infant congregation. Ezinma shook every tree violently with a long stick before she bent down to cut the stem and dig out the tuber. eating the peelings.

""An albino
""An albino. I shall pay you.Of his three wives Ekwefi was the only one who would have the audacity to bang on his door."At that moment Obierika's son. If the song ended on his right foot. It filled him with fire as it had always done from his youth. Okonkwo. dressed in garbs of war. There is only one true God and He has the earth. Obierika. and it seemed now as if it was happening all over again. He had fallen ill on the previous night. As long as they lasted. too busy to argue.Ikezue held out his right hand. In Umuofia's latest war he was the first to bring home a human head. And so on this particular night as the crier's voice was gradually swallowed up in the distance. Age was respected among his people. The cannon seemed to rend the sky. He was still young but he had won fame as the greatest wrestler in the nine villages. who had begun to pour out the wine. roots and barks of medicinal trees and shrubs. Why.

" said Okonkwo. He laughed loud and long and his voice rang out clear as the ogene. The women were screaming outside."Once upon a time. but ill."When nearly two years later Obierika paid another visit to his friend in exile the circumstances were less happy. which means "the good one. "They had been warned that danger was ahead.When all the egwugwu had sat down and the sound of the many tiny bells and rattles on their bodies had subsided. Her back was turned on the footpath that led out of the hills."We are at last getting somewhere."You do not know the answer? So you see that you are a child. It was a cry in the distance: oji odu aru ijiji-o-o! (The one that uses its tail to drive flies away!). Nwoye turned round to walk into the inner compound when his father. Brown. as everybody knew they would. gome." she said. spears. but he stood beckoning to them. one saw that there was sorrow and grief there. for that was his father's name. Okonkwo had slaughtered a goat for her.

We live in peace with our fellows to honor our great goddess of the earth without whose blessing our crops will not grow." said Okonkwo. Most of them were sons of our land whose mothers had been buried with us. He then adjusted his cloth."Come along.His life had been ruled by a great passion??to become one of the lords of the clan. and very strong. And there he stood in his hard shell full of food and wine but without any wings to fly home. as if that was paying the big debts first. and in one deft movement she lifted the pot from the fire and poured the boiling water over the fowl. All the grass had long been scorched brown. The men were seized and beaten until they streamed with blood. A sudden fury rose within him and he felt a strong desire to take up his machete. "Let us not presume to do so now."Yam pottage was served first because it was lighter than foo-foo and because yam always came first. might have noticed that the second egwugwu had the springywalk of Okonkwo. It throbbed in the air. a man of war.One day a neighbor called Okoye came in to see him. The next morning they were roasted in clay pots and then spread in the sun until they became dry and brittle. malevolent. the rulers of Mbanta gave to the missionaries. He raised his voice once or twice in manly sorrow and then sat down with the other men listening to the endless wailing of the women and the esoteric language of the ekwe.

He raised his voice once or twice in manly sorrow and then sat down with the other men listening to the endless wailing of the women and the esoteric language of the ekwe. so that he was full of food and drink and his body filled out in his shell. The young tendrils were protected from earth-heat with rings of sisal leaves.He sighed heavily." Nwoye's mother said.The first cock had not crowed."Come." said Machi. Ezinma placed her mother's dish before him and sat with Obiageli. overpowered him and obtained his first human head. As they emerged into the open village from the narrow forest track the darkness was softened and it became possible to see the vague shape of trees. "It's true that a child belongs to its father. They just pulled the stump."He was not an albino. We put our fingers into our ears to stop us hearing. Nwoye passed and repassed the little red-earth and thatch building without summoning enough courage to enter. They had something to say for every man. In the end Parrot. It contained other things apart from his snuff-bottle. the one young and beautiful. "Blessed is he who forsakes his father and his mother for my sake. 'Don't touch!' If i hold her footShe says. It was not until the following day that Okonkwo told him the full story.

wiping the foam of wine from his mustache with the back of his left hand."Akueke moved to the other end of the hut and began to remove the waist-beads.""Go and bring our own. he had gone to consult the Oracle. It filled him with fire as it had always done from his youth. and each wife built a small attachment to her hut for the hens. living in a special area of the village. almost overnight. another man asked a question: "Where is the white man's horse?" he asked. Ekwefi uttered a scream and sprang to her feet.At last the day came by which all the missionaries should have died. machetes. It was only after the pot had been emptied that the suitor's father cleared his voice and announced the object of their visit."Ogbuefi Ndulue of Ire village. They each made nine or ten trips carrying Okonkwo's yams to store in Obierika's barn. Ezinma? You are older than Obiageli but she has more sense. His name was Maduka." said Ekwefi with a heavy sigh. for that was his father's name. he beat her again so that if the neighbors had not gone in to save her she would have been killed. relaxed again. His younger wives did that. It was clear that the bags were full of cowries.

In ordinary life Chielo was a widow with two children.Many years ago when Okonkwo was still a boy his father. The young ailing girl who had caused her mother so much heartache had been transformed."Bring me a hoe. into a healthy. Nwoye's mother was very kind to him and treated him as one of her own children. And there he stood in his hard shell full of food and wine but without any wings to fly home. "It is not to pay you back for all you did for me in these seven years. Suppose when he died all his male children decided to follow Nwoye's steps and abandon their ancestors? Okonkwo felt a cold shudder run through him at the terrible prospect. The faint and distant wailing of women settled like a sediment of sorrow on the earth. It was instinctive. When the moon rose late in the night. I salute you. It was said that they had built a place of judgment in Umuofia to protect the followers of their religion. And how is my daughter." was joyfully chanted everywhere."Don't you know what kind of man Uzowulu is? He will not listen to any other decision. Then she suddenly turned round and began to walk back to the road. male and female." Ezinma began. Nwoye. When one came to think of it. It is more difficult and more bitter when a man fails alone.

He remembered once when men had talked in low tones with his father. It was a very good wine and powerful. Do you not think that they came to our clan by mistake. It is against the will of God. I owe that man a thousand cowries. He worshipped them with sacrifices of kola nut."You are a big man now. But the Ibo people have a proverb that when a man says yes his chi says yes also. Each of his three wives had her own hut. roots snapped below. No matter how prosperous a man was. He was a man of action. Ezinma rushed out of the hut. or God's house. She buried her face in her lap and waited. They had the same style and one saw the other's plans beforehand. They sympathized with their neighbors with much shaking of the head. When he walked. and of the forces of nature. A razor was taboo to him. And." said another man. as on that day.

Earth's emissary." said Uchendu. The kola nut was given him to break. It was this man that Okonkwo threw in a fight which the old men agreed was one of the fiercest since the founder of their town engaged a spirit of the wild for seven days and seven nights. and would not go to war against it without first trying a peaceful settlement. And not only his chi but his clan too. For a long time nothing happened. There is only one true God and He has the earth.""And have you never seen them?" asked Machi. And then suddenly like one possessed he shot out his left hand and pointed in the direction of Mbaino. And they began to shoot. When your neighbors go out with their ax to cut down virgin forests.Okonkwo shook his head doubtfully." said Mr. 1 know you will not despair.The drummers stopped for a brief rest before the real matches.""There is no song in the story. Later on I sold some of the seed-yams and gave out others to sharecroppers. He lelt a relief within as the hymn poured into his parched soul. and drinking palm-wine copiously. solid drops of frozen water which the people called "the nuts of the water of heaven. Okonkwo ate the food absent-mindedly. His mother and sisters worked hard enough.

But the Ibo people have a proverb that when a man says yes his chi says yes also. He asked the birds to take a message for his wife. You buried it in the ground somewhere so that you can die and return again to torment your mother. During those years no single day passed in the sky without his beating the woman. They were the harbingers sent to survey the land.Ezinma was an only child and the center of her mother's world. And what made it worse in Okonkwo's case was that he had to support his mother and two sisters from his meagre harvest. talking was the next best. fresh yams and not the shriveled and fibrous crop of the previous year. something felt in the marrow. and the quiet spectators murmured to themselves. He counted them. "When I think that it is only eighteen months since the Seed was first sown among you. and the man growled at him to go on and not stand looking back. and the others to the chalk quarry. a man of war." and on each occasion he faced a different direction and seemed to push the air with a clenched fist." said Idigo. So he would make a fresh start. He always gnashed his teeth as he listened to those who came to consult him. emerged from her hut. She has the right spirit. Two little groups of people stood at a respectable distance beyond the stools.

she prayed a thousand times. and how Sky withheld rain for seven years." said Ekwefi. as her father and other grownup people did. Nwoye went to his mother's hut and told her that Ikemefuna was going home." Ekwefi said to the woman who had stood shoulder to shoulder with her since the beginning of the matches. for he had no grave. It was called a string."The weeping was now quite close and soon the children filed in. and it was not until late in the evening that one of them saw for the first time his in-law who had arrived during the course of the meal and had fallen to on the opposite side." he said. a large crowd of men from Ezeudu's quarter stormed Okonkwo's compound. A proud heart can survive a general failure because such failure does not prick its pride."For the first time in three nights. A man's life from birth to death was a series of transition rites which brought him nearer and nearer to his ancestors." he said. But they were very rare and short-lived." This was interpreted to them but very few of them heard. "and a thick mat. 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."That is the money from your yams. In the morning he went back to his farm and saw the withering tendrils."When nearly two years later Obierika paid another visit to his friend in exile the circumstances were less happy.

and each party brought with them a huge pot of palm-wine.As the men ate and drank palm-wine they talked about the customs of their neighbors. because there was no humanity there."Thank you. they have killed me!" as he ran towards him."It was only this morning."We have now built a church. And for many days this rare food was eaten with solid palm-oil.Ezinma was an only child and the center of her mother's world. Even the very little children seemed to know. especially their hair. and each stroke is one hundred cowries. ozo is so low that every beggar takes it."But the leaves will be wet.""Yes. women and children left their work or their play and ran into the open to see the unfamiliar sight. Children were warned not to whistle at night for fear of evil spirits. It said that other white men were on their way. Ani. My case is finished. Smoke poured out of his head. as was the custom. beginning with the eldest man.

If the song ended on his right foot. If only he could find some work to do he would be able to forget. roasting and eating maize. he had stalked his victim. the feasting and fellowship of the first day or the wrestling Contest of the second." A cold shiver ran down Okonkwo's back as he remembered the last time the old man had visited him. But he has not come to wake me up in the morning for it. A deep murmur went through the crowd when he said this. And then appeared on the horizon a slowly-moving mass like a boundless sheet of black cloud drifting towards Umuofia." Okonkwo agreed.The drums beat and the flutes sang and the spectators held their breath. How then could he have begotten a son like Nwoye. Okonkwo wondered what was amiss. old way. looking up from the yams she was peeling. Even the sacred fish in their mysterious lake have fled and the lake has turned the color of blood. "You are not a stranger in Umuofia. carrying a pot of palm-wine on his head."Go home and sleep.Am oyim de de de de! flew around the dark. Okonkwo saw clearly the high esteem in which he would be held. There were nine of them. my hand has touched the ground.

"The people of Umuike wanted their market to grow and swallow up the markets of their neighbors. After waiting in vain for her dish he went to her hut to see what she was doing. The medicine man ignored him. The crowd burst into a thunderous roar. have no toes. He brought another seven baskets and cooked them himself. He worked. Some said Okafo was the better man."The medicine man then ordered that there should be no mourning for the dead child. It told of one sheep out on the hills. When he brought out the snuff-bottle he tapped it a few times against his knee-cap before taking out some snuff on the palm of his left hand." said Okonkwo. which children were rarely allowed to eat because such food tempted them to steal." He looked in the direction of Okonkwo. But they soon returned and everyone was gazing at the rag from a reasonable distance."Ekwefi. And immediately Okonkwo's eyes were opened and he saw the whole matter clearly."We are all well. When they had eaten they talked about many things: about the heavy rains which were drowning the yams. in their proper order. They stood round in a huge circle leaving the center of the playground free."One of them passes here frequently. Umuofia has decided to kill him.

Spirits always addressed humans as "bodies."That is the strange part of it. It was a very good wine and powerful. he was not a hunter. Nwoye's mother swore at her and settled down again to her peeling. Why. Quick as the lightning of Amadiora. His wives.The two teams were ranged facing each other across the clear space. and the solid mass was now broken by tiny eyes of light like shining star dust.Okonkwo was very happy to receive his friend." replied Ekwefi. The pot fell and broke in the sand. and soon they were the strongest adherents of the new faith. but every farmer knew that without sunshine the tubers would not grow. They stood round in a huge circle leaving the center of the playground free. Those were good days when a man had friends in distant clans. She wore the anklet of her husband's titles. Ezinma had not wanted to cooperate with him at first. you can tell a ripe corn by its look.Then the missionaries burst into song. and the tuber was pulled out.""Oho.

who lived near the udala tree."For three years Ikemefuna lived in Okonkwo's household and the elders of Umuofia seemed to have forgotten about him. called him by his name and went back to her hut. Ezinma sneezed. Ikemefuna was equally excited. But whenever they came to preach in the open marketplace or the village playground. Nwoye's mother thanked her and she went back to her mother's hut. The cut bush was left to dry and fire was then set to it. The dark top soil soon gave way to the bright red earth with which women scrubbed the floors and walls of huts. like leprosy and smallpox. she has told me about it. It was then uncertain whether the low rumbling of Amadiora's thunder came from above or below." she replied. and then turning to his brother and his son he said: "Let us go out and whisper together. And so everybody came to see the white man." he said as he went. No one had ever beheld Agbala. And before the cock crowed Okonkwo and his family were fleeing to his motherland. It was powerful in war and in magic. Ikeocha."Odukwe's body. Okonkwo stood by the pit." she said.

" Ekwefi said to the woman who had stood shoulder to shoulder with her since the beginning of the matches."Tell them. But I want you to have nothing to do with it. But on one point there was general agreement??the active principle in that medicine had been an old woman with one leg. that is not the beginning. but they never brought them into the village. The glowing logs only served to light up vaguely the dark figure of the priestess. But I fear for you young people because you do not understand how strong is the bond of kinship."Yaa!" replied the thunderous crowd. It was addressed as "Our Father. Okonkwo's son."Ezinma is dying. He led it on a thick rope which he tied round his wrist. His fame rested on solid personal achievements." said Ezinma to her mother. The lad's name was Ikemefuna. she has told me about it."When did you set out from home?" asked Okonkwo. from Umuofia to Mbaino."The two men sat in silence for a long while afterwards. They were the harbingers sent to survey the land. Okonkwo wanted his son to be a great farmer and a great man. who stood beside her.

" Okonkwo replied. And then like the sound of his cannon he crashed on the compound. The sickness was an abomination to the earth. who was Okonkwo's father. 'It just walked away.As soon as his father walked in. who came out of her hut to draw water from a gigantic pot in the shade of a small tree in the middle of the compound. made up her mind. Unoka went into an inner room and soon returned with a small wooden disc containing a kola nut. who suddenly gave up his trade. Umuazu. With this magic fan she beckons to the market all the neighboring clans. when Mr. afraid of your next-door neighbor."Answer the question at once. He was ill for three market weeks. Then everything had been broken."You are a big man now. Cooking pots went up and down the tripods and foo-foo was pounded in a hundred wooden mortars Some of the women cooked the yams and the cassava.That was the kind of story that Nwoye loved. but offered to use his teeth. She had. silencing him.

Her basket was balanced on her head.' 'You must return the duckling."Do what you are told. They sympathized with their neighbors with much shaking of the head. Worshippers and those who came to seek knowledge from the god crawled on their belly through the hole and found themselves in a dark."I am following Chielo. He told them that they worshipped false gods. I shall pay you. tall.The drums beat and the flutes sang and the spectators held their breath. The personal dynamism required to counter the forces of these extremes of weather would be far too great for the human frame. I have come to pay you my respects and also to ask a favor. You see. bringing the third dish. When the moon rose late in the night. Kiaga's joy was very great. But I fear for you young people because you do not understand how strong is the bond of kinship. Beyond that limit no man was suffered to go.And now the rains had really come. A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet. who was now the eldest surviving member of that family. relaxed again. and a great land case began.

Mighty tree branches broke away under them.On the following morning the entire neighborhood wore a festive air because Okonkwo's friend. he was asking Unoka to return the two hundred cowries he had borrowed from him more than two years before. They boast about victory over death." said Ezinma touching the ground with her finger. She prepared it the way he liked??with slices of oil-bean and fish. Once she tripped up and fell."They say that Okoli killed the sacred python. asked on behalf of the clan to look after him in the interim.Many people went out with baskets trying to catch them. New yams could not be eaten until some had first been offered to these powers. Sometimes he turned round and chased after those men. Neither of the other wives dared to interfere beyond an occasional and tentative. Two elderly neighbors were sent for."Everybody thanked Okonkwo and the neighbors brought out their drinking horns from the goatskin bags they carried. when the land had been moistened by two or three heavy rains. If any money came his way. It was not external but lay deep within himself. He remembered once when men had talked in low tones with his father. He had no patience with unsuccessful men. Even Mgbafo took to her heels and had to be restrained by her brothers. that was how it looked to his father. But Chielo ignored what he was trying to say and went on shouting that Agbala wanted to see his daughter.

"Ee-e-e!"The kola was eaten and the drinking of palm-wine began. He had a large compound enclosed by a thick wall of red earth. Guns were fired on all sides and sparks flew out as machetes clanged together in warriors' salutes. One morning three of them came to my house."The village has outlawed us. as if he was going to pounce on somebody. met to hear a report of Okonkwo's mission."You have not eaten for two days."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. One of them was a pathetic cry."You will blow your eyes out. the sun is shining. her voice terrible as it echoed through the dark void. And what made it worse in Okonkwo's case was that he had to support his mother and two sisters from his meagre harvest." said another woman. and the other an old and faint shadow. In the end he decided that Nnadi must live in that land of Ikemefuna's favorite story where the ant holds his court in splendor and the sands dance forever. metallic and thirsty clap. 'It just walked away. waiting for the women to finish their cooking. She will bear you nine sons like the mother of our town. almost overnight. But the drought continued for eight market weeks and the yams were killed.

It was like a man wondering in broad daylight why a dream had appeared so terrible to him at night. "1 told you. "In Abame and Aninta the title is worth less than two cowries."Your buttocks said he had a son. That was a favorite saying of children. and he loved this season of the year. The total effect was gay and brisk. Only then did she realize. his half-sister. Iweka." said Okonkwo as he rose to go.Ikezue held out his right hand. Okonkwo did not know at first that she was not at home.""Your chi is very much awake." said Okonkwo. After such treatment it would think twice before coming again. And when a man is at peace with his gods and his ancestors." he said.Ekwefi had suffered a good deal in her life. tall. The rainy season was approaching when they would go away until the dry season returned. my child. "We have men of high title and the chief priests and the elders.

and filled the village with excitement." replied the white man. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace. A proud heart can survive a general failure because such failure does not prick its pride. Some said Okafo was the better man."Bring me a low stool for Ezinma. I also kill a cock at the shrine of Ifejioku. and it ended on the left. Mr." said Okonkwo. The New Yam Festival seemed to him to be a much bigger event here than in his own village.- one could not have known where one's mouth was in the darkness of that night. who had begun to pour out the wine. "They will put off Ndulue's funeral until his wife has been buried. He had many friends here and came to see them quite often. He would be very much happier working on his farm." He was talking about Okonkwo. It descended on him again." said the priestess."Ezinma's voice from the darkness warmed her mother's heart. On her arms were red and yellow bangles. "My father told me that he had been told that in the past a man who broke the peace was dragged on the ground through the village until he died.Okonkwo remembered that tragic year with a cold shiver throughout the rest of his life.

The married women wore their best cloths and the girls wore red and black waist-beads and anklets of brass. It was like the desire for woman." was joyfully chanted everywhere. Kiaga's joy was very great. He thought of his mother and his three-year-old sister and wept bitterly. quietly and deliberately. who drank a cup or two each. Ekwefi believed deep inside her that Ezinma had come to stay." The boy smiled. welcoming it back from its long. He picked it up. 'There is something ominous behind the silence. He asked them for health and children. But no one was sure where it was coming from."When this was interpreted to the men of Mbanta they broke into derisive laughter. "Okonkwo! Agbala ekme gio-o-o-o! Agbala cholu ifu ada ya Ezinmao-o-o-oi"At the mention of Ezinma's name Ekwefi jerked her head sharply like an animal that had sniffed death in the air. They did not really want them near to the clan. A man's life from birth to death was a series of transition rites which brought him nearer and nearer to his ancestors. where he built his headquarters and from where he paid regular visits to Mr. who only stayed in the hope that it might come to chasing the men out of the village or whipping them. who was now in charge of the infant congregation. Ezinma shook every tree violently with a long stick before she bent down to cut the stem and dig out the tuber. eating the peelings.