one mind. He heard the blow. but if one picked out the flute as it went up and down and then broke up into short snatches. who had been walking about aimlessly in his compound in suppressed anger. Unoka. He had called the first child born to him in exile Nneka??"Mother is Supreme"??out of politeness to his mother's kinsmen. Okonkwo on his bamboo bed tried to figure out the nature of the emergency - war with a neighboring clan? That seemed the most likely reason. Okonkwo's first wife." he said. "But if the Oracle said that my son should be killed I would neither dispute it nor be the one to do it. And there were indeed occasions when the Oracle had forbidden Umuofia to wage a war. forty.""What will I see?" she asked. he was treated with great honor and respect.Okonkwo planted what was left of his seed-yams when the rains finally returned. like leprosy and smallpox. They will serve you when I have eaten.

But some of these losses were not irreparable. As for his converts. and even in the trees. and one almost heard them stretching to breaking point.The next morning the crazy men actually began to clear a part of the forest and to build their house. with sticks. he had not slept at all last night. Violent deaths were frequent. but now sat with Okonkwo in his obi. gazing into a log fire. The drums begin at noon but the wrestling waits until the sun begins to sink. but nothing came out. It was such a forest that. who was once the village beauty. As soon as Uchendu saw him with his sad and weary company he guessed what had happened. who only stayed in the hope that it might come to chasing the men out of the village or whipping them. "Your daughter will bear us sons like you. "that Abame is no more?""How is that?" asked Uchendu and Okonkwo together.""An albino. Nwoye's mother and Ojiugo would provide the other things like smoked fish.