the twins crying in the bush and the question of Ikemefuna who was killed."One of them passes here frequently." He turned again to Okonkwo and said.

He would stamp out the disquieting signs of laziness which he thought he already saw in him
He would stamp out the disquieting signs of laziness which he thought he already saw in him. It was not the mad logic of the Trinity that captivated him. "Okoli told me himself that it was false. When we gather together in the moonlit village ground it is not because of the moon."If you bring us all this way for nothing I shall beat sense into you." said Obierika.He wanted him to be a prosperous man. and the elusive dance rose and fell with the wind. I did not hang myself. all its metal taken out of it by the vast emptiness of the cave. my friend."Ezinma began to cry. She had already walked so long that she began to feel a slight numbness in the limbs and in the head.Qkonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo. He remembered once when men had talked in low tones with his father.

"Yes. It looked like whispering. They sang songs as they went. and he sent his kotma to catch Aneto. "Bear no hand in his death. He trembled with the desire to conquer and subdue. Obierika.Then the tragedy of his first son had occurred."Umuofia kwenu!" shouted the leading egwugwu. Ikemefuna came first with the biggest pot." He pulled his staff from the hard earth and thrust it back. was among them. floated on the chaos. and allowed a murmur of suppressed anger to sweep the crowd. If I had not seen the few survivors with my own eyes and heard their story with my own ears.The youngest of Uchendu's five sons.

"He led Umuofia to war in those days."You must take him to salute our father. looking at Nwakibie's elder son Igwelo with a malicious twinkle in his eye. a thing set apart??a taboo for ever. They sympathized with their neighbors with much shaking of the head. A deathly silence descended on Okonkwo's compound. it would not be done.Okonkwo took the bowl from her and gulped the water down. As soon as Unoka understood what his friend was driving at. my daughter. But no one who had ever crawled into his awful shrine had come out without the fear of his power. Unoka. The inhabitants of Mbanta expected them all to be dead within four days. But tonight she was addressing her prophecy and greetings to Okonkwo. Fireflies went about with their tiny green lamps. and so have Uchendu and Unachukwu and Emefo.

but he did not say it. passing back the disc. I say it because I fear for the younger generation. had crawled out of the shrine on her belly like a snake. But although it had happened so long ago. But the Hills and the Caves were as silent as death. He had a slight stammer and whenever he was angry and could not get his words out quickly enough. to go before the mighty Agbala of your own accord? Beware. Ezinma went with her and helped in preparing the vegetables." he began.Many young men and prosperous middle-aged men of Mbanta came to marry her."Agbala do-o-o-o! Umuachi! Agbala ekene unuo-o-ol" It was just as Ekwefi had thought. Although he had felt uneasy at first. and Obiageli told her mournful story. her face streaming with tears." Ezinma offered.

because there was no humanity there.The contest began with boys of fifteen or sixteen. "Poor child. before they finally left for their village. and even now he could still hear it as it grew dimmer and dimmer in the distance. "that I shall bring many iron horses when we have settled down among them. he was repentant. too old to attend Ndulue during his illness. But it was a resilient spirit. succulent breasts. The women weeded the farm three times at definite periods in the life of the yams. who went to plait her hair at her friend's house and did not return early enough to cook the afternoon meal. "Beware. 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." the others replied. Had she been running too? How could she go so fast with Ezinma on her back? Although the night was cool.

"Ask Akueke's mother to send us some kola nuts."Come. They would go to such hosts for as long as three or four markets. which means "the good one. not only in his motherland but also in Umuofia." Ezinma said. Nobody thought that such a thing could ever happen. They were silent for a long time. 'Your dead father wants you to sacrifice a goat to him. "I am an old man and I like to talk."Two years ago.But apart from the church.' said Tortoise. and all the tragedy and sorrow of her life were packed in those words."How can I know you.At this point an old man said he had a question.

"before i learned how to tap." said the old man. Even the oldest men could only remember one or two other occasions somewhere in the dim past. She nodded. 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. He knew that he had lost his place among the nine masked spirits who administered justice in the clan. A man belongs to his fatherland and not to his motherland. Obiageli. She will be a good wife to you." he asked. not even about the terrors of night. who sat next to him."Then kill yourself.But apart from the church.And so the neighboring clans who naturally knew of these things feared Umuofia. and he said so with much threatening.

machetes. He rounded off his prayer and went to see what it was all about. Okonkwo's son. "How man men have lain with you since my brother first expressed his desire to marry you?""None. "They will put off Ndulue's funeral until his wife has been buried. Whenever Nwoye's mother sang this song he felt carried away to the distant scene in the sky where Vulture. And so he changed the subject and talked about music. Every woman immediately abandoned whatever she was doing and rushed out in the direction of the cry. and long stacks of yam stood out prosperously in it."How can I know?" Ekwefi wanted her to work it out herself. The hosts nodded in approval and seemed to say. and hung their goatskin bags and sheathed machetes over their left shoulders. And then suddenly she had begun to shiver in the night." Okonkwo threatened.There were seven drums and they were arranged according to their sizes in a long wooden basket.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.

The night was impenetrably dark. Okagbue's voice was unchanged. Last year neither of them had thrown the other even though the judges had allowed the contest to go on longer than was the custom. Then all Umuofia turned out in spite of the cold harmattan. It was said that when such a spirit appeared. He was ill for three market weeks. Okonkwo stood by the pit. and he told them stories of the land??masculine stories of violence and bloodshed. Go home and work like a man. Why. she was dead. Wherever he went he carried with him the mark of his forbidden caste??long. It throbbed in the air. It ate rats in the house and sometimes swallowed hens' eggs. Ani played a greater part in the life of the people than any other diety. Sometimes Okonkwo gave them a few yams each to prepare.

And supporting his mother also meant supporting his father."The crowd roared with laughter. his mind would have been centered on his work. And so they arrived home again. A new cover of thick palm branches and palm leaves was set on the walls to protect them from the next rainy season.""Nwoye is old enough to impregnate a woman. He looked terrible with the smoked raffia "body. He asked Okagbue to come up and rest while he took a hand. Everybody soon knew who the boy was. Evergreen trees wore a dusty coat of brown. and his bushy eyebrows and wide nose gave him a very severe look. I know it as I look at you."I have come to you for help. After a few more hoe-fuls of earth he struck the iyi-uwa. He addressed Nwakibie.Nwoye struggled to free himself from the choking grip.

Amadiora or the thunderbolt. The poor and unknown would not dare to come forth. He was called the Cat because his back would never touch the earth."When did you set out from home?" asked Okonkwo. where titled men climb trees and pound foo-foo for their wives. But it went from day to day without a pause. Ukegbu." said Okonkwo. They formed a circular ring with a break at one point through which the foot-track led to the center of the circle. "is it true that when people are grown up. it was true. Okonkwo ate the food absent-mindedly. It was unbelievable. So he waited impatiently for the dry season to come."One of them passes here frequently. His younger wives did that.

In fact. She had about three teeth and was always smoking her pipe. and allowed a brief pause. "honest men and thieves. Ekwefi was the only person in the happy company who went about with a cloud on her brow. But 1 thought you would need the money now and so I brought it. These men must be mad. and after that the dry season. He stretched himself and scratched his thigh where a mosquito had bitten him as he slept. And when a man is at peace with his gods and his ancestors. The white man has no sense. Between Chielo's outbursts the night was alive with the shrill tremor of forest insects woven into the darkness. The women began to talk excitedly. but he did not answer. But it is your turn now. would wipe them off the face of the earth.

" He laughed a mirthless laughter. You yourselves took her.Suddenly Okagbue sprang to the surface with the agility of a leopard. Without looking at the man Okonkwo had said: "This meeting is for men. She felt cold. said Ezeugo. Like all good farmers. white foam rose and spilled over. He went into the obi and saluted his father.Chielo's voice was now rising continuously. after the rains. He searched his bag again and brought out a small. Her husband's first wife had already had three sons. And so on this particular night as the crier's voice was gradually swallowed up in the distance. She hurried through Okonkwo's hut and went outside. Whenever Nwoye's mother sang this song he felt carried away to the distant scene in the sky where Vulture.

away from the crowd." he said." They offered them as much of the Evil Forest as they cared to take. Darkness held a vague terror for these people. He pressed the trigger and there was a loud report accompanied by the wail of his wives and children. He hoped to get another four hundred yams from one of his father's friends at Isiuzo. Okonkwo and his family went to the farm with baskets of seed-yams. Have you not heard the song they sing when a woman dies?"'For whom is it well. gome. I salute you. be cursed with such a son? He saw clearly in it the finger of his personal god or chi. for although nobody else knew it." said Okonkwo's voice. Go ahead and prepare your farm. Okonkwo wondered what was amiss. He had five other sons and he would bring them up in the way of the clan.

Am oyim de de de de! flew around the dark.And so Obierika went to Mbanta to see his friend. now said"You told us with your own mouth that there was only one god. Nwoye went to his mother's hut and told her that Ikemefuna was going home. A great evil has come upon their land as the Oracle had warned. For although locusts had not visited Umuofia for many years. It rose and faded with the wind??a peaceful dance from a distant clan. The Oracle of the Hills and the Caves has pronounced it. You. The ill-fated lad was called Ikemefuna. If your in-law brings wine to you.His anger thus satisfied." Obierika said to Nwoye."You have not eaten for two days. "And so they killed the white man and tied his iron horse to their sacred tree because it looked as if it would run away to call the man's friends. But they dared not complain openly.

He knew it must be Ekwefi. Before the day was over he was dead. and thank Okonkwo for having looked after him so well and for bringing him back.""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."How is your father?" Obierika asked.- Onwumbiko died in his fifteenth month."Okoli was not there to answer. Some of them came over to see for themselves." He put it down to his inflexible will. before the first cock-crow.Okonkwo's family was astir like any other family in the neighborhood. which children were rarely allowed to eat because such food tempted them to steal. The new year must begin with tasty. The hymn about brothers who sat in darkness and in fear seemed to answer a vague and persistent question that haunted his young soul??the question of the twins crying in the bush and the question of Ikemefuna who was killed."One of them passes here frequently." He turned again to Okonkwo and said.