living in a special area of the village. Nwayieke lived four compounds away."The market of Umuike is a wonderful place. And so although Okonkwo was still young.

Then the rain became less violent
Then the rain became less violent."1 don't know. he was repentant. No one had actually seen the man do it." said Obierika. asked her""Remember that if you do not answer truthfully you will suffer or even die at childbirth. her voice cracking like the angry bark of thunder in the dry season. all of a sudden."I wish she were a boy. "Are you afraid you may dissolve?"The harvesting was easy. and at the end he had been taken out and handed over to a stranger. I would sooner strangle him with my own hands.After the death of Ekwefi's second child. Even the enemy clan knew that.It was a great funeral. "Your daughter will bear us sons like you. Nwoye." the others replied. Nwoye's sister.Later.

Even Mgbafo took to her heels and had to be restrained by her brothers. Early that morning as he offered a sacrifice of new yam and palm oil to his ancestors he asked them to protect him.""Is he well?" asked Nwoye. with which he made two wings. and the polite name for leprosy was "the white skin. "Life to you."It will not take us long to harvest as much as we like." said Uchendu to his peers when they consulted among themselves. Tortoise was very happy and voluble as he flew among the birds. But what of our own people who are following their way and have been given power? They would go to Umuru and bring the soldiers." replied Okoye. It always surprised him when he thought of it later that he did not sink under the load of despair. and it was their counsel that prevailed in the end. That was a favorite saying of children."Don't you know what kind of man Uzowulu is? He will not listen to any other decision. But Okagbue said he was not tired yet. his son's crime stood out in its stark enormity. Then it occurred to her that they could not have been heading for the cave. too busy to argue."Agbala do-o-o-o! Agbala ekeneo-o-o-o! ??" Chielo began once again to chant greetings to her god.

silence returned to the world. that Ekwensu." Okonkwo threatened.She had prayed for the moon to rise. The man who dug it up was the same Okagbue who was famous in all the clan for his knowledge in these matters. and the tuber was pulled out. Unoka. "Mother Kite once sent her daughter to bring food. But it would be impolite to rush him." replied the other. reached Okonkwo from his wives' huts as each woman and her children told folk stories. 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."Go and tell Akueke's mother that we have finished. who had brought it from her mother's hut. You yourselves took her. It was said that they had built a place of judgment in Umuofia to protect the followers of their religion. nearly half a day's journey away. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart. decorating them with a colorful and plaintive tune. as on that day.

And then Nkechi came in. the owner of all land. That was the way the clan at first looked at it. Unoka. They would go to such hosts for as long as three or four markets. An osu could not attend an assembly of the free-born." Ekwefi said to the woman who had stood shoulder to shoulder with her since the beginning of the matches. It was there that her third child was born and circumcised on the eighth day. He had therefore put his drinking-horn into his goatskin bag for the occasion. 1 know more about the world than any of you."Oye. He was carried to the Evil Forest and left there to die.The two teams were ranged facing each other across the clear space. sandy footway began to throw up the heat that lay buried in it. If one says no to the other. He changed them every day. He was a good eater and he could drink one or two fairly big gourds of palm-wine. And there he stood in his hard shell full of food and wine but without any wings to fly home. woman. It looked like whispering.

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."I don't know why such a trifle should come before the said one elder to another. Then there was perfect silence. And perhaps those not so young would be playing in pairs in less open places. 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." he said." said Ezelagbo. Uchendu pulled gently at his gray beard and gnashed his teeth. Her deepening despair found expression in the names she gave her children. There were nine of them."None. An evil forest was. and the quiet spectators murmured to themselves." said Obierika."The market of Umuike is a wonderful place. and although ailing she seemed determined to live."Yes. And as he told them of the past they sat in darkness or the dim glow of logs. followed by Akueke. Her back was turned on the footpath that led out of the hills.

Odukwe continued:"Last year when my sister was recovering from an illness.There were seven men in Obierika's hut when Okonkwo returned."Nwakibie cleared his throat."For the first time in three nights. Nwakibie brought down his own horn. It was a good riddance.Ekwefi went into her hut to cook yams. Okonkwo. as if he was going to pounce on somebody." said the leader of the ecjwucjwu. And so he changed the subject and talked about music.""Not before you have had your breakfast. Do you hear that. Now that she walked slowly she had time to think. became for Ekwefi mere physical agony devoid of promise. when Ogbuefi Ezeudu came in. and when they had seen it and thanked him." said Obiageli. After that nothing happened for a long time between the church and the clan. He knew it must be Ekwefi.

Ekwefi broke into a run as though to stop them. But after a while this custom was stopped because it spoiled the peace which it was meant to preserve.Ekwefi peeled the yams quickly."We have now built a church. Once in a while two young men carrying palm fronds ran round the circle and kept the crowd back by beating the ground in front of them or. As our people say." Okonkwo was surprised. she was dead. Okonkwo. the old man supporting himself with his stick. But they were still alive. of all people. unlike most children. but every farmer knew that without sunshine the tubers would not grow. "Ozoemena was. Those were good days when a man had friends in distant clans. I owe them no yams. I owe that man a thousand cowries. Do not bear a hand in his death. The glowing logs only served to light up vaguely the dark figure of the priestess.

He would be very much happier working on his farm. And they were all gay. gazed at it a while and went away again??to the underworld. He knew that Nwakibie would not refuse him. The air was full of dust and the smell of gunpowder.The land of the living was not far removed from the domain of the ancestors. "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. "You will find a pot of wine there." And he took another pinch of snuff. and she agreed also. They argued for a short while and fell into silence again.' said her mother. For how else could he explain his great misfortune and exile and now his despicable son's behavior? Now that he had time to think of it. It was instinctive." he said. not even for fear of a goddess. She explained to her why they should not marry yet." said Ojiugo. Even the very little children seemed to know. a light rain had fallen during the night and the soil would not be very hard.

" Nwoye's mother said. "It is not to pay you back for all you did for me in these seven years. In short."But you said it was where they bury children?" asked the medicine man. and his bushy eyebrows and wide nose gave him a very severe look. The pit was now so deep that they no longer saw the digger." said the old man. her left palm closed on her fish and her eyes gleaming with tears.Some farmers had not planted their yams yet. fantastic figures that dissolved under her steady gaze and then formed again in new shapes. Ekwefi uttered a scream and sprang to her feet. You stay at home. 'but tell me. Nwoye. That week they won a handful more converts. like leprosy and smallpox. a loud cheer rose from the crowd. He was merely led into greater complexities. "It pleases me to see a young man like you these days when our youth has gone so soft. when Ogbuefi Ezeudu came in.

" said Ofoedu. because the cold and dry harmattan wind was blowing Ugg Metallic Bootsdown Irom the north." the convert maintained. When they did.""You sound as if you question the authority and the decision of the Oracle. The troublesome nanny-goat sniffed about. and so they suffered. "who will protect us from the anger of our neglected gods and ancestors?""Your gods are not alive and cannot do you any harm. His wives and children were very happy too. If you turn against me when I am dead I will visit you and break your neck. The hearing then began. but Okonkwo sat unmoved. his heels hardly touched the ground and he seemed to walk on springs. that man was okonkwo. As soon as Uchendu saw him with his sad and weary company he guessed what had happened." he said.These outcasts. It was clear that the bags were full of cowries. Okonkwo was only a boy then and Uchendu still remembered him crying the traditional farewell: "Mother. for that was his father's name.

On his head were two powerful horns. Why do the nations rage and the peoples imagine a vain thing? He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. and it came floating on the wind. Chielo passed by. and the children reveled in the thought of being spoiled by these visitors from the motherland. and two days later he returned home with a lad of fifteen and a young virgin. and her arms folded across her breasts. and only one or two men in any generation ever achieved the fourth and highest. whose eyes. Once in a while two young men carrying palm fronds ran round the circle and kept the crowd back by beating the ground in front of them or. They sang his praise and the young women clapped their hands:"Who will wrestle for our village?Okafo will wrestle for our village. Some of them were not at home and only four came in. touching the earth. but it was too far to see what they were. afraid of your next-door neighbor. and she said so." said an old man. and to soften his heart with a song of the suffering of the sons of men. But you were a fearless warrior." He filled the first horn and gave to his father.

and you can teach us the things of the new faith.Ikemefuna came to Umuofia at the end of the carefree season between harvest and planting. Her husband had brought out more yams than usual because the medicine man had to be fed. His own hut. Unoka loved the good hire and the good fellowship. The drums beat the unmistakable wrestling dance - quick. My mother was one of you.When they had all gathered. and the tuber was pulled out. The children were also decorated."Uzowulu's body. He had a large compound enclosed by a thick wall of red earth. Ukegbu counted them. Every man rose in order of years and took a share. egusi soup and bitter-leaf soup and pots and pots of palm-wine. His eldest brother broke the first one.Ikezue held out his right hand. I did not hang myself. They went outside again. Unoka.

"He gave his mother seven baskets of vegetables to cook and in the end there were only three. Now Ekwefi was a woman of forty-five who had suffered a great deal in her time. and. It must have been a very long time. as was the custom. It was like a wedding feast.Am oyim de de de de! flew around the dark. urging the others to hurry up. and it came floating on the wind. and earth rose. he thought. Okonkwo said yes very strongly." he bellowed a fifth time. That was in fact the reason why he had come to see Unoka. And for many days this rare food was eaten with solid palm-oil. Nobody thought that such a thing could ever happen. At one stage Ekwefi was so afraid that she nearly called out to Chielo for companionship and human sympathy. and others prepared vegetable soup. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. but she was held down.

And so people said he had no respect for the gods of the clan. that they have strayed from their way to a land where everybody is like them?"Okonkwo's first wife soon finished her cooking and set before their guests a big meal of pounded yams and bitter-leaf soup. on their backs and their thighs. one hen. "If a man comes into my hut and defecates on the floor."Is that enough?" she asked when she had poured in about half of the water in the bowl. Nwoye's mother is already cooking.Ekwefi did not answer.The night was impenetrably dark. The saying of the elders was not true??that if a man said yea his chi also affirmed. the fear of the forest. Nwoye turned round to walk into the inner compound when his father. with which he made two wings."Come and shake hands with me."That woman standing there is my wife.The elders of the clan had decided that Ikemefuna should be in Okonkwo's care for a while. fresh yams and not the shriveled and fibrous crop of the previous year. and he prayed to the ancestors. Ogbuefi Ezeugo was a powerful orator and was always chosen to speak on such occasions. somewhat lamely.

'There is nothing to fear from someone who shouts. It was a day old. An oil lamp was lit and Okonkwo tasted from each bowl. And so everybody came to see the white man. The married women wore their best cloths and the girls wore red and black waist-beads and anklets of brass. But he was not a failure like Unoka. you can tell a ripe corn by its look.. "she will bring you back very soon. Nwoye knew that Ikemefuna had been killed.""They are not all that young. He was roused in the morning by someone banging on his door. who went to plait her hair at her friend's house and did not return early enough to cook the afternoon meal. And when a man is at peace with his gods and his ancestors. After her father's rebuke she developed an even keener appetite for eggs. She presented the cock to the musicians and began to dance. Okonkwo."Ekwefi turned the hen over in the mortar and began to pluck the feathers. It was a very expensive ceremony and he was gathering all his resources together. The clan saw no reason then for molesting the Christians.

Okonkwo took the bowl from her and gulped the water down. hungry to do harm to the living. There were twenty-two of them. "But the law of the land must be obeyed. And they might also have noticed that Okonkwo was not among the titled men and elders who sat behind the row of egwugwu. The first cock has crowed.""But he had no wings. suddenly overcome with fury.The night was very quiet. and who like a madman had cut the anklet of his titles and cast it away to join the Christians. and soon they were the strongest adherents of the new faith."That is not strange. It was a gay and airy kind of rain. Twenty."I have come to you for help. She went.Some farmers had not planted their yams yet.Although such stories were now often told they looked like fairy-tales in Mbanta and did not as yet affect the relationship between the new church and the clan. But very few people had ever seen that kind of wrestling before. Nwoye was there.

Kiaga had asked the women to bring red earth and white chalk and water to scrub the church for Easter. he took with him his flute. who must taste his wine before anyone else. Everyone looked in the direction of the egwugwu house. He was like the man in the song who had ten and one wives and not enough soup for his foo-foo. 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.""Let us not reason like cowards. There were huge bowls of foo-foo and steaming pots of soup. took out two leaves and began to chew them. They were already far enough where they stood and there was room for running away if any of them should go towards them. and cut them up.' said Tortoise.""I did not know that. especially at festivals and also when an old man died. "that he repeated over and over again a word that resembled Mbaino. else it would break and the thousand tiny rings would have to be strung together again." replied Okoye. what did the mother of this duckling say when you swooped and carried its child away?' 'It said nothing. Okafo was swept off his feet by his supporters and carried home shoulder high. He.

The palm fronds were helpless in keeping them back." said the interpreter. who had lived about two hundred years before. In her hand was the cloth pad on which the pot should have rested on her head. Sometimes another village would ask Unoka's band and their dancing egwugwu to come and stay with them and teach them their tunes. But tonight she was addressing her prophecy and greetings to Okonkwo. And yet we say Nneka - 'Mother is Supreme. "is it true that when people are grown up. and a great land case began. and asking it if it had brought home any lengths of cloth. That was a source of great sorrow to the leaders of the clan. and so have Uchendu and Unachukwu and Emefo. Ezeudu was the oldest man in this quarter of Umuofia. "before I kill you!" He seized a heavy stick that lay on the dwarf wall and hit him two or three savage blows. His name was Maduka. Nkechi was the daughter of Okonkwo's third wife. A proud heart can survive a general failure because such failure does not prick its pride. That was the way people answered calls from outside.""It is so indeed. Okonkwo brought out l??s big horn from the goatskin bag.

" Okonkwo said between mouthfuls.Okonkwo was inwardly pleased at his son's development. She went back to the hut and brought her pot. is a beast. Kiaga. made up her mind. But there was a great medicine man in the neighborhood. Chielo's voice now came after long intervals. He was poor and his wife and children had barely enough to eat. who went to plait her hair at her friend's house and did not return early enough to cook the afternoon meal. Of all his children she alone understood his every mood." he asked.Three young men helped Obierika to slaughter the two goats with which the soup was made. won a handful of converts and were already sending evangelists to the surrounding towns and villages. His wives." said Obierika. Anyone seeing Chielo in ordinary life would hardly believe she was the same person who prophesied when the spirit of Agbala was upon her. It is good in these days when the younger generation consider themselves wiser than their sires to see a man doing things in the grand. sandy footway began to throw up the heat that lay buried in it." replied Uzowulu.

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."I will come with you. and on the other the offer of a young man and a virgin as compensation. and one almost heard them stretching to breaking point. also carrying an oil lamp."None.The wrestlers were now almost still in each other's grip. The children made endless trips to the stream. he was at a loss. And so. That was how Okonkwo first came to know that agbala was not only another name for a woman. but six." he said to Okonkwo."We shall be late for the wrestling. guns and even his cannon. and which she no doubt still told to her younger children??stories of the tortoise and his wily ways. living in a special area of the village. Nwayieke lived four compounds away."The market of Umuike is a wonderful place. And so although Okonkwo was still young.