tobacco.Nneka had had four previous pregnancies and child-births. Every child loved the harvest season. If I were you I would have stayed at home.

They sympathized with their neighbors with much shaking of the head
They sympathized with their neighbors with much shaking of the head. Okonkwo knew how to kill a man's spirit. who will hold his head up among my people. The muscles on their arms and their thighs and on their backs stood out and twitched.In the distance the drums continued to beat. That is a wise action."Ah."No. There was an oil lamp in all the four huts on Okonkwo's compound. But it was the season of rest between the harvest and the next planting season. for you people. leaving what we are cooking to burn in the fire. who had felt more angry than the others. you would still have committed a great evil to beat her."There is too much green vegetable. Nwoye. Nwoye's mother went to him and placed her hands on his chest and on his back. Although they come from a village that is known for being closefisted. and the dry."They would have gone on arguing had Ofoedu not come in just then.There were seven men in Obierika's hut when Okonkwo returned." Ezinma began. The heathen speak nothing but falsehood. It was a gay and airy kind of rain."There must be something behind it. The water began to boil.

who suddenly gave up his trade."Once upon a time. Okonkwo knew how to kill a man's spirit.""They are not all that young. Amikwu and his people had taken palm-wine to the bride's kinsmen about two moons before Okonkwo's arrival in Mbanta." said the priestess.All the umunna were invited to the feast."Obiako has always been a strange one. "all the birds were invited to a feast in the sky. to inquire what was amiss. A toad does not run in the daytime for nothing."As they stood there together. The women were screaming outside. It is like Dimaragana. the beating of drums and the brandishing and clanging of machetes increased. women and children." He turned to Uzowulu's group and allowed a short pause. No woman ever did.' And so Daughter Kite returned the duckling and took a chick instead. The imagery of an efulefu in the language of the clan was a man who sold his machete and wore the sheath to battle. and then painted his big toe. and then turning to his brother and his son he said: "Let us go out and whisper together. Ezinma went with her and helped in preparing the vegetables. called the converts the excrement of the clan. Unoka. Men stirred on their bamboo beds and listened anxiously.

some of them having come a long way from their homes in distant villages. Ezinma shook every tree violently with a long stick before she bent down to cut the stem and dig out the tuber. self-assured and confident." Ezinma offered. The people surged forward. others said he was not the equal of Ikezue. whose feeling of importance was manifest in her sprightly walk. An ultimatum was immediately dispatched to Mbaino asking them to choose between war - on the one hand. That was always the trouble with Okeke's snuff. They told the white man and he smiled benevolently. The egwugwu house into which they emerged faced the forest."What did he say?" the white man asked his interpreter. And so he was always happy when he heard him grumbling about women. No. and his face beamed. And so he changed the subject and talked about music. one of the people of the sky came forward and tasted a little from each pot. He still thought about his mother and his three-year-old sister. The meat was then shared so that every member of the umunna had a portion."They are here."What did he say?" the white man asked his interpreter. He was the oldest man in Ire. "So you must finish this." He sipped his wine. The first rains were late." And after a pause she said: "Can I bring your chair for you?""No.

boomed the hollow metal." This was interpreted to them but very few of them heard.' he said as they flew on their way. They also drank water from small pots and ate kola nuts. Each of Uchendu's five sons contributed three hundred seed-yams to enable their cousin to plant a farm."How can I know?" Ekwefi wanted her to work it out herself." said Obierika. or what?"The interpreter spoke to the white man and he immediately gave his answer. The law of Umuofia is that if a woman runs away from her husband her bride-price is returned. As they cut grass in the morning the younger men sang in time with the strokes of their machetes:"Kotma of the ashy buttocks. and during this time Okonkwo's fame had grown like a bush-fire in the harmattan." he said.""Ee-e-e!""This is not the first time my people have come to marry your daughter.Obierika's compound was as busy as an anthill. unlike the deep and liquid rumbling of the rainy season. The sound of her benumbed steps seemed to come from some other person walking behind her.Qkonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. Thank you. She will be a good wife to you. And what is the result? An abominable religion has settled among you.She walked up to her husband and accepted the horn from him. one hen. It said that other white men were on their way. therefore. But they have cast you out like lepers. This was about eight days after the fight.

building a new red-earth and thatch house for their teacher. There was no festival in all the seasons of the year which gave her as much pleasure as the wrestling match. He shrugged his shoulders and went away to tap his afternoon palm-wine. If I had not seen the few survivors with my own eyes and heard their story with my own ears. my child. she sat down on a stony ledge and waited."Listen to me. that Chielo had stopped her chanting. with music and dancing and a great feast. the harvest of the previous year. The earth burned like hot coals and roasted all the yams that had been sown. And they were all gay. I know it as I look at you. and drinking palm-wine copiously. who was the eldest of the nine sons. She went. These men must be mad. The spell of sunshine which always came in the middle of the wet season did not appear. Ezinma went with her and helped in preparing the vegetables. Some of them had been heavily whipped."And it died this morning?"Okonkwo said yes. It said that other white men were on their way. When they saw it they drove it back to its owner. "His name is Amadi. It was also the dumping ground for highly potent fetishes of great medicine men when they died. Some of these prisoners had thrown away their twins and some had molested the Christians.

But some of the egwugwu were quite harmless. The earth goddess whom you have insulted may refuse to give us her increase. But the Christians had told the white man about the accident. His wives.""Once upon a time."Everybody in the assembly spoke.As soon as day broke. But she had lived so long that perhaps she had decided to stay." he said when Okonkwo had spoken."Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?" Okagbue had asked Ezinma. At the end they decided. The daughters of the clan did not return to their homes immediately but spent two more days with their kinsmen. trying to minimize Ojiugo's thoughtlessness. The two voices disappeared into the thick darkness. and girls came from the inner compound to dance. He was like the man in the song who had ten and one wives and not enough soup for his foo-foo.When the mat was at last removed she was drenched in perspiration. who sat next to him. Anyone seeing Chielo in ordinary life would hardly believe she was the same person who prophesied when the spirit of Agbala was upon her." He rose and left the hut. the man saw it vaguely in the darkness. The white man was also their brother because they were all sons of God. She continually ran into the luxuriant weeds and creepers that walled in the path. when they died." he said as he broke it.Obierika was sitting outside under the shade of an orange tree making thatches from leaves of the raffia-palm.

What did they know about the man?" He ground his teeth again and told a story to illustrate his point. I salute you. He knew that he had lost his place among the nine masked spirits who administered justice in the clan. one of those wicked children who. Because of her size she made her way through trees and creepers more quickly than her followers.As these things went through her mind she did not realize how close they were to the cave mouth. But his fondness only showed on very rare occasions. and his bushy eyebrows and wide nose gave him a very severe look. scooped out two mouthfuls and fled from the hut to chew the cud in the goats' shed."On what market-day was it born?" he asked." Quite often she bought beancakes and gave Ekwefi some to take home to Ezinma.""That means you will see something." said Okonkwo. He stepped forward. "before i learned how to tap. The rains had come and yams had been sown. the old man supporting himself with his stick. The New Yam Festival seemed to him to be a much bigger event here than in his own village. Some years the harmattan was very severe and a dense haze hung on the atmosphere. led out the giant goat from the inner compound. and the women sat on a sisal mat spread on a raised bank of earth. And she went into her hut to warm the vegetable soup she had cooked last night." said Obierika."When they had eaten. She only began to weep when they got near the iroko tree outside their compound. Today Okonkwo was not bringing his mother home to be buried with her people.

Whenever Nwoye's mother sang this song he felt carried away to the distant scene in the sky where Vulture." Quite often she bought beancakes and gave Ekwefi some to take home to Ezinma. Okonkwo. gazing into a log fire. Ofoedu ate slowly and talked about the locusts. There was an immediate stir. "I have heard that many years ago. That was the only time Ekwefi ever saw Ogbu-agali-odu. Amalinze was a wily craftsman." replied Okonkwo.Ikemefuna came to Umuofia at the end of the carefree season between harvest and planting. and the man growled at him to go on and not stand looking back. The priestess bent down on one knee and Ezinma climbed on her back. and it was he who had received Okonkwo's mother twenty and ten years before when she had been brought home Irom Umuofia to be buried with her people. "The bell-man announced it last night. And. sprang to his feet and gripped him by the neck." he mocked. he cried in his heart. and so have Uchendu and Unachukwu and Emefo. He made him feel grown-up." said Ezinma. and asked Okonkwo to have a word with him outside. And they were right."Yaa!" replied the thunderous crowd. and they swore never to lend him any more money because he never paid back.

the beating of drums and the brandishing and clanging of machetes increased.The men in the obi had already begun to drink the palm-wine which Akueke's suitor had brought. lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper. which. and the children who sang songs of welcome to them." said Ekwefi. "My son has told me about you. She thought they must be going towards the sacred cave. Nobody knew how old. He was a leper. He remembered his wife's twin children. The other four black men were also their brothers." At the same time the priestess also said. occasionally feeling with her palm the wet. As the rain began to fall more soberly and in smaller liquid drops." he swore. and earth rose."Answer the question at once. In her hand was the cloth pad on which the pot should have rested on her head. Obierika. who was also the youngest man in the group. gazing into a log fire. gazing into a log fire. She believed because it was that faith alone that gave her own life any kind of meaning. She was saying again and again that Agbala wanted to see his daughter. They were called kotma.

Ezinma led the way back to the road. The pots of wine stood in their midst. nine wives and thirty children. the in-laws began to arrive. thought that it was possible that they would also be received. who said he should die. And let me tell you one thing. I forgot to tell you another thing which the Oracle said. had gone to consult Agbala. Unoka was. After the pot-bearers came Ibe."Yes.These outcasts. and they knocked against each other as he searched.Just then the distant beating of drums began to reach them. who was a prosperous farmer. slit its throat with a sharp knife and allowed some of the blood to fall on the ancestral staff. and the lad Ikemefuna. "that in some clans it is an abomination for a man to die during the Week of Peace. A man's place was not always there.' Those men of Abame were fools. they say."I am Evil Forest.He sent for the five sons and they came and sat in his obi."But this particular night was dark and silent. Nwoye.

Somewhere a man was taking one of the titles of his clan. "Are you afraid you may dissolve?"The harvesting was easy. The hearing then began.""It is indeed true. his sixteen-year-old son. Tortoise looked down from the sky and saw his wife bringing things out. but the fattest of all was tethered to a peg near the wall of the compound and was as big as a small cow.' 'You must return the duckling. whose frantic rhythm was no longer a mere disembodied sound but the very heartbeat of the people. The crowd then shouted with ainger and thirst for blood."My in-law has told you that we went to his house. let him follow Nwoye now while I am alive so that I can curse him. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness.He did not sleep at night. Okonkwo stood by the pit.But the war that now threatened was a just war. He could not do anything without telling her. Those who were big enough to carry even a few yams in a tiny basket went with grown-ups to the farm. he thought over the matter. His actions were deliberate." she said. I do not owe my inlaws anything. She had about three teeth and was always smoking her pipe. was telling two other men who came to visit him that the punishment for breaking the Peace of Ani had become very mild in their clan. It was like the market. Ani played a greater part in the life of the people than any other diety.

This one had only one hand and it carried a basket full of water. Okonkwo. Idigo was the man who knew how to grind good snuff. They only saw the red earth he threw up mounting higher and higher. It was in fact one of them who in his zeal brought the church into serious conflict with the clan a year later by killing the sacred python. Okonkwo saw clearly the high esteem in which he would be held." said Okonkwo. Obierika. and the lad Ikemefuna. Three converts had gone into the village and boasted openly that all the gods were dead and impotent and that they were prepared to defy them by burning all their shrines."I must go home to tap my palm trees for the afternoon."Is it well?" Okonkwo asked. As the evening drew near. and asked Okonkwo to have a word with him outside. And so people said he had no respect for the gods of the clan. who has promised everlasting life to all who believe in His holy name.And now the rains had really come. women and children left their work or their play and ran into the open to see the unfamiliar sight. The house was now a pandemonium of quavering voices: Am oyim de de de de! filled the air as the spirits of the ancestors."That is not strange."That was about five years ago. where the white men first came many years before and where they had built the center of their religion and trade and government. and the world lay panting under the live. and perhaps other women as well. Uchendu. The inhabitants of Mbanta expected them all to be dead within four days.

" she began. Even the greatest medicine men took shelter when he was near."Call your wife and child. almost overnight. to Obierika's compound. and said through gleaming white teeth firmly clenched: "Those sons of wild animals have dared to murder a daughter of Umuofia. 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. Okonkwo." said Ekwefi. they have killed me!" as he ran towards him. who was now in charge of the infant congregation. Ikemefuna called him father. She had about three teeth and was always smoking her pipe. but six. but never heard its voice. But Tortoise jumped to his feet and asked: Tor whom have you prepared this feast?'"'For all of you. and it came floating on the wind. "We will go with you to meet those cowards. The New Yam Festival seemed to him to be a much bigger event here than in his own village. be cursed with such a son? He saw clearly in it the finger of his personal god or chi. Machi."That is not strange."The village has outlawed us. even into people's beds. although one of them did not speak Ibo. Everybody stood to let her pass and then filed after her.

Ezinma? You are older than Obiageli but she has more sense. and none of them died. how many twins she has borne and thrown away. with a full beard and a bald head. Obiako. The air."Did she ask you to feed them before she went?""Yes. Have you not heard the song they sing when a woman dies?"'For whom is it well. one of those evil essences loosed upon the world by the potent "medicines" which the tribe had made in the distant past against its enemies but had now forgotten how to control. but no one spoke. indeed." Okonkwo agreed. The elders consulted their Oracle and it told them that the strange man would break their clan and spread destruction among them. "Umuofia kwenu. Nwoye's mother. astride the steaming pot. I kill a man on the day that his life is sweetest to him. and we would be like Abame. "Blessed is he who forsakes his father and his mother for my sake."He does not know that either. Those who were big enough to carry even a few yams in a tiny basket went with grown-ups to the farm. She often called her Ezigbo. 'There is something ominous behind the silence."Your buttocks said he had a son. and Ekwefi recoiled. As far as the villagers were concerned.

Obierika offered him a lobe of the kola nut he had broken with Okonkwo. They surged forward as the two young men danced into the circle. She went back to the hut and brought her pot.Ezinma and her mother sat on a mat on the floor after their supper of yam foo-foo and bitter-leaf soup. Okagbue's voice was unchanged. afraid of your next-door neighbor.Okonkwo had eaten from his wives' dishes and was nowreclining with his back against the wall.""You were very much like that yourself. He had therefore put his drinking-horn into his goatskin bag for the occasion. If we should try to drive out the white men in Umuofia we should find it easy.' said Mother Kite to her daughter. "We should do something.' he thought as he looked at his ten-year-old daughter.""But someone had to do it. the Creator of all the world and all the men and women. That is all I am good for now. broke into life and activity. He looked terrible with the smoked raffia "body. As soon as he heard of the great feast in the sky his throat began to itch at the very thought. Then he poured out for the others. stood immediately behind the only gate in the red walls. It was like a man wondering in broad daylight why a dream had appeared so terrible to him at night." Obierika said to Nwoye." said the convert." said Okonkwo.'Ask my dead father if he ever had a fowl when he was alive.

And not only his chi but his clan too. But he was not the man to go about telling his neighbors that he was in error. The muscles on their arms and their thighs and on their backs stood out and twitched. elina!SalaEze ilikwa ya Ikwaba akwa ogholi Ebe Danda nechi eze Ebe Uzuzu nete egwuSalaHe sang it in his mind. They never answered yes for fear it might be an evil spirit calling. women and children left their work or their play and ran into the open to see the unfamiliar sight. Uzowulu. Work no longer had for him the pleasure it used to have. A deep murmur went through the crowd when he said this. went down quickly on one knee in an attempt to fling his man backwards over his head. and the new faith was a mad dog that had come to eat it up. We are only his mother's kinsmen. Nwoye went to his mother's hut and told her that Ikemefuna was going home."Nwakibie cleared his throat."Let me make the fire for you. and the hosts looked at each other as if to say. I cannot yet find a mouth with which to tell the story. He even remembered how he had laughed when Ikemefuna told him that the proper name for a corn cob with only a few scattered grains was eze-agadi-nwayi. Amalinze was the great wrestler who for seven years was unbeaten. "I do not blame you for not hearing the cock crow. Fortunately. carrying the stamp of their mutilation??a missing finger or perhaps a dark line where the medicine man's razor had cut them.That night a bell-man went through the length and breadth of Mbanta proclaiming that the adherents of the new faith were thenceforth excluded from the life and privileges of the clan."I have heard. And so Okonkwo was ruled by one passion - to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved. who was the oldest man in the village.

If your death was the death of nature. picking his words with great care:"It is Okonkwo that 1 primarily wish to speak to." Then more pots came. And immediately Okonkwo's eyes were opened and he saw the whole matter clearly. "It is not to pay you back for all you did for me in these seven years. He had had no patience with his father. I know it as I look at you." said Obierika."Yam pottage was served first because it was lighter than foo-foo and because yam always came first."Ezinma went outside and brought some sticks from a huge bundle of firewood. because Oduche had not died immediately from his wounds. It was said that they had built a place of judgment in Umuofia to protect the followers of their religion. But by the end of the day the sisal rings were burned dry and gray. 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. When they carried him away. Ezinma placed her mother's dish before him and sat with Obiageli.His father. Okonkwo slept. But she had lived so long that perhaps she had decided to stay. The next morning they were roasted in clay pots and then spread in the sun until they became dry and brittle. Okonkwo's son." said the medicine man.""An albino. her voice terrible as it echoed through the dark void.""I shall wait too. Okoye.

what did the mother of this duckling say when you swooped and carried its child away?' 'It said nothing."You must take him to salute our father. If we allow you to come with us you will soon begin your mischief. and the crowd followed her." At the same time the priestess also said. That woman. may Agbala shave your head with a blunt razor! May he twist your neck until you see your heels!"Ekwefi stood rooted to the spot.Ekwefi went into her hut to cook yams. and he knew that his father wanted him to be a man. Ikemefuna called him father. cooking and eating. She placed Ezinma carefully on the bed and went away without saying a word to anybody. His own hut."'We know you too well."The white man's court has decided that it should belong to Nnama's family. But he was happy to leave his father. "Life to you.And so the neighboring clans who naturally knew of these things feared Umuofia."We have now built a church. "Are you afraid you may dissolve?"The harvesting was easy. She determined to nurse her child to health. only they did not understand him."That is not the end of the story. He took the first of the empty stools and the eight other egwugwu began to sit in order of seniority after him. in a body. It always surprised him when he thought of it later that he did not sink under the load of despair.

had gained ground." said Okonkwo. Okonkwo. long ago. the man saw it vaguely in the darkness. In the center of the crowd a boy lay in a pool of blood. Aninta. Then from the distance came the faint beating of the ekwe. as the Ibo people say. She could no longer think. As soon as the two boys closed in. shrill and powerful. "before i learned how to tap. Ekwefi uttered a scream and sprang to her feet."Answer me!" he roared again. in fact. If a gang of efulefu decided to live in the Evil Forest it was their own affair. This one had only one hand and it carried a basket full of water. This year they talked of nothing else but the nso-ani which Okonkwo had committed. afraid of your next-door neighbor." said Uchendu after a long silence. People called on their neighbors and drank palm-wine.' said Tortoise. and there was no hurry to decide his fate. Are you deaf?" Okonkwo roared at her. to help them in their cooking.

So he waited impatiently for the dry season to come. Now you talk about his son. He was determined that his return should be marked by his people. returning. She could not be expected to cook and eat while her husband starved."Ekwefi went into her hut and came out again with Ezinma. nor even a young wife. 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. The soup was brought out hot from the fire and in the very pot in which it had been cooked. And then Nkechi came in." said Ekwefi. She nodded.His father. She looked very much like her mother. His mind went back to Ikemefuna and he shivered. She wore a black necklace which hung down in three coils just above her full. We would then not be held accountable for their abominations. I would not have believed. Within a short time the first two bouts were over. If a man dies at this time he is not buried but cast into the Evil Forest.Although such stories were now often told they looked like fairy-tales in Mbanta and did not as yet affect the relationship between the new church and the clan.On the third day he asked his second wife.Okonkwo returned from the bush carrying on his left shoulder a large bundle of grasses and leaves. before they finally left for their village. He ordered the outcasts to shave off their long. They would go to such hosts for as long as three or four markets.

She had. and all the rest rushed away to see the cow that had been let loose. The rains had come and yams had been sown. It was not done earlier because the rains were too heavy and would have washed away the heap of trodden earth. in turn.""But they are beating the drums. and his bushy eyebrows and wide nose gave him a very severe look. "Ee-e-e!""We are giving you our daughter today. They were grieved by the indignity and mourned for their neglected farms. Okonkwo came after her. How could he know that his father had taken a hand in killing a daughter of Umuofia? All he knew was that a few men had arrived at their house. as the Ibo people say.When she had shaken hands." roared Okonkwo. but offered to use his teeth. a man of war. I will only have a son who is a man.When the mat was at last removed she was drenched in perspiration."Ezeudu!" he called in his guttural voice. the man saw it vaguely in the darkness. This roasted yam soaked in red palm-oil and eaten in the open farm was sweeter than any meal at home. Nwoye. He wanted Nwoye to grow into a tough young man capable of ruling his father's household when he was dead and gone to join the ancestors." said Nwoye. But she had got worse and worse. unless it was one of the stubborn ones who returned.

The three white men and a very large number of other men surrounded the market. Every man can see it in his own compound. many years. and she put all her being into it. and he pointed to a man who sat near him with a bowed head. She placed Ezinma carefully on the bed and went away without saying a word to anybody. Then from the distance came the faint beating of the ekwe. of all people." She stood up and pulled out the fan which was fastened into one of the rafters. Wherever he went he carried with him the mark of his forbidden caste??long.On the following morning the entire neighborhood wore a festive air because Okonkwo's friend.""But they are beating the drums."I must go home to tap my palm trees for the afternoon."Yes.Just then the distant beating of drums began to reach them. I shall break your jaw." said his father."For the first time in three nights."The two outcasts shaved off their hair. was among them.' And so Daughter Kite returned the duckling and took a chick instead. "I have felt it. They were silent for a long time. but they had never in all their lives heard of women being debarred from the stream."It is an ozo dance. The world was now peopled with vague.

" Quite often she bought beancakes and gave Ekwefi some to take home to Ezinma. perhaps even quicker."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. that I am not afraid of blood and if anyone tells you that I am. It was as if water had been poured on the tightened skin of a drum.- Onwumbiko died in his fifteenth month. tangled hair. "1 shall wait here." said the priestess." said the woman. Ofoedu ate slowly and talked about the locusts. Age was respected among his people. They just pulled the stump. and his relatives. which had dozed in the noon-day haze."Answer me!" he roared again. "Mother Kite once sent her daughter to bring food."Because I did not want to." the medicine man told Okonkwo in a cool. Many years ago another egwugwu had dared to stand his ground before him and had been transfixed to the spot for two days. You may have heard of the title I intend to take shortly. The earth burned like hot coals and roasted all the yams that had been sown."When nearly two years later Obierika paid another visit to his friend in exile the circumstances were less happy. All else was silent."That is the strange part of it.Okonkwo's neighbors heard his wife crying and sent their voices over the compound walls to ask what was the matter.

There were also pots of yam pottage. he was already one of the greatest men of his time. and Ikemefuna. She must have heard a noise behind her and turned round sharply."Yes. My mother's people have been good to me and 1 must show my gratitude. They were beaten in the prison by the kotma and made to work every morning clearing the government compound and fetching wood for the white Commissioner and the court messengers." said Obierika sadly. dead." And so they all went to help Obierika's wife??Nwoye's mother with her four children and Ojiugo with her two. He still thought about his mother and his three-year-old sister. What would she do when they got to the cave? She would not dare to enter. a large crowd of men from Ezeudu's quarter stormed Okonkwo's compound."Has Nweke married a wife?" asked Okonkwo. Her two children belong to Uzowulu. 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. passing back the disc. The young ailing girl who had caused her mother so much heartache had been transformed. seeing that the new religion welcomed twins and such abominations. came to visit him. But it is not so." said Mr."Yes. father? You are beyond our knowledge. The priestess in those days was a woman called Chika. Tortoise was very happy and voluble as he flew among the birds.

His wives and children were very happy too. But he had long learned how to lay that ghost." replied Ekwefi. He hoped to get another four hundred yams from one of his father's friends at Isiuzo. Chielo never ceased in her chanting. drew some lines on the floor." he said."That is not the end of the story.""It is like the story of white men who. "If you split another yam of this size.""Nwoye is old enough to impregnate a woman."After kola nuts had been presented and eaten. The old man listened silently to the end and then said with some relief: "It is a female ochu. We do not pray to have more money but to have more kinsmen. passing back the disc. Evil Forest represented the village of Umueru. many years. and terror seized her."When this was interpreted to the men of Mbanta they broke into derisive laughter. He addressed Nwakibie.The old man. And that could not be. woman. old way. blew into it to remove any dust that might be there. As the evening drew near.

and only one or two men in any generation ever achieved the fourth and highest. They do not decide bride-price as we do." said Ekwefi.As he broke the kola." she said. The nine egwugwu then went away to consult together in their house. Ekwefi had nothing but good wishes for her. it is play'. passing back the disc."As they spoke Ezinma emerged from the hut. 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. lasted only a brief moment. red in tooth and claw. moved to the center. It was the ekwe talking to the clan. He refused to join in the meal. Okonkwo. palm-oil and pepper for the soup. And so they arrived home again. yet young people ran about happily picking up the cold nuts and throwing them into their mouths to melt.In spite of this incident the New Yam Festival was celebrated with great joy in Okonkwo's household. who would not lend his knife for cutting up dogmeat because the dog was taboo to him. He hit the bottle against his knee to shake up the tobacco.Nneka had had four previous pregnancies and child-births. Every child loved the harvest season. If I were you I would have stayed at home.