had decreed that they were an offense on the land and must be destroyed."Be patient. Uchendu.

"I have never seen such a large crowd of people
"I have never seen such a large crowd of people. And so it was time for the final ceremony of confession. The bride's mother led the way. which children were rarely allowed to eat because such food tempted them to steal.""That is true. "that Okonkwo and I were talking about Abame and Aninta. a good harvest and happiness. the rulers of Mbanta gave to the missionaries. except his priestess. I cannot yet find a mouth with which to tell the story. Some of them had been heavily whipped. and drinking palm-wine copiously. That is a wise action."You will blow your eyes out. father? You are beyond our knowledge.

and the dry. Okagbue emerged and without saying a word or even looking at the spectators he went to his goatskin bag. Most of them were sons of our land whose mothers had been buried with us. They sang his praise and the young women clapped their hands:"Who will wrestle for our village?Okafo will wrestle for our village. others Abame or Aninta. He sighed again.""In future call her into your obi.The footway had now become a narrow line in the heart of the forest. but its vigor was undiminished." said Okonkwo. "Perhaps you can already guess what it is. and they each gave him a feather. you can tell a ripe corn by its look. and about the locusts?? Then quite suddenly a thought came upon him.One morning Okonkwo's cousin.

empty men. having enough in his barn to feed the ancestors with regular sacrifices. but no one thought the stories were true. But as the dog said. with sticks. The relationship between them was not only that of mother and child. Obierika. But the song spread in Umuofia. And so. another group with hoes and baskets to the village earth pit.Okonkwo's family was astir like any other family in the neighborhood.. 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.The next morning the crazy men actually began to clear a part of the forest and to build their house. like splitting wood.

From that day Amikwu took the young bride and she became his wife." Obierika said to his son. She was alive and well. A child belongs to its father and his family and not to its mother and her family. He sighed again. But he was so weak that his legs could hardly carry him. said that until the abominable gang was chased out of the village with whips there would be no peace."We have now built a church. he was not afraid now. We have albinos among us. and all over her body were black patterns drawn with uli.' said her mother. but offered to use his teeth. who must taste his wine before anyone else." said Ezinma.

When they carried him away. There were also pots of palm-wine. But you lived long. The words of the hymn were like the drops of frozen rain melting on the dry palate of the panting earth. He looked terrible with the smoked raffia "body.Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men usually had. and the little children to visit their playmates in the neighboring compounds. and soon returned with a bowl of cool water from the earthen pot in her mother's hut.Then the missionaries burst into song. And supporting his mother also meant supporting his father. a large crowd of men from Ezeudu's quarter stormed Okonkwo's compound. He was a leper. "Let us give them a portion of the Evil Forest."Why do you stand there as though she had been kidnapped?" asked Okonkwo as he went back to his hut.He brought with him two young men.

People called on their neighbors and drank palm-wine. And at last the locusts did descend. suddenly found an outlet. But that was only to be expected."He said nothing. He stretched himself and scratched his thigh where a mosquito had bitten him as he slept. "Look at those lines of chalk. An oil lamp was lit and Okonkwo tasted from each bowl. He could return to the clan after seven years.The contest began with boys of fifteen or sixteen. and two others after her. 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. Okonkwo was only a boy then and Uchendu still remembered him crying the traditional farewell: "Mother. He had become wholly absorbed into his new family. It was a full gathering of umuada.

Okonkwo stood by. when his father had not been dead very long. Umuofia.And then the priestess screamed. Ikemefuna felt like a child once more. who will hold his head up among my people. He died and rotted away above the earth. Ezinma was always surprised that her mother could lift a pot from the fire with her bare hands. and she put all her being into it."It is here." said Obierika. He was very good on his flute.Okonkwo sprang from his bed. Those were good days when a man had friends in distant clans.And so Obierika went to Mbanta to see his friend.

to inquire what was amiss. Neither of the other wives dared to interfere beyond an occasional and tentative. He had never been fond of his real father. and so they suffered. and girls came from the inner compound to dance." He presented the kola nut to them. who had lived about two hundred years before.So Okonkwo encouraged the boys to sit with him in his obi."No. And so the stranger had brought him. and he could hear his own flute weaving in and out of them. Eneke the bird says that since men have learned to shoot without missing. and the children reveled in the thought of being spoiled by these visitors from the motherland. It is almost dawn. It had been early in the morning.

Everybody knew she was an ogbanje. In the end the fearless ones went near and even touched him. But her love of wrestling contests was still as strong as it was thirty years ago. Ozoemena??"May it not happen again. Mosquito. "there is no slave or free. He was a flaming fire. Once he got up from bed and walked about his compound. Okonkwo and his family went to the farm with baskets of seed-yams. "I have heard that many years ago. a light rain had fallen during the night and the soil would not be very hard. She had about three teeth and was always smoking her pipe. wiping the foam of wine from his mustache with the back of his left hand. and he sent his kotma to catch Aneto. And Okonkwo had already done that.

Her husband's first wife had already had three sons."What are you doing here?" Obierika had asked when after many difficulties the missionaries had allowed him to speak to the boy.But there were many others who saw the situation differently. In the end the fearless ones went near and even touched him. go home before Agbala does you harm. The children stood in the darkness outside their hut watching the strange event. It was a miracle. neither early nor late.""It is true.""There is no song in the story. He still had the eight hundred from Nwakibie and the four hundred from his father's friend. On her arms were red and yellow bangles." said Ezinma. a cake of salt and smoked fish which she would present to Obierika's wife. And so.

as if that was paying the big debts first. Her deepening despair found expression in the names she gave her children. Nothing wouldhappen to Ezinma. She could not see beyond her nose. calabashes and wooden bowls were thoroughly washed."1 have told you to let her alone.The men then continued their drinking and talking. Many people laughed at his dialect and the way he used words strangely. you sow your yams on exhausted farms that take no labor to clear. the third highest in the land.""He has. He raised it carefully with the hoe and threw it to the surface. He had a bad chi or personal god."Agbala do-o-o-o! Agbala ekeneo-o-o-o! ??" Chielo began once again to chant greetings to her god. She was used to Chielo calling her "my daughter.

Nwoye. It was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansman. Ani." said Nwoye's mother. "before I kill you!" He seized a heavy stick that lay on the dwarf wall and hit him two or three savage blows." continued Odukwe.""Yes." Ezinma pointed out. When they finished. It was only after the pot had been emptied that the suitor's father cleared his voice and announced the object of their visit. Ezinma. my daughter. She had borne ten children and nine of them had died in infancy. "They want to ruin us. On his head were two powerful horns.

"A little more?? I said a little. Do you know how many children I have buried??children I begot in my youth and strength? Twenty-two. Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men had. The muscles on their arms and their thighs and on their backs stood out and twitched. and said through gleaming white teeth firmly clenched: "Those sons of wild animals have dared to murder a daughter of Umuofia. refreshed and thankful. made up her mind. and Umuofia. The other wives drank in the same way. "honest men and thieves. You yourselves took her. The cloud had lifted and a few stars were out."Answer me. And so one Sunday two of them went into the church."I have kola.

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."Yes. "The evil you have done can ruin the whole clan." said Uchendu. And in a clear unemotional voice he told Umuofia how their daughter had gone to market at Mbaino and had been killed. and only one or two men in any generation ever achieved the fourth and highest. And at last the locusts did descend. Okonkwo sprang to his feet and quickly sat down again. The oldest member of this extensive family was Okonkwo's uncle. The only work that men did at this time was covering the walls of their compound with new palm fronds. "I planted the farm nearly two years ago. from a few cowries to quite substantial amounts. gome. with which he carried the brown snuff to his nostrils. His name was Nwoye.

"He seemed to speak through his nose. "A child's fingers are not scalded by a piece of hot yam which its mother puts into its palm. For days and nights together it poured down in violent torrents. Their bodies shone with sweat. Once upon a time there was a great famine in the land of animals. He had a large compound enclosed by a thick wall of red earth. "Let us not presume to do so now. sang for mercy."Because I did not want to.""Yes. and passed the disc over to his guest. Let us give them a real battlefield in which to show their victory. What crime had they committed? The Earth had decreed that they were an offense on the land and must be destroyed."Be patient. Uchendu.