prepared seeds in groups of four hundred. But when a father beats his child. Okonkwo. He began to wonder why he had felt uneasy at all.

" he said
" he said. When they were out of earshot. which were passed round for all to see and then returned to him.By the time Onwumbiko died Ekwefi had become a very bitter woman. a light rain had fallen during the night and the soil would not be very hard. "I have even heard that in some tribes a man's children belong to his wife and her family. We heard of it." he said. they set off in a body."The body of Odukwe. But somehow he knew he was not going to see them.When she got to the big udala tree Ezinma turned left into the bush. you sow your yams on exhausted farms that take no labor to clear. It was as quick as the other two.Go-di-di-go-go-di-go.The night was very quiet. self-assured and confident.

Ekwefi then became defiant and called her next child Onwuma??"Death may please himself. "We have men of high title and the chief priests and the elders. she sat down on a stony ledge and waited. She shut her eyes for a while and opened them again in an effort to see.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. Why should I? But the Oracle did not ask me to carry out its decision. which was shaved in beautiful patterns. they could gather firewood together for roasting the ones that would be eaten there on the farm. The missionaries had come to Umuofia."My hand is on the ground. and I am happy you have come to see us. I would sooner strangle him with my own hands. some were orators who spoke for the clan. They were grieved by the indignity and mourned for their neglected farms. whom she called "my daughter.So when the daughter of Umuofia was killed in Mbaino. in a cleared spot.

It told of one sheep out on the hills. He had court messengers who brought men to him for trial. His love of talk had grown with age and sickness. In fact. Nma. and the crowd followed her. and he spoke as he performed them:"1 hope our in-laws will bring many pots of wine.Okonkwo was very happy to receive his friend. But I think you ought to break it."Ekwefi.""I shall wait too. and as if in sympathy the smoldering log also sighed."Ekwefi. who must taste his wine before anyone else. No one had ever beheld Agbala. When one came to think of it. Okoye rolled his goatskin and departed.

and each hut seen from the others looked like a soft eye of yellow half-light set in the solid massiveness of night. Go and see if your father has brought out yams for the afternoon. i have only a short while to live.'"He began to eat and the birds grumbled angrily. all strong and healthy. Thank you. The next child was a girl. When he walked.The wrestlers were now almost still in each other's grip."What does it all mean?" asked Mr. And let me tell you one thing. but they are too young to leave their mother. not even with broomsticks. That also is true." said Mr.What moved Obierika to visit Okonkwo was the sudden appearance of the latter's son. and regain the seven wasted years.

" said Obierika."I shall return very soon. hungry swarm.It was going to be Okonkwo's last harvest in Mbanta. None of his converts was a man whose word was heeded in ihe assembly of the people. Yam."Then I shall go back to the clan. in the sunshine. suddenly found an outlet. "We will allow three or four women to stay behind. like a mother and her daughter."Ezinma looked at her mother. solid drops of frozen water which the people called "the nuts of the water of heaven. Those things a man built for himself or inherited from his father." Some of them had big sticks and some even machetes."Every year. And for the first time they had a woman.

too old to attend Ndulue during his illness. And then came the clap of thunder. His younger wives did that."At last the party arrived in the sky and their hosts were very happy to see them. We did not see it." he always said." His staff came down again.The year that Okonkwo took eight hundred seed-yams from Nwakibie was the worst year in living memory.The New Yam Festival was thus an occasion for joy throughout Umuofia.As the men drank." said Obierika. solid drops of frozen water which the people called "the nuts of the water of heaven." He looked in the direction of Okonkwo. "But I want all of you to note what 1 am going to say. the tumult increased tenfold. "It pleases me to see a young man like you these days when our youth has gone so soft. It all began over the question of admitting outcasts.

in the sunshine. It is not bravery when a man fights with a woman. Amikwu. nor even a young wife. 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. 'Ogbuefi Ndulue. He put them in the pot and Ekwefi poured in some water." said Ojiugo. Nwoye. who with his brothers and half-brothers had been dancing the traditional farewell to their father. So Nwoye and Ikemefuna would listen to Okonkwo's stories about tribal wars."She is ill in bed. as her father and other grownup people did. too. You know his first wife who walks with a stick?""Yes. Soon it covered half the sky. For days and nights together it poured down in violent torrents.

The next morning they were roasted in clay pots and then spread in the sun until they became dry and brittle. "But what is good in one place is bad in another place. for he had no grave."We are all well. It was such a forest that. He took the first of the empty stools and the eight other egwugwu began to sit in order of seniority after him. and there had been a mad rush for shelter earlier in the day when one appeared with a sharp machete and was only prevented from doing serious harm by two men who restrained him with the help of a strong rope tied round his waist. Ozoemena??"May it not happen again. His wives. in a terrifying voice. he has learned to fly without perching. It was the time of the year when everybody was at home." her mother warned as she moved near the fireplace to bring the pestle resting against the wall. "that Abame is no more?""How is that?" asked Uchendu and Okonkwo together. But he now knew that they were for foolish women and children. A chick that will grow into a cock can be spotted the very day it hatches."Umezulike.

"Take away your kola nut. His actions were deliberate. very much shaken and frightened but quite unhurt.Then the missionaries burst into song."Is this yours?" he asked Ezinma. he fled to Aninta to escape the wrath of the earth. In that way she will elude her wicked tormentor and break its evil cycle of birth and death." He waved at his sons and daughters. Ekwefi had been returning from the stream with her mother on a dark night like this when they saw its glow as it flew in their direction. But now she found the half-light of the incipient moon more terrifying than darkness. But the Hills and the Caves were as silent as death. They passed their cloths under the right arm-pit. It was not that they had been lazy. The musicians with their wood.""There is no story that is not true. and he said so with much threatening. Okonkwo always asked his wives' relations.

" said Obiageli. He had court messengers who brought men to him for trial.cheap uggs for sale "1 shall wait here. It was like the market." answered his first wife. guttural and awesome."The body of Odukwe. Two judges walked around the wrestlers and when they thought they were equally matched. It was the fear of himself. Some of them had been heavily whipped. "How much longer do you think you will live?" she asked. Now you talk about his son. and in the end Okonkwo overcame his sorrow. Even the few kinsmen who had not been able to come had their shares taken out for them in due term."Whose cow was it?" asked the women who had been allowed to stay behind. At the end they decided. The rain fell in thin.

he was told."Yes. and had just married his third wife. Inwardly. anxiety. But when he reached Tortoise's house he told his wife to bring out all the hard things in the house." Obierika replied sharply.' Those men of Abame were fools. Perhaps she has come to stay. a good harvest and happiness.Suddenly Okagbue sprang to the surface with the agility of a leopard. His actions were deliberate. There were three men in one group and three men and one woman in the other. She presented the cock to the musicians and began to dance. and allowed a murmur of suppressed anger to sweep the crowd.The nine villages of Umuofia had grown out of the nine sons of the first father of the clan. taking each string separately.

and the tuber was pulled out. As soon as he left. "They are pieces of wood and stone.Okonkwo was also feeling tired." he told her. carrying his stool and his goatskin bag. 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. "it is this eyelid. ignorant of the love of God. who must taste his wine before anyone else. Every man and woman came out to see the white man. Nobody thought that such a thing could ever happen. Tortoise had no wings. He was roused in the morning by someone banging on his door.Then the tragedy of his first son had occurred. Her daughter was only ten years old but she was wiser than her years.""The world is large.

It was also part of the night.""Is he well?" asked Nwoye. And there were indeed occasions when the Oracle had forbidden Umuofia to wage a war." said Okonkwo after a pause. Each of his three wives had her own hut.Okonkwo's prosperity was visible in his household. And he was already beginning to know some of the simple stories they told. lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper. melons and beans between the yam mounds. And so heavily did it rain onVulture that he did not return to deliver his message but flew to a distant land. neither early nor late. Okonkwo told him. There were also pots of palm-wine. 'When mother-cow is chewing grass its young ones watch its mouth. It was clear from his twinkling eyes that he had important news. But I think you ought to break it.""That is very strange.

" He put it down to his inflexible will. A woman fled as soon as an egwugwu came in sight. A vague chill had descended on him and his head had seemed to swell. Ezenwa took it. from Umuofia to Mbaino. and it was his firmness that saved the young church." he said. she thought. every man with his goatskin bag hung on one shoulder and a rolled goatskin mat under his arm. The yams were then staked. "In those other clans you speak of. which was fastened to the rafters. and the hosts looked at each other as if to say. and they ran for their lives. Nwoye. and all over her body were black patterns drawn with uli. a good harvest and happiness.

Children no longer stayed indoors but ran about singing:"The rain is falling. Okonkwo and his family went to the farm with baskets of seed-yams. like a solitary walker at night who passes an evil spirit an the way."Those who knew Amadi laughed. sandy footway began to throw up the heat that lay buried in it. he had not slept at all last night. It was a little village called Mbanta. and does not lose it even if he steals. The other people were released. some were orators who spoke for the clan. he made sacrifices of atonement and performed an expensive burial ceremony such as was done for a great man. that I am not afraid of blood and if anyone tells you that I am. But there was a great medicine man in the neighborhood. They did not stay very long. prophesying. I sow the yams when the first rain has fallen."Answer me!" he roared again.

" said Obierika. Nwoye would feign annoyance and grumble aloud about women and their troubles. The air was full of dust and the smell of gunpowder. She only began to weep when they got near the iroko tree outside their compound." She sat down and stretched her legs in front of her. but he went to the birds and asked to be allowed to go with them. Idigo was the man who knew how to grind good snuff. She rose from her mat." said Obierika. Even the smell of gunpowder was swallowed in the sickly smell that now filled the air. "Ozoemena was. Amadiora or the thunderbolt.""It is true. she could bear no other person but her father. that man was okonkwo. the man saw it vaguely in the darkness. It was even said that they had hanged one man who killed a missionary.

Everyone knew then that she would live because her bond with the world of ogbanje had been broken. very much shaken and frightened but quite unhurt. but even if you came into your obi and found her lover on top of her. reappeared every year for seven years and then disappeared for another lifetime." And he did. when he had worked on one side of the wall and Ikemefuna and Nwoye on the other. my friend." said Obierika." said Nwakibie. The house was now a pandemonium of quavering voices: Am oyim de de de de! filled the air as the spirits of the ancestors. It was then that the one-handed spirit came."Uzowulu's body. a thing set apart??a taboo for ever. and Ikemefuna helped him by fetching the yams in long baskets from the barn and in counting the prepared seeds in groups of four hundred. But when a father beats his child. Okonkwo. He began to wonder why he had felt uneasy at all.