was shaved in places. He was determined that his return should be marked by his people.

her moments of depression when she would snap at everybody like an angry dog
her moments of depression when she would snap at everybody like an angry dog." she said." said Evil Forest. Di-go-go-di-go-di-di-go-go floated in the message-laden night air.Seven years was a long time to be away from one's clan. There were also pots of yam pottage. "But I have also heard that Abame people were weak and foolish. A bond of sympathy had grown between them as the years had passed. Kiaga restrained them. was then twelve years old but was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness. She determined to nurse her child to health. for he knew certainly that something was amiss. "that I shall bring many iron horses when we have settled down among them. woman."Father. Two judges walked around the wrestlers and when they thought they were equally matched.

'You have done very well. It was called a string. No punishment was prescribed for a man who killed the python knowingly.As soon as day broke. the owner of all land. The rain became lighter and lighter until it fell in slanting showers. and stayed. Onwumbiko??"Death. 'There is something ominous behind the silence. Why. Everyone knew then that she would live because her bond with the world of ogbanje had been broken.One morning Okonkwo's cousin. It was a different woman??the priestess of Agbala. sang for mercy. shook hands with Okonkwo and went into the compound. but he went to the birds and asked to be allowed to go with them.

"We shall give them a piece of land. Ikemefuna had an endless stock of folk tales." said Okonkwo. They can steal your cloth from off your waist in that market. If we were all afraid of blood. The story was told in Umuofia. asked her""Remember that if you do not answer truthfully you will suffer or even die at childbirth. But he had recently fallen ill. I am worried about Nwoye. The rainy season was approaching when they would go away until the dry season returned. whom he nearly shot. It was like the market. A steady cloud of smoke rose from his head. He then invited the birds to eat. All was silent. Have you not heard the song they sing when a woman dies?"'For whom is it well.

" he said. Some birds chirruped in the forests around. and within a short time all the birds agreed that he was a changed man. and Ezinma brought his goatskin bag from the far end of the hut. It must have been a very long time. that my children do not resemble me. The drums went mad and the crowds also. He played on the ogene. My mother was one of you. His sons brought out the pots of palm-wine. The yams put on luxuriant green leaves. I weed ?C I??; ??Hold your peace!" screamed the priestess. He. He saw himself and his fathers crowding round their ancestral shrine waiting in vain for worship and sacrifice and finding nothing but ashes of bygone days.Nwoye struggled to free himself from the choking grip."Umuofia kwenu!""Yaa!""Umuofia kwenu!""Yaa!"Evil Forest then thrust the pointed end of his rattling staff into the earth.

"That boy calls you father. The crowd then shouted with ainger and thirst for blood. Thelocusts had not come for many.Obierika's compound was as busy as an anthill. He had been cast out of his clan like a fish onto a dry. Smoke poured out of his head." said Ibe. He had five other sons and he would bring them up in the way of the clan. and after they had shaken hands he asked Okonkwo who they were. and in a basket beside her were green vegetables and beans. A few moments later he went behind the hut and began to vomit painfully. It was quiet and confident. the men returned with a pot of wine." He brought down his staff heavily on the floor. and before they began to speak in low tones Nwoye and Ikemefuna were sent out. but he stood beckoning to them.

hung above the fireplace. How could she know that Ekwefi's bitterness did not flow outwards to others but inwards into her own soul. Would he recognize her now? She must have grown quite big. Obierika. Worshippers and those who came to seek knowledge from the god crawled on their belly through the hole and found themselves in a dark. If.Obierika's compound was as busy as an anthill." said the convert." she said. do you know me?""How can I know you. where his friend gave them out year by year to sharecroppers. And so Okonkwo was ruled by one passion - to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved.In spite of this incident the New Yam Festival was celebrated with great joy in Okonkwo's household. If ever a man deserved his success. They had the same style and one saw the other's plans beforehand. "We are going directly.

Their hosts took him as the king of the birds." They laughed and agreed. speaking in a tremulous. "So he must have a wife and all of them must have buttocks.The men then continued their drinking and talking. That also is true. When they had all taken.' replied the man. It said that other white men were on their way. that man was okonkwo.Ezinma led the way back to the road. before the first cock-crow. Obierika had sent one of his relatives all the way to Umuike to buy that goat It was the one he would present alive to his in-laws. and they agreed about the beating. Unoka." said an old man.

Nwoye was there. but no one thought the stories were true. Then the rain became less violent. They were grieved by the indignity and mourned for their neglected farms. and four or five others in his own age group. who was Okonkwo's father. But that was only to be expected. And so he regretted every day of his exile."Perhaps I have been away too long. They were called kotma. She greeted her god in a multitude of names??the owner of the future. which had been stretched taut with excitement. Her mother consoled her and promised to buy her her another pot. I would sooner strangle him with my own hands. dead. He was greatly shocked and swore to beat Ekwefi if she dared to give the child eggs again.

Sometimes when he went to big village meetings or communal ancestral feasts he allowed Ikemefuna to accompany him. If you turn against me when I am dead I will visit you and break your neck.""I think she will stay. Okonkwo came next and Ekwefi followed him. I am still alive. They were not the real wrestlers."Agbala do-o-o-o!?? Agbala ekeneo-o-o-o! ??" Ekwefi trudged behind." A cold shiver ran down Okonkwo's back as he remembered the last time the old man had visited him. "honest men and thieves. Why should that be? How are you different from other men who shave their hair? The same God created you and them. It contained other things apart from his snuff-bottle."Don't you see the pot is full of yams?" Ekwefi asked. They will take him outside Umuofia as is the custom. As the smoke rose into the sky kites appeared from different directions and hovered over the burning field in silent valediction. She then went down on one knee."Abame has been wiped out.

lest he strike you in his anger. "you. like a funeral. They saluted one another and then reappeared on the ilo. And supporting his mother also meant supporting his father. He was in fact a coward and could not bear the sight of blood."Don't you see the pot is full of yams?" Ekwefi asked. When i say no to them they think i am hard hearted.Large crowds began to gather on the village ilo as soon as the edge had worn off the sun's heat and it was no longer painful on the body. Whenever one of these ancient men appeared in the crowd to dance unsteadily the funeral steps of the tribe. greeted Okonkwo and turned towards the compound. Unoka. But his whole life was dominated by fear. woman. 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. It was the fear of himself.

almost to himself. The Ibo evangelists consulted among themselves and decided that the man probably meant bicycle. Three men beat them with sticks. and prayed that the rain might fall in the night. said Ezeugo. and saw those who stood or sat next to them. But there was a great medicine man in the neighborhood. It was a very good wine and powerful.As the day wore on his in-laws arrived from three surrounding villages. the interpreter. Nwoye's callow mind was greatly puzzled. The locusts settled in the bushes for the night and their wings became wet with dew. Okonkwo cleared his throat. carrying a pot of palm-wine on his head."Yes. very shyly.

Ogbuefi Idigo was talking about the palm-wine tapper. and it was his firmness that saved the young church."Ekwefi!" a voice called from one of the other huts. Okonkwo had committed the female. gome."They will not begin until the sun goes down." said another woman. her face streaming with tears. 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. "I do not blame you for not hearing the cock crow. But 1 thought you would need the money now and so I brought it. and also a drinking gourd. Dangerous animals became even more sinister and uncanny in the dark. Even the very little children seemed to know. On the last night before the festival. "I thought he was a strong man in his youth.

beat me up and took my wife and children away. and they beat the men. Somebody was dead." He prayed especially for Okonkwo and his family. He was therefore waiting to receive them. Okonkwo. I salute you.""You worry yourself for nothing. or old woman. There were huge bowls of foo-foo and steaming pots of soup.The night was very quiet. for in spite of their worthlessness they still belonged to the clan. butwhenever she thought she saw their shape it immediately dissolved like a melting lump of darkness. You may ask why I am saying all this. My case is finished. You may have heard of the title I intend to take shortly.

Obierika."Yes. Then they washed them and cut them up for the women who prepared the soup. It was called a string. For many market weeks nothing else happened."Ezinma's voice from the darkness warmed her mother's heart. which had dozed in the noon-day haze. His words may also be good. It was true they were rescuing twins from the bush.The way into the shrine was a round hole at the side of a hill.Okonkwo cleared his throat and moved his feet to the beat of the drums. "What we are eating is finished. to honor the earth goddess and the ancestral spirits of the clan.Very soon after.As these things went through her mind she did not realize how close they were to the cave mouth. You yourselves took her.

On great occasions such as the funeral of a village celebrity he drank his palm-wine from his first human head.By the time Onwumbiko died Ekwefi had become a very bitter woman.Go-di-di-go-go-di-go. They set fire to his houses. So I have brought the matter to the fathers of the clan. Okonkwo had committed the female. "Ozoemena was.""Let us not reason like cowards.' said her mother.Okonkwo was inwardly pleased at his son's development. therefore. because you understand us and we understand you. who stood beside her. killed his animals and destroyed his barn. Some of them came over to see for themselves. But such was her anxiety for her daughter that she could not rid herself completely of her fear.

Many people laughed at his dialect and the way he used words strangely. especially the youngest. She was used to Chielo calling her "my daughter. sat near the fireplace waiting for the water in the pot to boil. he is telling a lie.""Ee-e-e!""This is not the first time my people have come to marry your daughter. The barn was built against one end of the red walls." he asked. She hurried through Okonkwo's hut and went outside. Okafo was swept off his feet by his supporters and carried home shoulder high. and he knew that his father wanted him to be a man. Gome. He threw down the gun and jumped into the barn and there lay the woman. A child cannot pay for its mother's milk. which was shaved in places. He was determined that his return should be marked by his people.