flaming fire. "But I cannot understand these things you tell me. The custom here is to serve the spokesman first and the others later.

" said Evil Forest
" said Evil Forest. sad and pleading. My case is finished. Okonkwo had clearly washed his hands and so he ate with kings and elders. the troublesome nanny goat. Whenever the thought of his father's weakness and failure troubled him he expelled it by thinking about his own strength and success. all talking in low voices. to help them in their cooking. He raised his voice once or twice in manly sorrow and then sat down with the other men listening to the endless wailing of the women and the esoteric language of the ekwe.Qkonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. this medicine stands on the market ground in the shape of an old woman with a fan. broke into life and activity. else it would break and the thousand tiny rings would have to be strung together again. He would have liked to return earlier and build his compound that year before the rains stopped. if a child washed his hands he could eat with kings. and on the other the offer of a young man and a virgin as compensation." said Nwakibie."Okonkwo had just blown out the palm-oil lamp and stretched himself on his bamboo bed when he heard the ogene of the town crier piercing the still night air. They did not stay very long." He got up painfully.

Nwoye's mother swore at her and settled down again to her peeling. had entered his eye. Some of them were very violent."As they spoke Ezinma emerged from the hut. Every nerve and every muscle stood out on their arms. Unoka. Their church stood on a circular clearing that looked like the open mouth of the Evil Forest. "1 told you. She determined to nurse her child to health. Amadiora or the thunderbolt. you and me and all of us. Once he got up from bed and walked about his compound. Ezinma sneezed. melons and beans between the yam mounds." said Ekwefi. Okonkwo was still pleading that the girl had been ill of late and was asleep. The barn was built against one end of the red walls.The whole village turned out on the ilo.Just then the distant beating of drums began to reach them. At the end.

And that was also the year Okonkwo broke the peace.""There is no story that is not true. she was in close communion with the departed fathers of the clan whose bodies had been committed to earth."I will come with you. As the evening drew near. and they were merely her messengers. and our clan can no longer act like one."Ee-e-e!"The kola was eaten and the drinking of palm-wine began. But he left hold of Nwoye. and I am still alive. Drums beat violently and men leaped up and down in frenzy. "We should do something." Okonkwo was specially fond of Ezinma. in the sunshine. Why did they not fight back? Had they no guns and machetes? We would be cowards lo compare ourselves with the men of Abame." said another woman."Go to your in-laws with a pot of wine and beg your wife to return to you." Ezinma said. It was only when he had got there that it had occurred to him that the priestess might have chosen to go round the villages first. An evil forest was where the clan buried all those who died of the really evil diseases.

" said one man. Two years after her marriage to Anene she could bear it no longer and she ran away to Okonkwo. It was one of those gay and rollicking tunes of evangelism which had the power of plucking at silent and dusty chords in the heart of an Ibo man. from Umuofia to Mbaino. Okonkwo's wives had scrubbed the walls and the huts with red earth until they reflected light. He heard the voice of singing and although it came from a handful of men it was loud and confident. The yams were then staked."Where do you sleep with your wife.""An albino. I greet you.The crowd set out with Ezinma leading the way and Okagbue following closely behind her. trembling. and soon they were the strongest adherents of the new faith."Ezinma looked at her mother. That woman. her face streaming with tears. Now and then a cold shiver descended on his head and spread down his body. he was repentant. his mother was alive.Unoka.

"He hardly ever walks. Obierika offered him a lobe of the kola nut he had broken with Okonkwo. He was called the Cat because his back would never touch the earth. carrying a pot of palm-wine on his head."It is very near now." He turned to Uzowulu's group and allowed a short pause." said Idigo. and stake them when the young tendrils appear." said another woman. and the elusive dance rose and fell with the wind. When the will of the goddess had been done. with which he carried the brown snuff to his nostrils. They painted their bodies with red cam wood and drew beautiful patterns on them with uli. We put our fingers into our ears to stop us hearing. I did not send her away. The young men who kept order flew around. conversing with his father in low tones. so that he was full of food and drink and his body filled out in his shell. I shall give you twice four hundred yams.""He was indeed.

Di-go-go-di-go-di-di-go-go floated in the message-laden night air. was celebrating his daughter's uri. Every village had its own ilo which was as old as the village itself and where all the great ceremonies and dances took place. Unfortunately for her Okonkwo heard it and ran madly into his room for the loaded gun. She broke them into little pieces across the sole of her foot and began to build a fire. These court messengers were greatly hated in Umuofia because they were foreigners and also arrogant and high-handed. When he thought he had waited long enough he again returned to the shrine. Nwoye's mother swore at her and settled down again to her peeling. The women weeded the farm three times at definite periods in the life of the yams. younger men gave way and the tumult subsided."Who killed this tree? Or are you all deaf and dumb?"As a matter of fact the tree was very much alive. Okafo raised his right leg and swung it over his rival's head.- the only thing worth demonstrating was strength. He died of the swelling which was an abomination to the earth goddess. As they cut grass in the morning the younger men sang in time with the strokes of their machetes:"Kotma of the ashy buttocks. all the same. "I am an old man and I like to talk. The rains had come and yams had been sown. What she had seen was the shape of a man climbing a palm tree.' Why is that?"There was silence.

slit its throat with a sharp knife and allowed some of the blood to fall on the ancestral staff. But they dared not complain openly.""You worry yourself for nothing." Obierika thought. just emerged from the earth. But they always returned to the long rope he trailed behind. but he had been too surprised to weep. "If you split another yam of this size. And so when the priestess with Ezinma on her back disappeared through a hole hardly big enough to pass a hen. But it was as silly as all women's stories. she thought. Throughout that day Nwoye sat in his mother's hut and tears stood in his eyes. Old men nodded to the beat of the drums and remembered the days when they wrestled to its intoxicating rhythm. But 1 thought you would need the money now and so I brought it. He was a leper. The air was cool and damp with dew. the village playground.""What did the white man say before they killed him?" asked Uchendu. They surged forward as the two young men danced into the circle. Dum! Dum! Dum! boomed the cannon at intervals.

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. and her arms folded across her breasts. and four or five others in his own age group." said Obierika. There was so much food and drink that many kinsmen whistled in surprise."Answer me. And when. with music and dancing and a great feast. And immediately Okonkwo's eyes were opened and he saw the whole matter clearly.""I can tell you. Kiaga's joy was very great."What is iyi-uwa?" she asked in return."There was immediate excitement and those who were sitting jumped to their feet. and she was greatly feared."Another woman said." he said quietly to Ezinma.""Is he well?" asked Nwoye. To abandon the gods of one's father and go about with a lot of effeminate men clucking like old hens was the very depth of abomination. for although nobody else knew it. you would still have committed a great evil to beat her.

Of his three wives Ekwefi was the only one who would have the audacity to bang on his door. a light rain had fallen during the night and the soil would not be very hard. "I shall survive anything.The year that Okonkwo took eight hundred seed-yams from Nwakibie was the worst year in living memory. He can curse the gods of his fathers and his ancestors. As soon as Uchendu saw him with his sad and weary company he guessed what had happened. "My son has told me about you. But Ekwefi could not see her. The crowd had surrounded and swallowed up the drummers. They should have armed themselves with their guns and their machetes even when they went to market. "So he must have a wife and all of them must have buttocks."Unoka was an ill-fated man. A baby on its mother's back does not know that the way is long.Okonkwo turned on his side and went back to sleep. But you lived long. which children were rarely allowed to eat because such food tempted them to steal." asked another man."At last the party arrived in the sky and their hosts were very happy to see them. The saying of the elders was not true??that if a man said yea his chi also affirmed. made up her mind.

Was it not on an Eke day that they fled into Umuofia?" he asked his two companions. She hit her left foot against an outcropped root. except the old and the sick who were at home and a handful of men and women whose chi were wide awake and brought them out of that market.""It is the result of a great medicine. He had lost the chance to lead his warlike clan against the new religion. Nwoye's mother is already cooking. 'It just walked away. Ezinma brought her two legs together and stretched them in front of her. I knew your father. and he knew that his father wanted him to be a man. some were orators who spoke for the clan. Okonkwo saw clearly the high esteem in which he would be held." said Obierika. roasting and eating maize.Many young men and prosperous middle-aged men of Mbanta came to marry her." said Obierika. Gome. But that was only to be expected. The conversation at once centered on him. Even the very little children seemed to know.

and as it dwelt on it.The old man. 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. before the first cock-crow. very much shaken and frightened but quite unhurt. In Umunso they do not bargain at all.One of the men behind him cleared his throat."Umuofia kwenu!" roared Evil Forest. "1 told you.""They have indeed soiled the name of ozo. They never answered yes for fear it might be an evil spirit calling. they take new names for the occasion. And so on this particular night as the crier's voice was gradually swallowed up in the distance. But he had long learned how to lay that ghost." 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. too. years ago. And then suddenly like one possessed he shot out his left hand and pointed in the direction of Mbaino. and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten. Spirits of good children lived in that tree waiting to be born.

But good men who worshipped the true God lived forever in His happy kingdom."That was all he had said. It was not the mad logic of the Trinity that captivated him."I will not have a son who cannot hold up his head in the gathering of the clan.Evil Forest began to speak and all the while he spoke everyone was silent."Ezeudu!" he called in his guttural voice. Okonkwo got ready quickly and the party set out with Ikemefuna carrying the pot of wine. He immediately set to work digging a pit where Ezinma had indicated.Obierika's compound was as busy as an anthill. "Whoever has a job in hand.At first. "and leave the child alone.The New Yam Festival was thus an occasion for joy throughout Umuofia. and the tuber was pulled out.""Have you heard. They were called kotma. but they are too young to leave their mother. and the sands felt like live coals to the feet. At the end of it Okonkwo was fully convinced that the man was mad. One of them was a pathetic cry.

and the dry."Where have you been?" he stammered. Some of these UGG Classic Cardy Bootsprisoners were men of title who should be above such mean occupation.""Some people say the Oracle warned him that he would fall off a palm tree and kill himself."Umuofia kwenu!""Yaa!""Umuofia kwenu!""Yaa!"Evil Forest then thrust the pointed end of his rattling staff into the earth. 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. and he prayed to the ancestors. The clan was worried. But Ekwefi could not see her. trembling. His name was Okagbue Uyanwa. But no one who had ever crawled into his awful shrine had come out without the fear of his power. Guns fired the last salute and the cannon rent the sky. For three or four moons it demanded hard work and constant attention from cock-crow till the chickens went back to roost. Ani.""God will not permit it. especially the wooden mortar in which yam was pounded. He would return with a flourish. "It's true that a child belongs to its father. where he built his headquarters and from where he paid regular visits to Mr.

A woman fled as soon as an egwugwu came in sight. The chalk women also returned to tell a similar story. He would stamp out the disquieting signs of laziness which he thought he already saw in him.As they trooped through Okonkwo's obi he asked: "Who will prepare my afternoon meal?""I shall return to do it." said Obierika. He could not understand it until he looked back and saw that what he led at the end of the tether was not a goat but a heavy log of wood. It was Okonkwo's uncle. and of the bird eneke-nti-oba who challenged the whole world to a wrestling contest and was finally thrown by the cat. They all have food in their own homes." said Obierika. Smoke poured out of his head. He was always alone and was shaped like a coffin. But that did not alter the facts. and at his death there were only three men in the whole clan who were older."Five women stayed behind to look after the cooking-pots.Okonkwo and his family worked very hard to plant a new farm. Was it waiting to snap its teeth together? After passing and re-passing by the church. a light rain had fallen during the night and the soil would not be very hard. And now he was going to take the Idemili title. She slowed down her pace so as to increase the distance between them.

It was there that her third child was born and circumcised on the eighth day." said one of the women. On ordinary days young women who desired children came to sit under its shade. But the boy was afraid of him and slipped out of the hut as soon as he noticed him dozing.As the palm-wine was drunk one of the oldest members of the umunna rose to thank Okonkwo:"If I say that we did not expect such a big feast I will be suggesting that we did not know how openhanded our son. He had five other sons and he would bring them up in the way of the clan. he had gone to consult the Oracle. "when she was pregnant. All else was silent. food was presented to the guests. Young men and boys in single file. But it was useless.The way into the shrine was a round hole at the side of a hill. and he spoke as he performed them:"1 hope our in-laws will bring many pots of wine. sat on the floor waiting for him to finish. They were merely cleansing the land which Okonkwo had polluted with the blood of a clansman. "She should have been a boy. And when a man is at peace with his gods and his ancestors. buoyant maiden. It was like a man wondering in broad daylight why a dream had appeared so terrible to him at night.

Men stirred on their bamboo beds and listened anxiously.The wrestlers were now almost still in each other's grip. The first thing he would do would be to rebuild his compound on a more magnificent scale. Who knows what may happen tomorrow? Perhaps green men will come to our clan and shoot us. Every woman in the neighborhood knew the sound of Nwayieke's mortar and pestle. Nwoye passed and repassed the little red-earth and thatch building without summoning enough courage to enter."He sprang to his feet. Do you not think that they came to our clan by mistake."At last the great day came and Tortoise was the first to arrive at the meeting place. thus completing a circle with their hosts. It was a cry in the distance: oji odu aru ijiji-o-o! (The one that uses its tail to drive flies away!). There were twenty-two of them. no matter how heavily the family ate or how many friends and relatives they invited from neighboring villages. behind the crowd.Seven years was a long time to be away from one's clan. Every market day. All the family were there and some of the neighbors too. and two or three pieces of land on which tofarm during the coming planting season. and he saw himself taking the highest title in the land." she began.

and the dry. who has promised everlasting life to all who believe in His holy name. But after a while this custom was stopped because it spoiled the peace which it was meant to preserve. "that I shall bring many iron horses when we have settled down among them. As Idigo had said. "I thought he was a strong man in his youth. among the missionaries in Umuofia. And so heavily did it rain onVulture that he did not return to deliver his message but flew to a distant land. The women had come to the church with empty waterpots. But somehow he knew he was not going to see them. they take new names for the occasion. Some years the harmattan was very severe and a dense haze hung on the atmosphere. and sat down. the white missionary. The egwugwu with the springy walk was one of the dead fathers of the clan. Ojiugo's children were eating with the children of his first wife. which the first wife alone could wear. "A child's fingers are not scalded by a piece of hot yam which its mother puts into its palm. and when he recovered he seemed to have overcome his great fear and sadness. But his mother and his three-year-old sister?? of course she would not be three now.

They then set about painting themselves with cam wood and drawing beautiful black patterns on their stomachs and on their backs. Cam wood was rubbed lightly into her skin.""Is he well?" asked Nwoye. metallic and thirsty clap."I will come with you. The rains had come and yams had been sown.' said Mother Kite."How is your father?" Obierika asked."They will not begin until the sun goes down. "If you had been poor in your last life I would have asked you to be rich when you come again. "If I had a son like him I should be happy. and the burial was near. The hosts nodded in approval and seemed to say. perhaps even quicker. "honest men and thieves. His greatest friend.""If we leave our gods and follow your god. Obierika offered him a lobe of the kola nut he had broken with Okonkwo. The three white men and a very large number of other men surrounded the market. Uzowulu and his relative.

whose name was Ibe. and she agreed also. But you are still a child."Don't cry. At such times. She was nine then and was just recovering from a serious illness. The folk stories stopped. In Umuofia's latest war he was the first to bring home a human head. Once or twice he tried to run away. The moon was definitely rising. pulled out his staff and thrust it into the earth again. I owe that man a thousand cowries.""It is true. They sympathized with their neighbors with much shaking of the head. whom he nearly shot. But tonight she was addressing her prophecy and greetings to Okonkwo." He rose and left the hut.The year that Okonkwo took eight hundred seed-yams from Nwakibie was the worst year in living memory. He had a slight stammer and whenever he was angry and could not get his words out quickly enough."Two years ago.

dug her teeth into the real thing."Unless you shave off the mark of your heathen belief I will not admit you into the church. and people came from far and near to consult it. 'You are full of cunning and you are ungrateful. You know his first wife who walks with a stick?""Yes. There were little holes from one side to the other in the upper levels of the wall. yellow and dark green. The kola nut was given him to break. And now he was going to take the Idemili title.Okonkwo was very happy to receive his friend. But it is not our custom to debar anyone from the stream or the quarry." said Obierika. and each party brought with them a huge pot of palm-wine. But before they left each took back the feather he had lent to Tortoise." said Okonkwo's voice." Some of them had big sticks and some even machetes. Of all his children she alone understood his every mood. He was a flaming fire. "But I cannot understand these things you tell me. The custom here is to serve the spokesman first and the others later.