sometimes long-suffering and would deliberately allow a man to go on defying them.

She was full of the power of her god
She was full of the power of her god. He held a short staff in his hand which he brought down on the floor to emphasize his points. who at once paid the heavy fine which the village imposed on anyone whose cow was let loose on his neighbors' crops. like splitting wood. He heard Ikemefuna cry."As soon as he entered his last year in exile Okonkwo sent money to Obierika to build him two huts in his old compound where he and his family would live until he built more huts and the outside wall of his compound."Ekwefi turned the hen over in the mortar and began to pluck the feathers."Come. There were huge bowls of foo-foo and steaming pots of soup. silence returned to the world. like the prospect of annihilation.It was a long and weary journey and Ekwefi felt like a sleepwalker most of the way. Ekwefi then became defiant and called her next child Onwuma??"Death may please himself. when they came.The priestess had now reached Okonkwo's compound and was talking with him outside his hut. I say it because I fear for the younger generation. And there were indeed occasions when the Oracle had forbidden Umuofia to wage a war. Has he thrown a hundred men?He has thrown four hundred men. as the saying goes. facing the elders and grandees of the clan. He was therefore waiting to receive them. But she had grown so bitter about her own chi that she could not rejoice with others over their good fortune. But for a young man whose father had no yams. The moon was shining. and drinking palm-wine copiously.

Throughout that day Nwoye sat in his mother's hut and tears stood in his eyes. and they no longer spent the evenings in his mother's hut while she cooked." he mocked. it would have been impossible to eat." he said. he. But when there is sorrow and bitterness he finds refuge in his motherland. perhaps even quicker. whose name was Ibe. The white man had gone back to Umuofia. or waist beads. It was Nwoye's mother.At this point an old man said he had a question. Most of them were sons of our land whose mothers had been buried with us. We have albinos among us. And so when the priestess with Ezinma on her back disappeared through a hole hardly big enough to pass a hen. Evergreen trees wore a dusty coat of brown.The drum sounded again and the flute blew. his children and their mothers in the new year."Your buttocks said he had a son. For although locusts had not visited Umuofia for many years. cutting down every tree or animal they saw. Old men nodded to the beat of the drums and remembered the days when they wrestled to its intoxicating rhythm. He also took with him a pot of palm-wine. male and female.

Ikemefuna had begun to feel like a member of Okonkwo's family." Altogether there were fifty pots of wine. It was not that they had been lazy. and as it dwelt on it. Ekwefi hurried to the main footpath and turned left in the direction of the voice. Obierika." He looked in the direction of Okonkwo. They were very fat goats. and said through gleaming white teeth firmly clenched: "Those sons of wild animals have dared to murder a daughter of Umuofia.In this way Akuke's bride-price was finally settled at twenty bags of cowries. He also took with him a pot of palm-wine.""That is very strange. It was then uncertain whether the low rumbling of Amadiora's thunder came from above or below.As the palm-wine was drunk one of the oldest members of the umunna rose to thank Okonkwo:"If I say that we did not expect such a big feast I will be suggesting that we did not know how openhanded our son. on their backs and their thighs. not even with broomsticks. Ekwefi was also awakened and her benumbed fears revived. the fear of failure and of weakness. Ozoemena??"May it not happen again. He knew that Nwakibie would not refuse him."Have you slept enough?" asked her mother. he immediately bought gourds of palm-wine. It was as if water had been poured on the tightened skin of a drum." He was talking about Okonkwo. Obierika.

The faint and distant wailing of women settled like a sediment of sorrow on the earth.""And so everybody comes. "What we are eating is finished. It was Nwoye's mother. He danced a few steps to the funeral drums and then went to see the corpse. "that Okonkwo and I were talking about Abame and Aninta. or Evil Spirit. when Mr. called on Okonkwo in his obi. And so one Sunday two of them went into the church. They had not thought about that."Okonkwo tried to explain to him what his wife had done.In the distance the drums continued to beat. Many years ago when she was the village beauty Okonkwo had won her heart by throwing the Cat in the greatest contest within living memory. She had balanced it on her head. As the evening drew near. and it came floating on the wind. Once she tripped up and fell." Altogether there were fifty pots of wine. all the same. and the other an old and faint shadow. She went. She then went down on one knee. The iron horse was still tied to the sacred silk-cotton tree. Not long after.

they said to themselves. A razor was taboo to him. Ekwefi brought her to the fireplace.Ekwefi went into her hut to cook yams." They were hard and painful on the body as they fell. beginning with the eldest man. empty men. stroking her head. love returned once more to her mother. These men must be mad. He would return with a flourish. a vibrant silence made more intense by the universal trill of a million million forest insects." said Obierika."I did not know it was you. the god of the sky."That is very good. It was a full gathering of umuada. The spell of sunshine which always came in the middle of the wet season did not appear. He just carried her into his bed and in the darkness began to feel around her waist for the loose end of her cloth.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. had said to him during that terrible harvest month: "Do not despair. Brown. On Obierika's side were his two elder brothers and Maduka. Okonkwo brought out kola nut and placed it before the priest. The story was always told of a wealthy man who set before his guests a mound of foo-foo so high that those who sat on one side could not see what was happening on the other.

How else could they say that Ani and Amadiora were harmless? And Idemili and Ogwugwu too? And some of them began to go away. She is buried there. But now she found the half-light of the incipient moon more terrifying than darkness. A bowl of pounded yams can throw him in a wrestling match. At first the bride was not among them. stopped them. Most communal ceremonies took place at that time of the day. Some of them were too angry to eat. Nwoye's mother and Okonkwo's youngest wife were ready to set out for Obierika's compound with all their children. and then he continued: "Each group there represents a debt to someone. and the rest went back. And so people said he had no respect for the gods of the clan. He threw down the gun and jumped into the barn and there lay the woman. And so excitement mounted in the village as the seventh week approached since the impudent missionaries buill their church in the Evil Forest."Is Anasi not in?" he asked them. Ikeocha. roasting and eating maize."I was coming over to see you as soon as I finished that thatch. She was going to the stream to fetch water. She nodded. Thank you. But what of our own people who are following their way and have been given power? They would go to Umuru and bring the soldiers. And the other boy was flat on his back. All the family were there and some of the neighbors too. and Nwakibie's two grown-up sons were also present in his obi.

"Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?" asked Okagbue when Ezinma finally stopped outside her father's obi. The spirit of wars was upon them.The elders of the clan had decided that Ikemefuna should be in Okonkwo's care for a while.Okonkwo and his family worked very hard to plant a new farm.And then the priestess screamed." said Obierika. Why do they always go for one's ears? When he was a child his mother had told him a story about it.Then the tragedy of his first son had occurred. who sat next to him. He had one consolation."Go and bring me some cold water." As he looked into the log fire he recalled the name. And before the cock crowed Okonkwo and his family were fleeing to his motherland." Uzowulu replied. Old men and children would then sit round log fires. especially with the children. and nodded their heads in approval of all he said. almost to himself.""You do not understand. There was coming and going between them. like the snapping of a tightened bow. but he did not answer.But the year had gone mad. they held them over an open fire to burn off the hair." said Obierika.

""That is true.""That is very strange. Sometimes the sun shone through the rain and a light breeze blew. And if the clan did not exact punishment for an offense against the great goddess. the "medicine house" or shrine where Okonkwo kept the wooden symbols of his personal god and of his ancestral spirits. It was only after the pot had been emptied that the suitor's father cleared his voice and announced the object of their visit. He hit the bottle against his knee to shake up the tobacco. And so one Sunday two of them went into the church.Later."At last the great day came and Tortoise was the first to arrive at the meeting place. "But I have also heard that Abame people were weak and foolish. Okonkwo's fear was greater than these. Ekwefi screwed her eyes up in an effort to see her daughter and the priestess. He never stopped regretting that Ezinma was a girl. It was even said that they had hanged one man who killed a missionary. sang for mercy." Okonkwo threatened. and so have Uchendu and Unachukwu and Emefo. And it was not too hot either.By the time Onwumbiko died Ekwefi had become a very bitter woman. the beating of drums and the brandishing and clanging of machetes increased. carried him shoulder high and danced through the cheering crowd. Behind them was the big and ancient silk-cotton tree which was sacred. People made way for him on all sides and the noise subsided. Mr.

Some of it also went to the bride and her attendant maidens. When the will of the goddess had been done.She did not know how long she waited. But almost immediately a shout of joy broke out in all directions. Most communal ceremonies took place at that time of the day. just as he would not attempt to start it in the heart of the dry season. and we shall all perish. slanting showers through sunshine and quiet breeze. only more holy than the village variety. so heavy and persistent that even the village rain-maker no longer claimed to be able to intervene. Living fire begets cold.- then silence descended from the sky and swallowed the noise."Agbala do-o-o-o! Agbala ekeneo-o-o-o-o. guns and cannon were fired. The white man had gone back to Umuofia. "Somebody is walking behind me!" she said. some alligator pepper and a lump of white chalk. "Ozoemena was. and they ran for their lives. A child cannot pay for its mother's milk. unlike the deep and liquid rumbling of the rainy season. If it does its power will be gone. All the grass had long been scorched brown. At such times. On ordinary days young women who desired children came to sit under its shade.

But good men who worshipped the true God lived forever in His happy kingdom."He does not know that either. That was why he had called him a woman. The heathen speak nothing but falsehood. everybody knew by instinct that they were very good to eat."Ekwefi turned the hen over in the mortar and began to pluck the feathers."Your buttocks said he had a son. Uzowulu should recover from his madness and come in the proper way to beg his wife to return she will do so on the understanding that if he ever beats her again we shall cut off his genitals for him.Ikemefuna came to Umuofia at the end of the carefree season between harvest and planting. It was not done earlier because the rains were too heavy and would have washed away the heap of trodden earth. He neither inherited a barn nor a title. Beyond that limit no man was suffered to go. Clearly his personal god or chi was not made for great things. Bring me my daughter. and on her waist four or five rows of jigida. The men trod dry leaves on the sand. The air. 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. She rubbed each string downwards with her palms until it passed the buttocks and slipped down to the floor around her feet."Has Nweke married a wife?" asked Okonkwo. they set off in a body. He always gnashed his teeth as he listened to those who came to consult him. It was very much like Obiageli." He looked in the direction of Okonkwo. and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.

had said to him during that terrible harvest month: "Do not despair." But he was a man of commanding presence and the clansmen listened to him. and filled the village with excitement. He does not belong here. ran out again and aimed at her as she clambered over the dwarf wall of the barn. But they were very rare and short-lived. machetes."Umuofia kwenu!""Yaa!""Umuofia kwenu!""Yaa!"Evil Forest then thrust the pointed end of his rattling staff into the earth. that they have strayed from their way to a land where everybody is like them?"Okonkwo's first wife soon finished her cooking and set before their guests a big meal of pounded yams and bitter-leaf soup. and nodded their heads in approval of all he said. shrill and powerful. But he thought that one could not begin too early. and you can teach us the things of the new faith. And indeed he was possessed by the fear of his father's contemptible life and shameful death."The two men sat in silence for a long while afterwards. Although they come from a village that is known for being closefisted.'"He began to eat and the birds grumbled angrily. and was now accorded great respect in all the clan. like a son. But his mother and his three-year-old sister?? of course she would not be three now." Ezinma said." said Obierika's eldest brother. She understood things so perfectly."I am Evil Forest. and he pointed to a man who sat near him with a bowed head.

I would not have believed. from a few cowries to quite substantial amounts.The metal gong beat continuously now and the flute. It was not done earlier because the rains were too heavy and would have washed away the heap of trodden earth. 'If I fall down for you and you fall down for me. "that Okonkwo and I were talking about Abame and Aninta. "If a man comes into my hut and defecates on the floor. He accepted the half-full horn from his brother and drank it. some of them with their water-pots to the stream. neither getting too near nor keeping too far back. "If a man comes into my hut and defecates on the floor. It is a bad custom because it always leads to a quarrel. as Ekwefi had said.""Very true. He breathed heavily."1 am one of them. Umuazu."The birds gathered round to eat what was left and to peck at the bones he had thrown all about the floor. He had called the first child born to him in exile Nneka??"Mother is Supreme"??out of politeness to his mother's kinsmen. The poor and unknown would not dare to come forth."Okonkwo never did things by halves.Okonkwo's family was astir like any other family in the neighborhood. Every woman in the neighborhood knew the sound of Nwayieke's mortar and pestle. You are a great man in your clan. And they were right.

And such was the deep fear that their enemies had for Umuofia that they treated Okonkwo like a king and brought him a virgin who was given to Udo as wife. Sometimes the sun shone through the rain and a light breeze blew. 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."Uzowulu's body. Ikemefuna was equally excited. and was about to say something when the old man continued:"Yes. Okonkwo brought out l??s big horn from the goatskin bag. and the elders of his family. in their due proportions. It was an ill omen.The sun rose slowly to the center of the sky. Ukegbu. all its metal taken out of it by the vast emptiness of the cave. I greet you." said Ezinma. Every man and woman came out to see the white man."She is ill in bed. Ekwefi. It was even heard in the surrounding villages.Okonkwo cleared his throat and moved his feet to the beat of the drums. which was fastened to the rafters. They only saw the red earth he threw up mounting higher and higher." She died in her eleventh month. Ekwefi.But it was really not true that Okonkwo's palm-kernels had been cracked for him by a benevolent spirit.

" But it was a different Chielo she now saw in the yellow half-light. So much of it was cooked that. But it is not our custom to debar anyone from the stream or the quarry. Unoka was never happy when it came to wars.Okonkwo cleared his throat and moved his feet to the beat of the drums." He looked at Okonkwo. 1 know how to deal with them. The daughters of Uehuiona were also there." said Idigo." she answered. through lonely forest paths." he answered. who was greatly perplexed. But as they drew near to the outskirts of Umuofia silence fell upon them too. "When I think that it is only eighteen months since the Seed was first sown among you. It was an angry. mother. who had been talking." said Obierika. The moon must be preparing to rise. And when a man is at peace with his gods and his ancestors."Come and shake hands with me. His wives wept bitterly and their children wept with them without knowing why. "That is the story. He brought out a sharp razor from the goatskin bag slung from his left shoulder and began to mutilate the child.

I would sooner strangle him with my own hands. his sixteen-year-old son.Okonkwo remembered that tragic year with a cold shiver throughout the rest of his life." Okonkwo thought within himself.' But my wife's brothers said they had nothing to tell me. Then from the distance came the faint beating of the ekwe."There must be something behind it. He was taking his family of three wives and their children to seek refuge in his motherland. they talked about everything except the thing for which they had gathered. and all over her body were black patterns drawn with uli. and so they suffered. Okonkwo bent down and looked into her hut.When she had shaken hands. Uzowulu should recover from his madness and come in the proper way to beg his wife to return she will do so on the understanding that if he ever beats her again we shall cut off his genitals for him. "Yaa!". Every man can see it in his own compound. tangled hair. some of them with their water-pots to the stream."Go and bring me some cold water."Uzowulu's body.""You sound as if you question the authority and the decision of the Oracle.All the umunna were invited to the feast. Her arms were folded across her bare breasts. the wife of Amadi. She was peeling new yams.

" said Machi.Many years ago when Okonkwo was still a boy his father." she replied. He hit the bottle against his knee to shake up the tobacco. And so nobody gave serious thought to the stories about the white man's government or the consequences of killing the Christians. I shall not eat in the house of a man who has no respect for our gods and ancestors.""It means you are going to cry. 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. Okonkwo and his wife followed at a respectful distance. 'It cried and raved and cursed me. They were returning home with baskets of yams from a distant farm across the stream when they heard the voice of an infant crying in the thick forest. he immediately bought gourds of palm-wine. Ekwefi trudged along between two fears. but Okonkwo was as slippery as a fish in water. Sometimes Okonkwo gave them a few yams each to prepare. One of the things every man learned was the language of the hollowed-out wooden instrument. it is for you. Ezinma was always surprised that her mother could lift a pot from the fire with her bare hands."But the leaves will be wet. and the women sat on a sisal mat spread on a raised bank of earth. but even now they have not found the mouth with which to tell of their suffering. which was shaved in places. spears. the distance they had covered. Drums beat violently and men leaped up and down in frenzy.

His wives. Ezinma. Ikemefuna came into Okonkwo's household." said Mr."1 have told you to let her alone."We have heard both sides of the case."As they stood there together. trembling. and all the rest rushed away to see the cow that had been let loose."It has not always been so. But she refused them all."I will come with you. I implore you. As the elders said. facing the elders and grandees of the clan." said Ogbuefi Ezeudu. and perhaps other women as well.- you stay at home and offer sacrifices to a reluctant soil. "But what is good in one place is bad in another place. Obiageli." replied Odukwe. Two judges walked around the wrestlers and when they thought they were equally matched. Who knows what may happen tomorrow? Perhaps green men will come to our clan and shoot us. When they saw it they drove it back to its owner.He is fit to be a slave.

usually before the age of three. But you are still a child. my daughter. and asking it if it had brought home any lengths of cloth. in turn. and regain the seven wasted years.When the women retired. Your generation does not know that. 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.""It means you are going to cry. They said she was coming. greeted themselves in their esoteric language. guns and even his cannon. in spite of his failings in other directions."A little more?? I said a little."Let me make the fire for you. Okonkwo had clearly washed his hands and so he ate with kings and elders. Everybody in the crowd was talking. All that is true. that Chielo had stopped her chanting. so his chi agreed. "Your friend Anene asked me to greet you. Okonkwo ground his teeth in disgust. carrying on their heads various sizes of pots suitable to their years. gome went the gong.

He was called the Cat because his back would never touch the earth. Marriage should be a play and not a fight so we are falling down again. when Ogbuefi Ezeudu came in. and the lad Ikemefuna. where he built his headquarters and from where he paid regular visits to Mr."Ah. who was a prosperous farmer. as was the custom."We have now built a church. the white missionary. And they were right. Now you talk about his son."For the first time in three nights. about the next ancestral feast and about the impending war with the village of Mbaino. he was treated with great honor and respect."There is one important thing which we must not forget.Yam."He said nothing. 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. to inquire what was amiss."I did not know it was you. guns and even his cannon. the "medicine house" or shrine where Okonkwo kept the wooden symbols of his personal god and of his ancestral spirits. Obierika sent word that the two huts had been built and Okonkwo began to prepare for his return. It was then that the one-handed spirit came.

the troublesome nanny goat. I shall pay my big debts first. He shrugged his shoulders and went away to tap his afternoon palm-wine. They were among the best wrestlers in all the nine villages. to the boys and they passed it round the wooden stays and then back to him. passing back the disc. but never heard its voice. after the rains."Locusts are descending. Many people laughed at his dialect and the way he used words strangely. and he was not afraid of war. came into the obi from outside.That night he collected his most valuable belongings into head-loads. She could not be expected to cook and eat while her husband starved. Many of these messengers came from Umuru on the bank of the Great River.""Ee-e-e!"The oldest man in the camp of the visitors replied: "It will be good for you and it will be good for us. Ikemefuna had an endless stock of folk tales. when his father walked in that night after killing Ikemefuna.Okonkwo turned on his side and went back to sleep."The next day. They were locusts. rumbling like thunder in the rainy season. They sympathized with their neighbors with much shaking of the head. Tortoise stood up in his many-colored plumage and thanked them for their invitation. Okonkwo and his wife followed at a respectful distance.

"In her hut. "In those other clans you speak of. And perhaps those not so young would be playing in pairs in less open places. The first thing he would do would be to rebuild his compound on a more magnificent scale. Ezinma. You do not know what it is to speak with one voice. Tortoise was very happy and voluble as he flew among the birds.""It is indeed true. 'Don't touch!'But when I hold her waist-beads she pretends not to know. They sang the latest song in the village:" If I hold her handShe says. "That boy calls you father. and thank Okonkwo for having looked after him so well and for bringing him back.Ezinma lay shivering on a mat beside a huge fire that her mother had kept burning all night. He trembled with the desire to conquer and subdue. spread her mat on the floor and built a fire." he intoned.He sighed heavily." replied the other."That is very good. And every man whose arm was strong. Ekwefi quickly took her to their bedroom and placed her on their high bamboo bed.""Ee-e-e!""And this will not be the last. He turned again to Ezinma." She stood up and pulled out the fan which was fastened into one of the rafters. "She should have been a boy.

unhappily. of course. and she put all her being into it. Some people even said that they had heard the spirits flying and flapping their wings against the roof of the cave. And then like the sound of his cannon he crashed on the compound. We pray for life. It was a very expensive ceremony and he was gathering all his resources together." said one of the converts.""You do not understand. When Ekwefi had followed the priestess. They made single mounds of earth in straight lines all over the field and sowed the yams in them. carrying his stool and his goatskin bag."Unoka was an ill-fated man.- and in this way the cover was strengthened on the wall."He belongs to the clan. men. everybody knew by instinct that they were very good to eat.The two teams were ranged facing each other across the clear space. pulled out his staff and thrust it into the earth again." replied the other. before the first cock-crow."Umuofia kwenu!" he roared. went down quickly on one knee in an attempt to fling his man backwards over his head. "Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?""Where they bury children. of course.

the whole clan gathers there. They will serve you when I have eaten. Okonkwo was still pleading that the girl had been ill of late and was asleep. Her heart beat violently and she stood still. and he knew that his father wanted him to be a man." said Okonkwo after a pause. It was the poetry of the new religion." said the old man. was expected to invite large numbers of guests from far and wide. calling on her mother. So they made a powerful medicine. So I shall ask you to come again the way you came before. and Ojiugo's daughter.""Once upon a time. who clung to her. which was now surrounded by spectators. They should have armed themselves with their guns and their machetes even when they went to market. a light rain had fallen during the night and the soil would not be very hard. She explained to her why they should not marry yet. Nobody knew how old. He had fallen ill on the previous night."Answer me!" he roared again.""But someone had to do it. From a distance the noise was a deep rumble carried by the wind."Ezeudu!" he called in his guttural voice.

It tried Okonkwo's patience beyond words. It was like a wedding feast.""You sound as if you question the authority and the decision of the Oracle.The elders. They danced back to the center together and then closed in. let him follow Nwoye now while I am alive so that I can curse him. It said that other white men were on their way. "they killed him and tied up his iron horse." continued Odukwe. Nwoye turned round to walk into the inner compound when his father. Two little groups of people stood at a respectable distance beyond the stools. Okonkwo's gun had exploded and a piece of iron had pierced the boy's heart."Thank you. Ojiugo's children were eating with the children of his first wife. And then it became known that the white man's fetish had unbelievable power." said Ezinma. She trudged slowly along. Unoka. It was also the dumping ground for highly potent fetishes of great medicine men when they died."No. They then set about painting themselves with cam wood and drawing beautiful black patterns on their stomachs and on their backs. Obierika. Okoye rolled his goatskin and departed. And yet we say Nneka - 'Mother is Supreme. not only in his motherland but also in Umuofia.

Nwoye was there. but many of them believed that the strange faith and the white man's god would not last. For two or three moons the sun had been gathering strength till it seemed to breathe a breath of fire on the earth."He led Umuofia to war in those days. folded her arms across her breast and sighed.""He was indeed. which every man kept in his obi and with which his guests drew lines on the floor before they ate kola nuts. As she buried one child after another her sorrow gave way to despair and then to grim resignation."Thank you. She sometimes broke into a run and stopped again suddenly. Mighty tree branches broke away under them. That was a favorite saying of children. "Let us hear Odukwe. She gave the dish to her father's eldest brother and then shook hands. The house was now a pandemonium of quavering voices: Am oyim de de de de! filled the air as the spirits of the ancestors. and sleepy. and at the end of three years he had become very distant indeed. and Ikemefuna. I have come to pay you my respects and also to ask a favor."The crowd roared with laughter. When the pot fell down and broke she burst out laughing. In the end Parrot. do you know me?" asked the spirit." But before they went he whispered something to his first wife.It was well known among the people of Mbanta that their gods and ancestors were sometimes long-suffering and would deliberately allow a man to go on defying them.