distance between them. She had married Anene because Okonkwo was too poor then to marry. He asked the birds to take a message for his wife.

mother is going
mother is going. Okonkwo's second wife had merely cut a few leaves off it to wrap some food."It has not always been so." He paused. when she had seen Ogbu-agali-odu.And then the egwugwu appeared."Ezinma ran in the direction of the barn and brought back two yams from the dwarf wall. "that in some clans it is an abomination for a man to die during the Week of Peace."Go home and sleep. pointing with his finger. And what is the result? Their clan is full of the evil spirits of these unburied dead.Later." The man who had contradicted him had no titles. The first thing he would do would be to rebuild his compound on a more magnificent scale. which.

called the converts the excrement of the clan. Now and again an ancestral spirit or egwugwu appeared from the underworld. Very often it was Ezinma who decided what food her mother should prepare." Okonkwo threatened. who stood beside her." Okonkwo said to the lad. In the end Okonkwo threw the Cat. If a gang of efulefu decided to live in the Evil Forest it was their own affair. He had not hoped to get more than four hundred seeds. Nwoye's mind had gone immediately to Nwayieke." said the priestess.His anger thus satisfied.As soon as his father walked in. Kiaga was going to send into the village for his men-converts when he saw them coming on their own. But it was useless.

condemned for seven years to live in a strange land." He paused.It was going to be Okonkwo's last harvest in Mbanta. As the rains became heavier the women planted maize. As long as they lasted. It was difficult to say which the people enjoyed more."On the following Sunday. Chielo's voice now came after long intervals. the farthest village in the clan."When they had eaten." replied Okukwe. looking at the position of the sun. Okonkwo.At first Ikemefuna was very much afraid. should he.

It was a great feast. And there were again only three. a man asks his kinsman to scratch him. Ikemefuna called him father. and we shall all perish. panting. and Maduka brought in a pot of palm-wine. they say. It told of one sheep out on the hills. but she went to Okonkwo's compound. How could she know that Ekwefi's bitterness did not flow outwards to others but inwards into her own soul." said Obierika."Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?" Okagbue had asked Ezinma. He held up a piece of chalk. in the sunshine.

The pot fell and broke in the sand. hung above the fireplace. "Umuofia kwenu. you wicked daughter of Akalogoli?" Okonkwo swore furiously.""I don't know how we got that law.""Your chi is very much awake. indeed.""He was indeed. Okonkwo took up his goatskin bag to go. It was sudden and tremendous. It was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansman.Evil Forest began to speak and all the while he spoke everyone was silent. Then the crier gave his message. Some of them will even ride the iron horse themselves. Okonkwo's first son.

" replied the white man.Umuofia had indeed changed during the seven years Okonkwo had been in exile. 'If I fall down for you and you fall down for me. It was not the mad logic of the Trinity that captivated him. She had got ready her basket of coco-yams and fish. with her suitor and his relatives." said Obierika. And so at a very early age when he was striving desperately to build a barn through share-cropping Okonkwo was also fending for his father's house." He pulled his staff from the hard earth and thrust it back. She greeted her god in a multitude of names??the owner of the future. On Obierika's side were his two elder brothers and Maduka. Those men of Abame were fools. Evergreen trees wore a dusty coat of brown. It said that other white men were on their way." He paused.

When his wife Ekwefi protested that two goats were sufficient for the feast he told her that it was not her affair. also carrying an oil lamp." Ekwefi said to the woman who had stood shoulder to shoulder with her since the beginning of the matches. And so he is bowed with grief."Look at that wall. When the moon rose late in the night. It looked like whispering."The body of Odukwe. Tears of gratitude filled her eyes. "In many other clans a man of title is not forbidden to climb the palm tree. She stood until Chielo had increased the distance between them and she began to follow again. who lived near the udala tree. It was then uncertain whether the low rumbling of Amadiora's thunder came from above or below."No. He was therefore waiting to receive them.

Okagbue worked tirelessly and in silence."Having spoken plainly so far.The arrival of the missionaries had caused a considerable stir in the village of Mbanta.' said Tortoise. into a healthy. He held up a piece of chalk. The suitor just goes on bringing bags of cowries until his in-laws tell him to stop. in each of the countless thatched huts of Umuofia. Nwoye went to his mother's hut and told her that Ikemefuna was going home. Most of them were sons of our land whose mothers had been buried with us. A vague chill had descended on him and his head had seemed to swell. solid drops of frozen water which the people called "the nuts of the water of heaven. and at his death there were only three men in the whole clan who were older. when the rains had stopped and the sun rose every morning with dazzling beauty. Tortoise also took one.

Then he poured out for the others. She had borne ten children and nine of them had died in infancy. looking at Nwakibie's elder son Igwelo with a malicious twinkle in his eye. a debtor.The men in the obi had already begun to drink the palm-wine which Akueke's suitor had brought. and long stacks of yam stood out prosperously in it. It was unbelievable. The whole church raised a protest and was about to drive these people out. closely followed by Nwoye and his two younger brothers. It was not the mad logic of the Trinity that captivated him.There were twelve men on each side and the challenge went from one side to the other. 'If I fall down for you and you fall down for me. if it lost its tail it soon grew another.They sat in a big circle on the ground and the young bride in the center with a hen in her right hand.""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.

Ekwefi screwed her eyes up in an effort to see her daughter and the priestess. It is the kind of action for which the goddess wipes out whole families. will not understand me. She determined to nurse her child to health." said Ezinma."I have come to you for help. What did they know about the man?" He ground his teeth again and told a story to illustrate his point. Elumelu. and he sought to correct him by constant nagging and beating." he said and cleared his throat. but the fattest of all was tethered to a peg near the wall of the compound and was as big as a small cow. I would have asked you to get life.The drum sounded again and the flute blew. But she had got worse and worse. If you had been a coward.

People made way for him on all sides and the noise subsided. None of them was a man of title. roasting and eating maize."Is that me?" Ekwefi called back. whose sad story is still told in Umuofia unto this day. so that he was full of food and drink and his body filled out in his shell. Her husband's wife took this for malevolence. drew some lines on the floor. among these people a man was judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his father. She went on fanning it until it burst into flames. She had already walked so long that she began to feel a slight numbness in the limbs and in the head."It is an ozo dance. he was already one of the greatest men of his time."It is here. Ezinma wielded a strong influence over her half-sister.

all the same.Ikemefuna had begun to feel like a member of Okonkwo's family."Whose cow was it?" asked the women who had been allowed to stay behind. They danced back to the center together and then closed in. Nwoye overheard it and burst into tears. Ezeudu was the oldest man in this quarter of Umuofia. That was a source of great sorrow to the leaders of the clan. which every man kept in his obi and with which his guests drew lines on the floor before they ate kola nuts. else it would break and the thousand tiny rings would have to be strung together again. He was a great man. She was. I salute you. The priestess in those days was a woman called Chika."Do you know Ogbuefi Ndulue?" Ofoedu asked. But it is not our custom to debar anyone from the stream or the quarry.

If you had died young."Okonkwo tried to explain to him what his wife had done. Ezinma? You are older than Obiageli but she has more sense.Unoka. Ezinma?""She has been very well for some time now. "Somebody is walking behind me!" she said. At such times. "So you must finish this."You think you are the greatest sufferer in the world? Do you know that men are sometimes banished for life? Do you know that men sometimes lose all their yams and even their children? I had six wives once. palm-oil and pepper for the soup.Okonkwo was well received by his mother's kinsmen in Mbanta. And then from the center of the delirious fury came a cry of agony and shouts of horror. he was at a loss. Our hosts in the sky will expect us to honor this age-old custom.""It is a lie.

"Come along then and show me the spot.""There is no story that is not true. Obierika's second wife followed with a pot of soup. and they were merely her messengers." said the convert. especially the wooden mortar in which yam was pounded. Some of them came over to see for themselves. and in the end it was decided to ostracize the Christians. as was the custom.Okonkwo sprang from his bed.The wrestlers were now almost still in each other's grip. Nwoye."Come and show me the exact spot. As soon as Uchendu saw him with his sad and weary company he guessed what had happened. Njide.

Each of the nine egwugwu represented a village of the clan. "They are pieces of wood and stone. do you know me?""How can I know you." and on each occasion he faced a different direction and seemed to push the air with a clenched fist. She was about sixteen and just ripe for marriage." said the priestess.And so Obierika went to Mbanta to see his friend. He turned it on to his left palm. Uchendu pulled gently at his gray beard and gnashed his teeth. The sickness was an abomination to the earth. Within a short time the first two bouts were over. and its priests and medicine men were feared in all the surrounding country. She slowed down her pace so as to increase the distance between them. She had married Anene because Okonkwo was too poor then to marry. He asked the birds to take a message for his wife.