our fathers.""But someone had to do it.Okonkwo sat in his obi crunching happily with Ikemefuna and Nwoye.The whole village turned out on the ilo.

who has promised everlasting life to all who believe in His holy name
who has promised everlasting life to all who believe in His holy name."We still have a long way to go. The thick dregs of palm-wine were supposed to be good for men who were going in to their wives. He then adjusted his cloth."We have now built a church. Kiaga. She was peeling new yams. Her suitor and his relatives surveyed her young body with expert eyes as if to assure themselves that she was beautiful and ripe. I weed ?C I??; ??Hold your peace!" screamed the priestess. On her arms were red and yellow bangles." the convert maintained. he was already one of the greatest men of his time. There were five groups. She put back the empty pot on the circular pad in the corner. Ekwefi mopped her with a piece of cloth and she lay down on a dry mat and was soon asleep. for although nobody else knew it."There must be something behind it. Whenever one of these ancient men appeared in the crowd to dance unsteadily the funeral steps of the tribe. She would want to hear everything that had happened to him in all these years. shook hands with Okonkwo and went into the compound.An iron gong sounded. they set off in a body. his children and their mothers in the new year. which was passed under his right arm-pit and tied above his left shoulder.

" said the priestess.Ekwefi knelt beside the sick child. consulting among themselves and with the leaders of the two wrestling teams."They are here. There was a drinking horn in it." said another man. therefore."You have not eaten for two days. And every man whose arm was strong." he said. who had felt more angry than the others."He does not know that either. who walked away and never returned.""That is so. put down his load and sat down." But he was a man of commanding presence and the clansmen listened to him. At the opposite end of the compound was a shed for the goats. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace. He was imprisoned with all the leaders of his family. Many people laughed at his dialect and the way he used words strangely. for as soon as the first rain came farming would begin. The same thought also came to Okonkwo's mind."It was in the second year of Okonkwo's exile that his friend. he was terribly afraid.

" she answered. Ezinma was always surprised that her mother could lift a pot from the fire with her bare hands. butwhenever she thought she saw their shape it immediately dissolved like a melting lump of darkness. She started to cry. The drums and the dancing began again and reached fever-heat. years ago. Sometimes it poured down in such thick sheets of water that earth and sky seemed merged in one gray wetness. A bowl of pounded yams can throw him in a wrestling match. Why do they always go for one's ears? When he was a child his mother had told him a story about it. It was a deep bag and took almost the whole length of his arm. to harvest cassava tubers."Bring me my bag. We pray for life. took out two leaves and began to chew them. She trudged slowly along. was the wife of Ogbuefi Udo. Ukegbu. Ezeudu was the oldest man in this quarter of Umuofia. She would wait at the mouth. The priestess bent down on one knee and Ezinma climbed on her back. and Ekwefi recoiled. She will bear you nine sons like the mother of our town. Two judges walked around the wrestlers and when they thought they were equally matched."No.

Okonkwo had slaughtered a goat for her. I cannot yet find a mouth with which to tell the story. suddenly overcome with fury."You are right. and his face beamed. He took the first of the empty stools and the eight other egwugwu began to sit in order of seniority after him. He accepted the half-full horn from his brother and drank it. His wives. Nkechi was the daughter of Okonkwo's third wife. One of them was a pathetic cry. Women and children returning from the stream with pots of water on their heads wondered what was happening until they saw Okagbue and guessed that it must be something to do with ogbanje. gome went the gong. A few moments later he went behind the hut and began to vomit painfully. which means "the good one. The elders consulted their Oracle and it told them that the strange man would break their clan and spread destruction among them. Nwoye. The clan saw no reason then for molesting the Christians." said Obierika." replied the white man. Early that morning as he offered a sacrifice of new yam and palm oil to his ancestors he asked them to protect him.""Have you heard. They thought the priestess might be going to her house. His name was Uchendu. Okonkwo sprang to his feet and quickly sat down again.

The wailing of the women would not be heard beyond the village."There must be something behind it. He warmed himself in the fire and ate the entrails. The air was cool and damp with dew. During those years no single day passed in the sky without his beating the woman."Two years ago. and he loved this season of the year. For two or three moons the sun had been gathering strength till it seemed to breathe a breath of fire on the earth. "I have felt it.""God will not permit it. Her arms were folded across her bare breasts. It was instinctive. "And he was riding an iron horse. Nothing wouldhappen to Ezinma. They will serve you when I have eaten. Even the greatest medicine men took shelter when he was near. That is a wise action."How is your father?" Obierika asked. the anger on his face was gone. my daughter. He then broke the kola nut and threw one of the lobes on the ground for the ancestors.By the time Onwumbiko died Ekwefi had become a very bitter woman. "We should do something.""Some people say the Oracle warned him that he would fall off a palm tree and kill himself.

and it seemed now as if it was happening all over again. Ekwefi broke into a run as though to stop them. "The children are still very young."Akueke moved to the other end of the hut and began to remove the waist-beads. Before the day was over he was dead." said the leader of the ecjwucjwu. Okonkwo had gone to a medicine man. and allowed a murmur of suppressed anger to sweep the crowd. The clan saw no reason then for molesting the Christians. The happy voices of children playing in open fields would then be heard. 'There is something ominous behind the silence. She turned round sharply and walked through Okonkwo's hut. who only stayed in the hope that it might come to chasing the men out of the village or whipping them. The neighbors and Okonkwo's wives were now talking. "that was why the snake-lizard killed his mother. Nwoye's mother. Akueni.The drummers took up their sticks and the air shivered and grew tense like a tightened bow.There were no stars in the sky because there was a rain-cloud. As far as the villagers were concerned. looking at Nwakibie's elder son Igwelo with a malicious twinkle in his eye. Her eyes were useless to her in the darkness.When they had harvested a sizable heap they carried it down in two trips to the stream. and went round the circle shaking hands with all.

when they died. and the women sat on a sisal mat spread on a raised bank of earth.' said Tortoise. Not long after. gome.""I think she will stay." he said. As soon as the two boys closed in. where the white men first came many years before and where they had built the center of their religion and trade and government."Tortoise turned to the birds and said: 'You remember that my name is All of you. It was always quiet except on moonlight nights. close to the Great Shrine. I do not owe my inlaws anything. the white men had also brought a government." Uzowulu replied." He paused.Ezinma grew up in her father's exile and became one of the most beautiful girls in Mbanta. "As our people say. was a man's crop." They laughed and agreed. I am Fire-that-burns-without-faggots. stopped them. They would go to such hosts for as long as three or four markets. It was like the market.

Your mother is there to protect you. Obiageli. "If you had been poor in your last life I would have asked you to be rich when you come again. Ekwefi muttered. But it was the season of rest between the harvest and the next planting season. He ordered the outcasts to shave off their long. Her back was turned on the footpath that led out of the hills. and on her waist four or five rows of jigida. This roasted yam soaked in red palm-oil and eaten in the open farm was sweeter than any meal at home.No work was done during the Week of Peace. She was going to the stream to fetch water. When they did. and he was not afraid of war." he said. who came out of her hut to draw water from a gigantic pot in the shade of a small tree in the middle of the compound. then. There were only three such boys in each team. He searched his bag and brought out his snuff-bottle. white dregs and said." They offered them as much of the Evil Forest as they cared to take. He was still young but he had won fame as the greatest wrestler in the nine villages. Another one was wailing near his right ear. He slapped the ear and hoped he had killed it. was a widely-traveled man who knew the customs of different peoples.

She understood things so perfectly." said the young man Who had been sent by Obierika to buy the giant goat "There are so many people on it that if you threw up a grain of sand it would not find a way to fall to earth again. from Umuofia to Mbaino. Nwoye's sister. Cooking pots went up and down the tripods and foo-foo was pounded in a hundred wooden mortars Some of the women cooked the yams and the cassava. She had borne ten children and nine of them had died in infancy. calling on her mother.At that moment they heard someone crying just outside their compound. And that was also the year Okonkwo broke the peace.Okonkwo's family was astir like any other family in the neighborhood."Everybody thanked Okonkwo and the neighbors brought out their drinking horns from the goatskin bags they carried.' said the birds when they had heard him. now said"You told us with your own mouth that there was only one god. the priestess. Even those which Nwoye knew already were told with a new freshness and the local flavor of a different clan. Most communal ceremonies took place at that time of the day."Those who knew Amadi laughed."Have you slept enough?" asked her mother. hungry to do harm to the living. He sang the song again."She has gone to plait her hair. as the saying goes. Nothing wouldhappen to Ezinma. "Poor child.

the priestess. whereupon Ear fell on the floor in uncontrollable laughter. but they looked on from the fringe like outsiders. the owner of all land. Okonkwo said yes very strongly. The troublesome nanny-goat sniffed about. Nwoye was there.Ikemefuna had begun to feel like a member of Okonkwo's family. holding it by the ankle and dragging it on the ground behind him. Okonkwo. It was said that when such a spirit appeared. He was a leper. Drums beat violently and men leaped up and down in frenzy."He will do great things. If your in-law brings wine to you. They saluted one another and then reappeared on the ilo. She only began to weep when they got near the iroko tree outside their compound. Unoka loved it all. a thing set apart??a taboo for ever. indeed. what did the mother of this duckling say when you swooped and carried its child away?' 'It said nothing. scooped out two mouthfuls and fled from the hut to chew the cud in the goats' shed. Then the metal gong sounded and the flute was blown. He passed her a piece of fish.

His younger wives did that."He will do great things. and it came floating on the wind. But the second time did not count."It is an ozo dance.' And so Daughter Kite returned the duckling and took a chick instead." said Mr." asked another man." the men said among themselves. also carrying an oil lamp. But he was not the man to go about telling his neighbors that he was in error. He then broke the kola nut and threw one of the lobes on the ground for the ancestors. which the first wife alone could wear.As for the boy himself. He then roused Ezinma and placed her on the stool.He is fit to be a slave. She was the ultimate judge of morality and conduct."Odukwe was short and thickset."Who is that?" he growled. What she had seen was the shape of a man climbing a palm tree. 1 know more about the world than any of you. But now she found the half-light of the incipient moon more terrifying than darkness."When they had eaten. which only made the darkness more profound.

As our people say. And so they fled into Umuofia with a woeful story." said Ekwefi. not for hearing. Throughout that day Nwoye sat in his mother's hut and tears stood in his eyes. She was alive and well. You know as well as I do that our forefathers ordained that before we plant any crops in the earth we should observe a week in which a man does not say a harsh word to his neighbor." Okonkwo said between mouthfuls.Even Okonkwo himself became very fond of the boy - inwardly of course. Unoka loved it all. Nwoye knew that Ikemefuna had been killed. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat." said Uchendu. They went back to their caves in a distant land." He paused for a long while. They chose to fly home on an empty stomach. closed hut like tongues of fire. anxiety mounted in every heart that heaved on a bamboo bed that night. It was such a forest that. dug her teeth into the real thing." said Obierika's other companion. Some of them did become tired of their evil rounds of birth and death. the twins still remained where they had been thrown away. that they have strayed from their way to a land where everybody is like them?"Okonkwo's first wife soon finished her cooking and set before their guests a big meal of pounded yams and bitter-leaf soup.

"Early in the afternoon the first two pots of palm-wine arrived from Obierika's in-laws. He asked Okonkwo a few questions about the dead child. Many people laughed at his dialect and the way he used words strangely. all alone in that fearful place." said Ekwefi. He pushed the thought out of his mind. lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper. Nwakibie brought down his own horn. And so one Sunday two of them went into the church. and on the other the offer of a young man and a virgin as compensation. that I am not afraid of blood and if anyone tells you that I am. else it would break and the thousand tiny rings would have to be strung together again. had crawled out of the shrine on her belly like a snake."At last the great day came and Tortoise was the first to arrive at the meeting place." said the interpreter. and within a short time all the birds agreed that he was a changed man. Maduka. She determined to nurse her child to health." said her mother. he was asking Unoka to return the two hundred cowries he had borrowed from him more than two years before. they talked about everything except the thing for which they had gathered. there was always a large quantity of food left over at the end of the day. Twenty. If it ended on his left.

"Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?""Where they bury children. And so they walked out together. And then the smooth."At that moment Obierika's son. the rulers and elders of Mbanta assembled to decide on their action. Ezinma wielded a strong influence over her half-sister. The medicine man ignored him. pulled out his staff and thrust it into the earth again. It was like a man wondering in broad daylight why a dream had appeared so terrible to him at night. which had dozed in the noon-day haze. for Mr."It is here.Ezeudu had been the oldest man in his village. perhaps even quicker. All the family were there and some of the neighbors too. There were huge bowls of foo-foo and steaming pots of soup. She rubbed each string downwards with her palms until it passed the buttocks and slipped down to the floor around her feet. She was rewarded by occasional spells of health during which Ezinma bubbled with energy like fresh palm-wine.At first. his heels hardly touched the ground and he seemed to walk on springs." replied Okoye.It was well known among the people of Mbanta that their gods and ancestors were sometimes long-suffering and would deliberately allow a man to go on defying them. Ikemefuna had an endless stock of folk tales. Those were good days when a man had friends in distant clans.

And they began to shoot. The elders said locusts came once in a generation. Each of his three wives had her own hut. consulting among themselves and with the leaders of the two wrestling teams. The women had come to the church with empty waterpots. She shut her eyes for a while and opened them again in an effort to see. and Ekwefi recoiled. carrying on their heads various sizes of pots suitable to their years. If I were you I would have stayed at home. and the others to the chalk quarry." was joyfully chanted everywhere. But Okagbue said he was not tired yet. and on her waist four or five rows of jigida. No woman ever asked questions about the most powerful and the most secret cult in the clan. the sky. That was the only time Ekwefi ever saw Ogbu-agali-odu. The oldest man present said sternly that those whose palm-kernels were cracked for them by a benevolent spirit should not forget to be humble. and four or five others in his own age group. she prayed a thousand times. But two years later when a son was born he called him Nwofia??"Begotten in the Wilderness. A deathly silence descended on Okonkwo's compound. and passed the disc over to his guest. The wavering converts drew inspiration and confidence from his unshakable faith. "Beware of exchanging words with Agbala.

she sat down on a stony ledge and waited. He would remember his own childhood. But she picked her way easily on the sandy footpath hedged on either side by branches and damp leaves. and on their way they paid short courtesy visits to prominent men like Okonkwo.""It is already too late.""I think it is good that our clan holds the ozo title in high esteem. It was therefore understood that Ekwefi would provide cassava lor the feast. They only saw the red earth he threw up mounting higher and higher. I salute you. It was said that they had built a place of judgment in Umuofia to protect the followers of their religion. He was determined that his return should be marked by his people. We must cook quickly or we shall be late for the wrestling. His first two wives ran out in great alarm pleading with him that it was the sacred week." said Obierika. Obierika. But he now knew that they were for foolish women and children. Inwardly. One of them was a pathetic cry. Okonkwo was one of them. stroking her head. He presented a kola nut and an alligator pepper.""It is a lie. It is not bravery when a man fights with a woman. carrying a basket full of water.

Was it not on an Eke day that they fled into Umuofia?" he asked his two companions."Okonkwo never did things by halves. so she cupped her right hand to shelter the flame. like leprosy and smallpox." said Obierika. She believed because it was that faith alone that gave her own life any kind of meaning. An animal rubs its itching flank against a tree. like leprosy and smallpox. Then it occurred to her that they could not have been heading for the cave. all its metal taken out of it by the vast emptiness of the cave.There were seven men in Obierika's hut when Okonkwo returned." said Ekwefi. But the Ibo people have a proverb that when a man says yes his chi says yes also. But this is a matter which we know. which was part of the night. all of a sudden. He took the first of the empty stools and the eight other egwugwu began to sit in order of seniority after him. It was such a forest that.The Christians had grown in number and were now a small community of men.""That is true. A baby on its mother's back does not know that the way is long."Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?" asked Okagbue when Ezinma finally stopped outside her father's obi. Nwoye went to his mother's hut and told her that Ikemefuna was going home. holding the ancestral staff of the family.

How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us? The white man is very clever. Okagbue worked tirelessly and in silence. "that was why the snake-lizard killed his mother. The Oracle of the Hills and the Caves has pronounced it. Between Chielo's outbursts the night was alive with the shrill tremor of forest insects woven into the darkness."Ogbuefi Ndulue of Ire village. but he had been too surprised to weep. But it is your turn now. asked on behalf of the clan to look after him in the interim. 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. But I can trust you. whose feeling of importance was manifest in her sprightly walk. Okoye rolled his goatskin and departed. facing the elders. another man asked a question: "Where is the white man's horse?" he asked. There was so much food and drink that many kinsmen whistled in surprise. and at his death there were only three men in the whole clan who were older."Because I did not want to. Most of the men and women of Abame had gone to their farms. "But I cannot understand these things you tell me. It was not until the following day that Okonkwo told him the full story.Obierika then presented to him a small bundle of short broomsticks. calabashes and wooden bowls were thoroughly washed. He heard the voice of singing and although it came from a handful of men it was loud and confident.

"We have heard both sides of the case. If any one of you prefers to be a woman. "Which is this god of yours. But Tortoise jumped to his feet and asked: Tor whom have you prepared this feast?'"'For all of you." He looked at Okonkwo. She presented the cock to the musicians and began to dance.His anger thus satisfied. about the next ancestral feast and about the impending war with the village of Mbaino. He stepped forward. and Odukwe bent down and touched the earth. "You might as well say that the woman lies on top of the man when they are making the children. Only a few of them saw these white men and their followers. was then twelve years old but was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness. Let us give them a real battlefield in which to show their victory."He gave his mother seven baskets of vegetables to cook and in the end there were only three. who had felt more angry than the others. greeted Okonkwo and turned towards the compound." said the bride. People laughed at him because he was a loafer. That was in fact the reason why he had come to see Unoka. The law of Umuofia is that if a woman runs away from her husband her bride-price is returned. Okonkwo's wives and children and those who came to help them with the cooking began to bring out the food. but no one thought the stories were true. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.

" said Uchendu. This was a womanly clan. We should have waited for the sun to rise and dry the leaves. In the end Parrot. She had borne ten children and nine of them had died in infancy. butwhenever she thought she saw their shape it immediately dissolved like a melting lump of darkness. Iweka. My mother was one of you. roots snapped below. It ended on the right."You need some sleep yourself. and so everyone in his family listened." he said. Obierika."Father. "It is a strange and terrible story. He did not understand it. His name was Nwoye. the "medicine house" or shrine where Okonkwo kept the wooden symbols of his personal god and of his ancestral spirits. They saw the iron horse and went away again. and a great land case began. But it was as silly as all women's stories.""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. and he sent his kotma to catch Aneto.

and so the victim could not be buried in her bowels. But 1 thought you would need the money now and so I brought it. It is against the will of God. It is a bad custom because it always leads to a quarrel. That had been his life-spring."He uncovered his second wife's dish and began to eat from it."Okonkwo bit his lips as anger welled up within him."Do you know Ogbuefi Ndulue?" Ofoedu asked.There were twelve men on each side and the challenge went from one side to the other.Okonkwo returned from the bush carrying on his left shoulder a large bundle of grasses and leaves. Uchendu's eldest daughter had come from Obodo. saluted the spirits and began his story.Ikemefuna had begun to feel like a member of Okonkwo's family. He trembled with the desire to conquer and subdue." said Ekwefi. A new cover of thick palm branches and palm leaves was set on the walls to protect them from the next rainy season.In the morning the market place was full.The men in the obi had already begun to drink the palm-wine which Akueke's suitor had brought. That was why he had called him a woman."It was my husband's. There was the story of a very stubborn man who staggered back to his house and had to be carried again to the forest and tied to a tree."It will not take us long to harvest as much as we like." Some of them had big sticks and some even machetes. Akueni.

A child cannot pay for its mother's milk. Sometimes he turned round and chased after those men. They passed their cloths under the right arm-pit. In Umuofia's latest war he was the first to bring home a human head. A sudden hush had fallen on the women." He filled the first horn and gave to his father."Don't you know what kind of man Uzowulu is? He will not listen to any other decision. they have killed me!" as he ran towards him. The first rains were late. She miscarried after she had gone to sleep with her lover. he said to Okonkwo:"That boy calls you father. It must have been a very long time."When they had eaten. All the family were there and some of the neighbors too. On ordinary days young women who desired children came to sit under its shade. Ezinma. in the land of his fathers where men were bold and warlike. It was an ill omen. The lad's name was Ikemefuna.""And have you never seen them?" asked Machi. Nothing happened at its proper time. when Mr. It was powerful in war and in magic. and each stroke is one hundred cowries.

The priestess was now saluting the village of Umuachi. who then unrolled the goatskin which he carried under his arm. The titled men and elders sat on their stools waiting for the trials to begin. Your mother is there to protect you."He died this morning. "Umuofia kwenu. butwhenever she thought she saw their shape it immediately dissolved like a melting lump of darkness. as the Ibo people say. decorating them with a colorful and plaintive tune. I would not have believed. He was always alone and was shaped like a coffin. which was rubbed with red earth so that it shone. Ekwefi had nothing but good wishes for her. calling him "Our father. roasting and eating maize. He knew that he was a fierce fighter. Kiaga's joy was very great. He felt like a drunken giant walking with the limbs of a mosquito. "A child's fingers are not scalded by a piece of hot yam which its mother puts into its palm. The whole church raised a protest and was about to drive these people out. "There must be a reason for it." said Okonkwo's voice." said Okonkwo. sat on a mat on the floor.

"Yes. Unfortunately for her Okonkwo heard it and ran madly into his room for the loaded gun. because an old man was very close to the ancestors. He had called the first child born to him in exile Nneka??"Mother is Supreme"??out of politeness to his mother's kinsmen."Obiageli called her "Salt" because she said that she disliked water. She had borne ten children and nine of them had died in infancy. After that they began to eat and to drink the wine. when they came."Have you slept enough?" asked her mother. He was therefore waiting to receive them. Spirits of good children lived in that tree waiting to be born. It was in fact one of them who in his zeal brought the church into serious conflict with the clan a year later by killing the sacred python. But they have cast you out like lepers.There was a wealthy man in Okonkwo's village who had three huge barns."No. and stammered."Then kill yourself. and he pointed to a man who sat near him with a bowed head. "But I cannot understand these things you tell me.The whole village turned out on the ilo. It is the law of our fathers.""But someone had to do it.Okonkwo sat in his obi crunching happily with Ikemefuna and Nwoye.The whole village turned out on the ilo.