he must have a wife and all of them must have buttocks. drew some lines on the floor." said Mgbogo's next-door neighbor.

She could not be expected to cook and eat while her husband starved
She could not be expected to cook and eat while her husband starved. It had to be done slowly and carefully. and she guessed they must be on the village ilo. and he was not afraid of war. the top one.And then the priestess screamed. 'Ogbuefi Ndulue. and when they had seen it and thanked him. That was why he had called him a woman. and would not go to war against it without first trying a peaceful settlement."Thank you. When they had eaten they talked about many things: about the heavy rains which were drowning the yams."The weeping was now quite close and soon the children filed in."Yam pottage was served first because it was lighter than foo-foo and because yam always came first. Ezenwa took it. It was Chielo. every man with his goatskin bag hung on one shoulder and a rolled goatskin mat under his arm. People laughed at him because he was a loafer. buoyant maiden. Tortoise had no wings. Some of it also went to the bride and her attendant maidens. Okonkwo had clearly washed his hands and so he ate with kings and elders. We have albinos among us.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."When your wife becomes pregnant again.

The egwugwu house into which they emerged faced the forest. They made single mounds of earth in straight lines all over the field and sowed the yams in them." said Obierika. But two years later when a son was born he called him Nwofia??"Begotten in the Wilderness. and she put all her being into it. Kiaga.- Onwumbiko died in his fifteenth month. the suitor. They just pulled the stump. He did not inherit a barn from his father. And how is my daughter. gome."Umuofia kwenu!""Yaa!""Umuofia kwenu!""Yaa!"Evil Forest then thrust the pointed end of his rattling staff into the earth. to honor the earth goddess and the ancestral spirits of the clan. She just jogged along in a half-sleep. Ezinma placed her mother's dish before him and sat with Obiageli."I do not blame you. whom she called "my daughter. I shall not eat in the house of a man who has no respect for our gods and ancestors. anxiety. Now you talk about his son. It was therefore understood that Ekwefi would provide cassava lor the feast. And he told them about this new God. each brought her bowl of foo-foo and bowl of soup to her husband." he said.

The men then continued their drinking and talking."For three years Ikemefuna lived in Okonkwo's household and the elders of Umuofia seemed to have forgotten about him. Nwoye's mother carried a basket of coco-yams. Then they washed them and cut them up for the women who prepared the soup. She began to run. what did the mother of this duckling say when you swooped and carried its child away?' 'It said nothing. The elders and grandees of the village sat on their own stools brought there by their young sons or slaves. He died of the swelling which was an abomination to the earth goddess. Every nerve and every muscle stood out on their arms. calling on her mother. Iweka." He looked at Okonkwo. the white men had also brought a government. and on her waist four or five rows of jigida.His life had been ruled by a great passion??to become one of the lords of the clan.At last they took a turning and began to head for the caves. Those things a man built for himself or inherited from his father. "You will bring to the shrine of Ani tomorrow one she-goat. The children made endless trips to the stream. But Ekwefi could not see her. and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten. He could not understand what was happening to him or what he had done. But it only lasted till the end of the service.As for the boy himself. and none of them died.

After that nothing happened for a long time between the church and the clan."Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?" asked Okagbue when Ezinma finally stopped outside her father's obi.The festival was now only three days away. It was an ill omen. Nobody thought that such a thing could ever happen. and he had moments of sadness and depression But he and Nwoye had become so deeply attached to each other that such moments became less frequent and less poignant.He did not sleep at night. Nwoye's mind had gone immediately to Nwayieke. Her two children belong to Uzowulu.""The only other person is Udenkwo. The people of the sky thought it must be their custom to leave all the food for their king. But he had recently fallen ill. She was full of the power of her god. and had just married his third wife. The total effect was gay and brisk. There must have been about ten thousand men there. Evil Forest addressed the two groups of people facing them. and he was soon chosen as the man to speak for the party because he was a great orator. We do not dispute it.""They have indeed soiled the name of ozo. He shrugged his shoulders and went away to tap his afternoon palm-wine. She trudged slowly along. and regain the seven wasted years. And how is my daughter. The hearing then began.

He passed her a piece of fish. or took pity on their mothers. he was not afraid now. won a handful of converts and were already sending evangelists to the surrounding towns and villages. Do you hear that." he swore." He looked at Okonkwo. was passing by the church on his way from the neighboring village. Kiaga had asked the women to bring red earth and white chalk and water to scrub the church for Easter. which was strengthened by such little conspiracies as eating eggs in the bedroom. The locusts settled in the bushes for the night and their wings became wet with dew. Her husband and his family were already becoming highly critical of such a woman and were not unduly perturbed when they found she had fled to join the Christians. Evil Forest then stood up. He was in fact a coward and could not bear the sight of blood. indeed. and after they had shaken hands he asked Okonkwo who they were. Some women ran away in fear when it was thrown. and none of them died." said Ekwefi. The men stood outside the circle. This man told him that the child was an ogbanje. Why do the nations rage and the peoples imagine a vain thing? He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh.""I can tell you." he said. You will have what is good for you and I will have what is good for me.

Okonkwo's first son. He spoke through an interpreter who was an Ibo man. At last Sky was moved to pity." said Okonkwo. 'Don't touch!'But when I hold her waist-beads she pretends not to know. He searched his bag and brought out his snuff-bottle. bringing the third dish. Ekwefi quickly moved away from her line of retreat."Forgive me.""Why?" asked Obierika and Okonkwo together. Who knows what may happen tomorrow? Perhaps green men will come to our clan and shoot us. when they died.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. but never heard its voice. "What kind of lover sleeps with a pregnant woman?" There was a loud murmur of approbation from the crowd. That was always the trouble with Okeke's snuff. I shall give you some fish to eat. There were huge bowls of foo-foo and steaming pots of soup."He took down the pot from the fire and placed it in front of the stool. to harvest cassava tubers." said Evil Forest. although one of them did not speak Ibo. We are all children of God and we must receive these our brothers. They seemed to forget all about him as soon as they had taken the decision. who said he should die.

There was foo-foo and yam pottage. who sat next to him. The villagers were so certain about the doom that awaited these men that one or two converts thought it wise to suspend their allegiance to the new faith."She will bring her back soon.When the rain finally came. 1 know you will not despair. Obierika's relatives counted the pots as they came. It always surprised him when he thought of it later that he did not sink under the load of despair. This was about eight days after the fight. It looked like whispering. Unoka loved the good hire and the good fellowship.Okonkwo knew these things.The first cock had not crowed. Only a week ago a man had contradicted him at a kindred meeting which they held to discuss the next ancestral feast. Some of them were not at home and only four came in. he would use his fists. which had been dutifully eating yam peelings. They then set about painting themselves with cam wood and drawing beautiful black patterns on their stomachs and on their backs. He remembered the story she often told of the quarrel between Earth and Sky long ago.Onwumbiko was not given proper burial when he died." and they argued like this for a few moments before Unoka accepted the honor of breaking the kola. The rainbow was called the python of the sky. only waking to full life when Chielo sang. it was true. clay and metal instruments went from song to song.

She started to cry. who had been talking. "It is enough. and passed the disc over to his guest.A strange and sudden weakness descended on Ekwefi as she stood gazing in the direction of the voices like a hen whose only chick has been carried away by a kite. After her father's rebuke she developed an even keener appetite for eggs. We all know him. but Okonkwo was as slippery as a fish in water. would wipe them off the face of the earth. Okonkwo was one of them. That was the way people answered calls from outside. When he had swallowed them. But it was as silly as all women's stories."After the Week of Peace every man and his family began to clear the bush to make new farms." He sipped his wine. Tortoise also took one. And it was not too hot either. Why do the nations rage and the peoples imagine a vain thing? He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. and was about to say something when the old man continued:"Yes. Then they washed them and cut them up for the women who prepared the soup. will not understand me. They told the white man and he smiled benevolently. carrying a basket full of water. but he stood beckoning to them. the rulers and elders of Mbanta assembled to decide on their action.

and earth and sky once again became separate."There must be something behind it. Nwoye overheard it and burst into tears. like the snapping of a tightened bow.Okonkwo was sitting on a goatskin already eating his first wife's meal."But you said it was where they bury children?" asked the medicine man. i have only a short while to live. When she came to the main road."But Nwoye's mother dropped her pot of hot soup the other day and it broke on the floor. a cake of salt and smoked fish which she would present to Obierika's wife. And he told them about this new God. among the missionaries in Umuofia. He still had the eight hundred from Nwakibie and the four hundred from his father's friend. go home before Agbala does you harm. Then Chielo's renewed outburst came from only a few paces ahead. His love of talk had grown with age and sickness. Why did they not fight back? Had they no guns and machetes? We would be cowards lo compare ourselves with the men of Abame. pointing with his finger. "We should do something. She was. "1 want Okonkwo to answer me. "my eyelid is twitching. The iron horse was still tied to the sacred silk-cotton tree.The drummers stopped for a brief rest before the real matches. and Ezinma brought his goatskin bag from the far end of the hut.

he was at a loss. As the evening wore on. There was authority in her bearing and she looked every inch the ruler of the womenfolk in a large and prosperous family. She did not return to Okonkwo's compound until three days before the naming ceremony. but it was too far to see what they were. "Somebody is walking behind me!" she said. especially the youngest. as you know. Such a thing could never happen in his fatherland. He had been cast out of his clan like a fish onto a dry. or tie-tie." said Ibe. And so everybody came to see the white man."Don't be foolish.Yam."Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?" asked Okagbue when Ezinma finally stopped outside her father's obi. Nwoye remembered this period very vividly till the end of his life. and his bushy eyebrows and wide nose gave him a very severe look.""Once upon a time. At last I went to my in-laws and said to them. When a man blasphemes. "1 told you. But the drought continued for eight market weeks and the yams were killed.Okonkwo planted what was left of his seed-yams when the rains finally returned. so that he was full of food and drink and his body filled out in his shell.

" he said. Among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very highly. There was a famine in those days and Tortoise had not eaten a good meal for two moons.At last the young man who was pouring out the wine held up half a horn of the thick. He was reclining on a mud bed in his hut playing on the flute. And so he did now. and she was notorious for her late cooking. But when there is sorrow and bitterness he finds refuge in his motherland. floated on the chaos. and the smallest group had ten lines. just emerged from the earth." He paused for a long time and then said: "I told you on my last visit to Mbanta how they hanged Aneto." And he did. He does not belong here. when his father had not been dead very long. She knelt on her knees and hands at the threshold and called her husband. light and gay. but she went to Okonkwo's compound. one of them did something which no one could describe because it had been as quick as a flash.She set the pot on the fire and Okonkwo took up his machete to return to his obi. But there was no doubt that he liked the boy."Tell them." He waved his arm where most of the young men sat. and Ekwefi asked Nwoye's mother and Ojiugo to explain to Obierika's wife that she would be late." Obierika said to Nwoye.

Then he began to speak. women and children. They asked who the king of the village was. and others who could think of nowhere else open to escape." he answered. Elumelu. all the descendants of Okolo. He still thought about his mother and his three-year-old sister.At first Ikemefuna was very much afraid."Our father. is.The sun rose slowly to the center of the sky. he sat down in his obi and mourned his friend's calamity. and brought back a duckling. his mother was alive. Each of his three wives had her own hut. I knew your father.She wore a coiffure which was done up into a crest in the middle of the head. He could hear in his mind's ear the blood-stirring and intricate rhythms of the ekwe and the udu and the ogene.The last match was between the leaders of the teams. when he slept."Perhaps I have been away too long. Obiageli. It is like Dimaragana. Okoye said the next half a dozen sentences in proverbs.

won a handful of converts and were already sending evangelists to the surrounding towns and villages. And then appeared on the horizon a slowly-moving mass like a boundless sheet of black cloud drifting towards Umuofia. She started to cry. No woman ever asked questions about the most powerful and the most secret cult in the clan. a light rain had fallen during the night and the soil would not be very hard. Its most potent war-medicine was as old as the clan itself. Then it went nearer and named the village: " Iguedo of the yellow grinding-stone!" It was Okonkwo's village. should he. All this happened many years ago. He had lost the chance to lead his warlike clan against the new religion.The woman with whom she talked was called Chielo. else it would break and the thousand tiny rings would have to be strung together again." said Okonkwo. They had thrown down their water-pots and lain by the roadside expecting the sinister light to descend on them and kill them." said Ezinma.But apart from the church." he said. Then the metal gong sounded and the flute was blown."The missionary ignored him and went on to talk about the Holy Trinity." And he arranged the requisite rites and sacrifices. It was not that they had been lazy. He always said that whenever he saw a dead man's mouth he saw the folly of not eating what one had in one's lifetime.She set the pot on the fire and Okonkwo took up his machete to return to his obi. "and leave the child alone. Ekwefi had a feeling of spacious openness.

A hush fell on the compound immediately. He was a great man. It was therefore understood that Ekwefi would provide cassava lor the feast. She called her by her name. rubbing off the grains of sand that clung to his thighs. The women began to talk excitedly. Unoka."When he killed Oduche in the fight over the land.That night he collected his most valuable belongings into head-loads.When they had harvested a sizable heap they carried it down in two trips to the stream. in the same way as they would meet if a death occurred ." He threw his head down and gnashed his teeth. Okonkwo decided to go out hunting. Let her go and stay with her people. "It wounds my heart to see these young men killing palm trees in the name of tapping. When they returned Ukegbu handed the bundle of sticks back to Obierika."Don't you know what kind of man Uzowulu is? He will not listen to any other decision. "Ee-e-e!""We are giving you our daughter today. she thought." roared Okonkwo. Had she been running too? How could she go so fast with Ezinma on her back? Although the night was cool. let his wing break. and soon they were the strongest adherents of the new faith.' said Mother Kite. Go ahead and prepare your farm.

I would not have believed. "Poor child. and they each gave him a feather. who only stayed in the hope that it might come to chasing the men out of the village or whipping them. They will serve you when I have eaten. They had the same style and one saw the other's plans beforehand. Obiageli. in a terrifying voice. The nine egwugwu then went away to consult together in their house." said Obierika sadly. But there is one more question I shall ask you. It told of one sheep out on the hills. about the next ancestral feast and about the impending war with the village of Mbaino." he said to Okonkwo. As the evening drew near. Okonkwo had not bought snuff from him for a long time. "you. But there was one woman who had no doubt whatever in her mind. and he pointed to a man who sat near him with a bowed head.So when the daughter of Umuofia was killed in Mbaino. She understood things so perfectly. Work no longer had for him the pleasure it used to have. if it lost its tail it soon grew another. But as he walked through the market he realized that people were pointing at him as they do to a madman."Okonkwo was very lucky in his daughters.

"1 don't know."Evil Forest then turned to the other group and addressed the eldest of the three brothers. food and palm-wine. he beat her until she miscarried. Her eyes were useless to her in the darkness."He died this morning. roots snapped below. But the arrivees persevered.Suddenly Okagbue sprang to the surface with the agility of a leopard. An osu could not attend an assembly of the free-born. The first cock has crowed. Why should I? But the Oracle did not ask me to carry out its decision. Unoka would play with them. and stammered. It was Chielo. But now she found the half-light of the incipient moon more terrifying than darkness. Aninta. All the neighbors and relations who had come to mourn gathered round them. But Chielo ignored what he was trying to say and went on shouting that Agbala wanted to see his daughter. They must have bypassed it long ago."Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?" asked Okagbue when Ezinma finally stopped outside her father's obi. Okonkwo's first son. where the white men first came many years before and where they had built the center of their religion and trade and government. It was a great feast." said Okonkwo.

He thought of his mother and his three-year-old sister and wept bitterly." said Obierika. He can curse the gods of his fathers and his ancestors." he said as he went. the god of the sky. "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. But when a father beats his child." He sipped his wine. Obierika nodded in agreement. A chick that will grow into a cock can be spotted the very day it hatches. behind the crowd. her left palm closed on her fish and her eyes gleaming with tears. women and children left their work or their play and ran into the open to see the unfamiliar sight."Agbala do-o-o-o! Agbala ekeneo-o-o-o! Chi negbu madu ubosi ndu ya nato ya uto daluo-o-o! ??"Ekwefi could already see the hills looming in the moonlight. when they came. people said it was refusing food."Where is Mgbogo?" asked one of them. Spirits always addressed humans as "bodies. He would return later to his mother and his brothers and sisters and convert them to the new faith. As soon as he found one he would sing with his whole being. nor the walls of his compound. passed through his obi and into Ekwefi's hut and walked into her bedroom. Our hosts in the sky will expect us to honor this age-old custom. It very quickly went damp. and her arms folded across her breasts.

That night he collected his most valuable belongings into head-loads.The festival was now only three days away. the god who cut a man down when his life was sweetest to him. who will hold his head up among my people. And they might also have noticed that Okonkwo was not among the titled men and elders who sat behind the row of egwugwu.All this anthill activity was going smoothly when a sudden interruption came. He did not understand it. And what was more. Mighty tree branches broke away under them. I have done my best to make Nwoye grow into a man. Ikemefuna came into Okonkwo's household. It was not the mad logic of the Trinity that captivated him. carrying his stool and his goatskin bag. guns and even his cannon. Uzowulu.' he thought as he looked at his ten-year-old daughter. When they did." he said. 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." Ofoedu agreed. And it began to shake and rattle. Her name was Nneka. "Life to you. and the solid mass was now broken by tiny eyes of light like shining star dust. This was one of the lighter tasks of the after-harvest season.

As the broken kola nuts were passed round. and then passed two shares to Nwoye and Ikemefuna."How is your father?" Obierika asked. The law of the clan is that you should return her bride-price." said Ezelagbo. He immediately set to work digging a pit where Ezinma had indicated. There must have been about ten thousand men there. Okonkwo was still pleading that the girl had been ill of late and was asleep. "Somebody is walking behind me!" she said. and the children reveled in the thought of being spoiled by these visitors from the motherland. She will bear you nine sons like the mother of our town. There were only four titles in the clan. 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. In Umuofia's latest war he was the first to bring home a human head. The three women talked excitedly about the relations who had been invited. in a cleared spot. "And you know how leaves become smaller after cooking. "I sold the big ones as soon as you left. "But you can explain to her. He asked the birds to take a message for his wife. as on that day.One morning Okonkwo's cousin. But she refused them all. And you. holding the ancestral staff of the family.

Listen to me and I shall tell you. But the drought continued for eight market weeks and the yams were killed. and he gave to Vulture rain wrapped in leaves of coco-yam. and so have Uchendu and Unachukwu and Emefo. it would have been impossible to eat. Then he poured out for the others. Okonkwo sprang to his feet and quickly sat down again. and during this time Okonkwo's fame had grown like a bush-fire in the harmattan. 'There is something ominous behind the silence. Is it true that Okonkwo nearly killed you with his gun?""It is true indeed." Mosquito went away humiliated. Everybody stood to let her pass and then filed after her. Their church stood on a circular clearing that looked like the open mouth of the Evil Forest.""I think it is good that our clan holds the ozo title in high esteem. and brought back a duckling. A man belongs to his fatherland and not to his motherland."Will you give Ezinma some fire to bring to me?" Her own children and Ikemefuna had gone to the stream. of all people. Two judges walked around the wrestlers and when they thought they were equally matched. Okonkwo's house was on the way to the stream." said Obierika. 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 so they made them that offer which nobody in his right senses would accept. The clan was worried. They saw the iron horse and went away again.

"They do not understand. and we would be like Abame.What moved Obierika to visit Okonkwo was the sudden appearance of the latter's son. That was the day it happened. It was full of meat and fish. He could not take any of the four titles of the clan. The white man had gone back to Umuofia. His death showed that the gods were still able to fight their own battles. Uzowulu and his relative. waving their palm fronds. Her voice was as clear as metal. He looked it over and said it was done. His mother's kinsmen had been very kind to him. Obierika nodded in agreement. But he always found fault with their effort. He neither inherited a barn nor a title. and his face beamed. "How dare you. She had balanced it on her head. They were already far enough where they stood and there was room for running away if any of them should go towards them. but nothing like this had ever happened. because it judged a man by the work or his hands. The drums beat the unmistakable wrestling dance - quick. cutting down every tree or animal they saw. Okonkwo was still pleading that the girl had been ill of late and was asleep.

and he was soon chosen as the man to speak for the party because he was a great orator. "Umuofia kwenu. Nwoye. whom he had thrown away.Ezinma was still sleeping when everyone else was astir." said Ekwefi. Cam wood was rubbed lightly into her skin. He was greatly surprised."Then I shall go back to the clan. on the other hand. It all began over the question of admitting outcasts. not even about the terrors of night. of course. but not today. Ezinma. ran out again and aimed at her as she clambered over the dwarf wall of the barn. Nwoye would feign annoyance and grumble aloud about women and their troubles. He was very good on his flute. But Unoka was such a man that he always succeeded in borrowing more. some of them having come a long way from their homes in distant villages. It was clear that the bags were full of cowries." said Okonkwo after a pause."Yes. Some of them were too angry to eat. Wherever he went he carried with him the mark of his forbidden caste??long.

with love.The drums beat and the flutes sang and the spectators held their breath. The daughters of the clan did not return to their homes immediately but spent two more days with their kinsmen. I salute you. He would build a bigger barn than he had had before and he would build huts for two new wives. and who like a madman had cut the anklet of his titles and cast it away to join the Christians. He turned it on to his left palm. At the end.""Oho. And he went. For how else could he explain his great misfortune and exile and now his despicable son's behavior? Now that he had time to think of it. His eldest brother broke the first one. and had just married his third wife. and sat down. and passed the disc over to his guest. When they returned Ukegbu handed the bundle of sticks back to Obierika. eating the peelings. He then broke the kola nut and threw one of the lobes on the ground for the ancestors.With a father like Unoka. worthless. The seven wasted and weary years were at last dragging to a close.Okonkwo turned on his side and went back to sleep. and cut them up. And so. cutting down every tree or animal they saw.

they have killed me!" as he ran towards him. Ezinma struggled to escape from the choking and overpowering steam. They also drank water from small pots and ate kola nuts.One morning Okonkwo's cousin. let your sister go with him. It was difficult to say which the people enjoyed more.Each of the nine egwugwu represented a village of the clan.""Your words are good. alive with sinister forces and powers of darkness.He was by nature a very lively boy and he gradually became popular in Okonkwo's household. He just carried her into his bed and in the darkness began to feel around her waist for the loose end of her cloth. he is telling a lie.- the only thing worth demonstrating was strength. beat him up and took our sister and her children away.But Ekwefi did not hear these consolations. At last Ogbuefi Ezeugo stood up in the midst of them and bellowed four times. When all was laid out. someone else rose and filled it."Yes. especially their hair.""Some people say the Oracle warned him that he would fall off a palm tree and kill himself."He gave his mother seven baskets of vegetables to cook and in the end there were only three.After the singing the interpreter spoke about the Son of God whose name was Jesu Kristi.And so nature was not interfered with in the middle of the rainy season. metallic and thirsty clap.

who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo. shrill and powerful. "One of the young children had opened the gate of the cow-shed. Marriage should be a play and not a fight so we are falling down again. But somehow he knew he was not going to see them. Evil Forest rose to his feet and order was immediately restored. very much shaken and frightened but quite unhurt. leaving what we are cooking to burn in the fire. and when he died he was buried by his kind in the Evil Forest. Ezinma?""She has been very well for some time now. He knew that Nwakibie would not refuse him. seeing that the new religion welcomed twins and such abominations. The egwugwu had emerged once again from their underground home."Your half-sister. which was only broken when a new palm frond was lifted on to the wall or when a busy hen moved dry leaves about in her ceaseless search for food. Thelocusts had not come for many."Okonkwo bit his lips as anger welled up within him. That is all I am good for now. A vague chill had descended on him and his head had seemed to swell. She miscarried after she had gone to sleep with her lover. They settled on every tree and on every blade of grass. Earth's emissary. "So he must have a wife and all of them must have buttocks. drew some lines on the floor." said Mgbogo's next-door neighbor.