strength of his arm. like coco-yams.At first Ikemefuna was very much afraid." said Ezinma to her mother. But the arrivees persevered."Remove your jigida first.

but he stood beckoning to them
but he stood beckoning to them. lest he strike you in his anger."Uzowulu's body. dead. Drums beat violently and men leaped up and down in frenzy.Ezinma took the dish in one hand and the empty water bowl in the other and went back to her mother's hut. and they each gave him a feather.; "Did he die?" asked Ezinma. And what was more. How else could they say that Ani and Amadiora were harmless? And Idemili and Ogwugwu too? And some of them began to go away. and his face beamed. an old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb. If you think you are the greatest sufferer in the world ask my daughter. Once she tripped up and fell. The nine egwugwu then went away to consult together in their house. the whole clan gathers there. His greatest friend. And so excitement mounted in the village as the seventh week approached since the impudent missionaries buill their church in the Evil Forest. They all admired it and said that that was the way things should be done. and hung their goatskin bags and sheathed machetes over their left shoulders. It was then that the one-handed spirit came. Worshippers and those who came to seek knowledge from the god crawled on their belly through the hole and found themselves in a dark. But he was not a failure like Unoka. hung above the fireplace. I do not owe my inlaws anything. But it was impossible to refuse Ezinma anything.

Ekwefi was also awakened and her benumbed fears revived. The white man had gone back to Umuofia. long way from home."Oho."Nwoye always wondered who Nnadi was and why he should live all by himself. had crawled out of the shrine on her belly like a snake. He would now have to make a bigger farm. Okonkwo was clearly cut out for great things."You have all seen the great abomination of your brother. All that he required was something to occupy his mind. It is good in these days when the younger generation consider themselves wiser than their sires to see a man doing things in the grand. But now she found the half-light of the incipient moon more terrifying than darkness. It had its shrine in the centre of Umuofia.As soon as his father walked in. with which he made two wings. Maduka. Anyone seeing Chielo in ordinary life would hardly believe she was the same person who prophesied when the spirit of Agbala was upon her. "I shall tell them my mind if they do. And what was more."Okoli was not there to answer. But there was one woman who had no doubt whatever in her mind. That was the day it happened. so heavy and persistent that even the village rain-maker no longer claimed to be able to intervene. Obiageli. who was now the eldest surviving member of that family. and would not go to war against it without first trying a peaceful settlement.

he had gone to consult the Oracle. Later on I sold some of the seed-yams and gave out others to sharecroppers."Whose cow was it?" asked the women who had been allowed to stay behind. In fact he recovered from his illness only a few days before the Week of Peace began. Their fathers had never dared to stand before our ancestors."I shall return very soon." he said. Nwoye passed and repassed the little red-earth and thatch building without summoning enough courage to enter. But tonight she was addressing her prophecy and greetings to Okonkwo. His mother's kinsmen had been very kind to him. Ekwefi screwed her eyes up in an effort to see her daughter and the priestess. Okonkwo wondered what was amiss. When one came to think of it. Okonkwo ate the food absent-mindedly.Okonkwo called his three wives and told them to get things together for a great feast. Obierika. Ezinma placed her mother's dish before him and sat with Obiageli.Having sworn that oath. They were called kotma. Some of them will even ride the iron horse themselves. Even the smell of gunpowder was swallowed in the sickly smell that now filled the air. Ekwefi muttered."Whose cow was it?" asked the women who had been allowed to stay behind. After her father's rebuke she developed an even keener appetite for eggs. like leprosy and smallpox. He pushed the thought out of his mind.

"After the kola nut had been eaten Okonkwo brought his palm- wine from the corner of the hut where it had been placed and stood it in the center of the group. but they all refused. and I am still alive. Obiageli. Even as a little boy he had resented his father's failure and weakness. scooped out two mouthfuls and fled from the hut to chew the cud in the goats' shed. It was the time of the year when everybody was at home. He told them that they worshipped false gods. and she swore within her that if she heard Ezinma cry she would rush into the cave to defend her against all the gods in the world. and he owed every neighbor some money." the men said among themselves."I did not say He had a wife. All that is true.""Why?" asked Obierika and Okonkwo together. and each hut seen from the others looked like a soft eye of yellow half-light set in the solid massiveness of night. unlike most children. He put them in the pot and Ekwefi poured in some water." said Okonkwo's voice. You have many wives and many children??more children than I have. On her arms were red and yellow bangles. Ekwefi brought her to the fireplace. hung his goatskin bag on his shoulder and went to visit his friend. This year they talked of nothing else but the nso-ani which Okonkwo had committed. The pit was now so deep that they no longer saw the digger. the Creator of all the world and all the men and women. Then it went nearer and named the village: " Iguedo of the yellow grinding-stone!" It was Okonkwo's village.

You buried it in the ground somewhere so that you can die and return again to torment your mother. greeted themselves in their esoteric language.Okonkwo was very happy to receive his friend. who had felt more angry than the others. His wife had played him false. When they had gone round the circle they settled down in the center." said Evil Forest. So he began to plan how he would go to the sky."Before God." said an old man." said Nwoye's mother. warming their bodies. the troublesome nanny goat.He did not sleep at night.'"'You do not know me. and old men and women would remember their youth. It is against the will of God. No ogbanje would yield her secrets easily. Amikwu. when he saw Nwoye among the Christians. Now and again an ancestral spirit or egwugwu appeared from the underworld. it would not be done." he asked Obierika.The sun rose slowly to the center of the sky. and his eyes were red and fierce like the eyes of a rat when it was caught by the tail and dashed against the floor. "Let us not presume to do so now.

fifth and sixth years." said the bride. like something agitating with a metallic life. I began to own a farm at your age. and although it had not yet appeared on the sky its light had already melted down the darkness. Two little groups of people stood at a respectable distance beyond the stools. Many of these messengers came from Umuru on the bank of the Great River. Obiako. As soon as he found one he would sing with his whole being." he said. Okonkwo. But he was not a failure like Unoka. was among them." Some of them had big sticks and some even machetes."There was a long silence. He still had the eight hundred from Nwakibie and the four hundred from his father's friend. The birds were silenced in the forests. and he prayed to the ancestors."At last the party arrived in the sky and their hosts were very happy to see them. in the same way as they would meet if a death occurred . and turned to his sons and daughters. It was a miracle. Elumelu." said Okonkwo. "You have offended neither the gods nor your fathers. It was difficult to say which the people enjoyed more.

Evil Forest addressed the two groups of people facing them.' And so Daughter Kite returned the duckling and took a chick instead. They were both Uzowulu's neighbors. And immediately Okonkwo's eyes were opened and he saw the whole matter clearly. Then it occurred to her that they could not have been heading for the cave." and was allowed to go wherever it chose. each brought her bowl of foo-foo and bowl of soup to her husband. and that first man was their harbinger sent to explore the terrain.The night was impenetrably dark. On the last night before the festival. Amikwu and his people had taken palm-wine to the bride's kinsmen about two moons before Okonkwo's arrival in Mbanta. pointing with his finger. and ate up all the wild grass in the fields. That was the only time Ekwefi ever saw Ogbu-agali-odu. The bride-price had been paid and all but the last ceremony had been performed. met to hear a report of Okonkwo's mission."Go home and sleep." And after a pause she said: "Can I bring your chair for you?""No.Ezinma grew up in her father's exile and became one of the most beautiful girls in Mbanta. There were only four titles in the clan. Nothing happened at its proper time."Where is Mgbogo?" asked one of them." Okonkwo said to the lad. "Life to you.There were seven men in Obierika's hut when Okonkwo returned. They did not stay very long.

When they did. with music and dancing and a great feast. This one had only one hand and it carried a basket full of water.He is fit to be a slave. They all have food in their own homes. and then turning to his brother and his son he said: "Let us go out and whisper together."Go and burn your mothers' genitals. where he built his headquarters and from where he paid regular visits to Mr. It was clear that the bags were full of cowries. The ancient drums of death beat. silence returned to the world. "But they will understand when they go to their plot of land tomorrow morning. Nma. If I were you I would have stayed at home. food and palm-wine. "Are you afraid you may dissolve?"The harvesting was easy. Then he would show his wealth by initiating his sons into the ozo society. Kiaga that he had decided to go to Umuofia where the white missionary had set up a school to teach young Christians to read and write. As the evening drew near. who also counted them and said:"We had not thought to go below thirty. The moon had been rising later and later every night until now it was seen only at dawn. We are all children of God and we must receive these our brothers. Okonkwo. The custom here is to serve the spokesman first and the others later. And that could not be. The ill-fated lad was called Ikemefuna.

"Don't be foolish. passed through his obi and into Ekwefi's hut and walked into her bedroom. It was the time for treading red earth with which to build walls. before the first cock-crow. but he had not expected he would be so generous. The other four black men were also their brothers. But no one who had ever crawled into his awful shrine had come out without the fear of his power. The priestess bent down on one knee and Ezinma climbed on her back. It was after such a day at the farm during the last harvest that Nwoye had felt for the first time a snapping inside him like the one he now felt. I kill a man on the day that his life is sweetest to him.As these things went through her mind she did not realize how close they were to the cave mouth. "And so they killed the white man and tied his iron horse to their sacred tree because it looked as if it would run away to call the man's friends.As the years of exile passed one by one it seemed to him that his chi might now be making amends for the past disaster.He was tall but very thin and had a slight stoop. or the children of Eru. Her husband's first wife had already had three sons.And so nature was not interfered with in the middle of the rainy season. The short trees and sparse undergrowth which surrounded the men's village began to give way to giant trees and climbers which perhaps had stood from the beginning of things."Father. He could not take any of the four titles of the clan. You have many wives and many children??more children than I have. His name was Nwakibie and he had taken the highest but one title which a man could take in the clan.He went back to the church and told Mr."Yes." he said. The first day passed and the second and third and fourth.

If a man dies at this time he is not buried but cast into the Evil Forest." pleaded from a reasonable distance. "that I shall bring many iron horses when we have settled down among them. A snake was never called by its name at night. self-assured and confident. hung above the fireplace. and they agreed about the beating. She rose." This was interpreted to them but very few of them heard. and tears stood in his eyes. That was why he had called him a woman. They settled on every tree and on every blade of grass." said Okonkwo." said one of the cousins. Ekwefi and her only daughter. away from the crowd. to the boys and they passed it round the wooden stays and then back to him. quietly and deliberately.Many years ago when Okonkwo was still a boy his father. indeed.""What did the white man say before they killed him?" asked Uchendu. But it was the season of rest between the harvest and the next planting season.' Do you know what he told the Oracle? He said. It was then that the one-handed spirit came." At the same time the priestess also said. Some of them were too angry to eat.

and her arms folded across her breasts. and Odukwe bent down and touched the earth. She was going to the stream to fetch water.""That is true." said an old man."The next day a group of elders from all the nine villages of Umuofia came to Okonkwo's house early in the morning." he said. silence returned to the world. He changed them every day. and he gave to Vulture rain wrapped in leaves of coco-yam. The men brought their goatskin mats. At last the man was named and people sighed "E-u-u. who with his brothers and half-brothers had been dancing the traditional farewell to their father. Each of his three wives had her own hut. When one came to think of it. food was presented to the guests. Very often it was Ezinma who decided what food her mother should prepare."Go to your in-laws with a pot of wine and beg your wife to return to you.- they all fled in terror. He had five other sons and he would bring them up in the way of the clan. Then there was perfect silence. It was the day on which her suitor (having already paid the greater part of her bride-price) would bring palm-wine not only to her parents and immediate relatives but to the wide and extensive group of kinsmen called umunna. Okonkwo. But his fondness only showed on very rare occasions."Answer the question at once. Ezinma.

The wavering converts drew inspiration and confidence from his unshakable faith. a machete for cutting down the soft cassava stem. But his mother and his three-year-old sister?? of course she would not be three now." And he arranged the requisite rites and sacrifices. "And he was riding an iron horse. "I had something better to do. But they soon returned and everyone was gazing at the rag from a reasonable distance. breakfast was hastily eaten and women and children began to gather at Obierika's compound to help the bride's mother in her difficult but happy task of cooking for a whole village.The only course open to Okonkwo was to flee from the clan.""They were fools. and then he continued: "Each group there represents a debt to someone." And after a pause she said: "Can I bring your chair for you?""No. But for a young man whose father had no yams. with her suitor and his relatives. If any one of you prefers to be a woman. He fell and fell and fell until he began to fear that he would never stop falling.Am oyim de de de de! flew around the dark." said Obierika. Once she tripped up and fell.The young men who kept order on these occasions dashed about. Only the word of our God is true." said Okonkwo. said Ezeugo. but no one thought the stories were true. "the goddess of the earth. When his wife Ekwefi protested that two goats were sufficient for the feast he told her that it was not her affair.

I shall break your jaw.The nine villages of Umuofia had grown out of the nine sons of the first father of the clan. Okonkwo's son.""Anyway.At last the two teams danced into the circle and the crowd roared and clapped. and a powerful flute blew a high-pitched blast. That also is true. It began by naming the clan: Umuofia obodo dike! "the land of the brave. It was after such a day at the farm during the last harvest that Nwoye had felt for the first time a snapping inside him like the one he now felt."There was a long silence."As they stood there together. but somehow he still preferred the stories that his mother used to tell. And it began to shake and rattle. had said to him during that terrible harvest month: "Do not despair. She prepared it the way he liked??with slices of oil-bean and fish. to honor the earth goddess and the ancestral spirits of the clan. "We have men of high title and the chief priests and the elders. When they had gone round the circle they settled down in the center."Go to your in-laws with a pot of wine and beg your wife to return to you. and she agreed also. He could fashion out flutes from bamboo stems and even from the elephant grass."He was not an albino. These court messengers were greatly hated in Umuofia because they were foreigners and also arrogant and high-handed. For two or three moons the sun had been gathering strength till it seemed to breathe a breath of fire on the earth. So he waited impatiently for the dry season to come. and they had quickened their steps.

there was no other way. killed his animals and destroyed his barn. The youngest of them was four years old.""It means you are going to cry."Leave that boy at once!" said a voice in the outer compound. It was a very expensive ceremony and he was gathering all his resources together. took out two leaves and began to chew them. They made single mounds of earth in straight lines all over the field and sowed the yams in them. made up her mind. light and gay. to inquire what was amiss. Nkechi was the daughter of Okonkwo's third wife.These outcasts." he said to Ikemefuna."There must be something behind it. "My father told me that he had been told that in the past a man who broke the peace was dragged on the ground through the village until he died." suggested Okonkwo. a man asks his kinsman to scratch him.""It is already too late. "How much longer do you think you will live?" she asked.The contest began with boys of fifteen or sixteen. He searched his bag and brought out his snuff-bottle.As for the boy himself."That is very good. ozo is so low that every beggar takes it."Once upon a time.

Earth's emissary.' replied the man. very much shaken and frightened but quite unhurt. Her two children belong to Uzowulu. or rather held out her hand to be shaken. The first thing he would do would be to rebuild his compound on a more magnificent scale. A great evil has come upon their land as the Oracle had warned. A man belongs to his fatherland and not to his motherland. "I am an old man and I like to talk." replied Uzowulu.""Yes" said Obierika. Ezinma. The men brought their goatskin mats.At the beginning of their journey the men of Umuofia talked and laughed about the locusts. They were very happy and began to prepare themselves for the great day. so heavy and persistent that even the village rain-maker no longer claimed to be able to intervene. It is almost dawn.Okonkwo was very happy to receive his friend."I am Evil Forest. and which she no doubt still told to her younger children??stories of the tortoise and his wily ways. but its vigor was undiminished. There was a famine in those days and Tortoise had not eaten a good meal for two moons. But there was a great medicine man in the neighborhood." He sipped his wine. all alone in that fearful place. and you are afraid.

Then the crier gave his message. Three men beat them with sticks. And there were indeed occasions when the Oracle had forbidden Umuofia to wage a war.' Maduka has been watching your mouth. And indeed he was possessed by the fear of his father's contemptible life and shameful death. My case is finished. Two judges walked around the wrestlers and when they thought they were equally matched. You will have what is good for you and I will have what is good for me."Since I survived that year. Ekwefi picked her way carefully and quietly. Some kinsmen ate it with egusi soup and others with bitter-leaf soup."There is too much green vegetable. The white man was also their brother because they were all sons of God. He just hung limp. metallic and thirsty clap. The elders consulted their Oracle and it told them that the strange man would break their clan and spread destruction among them. roots snapped below. skirting round the subject and then hitting it finally. made up her mind. In her hand was the cloth pad on which the pot should have rested on her head. And so one Sunday two of them went into the church. We must fight these men and drive them from the land. She had. and she guessed they must be on the village ilo. "The people of Umuike wanted their market to grow and swallow up the markets of their neighbors. and ate up all the wild grass in the fields.

Ezinma brought her two legs together and stretched them in front of her. hung his goatskin bag on his shoulder and went to visit his friend. Nwoye." said the bride. So he would make a fresh start. but to settle the dispute. He immediately rose and shook hands with Okoye. Ezinma?""She has been very well for some time now. "You might as well say that the woman lies on top of the man when they are making the children. He sang. perhaps for the first time. is a beast. go to the church and wipe out the entire vile and miscreant gang. But Ekwefi could not see her. They had built their church there. If you turn against me when I am dead I will visit you and break your neck. He had court messengers who brought men to him for trial. as if that was paying the big debts first. 'Ogbuefi Ndulue. Obiageli. Okonkwo and his family went to the farm with baskets of seed-yams. until crops withered and the dead could not be buried because the hoes broke on the stony Earth. the king of crops. the rulers of Mbanta gave to the missionaries. But they always returned to the long rope he trailed behind."The body of Odukwe.

And so when Okonkwo of Umuofia arrived at Mbaino as the proud and imperious emissary of war. "Umuofia kwenu. for as soon as the first rain came farming would begin. They said that some young men had chased them away from the stream with whips. Guns were fired on all sides and sparks flew out as machetes clanged together in warriors' salutes." He waved his arm where most of the young men sat.In spite of this incident the New Yam Festival was celebrated with great joy in Okonkwo's household. It ate rats in the house and sometimes swallowed hens' eggs.The elders. burning forehead."Our father. and the sound of wooden mortar and pestle as Nwayieke pounded her foo-foo. blowing it with her breath. It was a brief resting period between the exacting and arduous planting season and the equally exacting but light-hearted month of harvests. Such a man was Ogbuefi Ugonna. they could see from his color and his language." Okonkwo thundered."Come along."None. In short."Those women whom Obierika's wife had not asked to help her with the cooking returned to their homes. and who like a madman had cut the anklet of his titles and cast it away to join the Christians. Unoka. and the elders of his family. There were six of them and one was a white man. But it was as silly as all women's stories.

are white like this piece of chalk. for you people. and all the tragedy and sorrow of her life were packed in those words. His own hut. Maduka. whose frantic rhythm was no longer a mere disembodied sound but the very heartbeat of the people.""Is he well?" asked Nwoye. "Perhaps you can already guess what it is. They settled on every tree and on every blade of grass. Every woman immediately abandoned whatever she was doing and rushed out in the direction of the cry. Thirty. had gained ground. but never heard its voice.- you stay at home and offer sacrifices to a reluctant soil. as you know. The air was full of dust and the smell of gunpowder. They just pulled the stump. and it was said that. Its most potent war-medicine was as old as the clan itself. gome went the gong. But it was like beginning life anew without the vigor and enthusiasm of youth. They asked who the king of the village was. Go ahead and prepare your farm. She saw the other children with their water-pots and remembered that they were going to fetch water for Obierika's wife. anxiety mounted in every heart that heaved on a bamboo bed that night. who saw only its back with the many-colored patterns and drawings done by specially chosen women at regular intervals.

and in the end Okonkwo overcame his sorrow.""I can tell you." said Obierika." said Obierika. That was a favorite saying of children. When the women had exacted the penalty they checked among themselves to see if any woman had failed to come out when the cry had been raised. Okonkwo told him." said Okonkwo. do not allow him a moment's rest. too old to attend Ndulue during his illness. with which he carried the brown snuff to his nostrils." said Okagbue. and his eyes were red and fierce like the eyes of a rat when it was caught by the tail and dashed against the floor. And so they each took a new name.As night fell. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart. 'She should have been a boy. He was greatly surprised. The men brought their goatskin mats. It was after such a day at the farm during the last harvest that Nwoye had felt for the first time a snapping inside him like the one he now felt. which every man kept in his obi and with which his guests drew lines on the floor before they ate kola nuts. When she had borne her third son in succession.""Not before you have had your breakfast. "How man men have lain with you since my brother first expressed his desire to marry you?""None. There was an oil lamp in all the four huts on Okonkwo's compound. shook hands with Okonkwo and went into the compound.

be cursed with such a son? He saw clearly in it the finger of his personal god or chi. what did the mother of this duckling say when you swooped and carried its child away?' 'It said nothing. But such was her anxiety for her daughter that she could not rid herself completely of her fear. Okonkwo brought out kola nut and placed it before the priest." he said to Okonkwo. especially as he looked somewhat different from the others. The suitor was a young man of about twenty-five. When the women had exacted the penalty they checked among themselves to see if any woman had failed to come out when the cry had been raised. Everybody had been invited??men." he said.That was the kind of story that Nwoye loved.There were seven drums and they were arranged according to their sizes in a long wooden basket. We have albinos among us.""Yes" said Obierika. without serious danger to his own health.As these things went through her mind she did not realize how close they were to the cave mouth."Yaa!" replied the thunderous crowd. He was like an elder brother to Nwoye. and on the other the offer of a young man and a virgin as compensation. white dregs and said. that Chielo had stopped her chanting. When they finished."The court messengers did not like to be called Ashy-Buttocks. empty men. only waking to full life when Chielo sang. during the last harvest season.

As our people say. or obi. They each made nine or ten trips carrying Okonkwo's yams to store in Obierika's barn. for although nobody else knew it." she replied."He will do great things. But when she lived on to her fourth. Their church stood on a circular clearing that looked like the open mouth of the Evil Forest.The night was impenetrably dark. with her suitor and his relatives."Unoka was like that in his last days. He was imprisoned with all the leaders of his family." said Mgbogo's next-door neighbor. because there was no humanity there. and everyone filled his bags and pots with locusts. Uchendu. Now you talk about his son. Okafo raised his right leg and swung it over his rival's head.At that moment they heard someone crying just outside their compound. For although locusts had not visited Umuofia for many years. folded her arms across her breast and sighed. A deep murmur went through the crowd when he said this.Nwoye struggled to free himself from the choking grip. and the elders of his family." And so they all went to help Obierika's wife??Nwoye's mother with her four children and Ojiugo with her two. his heels hardly touched the ground and he seemed to walk on springs.

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. The other wives drank in the same way." He went away to his hut and Ekwefi began to tend the medicine pot almost as if it was itself a sick child.But Ekwefi did not hear these consolations. "Our own men and our sons have joined the ranks of the stranger." said Obierika. Okonkwo's gun had exploded and a piece of iron had pierced the boy's heart. It was the dead man's sixteen-year-old son. and perhaps other women as well. which the first wife alone could wear. As the evening wore on."That will not be enough. But he threw himself into it like one possessed.It was clear from the way the crowd stood or sat that the ceremony was for men. Chielo's voice now came after long intervals.Ekwefi was tired and sleepy from the exhausting experiences of the previous night. you wicked daughter of Akalogoli?" Okonkwo swore furiously.""Once upon a time." said Okonkwo. as the Ibo people say. Very often it was Ezinma who decided what food her mother should prepare. Even the smell of gunpowder was swallowed in the sickly smell that now filled the air. At last the man was named and people sighed "E-u-u. it is play'. Amadiora or the thunderbolt. who had given much money to the white man's messengers and interpreter.

It was like the market. away from the gates of God and from the tender shepherd's care. It was sudden and tremendous. close to the Great Shrine." said Nwoye's mother. then. the god of the sky. or watched him as he tapped his palm tree for the evening wine. But he has not come to wake me up in the morning for it. But everybody knew that he was going to die and Aneto got his belongings together in readiness to flee. And for the first time they had a woman. who was the oldest man in the village. The goat was then led back to the inner compound. and was punished. The elders consulted their Oracle and it told them that the strange man would break their clan and spread destruction among them. At the end they decided. not even for fear of a goddess. When the women had exacted the penalty they checked among themselves to see if any woman had failed to come out when the cry had been raised. was the wife of Ogbuefi Udo. They sang songs as they went. some were orators who spoke for the clan. and although ailing she seemed determined to live." and on each occasion he faced a different direction and seemed to push the air with a clenched fist. And in a clear unemotional voice he told Umuofia how their daughter had gone to market at Mbaino and had been killed. guttural and awesome. They had thrown down their water-pots and lain by the roadside expecting the sinister light to descend on them and kill them.

He did not understand it. But by the end of the day the sisal rings were burned dry and gray. trembling. 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. Obierika's relatives counted the pots as they came. Ojiugo's children were eating with the children of his first wife. they could see from his color and his language."Answer truthfully. the priestess. He could return to the clan after seven years. She had. which together formed a half moon behind the obi. When Unoka died he had taken no title at all and he was heavily in debt. There is only one true God and He has the earth. But there is just one question I would like to ask him." Okonkwo thundered." Nwoye's mother said. The palm fronds were helpless in keeping them back.""We have seen it. Yam foo-foo and vegetable soup was the chief food in the celebration. The way he said it sent cold fear down Ikemefuna's back. and he owed every neighbor some money. "And you know how leaves become smaller after cooking. Nwoye's sister.The priestess had now reached Okonkwo's compound and was talking with him outside his hut. Beyond that limit no man was suffered to go.

burning torches were set on wooden tripods and the young men raised a song. Umuazu. The neighbors and Okonkwo's wives were now talking.But. But when she lived on to her fourth. and Odukwe bent down and touched the earth.All this anthill activity was going smoothly when a sudden interruption came. When his wife Ekwefi protested that two goats were sufficient for the feast he told her that it was not her affair. and you can teach us the things of the new faith. a man who pays respect to the great paves the way for his own greatness. Had she been running too? How could she go so fast with Ezinma on her back? Although the night was cool. She just jogged along in a half-sleep. 'You are full of cunning and you are ungrateful. but nothing like this had ever happened. or Holy Feast as it was called in Ibo." But Death took no notice.As the broken kola nuts were passed round. And that was also the year Okonkwo broke the peace. He never stopped regretting that Ezinma was a girl." she said. his harvest will be good or bad according to the strength of his arm. like coco-yams.At first Ikemefuna was very much afraid." said Ezinma to her mother. But the arrivees persevered."Remove your jigida first.