air with his raffia arms. Not long after. He refused to join in the meal. before they finally left for their village.

"There is one important thing which we must not forget
"There is one important thing which we must not forget. The total effect was gay and brisk.As soon as the day broke."Have you?" asked Obierika. And at last the locusts did descend.Many people went out with baskets trying to catch them. children sought for shelter. and each wife built a small attachment to her hut for the hens."That is not strange." said Okonkwo."Perhaps I have been away too long. they settled on the roofs and covered the bare ground. He had five other sons and he would bring them up in the way of the clan. from Umuofia to Mbaino. Obierika. Because of her size she made her way through trees and creepers more quickly than her followers. even the bravest among them. Nwoye's mother. He was tall and huge. or Holy Feast as it was called in Ibo. It was true they were rescuing twins from the bush.

Unoka prayed to their ancestors for life and health." said another man. The Oracle of the Hills and the Caves has pronounced it."When nearly two years later Obierika paid another visit to his friend in exile the circumstances were less happy. he was told. and he said so with much threatening. Okagbue's voice was unchanged."Our father. and Okeke says we should pretend not to see. He grew rapidly like a yam tendril in the rainy season."Unoka was like that in his last days. The relationship between them was not only that of mother and child. Those who found themselves nearest to them merely moved to another seat.He did not sleep at night. The air was cool and damp with dew. But such was her anxiety for her daughter that she could not rid herself completely of her fear. It was evening and the sun was settingUchendu's eldest daughter."The medicine man then ordered that there should be no mourning for the dead child."Be patient. In the morning he went back to his farm and saw the withering tendrils. His younger wives did that.

"He hardly ever walks. Okonkwo was not a man of thought but of action. "when she was pregnant. It would not be long before the suitors came. now said"You told us with your own mouth that there was only one god. She was going to the stream to fetch water. There were also pots of yam pottage. It had to be done slowly and carefully. whom she called "my daughter." continued Odukwe. Anasi was the first wife and the others could not drink before her."Answer me!" he roared again. He ordered the outcasts to shave off their long.Okonkwo was also feeling tired. because Oduche had not died immediately from his wounds."I wish she were a boy. She broke them into little pieces across the sole of her foot and began to build a fire. "What about you? Can you answer my question?"They all shook their heads. Then he began to speak. bringing the third dish. who had been talking.

Every man can see it in his own compound. It was not until the following day that Okonkwo told him the full story.Okoye was also a musician. "If you had been poor in your last life I would have asked you to be rich when you come again. calabashes and wooden bowls were thoroughly washed." said the convert. "Agbala greets you." he said." He sipped his wine. They were not the real wrestlers. they set off in a body. a loud cheer rose from the crowd." said the priestess. jumping over walls and dancing on the roof. They settled on every tree and on every blade of grass. Sometimes it poured down in such thick sheets of water that earth and sky seemed merged in one gray wetness. You do not know what it is to speak with one voice.Okonkwo was given a plot of ground on which to build his compound. he belonged to the clan as a whole. Uchendu.And so the neighboring clans who naturally knew of these things feared Umuofia.

But they always returned to the long rope he trailed behind. Later in the day he called Ikemefuna and told him that he was to be taken home the next day. He laughed loud and long and his voice rang out clear as the ogene. and the world lay panting under the live.Okonkwo's head was bowed in sadness as Obierika told him these things." replied Uzowulu. But as he flew home his long talon pierced the leaves and the rain fell as it had never fallen before.He went back to the church and told Mr. neither getting too near nor keeping too far back. "So he must have a wife and all of them must have buttocks. so that he was full of food and drink and his body filled out in his shell. She slowed down her pace so as to increase the distance between them."Okonkwo never did things by halves. an old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb. His body rattled like a piece of dry stick in his empty shell."I did not know it was you. You think you are still a child. That was how Okonkwo first came to know that agbala was not only another name for a woman. He would return with a flourish." said Okonkwo." At the same time the priestess also said.

I greet you. Why should I? But the Oracle did not ask me to carry out its decision. He was carried to the Evil Forest and left there to die.Onwumbiko was not given proper burial when he died. Now and then a cold shiver descended on his head and spread down his body. If the song ended on his right foot. Nwoye's callow mind was greatly puzzled. almost overnight. Kiaga restrained them. "Welcome."Answer me. She began to run. but Okonkwo was as slippery as a fish in water.There were twelve men on each side and the challenge went from one side to the other. But it turned out to be even bigger than we expected. Then there was perfect silence. If ever a man deserved his success." Ezinma said. The people surged forward. Sometimes he decided that a yam was too big to be sown as one seed and he split it deftly along its length with his sharp knife. Everybody soon knew who the boy was.

Is it right that you. and his happiest moments were the two or three moons after the harvest when the village musicians brought down their instruments. had entered his eye.The priestess had now reached Okonkwo's compound and was talking with him outside his hut. Tortoise began to sniff aloud. And if anybody was so foolhardy as to pass by the shrine after dusk he was sure to see the old woman hopping about.Although Nwoye had been attracted to the new faith from the very first day. They had then drawn patterns on them in white. which was now surrounded by spectators. But it is not so. Somewhere a man was taking one of the titles of his clan. when they died. picking his words with great care:"It is Okonkwo that 1 primarily wish to speak to. Akueni. Ezenwa took it. It was only after the pot had been emptied that the suitor's father cleared his voice and announced the object of their visit. But on one point there was general agreement??the active principle in that medicine had been an old woman with one leg. will you go to see the wrestling?" Ezinma asked after a suitable interval. A snake was never called by its name at night. years ago." replied Uzowulu.

- instead of thirty there were now only fifteen.But before this quiet and final rite."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. brought in a pot of sweet wine tapped from the raffia palm.These outcasts. The first thing he would do would be to rebuild his compound on a more magnificent scale. They do not decide bride-price as we do. who walked away and never returned. and two others after her. could not shelter under his roof. There is not a single clan in these parts that I do not know very well.At first Ikemefuna was very much afraid.Then the missionaries burst into song." And he told him what an osu was. If we should try to drive out the white men in Umuofia we should find it easy. But if they thought these things they kept them within themselves. and so everyone in his family listened."Who killed this tree? Or are you all deaf and dumb?"As a matter of fact the tree was very much alive. Why should that be? How are you different from other men who shave their hair? The same God created you and them.One day a neighbor called Okoye came in to see him. In ordinary life Chielo was a widow with two children.

" Ezinma said. and each hut seen from the others looked like a soft eye of yellow half-light set in the solid massiveness of night. But in absence of work. They haggle and bargain as if they were buying a goat or a cow in the market. "I must thank my mother's kinsmen before I go. It told of one sheep out on the hills. The moon was shining. "What kind of lover sleeps with a pregnant woman?" There was a loud murmur of approbation from the crowd. And whenever the moon forsook evening and rose at cock-crow the nights were as black as charcoal. but there is too much of his mother in him.He sent for the five sons and they came and sat in his obi."Then listen to me."Forgive me."Father." he said. and then. his children and their mothers in the new year.Ekwefi knelt beside the sick child. he thought over the matter. Those were good days when a man had friends in distant clans. and brought out his snuff-bottle from the goatskin bag by his side.

"Because I did not want to. It was also part of the night. she sat down on a stony ledge and waited. or the teeth of an old woman. There were also pots of yam pottage. I shall not eat in the house of a man who has no respect for our gods and ancestors. Nwoye. and at the end it was decided to follow the normal course of action. whereupon Ear fell on the floor in uncontrollable laughter."Yes. Ezeudu is dead. yellow and dark green. seeing that the new religion welcomed twins and such abominations. If I were you I would have stayed at home.Okonkwo spent the next few days preparing his seed-yams. He had a large compound enclosed by a thick wall of red earth. elina!SalaEze ilikwa ya Ikwaba akwa ogholi Ebe Danda nechi eze Ebe Uzuzu nete egwuSalaHe sang it in his mind. But if a man caused it."Do what you are told. The sound of her benumbed steps seemed to come from some other person walking behind her. "Those that hear my words are my father and my mother.

and asked Okonkwo to have a word with him outside. The old man who received him was his mother's younger brother. Evil Forest represented the village of Umueru. A man's life from birth to death was a series of transition rites which brought him nearer and nearer to his ancestors."Outside the obi Okagbue and Okonkwo were digging the pit to find where Ezinma had buried her iyi-uwa. returning.""Nna ayi. Okonkwo stood by. He did not inherit a barn from his father. The moon must be preparing to rise." Obierika said to his son. and he said so with much threatening.' Maduka has been watching your mouth. looking up from the yams she was peeling. The musicians with their wood. who walked away and never returned. He stretched himself and scratched his thigh where a mosquito had bitten him as he slept. They have said so. a vibrant silence made more intense by the universal trill of a million million forest insects. but she went to Okonkwo's compound. Many young men have come to me to ask for yams but I have refused because I knew they would just dump them in the earth and leave them to be choked by weeds.

and flies went with him. I salute you. And at last the locusts did descend. And that was also the year Okonkwo broke the peace."Ogbuefi Ndulue of Ire village. especially at festivals and also when an old man died. He would teach her! But Nwoye resembled his grandfather. But such was her anxiety for her daughter that she could not rid herself completely of her fear. and Umuofia was still swallowed up in sleep and silence when the ekwe began to talk. He told them that they worshipped false gods. and for protection against their enemies. Okonkwo!" she warned. Nwoye's mother and Ojiugo would provide the other things like smoked fish. He looked it over and said it was done. Okonkwo knew how to kill a man's spirit. She saw the other children with their water-pots and remembered that they were going to fetch water for Obierika's wife. The happy voices of children playing in open fields would then be heard."Everybody in the assembly spoke. Chielo's voice now came after long intervals. Neither of the other wives dared to interfere beyond an occasional and tentative. And at last the locusts did descend.

refreshed and thankful."That was about five years ago."Perhaps I have been away too long. On great occasions such as the funeral of a village celebrity he drank his palm-wine from his first human head. What did they know about the man?" He ground his teeth again and told a story to illustrate his point. To show affection was a sign of weakness.Okonkwo was inwardly pleased at his son's development. came to visit him.The drums were still beating. some of whom now stood enthralled. and piling up his debts. untouched by the ax and the bush-fire.He was tall but very thin and had a slight stoop. But the song spread in Umuofia. I salute you. I shall break your jaw. nor even a young wife. and he was not afraid of war." said Ezinma touching the ground with her finger. whom she called her daughter.Okonkwo's neighbors heard his wife crying and sent their voices over the compound walls to ask what was the matter.

who would not lend his knife for cutting up dogmeat because the dog was taboo to him. Only a few of them saw these white men and their followers. and when he died he was buried by his kind in the Evil Forest. Whenever Nwoye's mother sang this song he felt carried away to the distant scene in the sky where Vulture. was a failure. What did they know about the man?" He ground his teeth again and told a story to illustrate his point. He cleared his throat and began:"Thank you for the kola. Nwoye. His mother's kinsmen had been very kind to him. The interpreter explained each verse to the audience. When Okonkwo brought him home that day he called his most senior wife and handed him over to her.""Is he well?" asked Nwoye. then.Go-di-di-go-go-di-go. And yet we say Nneka - 'Mother is Supreme. My sister lived with him for nine years." Ekwefi said to the woman who had stood shoulder to shoulder with her since the beginning of the matches. Ikemefuna came first with the biggest pot. He could not do anything without telling her. "One of the young children had opened the gate of the cow-shed. he would use his fists.

That was how Okonkwo first came to know that agbala was not only another name for a woman.""Oho. Some of these prisoners were men of title who should be above such mean occupation. I did not hang myself. living in a special area of the village. Her mother always took her into their bedroom and shut the door. The white missionary was very proud of him and he was one of the first men in Umuofia to receive the sacrament of Holy Communion."Okonkwo has spoken the truth. It said that other white men were on their way. the Creator of all the world and all the men and women."The two outcasts shaved off their hair. The harmattan was in the air and seemed to distill a hazy feeling of sleep on the world. Dazed with fear." replied Okonkwo. Sometimes when he went to big village meetings or communal ancestral feasts he allowed Ikemefuna to accompany him. but no one spoke. It is almost dawn. He had called the first child born to him in exile Nneka??"Mother is Supreme"??out of politeness to his mother's kinsmen." he said.There were seven men in Obierika's hut when Okonkwo returned." said Okonkwo.

ran out again and aimed at her as she clambered over the dwarf wall of the barn. and in a basket beside her were green vegetables and beans. Here we say he cannot climb the tall tree but he can tap the short ones standing on the ground. Nwoye's mother thanked her and she went back to her mother's hut. The white man has no sense. He asked the birds to take a message for his wife. He had cracked them himself.""Go and bring our own. Kiaga."Umuofia kwenu!""Yaa!""Umuofia kwenu!""Yaa!"Evil Forest then thrust the pointed end of his rattling staff into the earth. She was going to the stream to fetch water. Ekwefi broke into a run as though to stop them. and he was not afraid of war. "when she was pregnant. But good men who worshipped the true God lived forever in His happy kingdom. These women never saw the inside of the hut. Nothing pleased Nwoye now more than to be sent for by his mother or another of his father's wives to do one of those difficult and masculine tasks in the home. when he saw Nwoye among the Christians. and the rest went back." he said.Okonkwo returned when he felt the medicine had cooked long anough.

You have a manly and a proud heart. After a few more hoe-fuls of earth he struck the iyi-uwa. "it is this eyelid. called her mother by her name.' Those men of Abame were fools."Ekwefi turned the hen over in the mortar and began to pluck the feathers. Smoke poured out of his head. silence returned to the world. Yam. then. They sat in a half-circle and began to talk of many things. like a solitary walker at night who passes an evil spirit an the way. When they had eaten they talked about many things: about the heavy rains which were drowning the yams. the whole clan gathers there. for Mr. Then came the voices of the egwugwu. Unoka was able to give an answer between fresh outbursts of mirth. She broke them into little pieces across the sole of her foot and began to build a fire.Nwoye struggled to free himself from the choking grip. The suitor just goes on bringing bags of cowries until his in-laws tell him to stop."1 don't know.

why it is that one of the commonest names we give our children is Nneka. The saying of the elders was not true??that if a man said yea his chi also affirmed. How could he have begotten a woman for a son? At Nwoye's age Okonkwo had already become famous throughout Umuofia for his wrestling and his fearlessness. As soon as she became pregnant she went to live with her old mother in another village. Those were good days when a man had friends in distant clans. whose feeling of importance was manifest in her sprightly walk.Nneka had had four previous pregnancies and child-births." The crowd agreed. leaving what we are cooking to burn in the fire. whose eyes. "Kill one of your sons for me. and because of their ash-colored shorts they earned the additional name of Ashy Buttocks. but now sat with Okonkwo in his obi. He could not take any of the four titles of the clan."He belongs to the clan. We must fight these men and drive them from the land. He slapped the ear and hoped he had killed it.' Maduka has been watching your mouth." Quite often she bought beancakes and gave Ekwefi some to take home to Ezinma. The people of the sky thought it must be their custom to leave all the food for their king. But it was a resilient spirit.

"Ekwefi turned the hen over in the mortar and began to pluck the feathers. let his wing break. He would stamp out the disquieting signs of laziness which he thought he already saw in him. And he went. and soon the children were chasing one of their cocks. And she realized too with something like a jerk that Chielo was no longer moving forward. He was the oldest man in Ire. Kiaga was praying in the church when he heard the women talking excitedly. Nwoye returned home. Has he thrown a hundred men?He has thrown four hundred men."Leave that boy at once!" said a voice in the outer compound."We cannot all rush out like that. because you understand us and we understand you. Why should a man suffer so grievously for an offense he had committed inadvertently? But although he thought for a long time he found no answer." he always said. and you can teach us the things of the new faith." said Okonkwo. They painted their bodies with red cam wood and drew beautiful patterns on them with uli. Only the word of our God is true. Some of these prisoners were men of title who should be above such mean occupation. Tortoise was very happy and voluble as he flew among the birds.

It came slowly.Ikemefuna came to Umuofia at the end of the carefree season between harvest and planting. At first Ekwefi accepted her. or took pity on their mothers. The kola nut was given him to break.""That is why the drum has not been beaten to tell Umuofla. and then turning to his brother and his son he said: "Let us go out and whisper together. looking at the position of the sun."I have heard. 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. "and we want you all to come in every seventh day to worship the true God. she found her lying on the mat. and all the tragedy and sorrow of her life were packed in those words. They have said so."She will bring her back soon. the "medicine house" or shrine where Okonkwo kept the wooden symbols of his personal god and of his ancestral spirits. I would not have believed. unlike the deep and liquid rumbling of the rainy season. Once he got up from bed and walked about his compound. "When did you become one of the ndichie of Umuofia?"And so Nwoye's mother took Ikemefuna to her hut and asked no more questions. and most of them never did because they died too young - before they could be asked questions. with love. "1 do not know how to thank you. and gave it to Ibe to fill. The soup was brought out hot from the fire and in the very pot in which it had been cooked." said Okonkwo.

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. Okonkwo. and the little children to visit their playmates in the neighboring compounds."Your buttocks said he had a son. That was why he had called him a woman. But all of a sudden she would go down again.As these things went through her mind she did not realize how close they were to the cave mouth. Their bodies shone with sweat. "But what is good in one place is bad in another place. but he did not know where to begin." replied Okukwe.But Ekwefi did not hear these consolations. "I remember when I was a young boy there was a song about them.Ezinma took the dish in one hand and the empty water bowl in the other and went back to her mother's hut."Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?" asked Okagbue when Ezinma finally stopped outside her father's obi. or Evil Spirit. my daughter. quietly and deliberately. And not only his chi but his clan too. The women were screaming outside. He was called the Cat because his back would never touch the earth. He did not understand it. pushing the air with his raffia arms. Not long after. He refused to join in the meal. before they finally left for their village.