said to the woman who had stood shoulder to shoulder with her since the beginning of the matches.

Nwoye was there
Nwoye was there.Okonkwo was also feeling tired. But it was as silly as all women's stories. He went into Ekwefi's hut." he said." His staff came down again.Ekwefi ladled her husband's share of the pottage into a bowl and covered it."That was about five years ago.""You do not understand. slanting showers through sunshine and quiet breeze.When the rain finally came. flat. There was no barn to inherit. It was not until the following day that Okonkwo told him the full story. Then the crier gave his message. And he had all but achieved it.

who was once the village beauty.Mr."None. the men returned with a pot of wine. A man's life from birth to death was a series of transition rites which brought him nearer and nearer to his ancestors." said the woman. and he loved the first kites that returned with the dry season. became for Ekwefi mere physical agony devoid of promise. conversing with his father in low tones.She wore a coiffure which was done up into a crest in the middle of the head.As soon as the priestess stepped into this ring of hills her voice was not only doubled in strength but was thrown back on all sides. he had already put aside his goatskin bag and his big cloth and was in his underwear.' he said as they flew on their way. Some of them had been heavily whipped. someone else rose and filled it. he took with him his flute.

Their hosts took him as the king of the birds. Okonkwo said he was sorry for what he had said. He hit the bottle against his knee to shake up the tobacco. That also is true."Having spoken plainly so far. Drums beat violently and men leaped up and down in frenzy. and Maduka brought in a pot of palm-wine.""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. and the women sat on a sisal mat spread on a raised bank of earth. They were already far enough where they stood and there was room for running away if any of them should go towards them. Now and then a cold shiver descended on his head and spread down his body."Odukwe's body. that my children do not resemble me. He worked. 'There is something ominous behind the silence."Tufia-al" the priestess cursed.

It was full of meat and fish."Ezeudu!" he called in his guttural voice. Ezinma took it to him in his obi. But you lived long. Di-go-go-di-go-di-di-go-go floated in the message-laden night air."Tufia-al" the priestess cursed. A bond of sympathy had grown between them as the years had passed. Once in a while Chielo was possessed by the spirit of her god and she began to prophesy. pushing the air with his raffia arms." replied Okonkwo. This was one of the lighter tasks of the after-harvest season.'"Parrot promised to deliver the message.She had prayed for the moon to rise. "And he was riding an iron horse."Having spoken plainly so far. If your death was the death of nature.

"As they stood there together. He was in fact a coward and could not bear the sight of blood. because it had been inadvertent. They were among the best wrestlers in all the nine villages. If one says no to the other. The other people were released. the earth goddess and the source of all fertility. Ezinma brought her two legs together and stretched them in front of her. I am worried about Nwoye."I sometimes think he is too sharp. I shall not eat in the house of a man who has no respect for our gods and ancestors. It was this man that Okonkwo threw in a fight which the old men agreed was one of the fiercest since the founder of their town engaged a spirit of the wild for seven days and seven nights.' he thought as he looked at his ten-year-old daughter. she prayed a thousand times. but they looked on from the fringe like outsiders. astride the steaming pot.

the women who had gone for red earth returned with empty baskets. Her two children belong to Uzowulu. A deathly silence descended on Okonkwo's compound. Her husband's wife took this for malevolence. He picked it up. when Okonkwo's in-laws began to leave for their homes The second day of the new year was the day of the great wrestling match between Okonkwo's village and their neighbors." said Ezelagbo. When all the birds had gathered together. Unoka.The priestess screamed. like splitting wood. Then it occurred to her that they could not have been heading for the cave. and he was soon chosen as the man to speak for the party because he was a great orator. which was shaved in beautiful patterns. His two younger brothers are more promising. I would have asked you to bring courage.

We do not dispute it. as the Ibo people say. I owe that man a thousand cowries. They chose to fly home on an empty stomach. and he pointed to a man who sat near him with a bowed head. The story was told in Umuofia. he fled to Aninta to escape the wrath of the earth. He heaved a heavy sigh and went away with the gun. Nwoye would feign annoyance and grumble aloud about women and their troubles. everybody knew by instinct that they were very good to eat. and Ojiugo's daughter.""Let them laugh. The rain became lighter and lighter until it fell in slanting showers. So Nwoye and Ikemefuna would listen to Okonkwo's stories about tribal wars. He still remembered the song:Eze elina. "They are thirty?" he asked.

another man asked a question: "Where is the white man's horse?" he asked.The priestess had now reached Okonkwo's compound and was talking with him outside his hut. Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man.""How did they get hold of Ancto to hang him?" asked Okonkwo. that was how it looked to his father. The moon had been rising later and later every night until now it was seen only at dawn."Evil Forest then turned to the other group and addressed the eldest of the three brothers.As the day wore on his in-laws arrived from three surrounding villages." Nwoye's mother said. A chick that will grow into a cock can be spotted the very day it hatches. who was Okonkwo's father. whose frantic rhythm was no longer a mere disembodied sound but the very heartbeat of the people."Don't cry.As the years of exile passed one by one it seemed to him that his chi might now be making amends for the past disaster. She started to cry. He warmed himself in the fire and ate the entrails.

Then he began to speak."No. and its priests and medicine men were feared in all the surrounding country. seeing that the new religion welcomed twins and such abominations. Okonkwo had called in another medicine man who was famous in the clan for his great knowledge about ogbanje children. eating the peelings."But Nwoye's mother dropped her pot of hot soup the other day and it broke on the floor. "You are already a skeleton. "Life to all of us. She is called Ozoemena. "But what is good in one place is bad in another place. you wicked daughter of Akalogoli?" Okonkwo swore furiously. but now sat with Okonkwo in his obi. Okonkwo. As she stood gazing at the circular darkness which had swallowed them. "I have heard that many years ago.

but that they had many children to feed. and the world lay panting under the live. "It pleases me to see a young man like you these days when our youth has gone so soft. The egwugwu house into which they emerged faced the forest. and said through gleaming white teeth firmly clenched: "Those sons of wild animals have dared to murder a daughter of Umuofia. though his dialect was different and harsh to the enrs of Mbanta. whom she called her daughter. despite his madness. They had built a court where the District Commissioner judged cases in ignorance. Tortoise had no wings. but no one spoke. That was the only time Ekwefi ever saw Ogbu-agali-odu. But when she lived on to her fourth. "Perhaps you can already guess what it is. It all began over the question of admitting outcasts. The troublesome nanny-goat sniffed about.

She was the ultimate judge of morality and conduct. he is not too young.Ogbuefi Ezeudu. They made single mounds of earth in straight lines all over the field and sowed the yams in them. He heard Ikemefuna cry.All the umunna were invited to the feast. Nwoye went to his mother's hut and told her that Ikemefuna was going home."No. It is against the will of God. palm-oil and pepper for the soup. on the other hand.""That is why the drum has not been beaten to tell Umuofla. Kiaga. He wanted Nwoye to grow into a tough young man capable of ruling his father's household when he was dead and gone to join the ancestors. Then came the voices of the egwugwu. his harvest will be good or bad according to the strength of his arm.

The Oracle said to him.When she had shaken hands. Then something had given way inside him." he said.His anger thus satisfied. And that was also the year Okonkwo broke the peace. Clearly his personal god or chi was not made for great things. Even the greatest medicine men took shelter when he was near."When did you become a shivering old woman. and sat down. stood near the edge of the pit because he wanted to take in all that happened. unlike most children. Even the sacred fish in their mysterious lake have fled and the lake has turned the color of blood. But in absence of work. The women began to talk excitedly. where the white men first came many years before and where they had built the center of their religion and trade and government.

""All their customs are upside-down."Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?" Okagbue had asked Ezinma. Once upon a time there was a great famine in the land of animals. sprang to his feet and gripped him by the neck. Because he had taken titles. She could not see beyond her nose. Gome. She had about three teeth and was always smoking her pipe. years ago. But for a young man whose father had no yams.She wore a coiffure which was done up into a crest in the middle of the head. Mr. It contained other things apart from his snuff-bottle. The two judges were already moving forward to separate them when Ikezue. As soon as she got up. bringing the third dish.

he was asking Unoka to return the two hundred cowries he had borrowed from him more than two years before. The next morning they were roasted in clay pots and then spread in the sun until they became dry and brittle.He was by nature a very lively boy and he gradually became popular in Okonkwo's household.As the palm-wine was drunk one of the oldest members of the umunna rose to thank Okonkwo:"If I say that we did not expect such a big feast I will be suggesting that we did not know how openhanded our son."It was only this morning." he said as he went. and his relatives. as husbands' wives were wont to."Will you give Ezinma some fire to bring to me?" Her own children and Ikemefuna had gone to the stream."It is not our custom to fight for our gods. It had to be done slowly and carefully. We must fight these men and drive them from the land. The people of the sky thought it must be their custom to leave all the food for their king.Ekwefi put a few live coals into a piece of broken pot and Ezinma carried it across the clean swept compound to Nwoye's mother. A woman fled as soon as an egwugwu came in sight. He could not stop the rain now.

Fortunately. and he owed every neighbor some money. Yam. If you turn against me when I am dead I will visit you and break your neck. When she had borne her third son in succession. and the sands felt like live coals to the feet. the rulers and elders of Mbanta assembled to decide on their action. He had sown four hundred seeds when the rains dried up and the heat returned. and he sent his kotma to catch Aneto. There was an immediate stir. 1 know you will not despair." replied Ekwefi. Okonkwo got ready quickly and the party set out with Ikemefuna carrying the pot of wine. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace. It was the fear of himself.Uzowulu stepped forward and presented his case.

" His staff came down again.It was late afternoon before Nwoye returned. Umuofia has decided to kill him. and it was his firmness that saved the young church. Why should that be? How are you different from other men who shave their hair? The same God created you and them. as if he was going to pounce on somebody. and although ailing she seemed determined to live. but there is too much of his mother in him. Kiaga's joy was very great. But he always found fault with their effort."I did not know it was you.""You sound as if you question the authority and the decision of the Oracle. and on the other the offer of a young man and a virgin as compensation.Many young men and prosperous middle-aged men of Mbanta came to marry her.' said Mother Kite." Ekwefi said to the woman who had stood shoulder to shoulder with her since the beginning of the matches.