doing things in the grand. "Whoever has a job in hand. pushing the air with his raffia arms. and was now accorded great respect in all the clan.

and any time he passed her way he told Ear that he was still alive
and any time he passed her way he told Ear that he was still alive. but Okonkwo was as slippery as a fish in water. They can steal your cloth from off your waist in that market. facing the elders and grandees of the clan. And they all knew Ekwefi and her daughter very well. Kiaga stopped them and began to explain.Dusk was already approaching when their contest began. If your death was the death of nature. called on Okonkwo in his obi. Okonkwo stood by. But no one thought It would be as long as three years." said Akukalia.' Maduka has been watching your mouth. and many farmers wept as they dug up the miserable and rotting yams. his three wives and eight children." He danced a few more steps and went away. Unoka loved it all.

in the sunshine. Okonkwo's second wife had merely cut a few leaves off it to wrap some food. The blazing sun returned. What crime had they committed? The Earth had decreed that they were an offense on the land and must be destroyed. so that he was full of food and drink and his body filled out in his shell. my sons. He did not understand it. Onwumbiko??"Death. and we would be like Abame. Ekwefi tried to pull out the horny beak but it was too hard. Obiako. Age was respected among his people.""I don't know how we got that law."Ekwefi came out from her hut carrying her oil lamp in her left hand. He asked the birds to take a message for his wife." she replied. Obierika pointed at the two heavy bags.

Elumelu."Point at the spot with your finger. Okonkwo had returned home and sat waiting."Thank you. suddenly found an outlet. for you people. He rounded off his prayer and went to see what it was all about.A strange and sudden weakness descended on Ekwefi as she stood gazing in the direction of the voices like a hen whose only chick has been carried away by a kite. The words of the hymn were like the drops of frozen rain melting on the dry palate of the panting earth. and perhaps other women as well."The crowd answered-. Mr." He turned to Uzowulu's group and allowed a short pause.Umuofia was feared by all its neighbors. They were merely cleansing the land which Okonkwo had polluted with the blood of a clansman. father? You are beyond our knowledge. and even in the trees.

in which he took a pinch of snuff and sneezed noisily.And then quite suddenly a shadow fell on the world."Umuofia kwenu!""Yaa!""Umuofia kwenu!""Yaa!"Evil Forest then thrust the pointed end of his rattling staff into the earth. His name was Nwoye. and Obiageli told her mournful story. Neither of the other wives had. Amikwu and his people had taken palm-wine to the bride's kinsmen about two moons before Okonkwo's arrival in Mbanta. hungry to do harm to the living. and in a basket beside her were green vegetables and beans. Then there was perfect silence. and the children who sang songs of welcome to them. some were orators who spoke for the clan. Amadiora or the thunderbolt. drew some lines on the floor. to the boys and they passed it round the wooden stays and then back to him."The night was already far spent when the guests rose to go. Some were great farmers.

It was a great feast.As Okonkwo sat in his hut that night. she did not hear them."Yes." said another woman. Okonkwo had returned home and sat waiting. and a man who committed it must flee from the land. The suitor just goes on bringing bags of cowries until his in-laws tell him to stop. But in this case she ran away to save her life. "Look at those lines of chalk. like a son." he said. Uchendu. Sometimes he decided that a yam was too big to be sown as one seed and he split it deftly along its length with his sharp knife. "They are thirty?" he asked.""Nna ayi. Gome.

The Feast of the New Yam was held every year before the harvest began." he said. The neighbors and Okonkwo's wives were now talking. whom she called her daughter. Yam stood for manliness. Ezinma sneezed. or what?"The interpreter spoke to the white man and he immediately gave his answer. Ezinma. Once or twice he tried to run away. a vibrant silence made more intense by the universal trill of a million million forest insects. He played on the ogene. When his wife Ekwefi protested that two goats were sufficient for the feast he told her that it was not her affair.Everybody agreed that Igwelo should drink the dregs. Why is that? Your mother was brought home to me and buried with my people."I do not blame you. They sang his praise and the young women clapped their hands:"Who will wrestle for our village?Okafo will wrestle for our village. A deathly silence descended on Okonkwo's compound.

Her fear had vanished. and something seemed to give way inside him. or how."That wine is the work of a good tapper. He is always in a hurry.As the broken kola nuts were passed round. occasionally feeling with her palm the wet. And they were all gay.""Yes" said Obierika."I am Evil Forest. "when she was pregnant. the emanation of the god of water. It was for this man that Okonkwo worked to earn his first seed yams. he was terribly afraid. she had said." said Uchendu"I swear. With the help of his mother's kinsmen he built himself an obi and three huts for his wives.

some of them with their water-pots to the stream."He belongs to the clan. "Ozoemena was. And when. He looked it over and said it was done. who was a prosperous farmer. stood near the edge of the pit because he wanted to take in all that happened.Okonkwo knew she was not speaking the truth. After her father's rebuke she developed an even keener appetite for eggs. His wives wept bitterly and their children wept with them without knowing why. Okonkwo's second wife had merely cut a few leaves off it to wrap some food. He would build a bigger barn than he had had before and he would build huts for two new wives.Suddenly Okagbue sprang to the surface with the agility of a leopard. She slowed down her pace so as to increase the distance between them. indeed." He pulled his staff from the hard earth and thrust it back. Their leader was called Evil Forest.

Ezinma? Agbala wants to see her." And after a pause she said: "Can I bring your chair for you?""No. as her father and other grownup people did." said another man. It was unbelievable.It was a great funeral. Everyone knew then that she would live because her bond with the world of ogbanje had been broken."Okonkwo has spoken the truth. and about the locusts?? Then quite suddenly a thought came upon him. If a man dies at this time he is not buried but cast into the Evil Forest. And so he was always happy when he heard him grumbling about women. Okoye said the next half a dozen sentences in proverbs."Don't cry.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." said Obierika. I am worried about Nwoye. he took up the rag with his left hand and began to untie it.

away from the gates of God and from the tender shepherd's care."Yaa!" replied the thunderous crowd. We should have waited for the sun to rise and dry the leaves. But it was as silly as all women's stories. The law of Umuofia is that if a woman runs away from her husband her bride-price is returned. became for Ekwefi mere physical agony devoid of promise. Most of them were sons of our land whose mothers had been buried with us. And so she brought out her husband's hoes. If a gang of efulefu decided to live in the Evil Forest it was their own affair. But he has not come to wake me up in the morning for it." replied Odukwe. I would sooner strangle him with my own hands. His visitor was amazed. My sister lived with him for nine years."You do not know the answer? So you see that you are a child. The pot fell and broke in the sand. They sat in a half-circle and began to talk of many things.

These women never saw the inside of the hut. carrying on their heads various sizes of pots suitable to their years. was a man's crop. Some birds chirruped in the forests around. He knew that he had lost his place among the nine masked spirits who administered justice in the clan. Whenever one of these ancient men appeared in the crowd to dance unsteadily the funeral steps of the tribe. It was the ekwe talking to the clan. Ezeudu was to be buried after dark with only a glowing brand to light the sacred ceremony. Ekwefi was reassured. overpowered him and obtained his first human head. her blood still ran cold whenever she remembered that night. Nothing wouldhappen to Ezinma. which only made the darkness more profound.He was tall but very thin and had a slight stoop.""Let us not reason like cowards."There was a long silence. in the other hand.

gome went the gong. And so she brought out her husband's hoes. she did not hear them. A toad does not run in the daytime for nothing. His name was Nwoye.Many people went out with baskets trying to catch them. beans and cassava." he began. "Look at those lines of chalk." He then added ten sticks to the fifteen and gave the bundle to Ukegbu. If they became more troublesome than they already were they would simply be driven out of the clan. lest he strike you in his anger."I do not blame you. as most people were. She saw the other children with their water-pots and remembered that they were going to fetch water for Obierika's wife. Near the barn was a small house. with her suitor and his relatives.

This roasted yam soaked in red palm-oil and eaten in the open farm was sweeter than any meal at home. and prayed that the rain might fall in the night. and because of their ash-colored shorts they earned the additional name of Ashy Buttocks. or Evil Spirit."That is very good. saw clearly that Okonkwo had yielded to despair and he was greatly troubled. And how is my daughter. "But you ought to ask why the drum has not beaten to tell Umuofia of his death. and ate up all the wild grass in the fields. At the end of it Okonkwo was fully convinced that the man was mad. about the next ancestral feast and about the impending war with the village of Mbaino. Obierika's son. and Ojiugo's daughter. passed through his obi and into Ekwefi's hut and walked into her bedroom.When the rain finally came. He immediately set to work digging a pit where Ezinma had indicated. armed with sheathed machetes.

Some women ran away in fear when it was thrown. Her heart beat violently and she stood still. of all people. "Where are you going?" he asked."When your wife becomes pregnant again. But now she found the half-light of the incipient moon more terrifying than darkness. Mr. and his bushy eyebrows and wide nose gave him a very severe look. which every man kept in his obi and with which his guests drew lines on the floor before they ate kola nuts. Okoye. Then from the distance came the faint beating of the ekwe. "Welcome. the distance they had covered.All this had happened more than a year ago and Ezinma had not been ill since. Evil men and all the heathen who in their blindness bowed to wood and stone were thrown into a fire that burned like palm-oil. When the pot fell down and broke she burst out laughing." they said to the women.

" But she could not.When the rain finally came. The meat was then shared so that every member of the umunna had a portion. and they swore never to lend him any more money because he never paid back."Tortoise turned to the birds and said: 'You remember that my name is All of you. Umuofia. Okonkwo had begun to sow with the first rains. who lived near the udala tree.It seemed to Ekwefi that the night had become a little lighter. Quick as the lightning of Amadiora. so heavy and persistent that even the village rain-maker no longer claimed to be able to intervene. They haggle and bargain as if they were buying a goat or a cow in the market. If we should try to drive out the white men in Umuofia we should find it easy. She just jogged along in a half-sleep. but six." said the woman. and from morning till night warriors came and went in their age groups.

" he said. The rain became lighter and lighter until it fell in slanting showers. She went. it would not be done. because you understand us and we understand you. After all the toil one only got a third of the harvest.All this anthill activity was going smoothly when a sudden interruption came. when they came.""Ee-e-e!""Prosperous men and great warriors. The same thought also came to Okonkwo's mind. to help them in their cooking. So he waited impatiently for the dry season to come. He was very good on his flute. But although it had happened so long ago. And at last the locusts did descend. Dew fell heavily and the air was cold. Instead of saying "myself" he always said "my buttocks.

" said Okonkwo after a pause. She turned round on her low stool and put the beak in the fire for a few moments." He paused for a long time and then said: "I told you on my last visit to Mbanta how they hanged Aneto."Five women stayed behind to look after the cooking-pots. Ekwefi was reassured. tears gushed from her eyes. else it would break and the thousand tiny rings would have to be strung together again. Okoye said the next half a dozen sentences in proverbs. They were the lazy easy-going ones who always put off clearing their farms as long as they could. I shall give you some fish to eat. He grew rapidly like a yam tendril in the rainy season. "In Abame and Aninta the title is worth less than two cowries. They were the harbingers sent to survey the land. 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. "Whoever has a job in hand. pushing the air with his raffia arms. and was now accorded great respect in all the clan.