kwenu!" roared Evil Forest. At last Ogbuefi Ezeugo stood up in the midst of them and bellowed four times. I salute you. in their due proportions.As the men drank.

to harvest cassava tubers
to harvest cassava tubers. which the first wife alone could wear. But he has not come to wake me up in the morning for it. Some of them were very violent. The next child was a girl. If a clansman killed a royal python accidentally. And then the locusts came. He still remembered the song:Eze elina. And then suddenly she had begun to shiver in the night." said Nwoye's mother. At last Vulture was sent to plead with Sky. or with their father in his obi warming themselves from a log fire. looking up from the yams she was peeling.At this point an old man said he had a question. '1 am a changed man."The market of Umuike is a wonderful place. was among them. the fear of the forest. 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. Ogbuefi Ugonna had thought of the Feast in terms of eating and drinking. Only a week ago a man had contradicted him at a kindred meeting which they held to discuss the next ancestral feast. A new cover of thick palm branches and palm leaves was set on the walls to protect them from the next rainy season. looked forward to the New Yam Festival because it began the season of plenty??the new year.

you can tell a ripe corn by its look."You need some sleep yourself. He immediately set to work digging a pit where Ezinma had indicated. but he had been too surprised to weep. He had called the first child born to him in exile Nneka??"Mother is Supreme"??out of politeness to his mother's kinsmen. the men returned with a pot of wine." he always said. And so nobody gave serious thought to the stories about the white man's government or the consequences of killing the Christians. In Umuofia's latest war he was the first to bring home a human head. He was a very strong man and rarely felt fatigue. All the neighbors and relations who had come to mourn gathered round them. Okonkwo decided to go out hunting. Okonkwo was the greatest wrestler and warrior alive. For three or four moons it demanded hard work and constant attention from cock-crow till the chickens went back to roost. but they are too young to leave their mother. Ezinma took it to him in his obi. I married her with my money and my yams. solid drops of frozen water which the people called "the nuts of the water of heaven. They had built a court where the District Commissioner judged cases in ignorance. How could he have begotten a woman for a son? At Nwoye's age Okonkwo had already become famous throughout Umuofia for his wrestling and his fearlessness. The children made endless trips to the stream. as was the custom. Some of them were too angry to eat.

and his face beamed. Every man of Umuofia was asked to gather at the market place tomorrow morning. put down his load and sat down." said Obierika. Obierika nodded in agreement. but if one picked out the flute as it went up and down and then broke up into short snatches." Obierika again drank a little of his wine."Odukwe was short and thickset. He had cracked them himself. or rather held out her hand to be shaken. The first cock has crowed. "You are already a skeleton. and was about to say something when the old man continued:"Yes.It was late afternoon before Nwoye returned.At first. Obierika offered him a lobe of the kola nut he had broken with Okonkwo." Obierika replied sharply. was among them. and stake them when the young tendrils appear. a thing set apart??a taboo for ever. were fixed on her.At last they took a turning and began to head for the caves. Obiageli brought up the rear.

"When they had cut the goats' throats and collected the blood in a bowl. But there was one woman who had no doubt whatever in her mind. or how. which was part of the night. fresh yams and not the shriveled and fibrous crop of the previous year." He was talking about Okonkwo. How old is she now?""She is about ten years old."This is Obierika. Where is my daughter. But Tortoise jumped to his feet and asked: Tor whom have you prepared this feast?'"'For all of you.It was a great funeral. 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. They must have bypassed it long ago.But the war that now threatened was a just war. "They have that custom in Obodoani. she was in close communion with the departed fathers of the clan whose bodies had been committed to earth. setting up a wave of expectation in the crowd. One of them was so old and infirm that he leaned heavily on a stick. a man who pays respect to the great paves the way for his own greatness. he is telling a lie." he said. wiping the foam of wine from his mustache with the back of his left hand. "Poor child.

The men then continued their drinking and talking. He could hardly imagine that Okonkwo was not his real father." said Obierika. When all the birds had gathered together. paid regular visits to them.The night was impenetrably dark. Okonkwo brought out l??s big horn from the goatskin bag. mother."Father. spears. slanting showers through sunshine and quiet breeze. Spirits of good children lived in that tree waiting to be born. They each made nine or ten trips carrying Okonkwo's yams to store in Obierika's barn.The men then continued their drinking and talking. His yams grew abundantly. because you understand us and we understand you. She stood until Chielo had increased the distance between them and she began to follow again. The fowl Ekwefi had just killed was in the wooden mortar. But very few people had ever seen that kind of wrestling before." replied the white man. "I shall not talk about thanking you any more.The drum sounded again and the flute blew. he was not a hunter.

that I am not afraid of blood and if anyone tells you that I am. And so he is bowed with grief.Many years ago when Okonkwo was still a boy his father."That is not strange. The two voices disappeared into the thick darkness. He was a wealthy farmer and had two barns full of yams. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace.The sun rose slowly to the center of the sky."We had meant to set out from my house before cockcrow. He then roused Ezinma and placed her on the stool." He paused. Its most potent war-medicine was as old as the clan itself. and there was no hurry to decide his fate. go in peace. Ikeocha. Do you not think that they came to our clan by mistake. are known in all the clan for the weakness of your machete and your hoe. This one had only one hand and it carried a basket full of water. in spite of his failings in other directions. He had a large compound enclosed by a thick wall of red earth. Soon it covered half the sky.""You were very much like that yourself. Obierika.

He immediately set to work digging a pit where Ezinma had indicated. the medicine itself was called agadi-nwayi. beat him up and took our sister and her children away." Okonkwo replied. He heaved a heavy sigh and went away with the gun. drew some lines on the floor. and the quiet spectators murmured to themselves. my child. But you are still a child. 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. "Life to all of us. But all he said was: "When shall I go home?" When Okonkwo heard that he would not eat any food he came into the hut with a big stick in his hand and stood over him while he swallowed his yams. The crowd then shouted with ainger and thirst for blood. Every man wears the thread of title on his ankle. Nwakibie sent for his wives. We have heard stories about white men who made the powerful guns and the strong drinks and took slaves away across the seas. an old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb. Nwoye overheard it and burst into tears. There is only one true God and He has the earth. And supporting his mother also meant supporting his father. He is always in a hurry. they set off in a body. and then passed two shares to Nwoye and Ikemefuna.

It might happen again this year. She had. The iron horse was still tied to the sacred silk-cotton tree."They will not begin until the sun goes down. Okonkwo got ready quickly and the party set out with Ikemefuna carrying the pot of wine.The drums were still beating. who walked away and never returned." said Ogbuefi Ezeudu. None of them was a man of title. was a very exacting king. all strong and healthy. "That is the story." he said. Ezinma shook every tree violently with a long stick before she bent down to cut the stem and dig out the tuber. They danced back to the center together and then closed in. for his father's relatives to see. That week they won a handful more converts. He heard the blow." said Ibe. His mother's kinsmen had been very kind to him. Uchendu pulled gently at his gray beard and gnashed his teeth. male and female.As night fell.

usually before the age of three. But it had gone on living andUGG Kids Sale gradually becoming stronger. but she went to Okonkwo's compound. in a terrifying voice. The children were also decorated. the wife of Amadi. should he. "So he must have a wife and all of them must have buttocks. I am an old man and you are all children. 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."Uzowulu's body.Okonkwo was very happy to receive his friend. That is all I am good for now." said another woman. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat. The rainy season was approaching when they would go away until the dry season returned. He knew that he was a fierce fighter.The wrestlers were now almost still in each other's grip. that Chielo had stopped her chanting. and others prepared vegetable soup. The elders said locusts came once in a generation. And when a man is at peace with his gods and his ancestors. where they were guarded by a race of stunted men.

The crowd roared and clapped and for a while drowned the frenzied drums. When a man was afflicted with swelling in the stomach and the limbs he was not allowed to die in the house."Ah. and one almost heard them stretching to breaking point."It was in the second year of Okonkwo's exile that his friend. but not overmuch. gome. Soon it covered half the sky. Kiaga. At first they were afraid they might die. Why did they not fight back? Had they no guns and machetes? We would be cowards lo compare ourselves with the men of Abame. one of these women went to Ozoemena's hut and told her. Only a week ago a man had contradicted him at a kindred meeting which they held to discuss the next ancestral feast."We shall be late for the wrestling. But Chielo's voice was still a long way away. the god of yams. But he was not the man to go about telling his neighbors that he was in error. Ogbuefi Ezeugo was a powerful orator and was always chosen to speak on such occasions." And he did. Her heart jumped painfully within her.In this way Akuke's bride-price was finally settled at twenty bags of cowries. The personal dynamism required to counter the forces of these extremes of weather would be far too great for the human frame. persistent and unchanging.

Then the missionaries burst into song. by Okonkwo's brusqueness in dealing with less successful men. But it only lasted till the end of the service. 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."She is ill in bed. As the smoke rose into the sky kites appeared from different directions and hovered over the burning field in silent valediction. Then everything had been broken. But it is not our custom to debar anyone from the stream or the quarry. and allowed a brief pause. her left palm closed on her fish and her eyes gleaming with tears."You are a big man now. Ezinma. Her coming was quite useless. when Okonkwo's in-laws began to leave for their homes The second day of the new year was the day of the great wrestling match between Okonkwo's village and their neighbors. Tears of gratitude filled her eyes. and in the end it was decided to ostracize the Christians.And then the storm burst. Obierika. "1 do not know how to thank you. The cannon seemed to rend the sky."Five women stayed behind to look after the cooking-pots. and they began to go back the way they had come. Such was Unoka's fate.

but offered to use his teeth. she prayed a thousand times. seeing that the new religion welcomed twins and such abominations. and does not lose it even if he steals. I also kill a cock at the shrine of Ifejioku." he said. "And so they killed the white man and tied his iron horse to their sacred tree because it looked as if it would run away to call the man's friends.Ezinma was still sleeping when everyone else was astir.""What has happened to that piece of land in dispute?" asked Okonkwo. The man who dug it up was the same Okagbue who was famous in all the clan for his knowledge in these matters. If it does its power will be gone. Two elderly neighbors were sent for.But the most dreaded of all was yet to come." said Machi. The bride-price had been paid and all but the last ceremony had been performed. His eldest son. The whole church raised a protest and was about to drive these people out."When this was interpreted to the men of Mbanta they broke into derisive laughter. They told the white man and he smiled benevolently. Nwayieke lived four compounds away. and it could not be done later because harvesting would soon set in. 1 know how to deal with them. They should have armed themselves with their guns and their machetes even when they went to market.

and all over her body were black patterns drawn with uli."He was not an albino. But it was the season of rest between the harvest and the next planting season. and scorched all the green that had appeared with the rains. elina!SalaEze ilikwa ya Ikwaba akwa ogholi Ebe Danda nechi eze Ebe Uzuzu nete egwuSalaHe sang it in his mind. only they did not understand him. not for hearing." he said. Smoke poured out of his head. wiping the foam of wine from his mustache with the back of his left hand. But it was like beginning life anew without the vigor and enthusiasm of youth. some were orators who spoke for the clan."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."No."Two years ago." said some of the elders. It filled him with fire as it had always done from his youth.""Once upon a time. If the song ended on his right foot. "I marvel at what the Lord hath wrought.Ezeudu had taken three titles in his life. But Ekwefi was not thinking about that."Okonkwo thanked him again and again and went home feeling happy.

blew into it to remove any dust that might be there. in the same way as they would meet if a death occurred . yet young people ran about happily picking up the cold nuts and throwing them into their mouths to melt."Nwoye always wondered who Nnadi was and why he should live all by himself. only to return to their places almost immediately.' said her mother. and what is good among one people is an abomination with others. unless it was one of the stubborn ones who returned.At last the day came by which all the missionaries should have died. He sang. one hen. and she was notorious for her late cooking. He could fashion out flutes from bamboo stems and even from the elephant grass. Okonkwo remembered his own father. That is all I am good for now." They laughed and agreed."There is too much green vegetable. Although her husband's wives were saying that it was nothing more than iba. condemned for seven years to live in a strange land. and he was not afraid of war. But for a young man whose father had no yams. the white missionary. 'She should have been a boy.

Ezinma was an only child and the center of her mother's world. especially these days when young men are afraid of hard work."As they spoke Ezinma emerged from the hut. and he who could feed his family on yams from one harvest to another was a very great man indeed. It was Nwoye's mother. asked on behalf of the clan to look after him in the interim. had crawled out of the shrine on her belly like a snake. That was not luck. sat on a mat on the floor. Mgbafo and her brothers were as still as statues into whose faces the artist has molded defiance. But on further thought he told himself that Nwoye was not worth fighting for. let his wing break.And so Obierika went to Mbanta to see his friend."The two outcasts shaved off their hair. and most of them never did because they died too young - before they could be asked questions. When they finished. and the quiet spectators murmured to themselves. Darkness held a vague terror for these people."They do not understand. There were twenty-two of them. and each party brought with them a huge pot of palm-wine." replied Okonkwo. There were only three such boys in each team.

The egwugwu had emerged once again from their underground home. In the other group were her husband. Children no longer stayed indoors but ran about singing:"The rain is falling. who had been walking about aimlessly in his compound in suppressed anger. "Okoli told me himself that it was false. Mighty tree branches broke away under them. For three or four moons it demanded hard work and constant attention from cock-crow till the chickens went back to roost." said Ezinma. should bring to your mother a heavy face and refuse to be comforted? Be careful or you may displease the dead." He threw his head down and gnashed his teeth. then.A hush fell on the compound immediately. But you will never hear. There were little holes from one side to the other in the upper levels of the wall. An oil lamp was lit and Okonkwo tasted from each bowl. Evil Forest rose to his feet and order was immediately restored. and he owed every neighbor some money. even into people's beds. as the saying goes. for that was his father's name. He was a man of action. and he was soon chosen as the man to speak for the party because he was a great orator. He could hear in his mind's ear the blood-stirring and intricate rhythms of the ekwe and the udu and the ogene.

Okonkwo got ready quickly and the party set out with Ikemefuna carrying the pot of wine. and was not given the first or the second burial." replied Uzowulu. Cam wood was rubbed lightly into her skin.Many young men and prosperous middle-aged men of Mbanta came to marry her. It was difficult to say which the people enjoyed more. The married women wore their best cloths and the girls wore red and black waist-beads and anklets of brass. And then after another lifetime these men opened the caves again and the locusts came to Umuofia. "Who will drink the dregs?" he asked." he said. so she cupped her right hand to shelter the flame. He had lost the years in which he might have taken the highest titles in the clan. he had allowed what he regarded as a reasonable and manly interval to pass and then gone with his machete to the shrine. They said that some young men had chased them away from the stream with whips. Some of them had been heavily whipped. It was powerful in war and in magic. Once in a while Chielo was possessed by the spirit of her god and she began to prophesy. Every woman in the neighborhood knew the sound of Nwayieke's mortar and pestle. When he died this morning.He took a pot of palm-wine and a cock to Nwakibie.Okonkwo cleared his throat and moved his feet to the beat of the drums. and then he continued: "Each group there represents a debt to someone. Have you not heard the song they sing when a woman dies?"'For whom is it well.

"Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?" asked Okagbue when Ezinma finally stopped outside her father's obi. But if a man caused it. He was a great man. Ikezue strove to dig in his right heel behind Okafo so as to pitch him backwards in the clever ege style. We would then not be held accountable for their abominations. He fell and fell and fell until he began to fear that he would never stop falling. was the wife of Ogbuefi Udo. and they nodded their heads. They stood round in a huge circle leaving the center of the playground free. She was nine then and was just recovering from a serious illness. "Look at those lines of chalk. when Okonkwo's in-laws began to leave for their homes The second day of the new year was the day of the great wrestling match between Okonkwo's village and their neighbors. She stood for a while."Who taps your tall trees for you?" asked Obierika. a large crowd of men from Ezeudu's quarter stormed Okonkwo's compound. but that year-had been enough to break the heart of a lion." She died in her eleventh month. and in one deft movement she lifted the pot from the fire and poured the boiling water over the fowl. The three white men and a very large number of other men surrounded the market. They are gods of deceit who tell you to kill your fellows and destroy innocent children.The priestess had now reached Okonkwo's compound and was talking with him outside his hut. Go and see if your father has brought out yams for the afternoon. But when he reached Tortoise's house he told his wife to bring out all the hard things in the house.

"1 thought you were going into the shrine with Chielo. Iweka. a light rain had fallen during the night and the soil would not be very hard. and the women sat on a sisal mat spread on a raised bank of earth. He had not hoped to get more than four hundred seeds." said some of the elders. He was the oldest man in Ire. the king of crops. she found her lying on the mat. But as he flew home his long talon pierced the leaves and the rain fell as it had never fallen before. And what is the result? Their clan is full of the evil spirits of these unburied dead. and ate up all the wild grass in the fields. There was pounded yam and also yam pottage cooked with palm-oil and fresh fish."I will not have a son who cannot hold up his head in the gathering of the clan. carrying a pot of palm-wine on his head. but six. No woman ever asked questions about the most powerful and the most secret cult in the clan. The other people were released. with which they sat on the floor. and how Sky withheld rain for seven years. But before he could answer.""Don't cry. and everyone filled his bags and pots with locusts.

The men in the obi had already begun to drink the palm-wine which Akueke's suitor had brought. But it only lasted till the end of the service.The arrival of the missionaries had caused a considerable stir in the village of Mbanta. because you understand us and we understand you. which only made the darkness more profound. "God will laugh at them on the judgment day."That was all he had said. for in spite of their worthlessness they still belonged to the clan.""It is so indeed. He raised it carefully with the hoe and threw it to the surface. But if they thought these things they kept them within themselves. As soon as the two boys closed in." He turned again to Okonkwo and said. We are better than animals because we have kinsmen. But there were some too who came because they had friends in our town. She went on fanning it until it burst into flames." said another woman. Everybody stood to let her pass and then filed after her.- it was either too early or too late.Ekwefi put a few live coals into a piece of broken pot and Ezinma carried it across the clean swept compound to Nwoye's mother. She beckons in front of her and behind her. He had been cast out of his clan like a fish onto a dry. His words may also be good.

There are only two of them. He asked them for health and children. 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."When did you set out from home?" asked Okonkwo. the in-laws began to arrive. not even with broomsticks. or waist beads. Does a man speak when a god speaks? Beware!"She walked through Okonkwo's hut into the circular compound and went straight toward Ekwefi's hut. But the drought continued for eight market weeks and the yams were killed. Ikemefuna looked back. On ordinary days young women who desired children came to sit under its shade. Very often it was Ezinma who decided what food her mother should prepare. A steady cloud of smoke rose from his head. He had fallen ill on the previous night. and they. The personal dynamism required to counter the forces of these extremes of weather would be far too great for the human frame." she began. He told them that they worshipped false gods. Unoka loved the good hire and the good fellowship. and he was not afraid of war. He picked it up.Although Nwoye had been attracted to the new faith from the very first day. Ekwefi tried to pull out the horny beak but it was too hard.

" Nwoye's mother said. but many of them believed that the strange faith and the white man's god would not last. But the Hills and the Caves were as silent as death. Okonkwo saw clearly the high esteem in which he would be held." they said to the women. "that Abame is no more?""How is that?" asked Uchendu and Okonkwo together. Obierika's second wife followed with a pot of soup."It will not be very long now before my in-laws come. And what is the result? An abominable religion has settled among you. and it was his firmness that saved the young church." roared Okonkwo.Nneka had had four previous pregnancies and child-births.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. She had already walked so long that she began to feel a slight numbness in the limbs and in the head. "One of the young children had opened the gate of the cow-shed. went into an inner room and came back with a kola nut. And she realized too with something like a jerk that Chielo was no longer moving forward. thus completing a circle with their hosts. and there was a murmur of surprise and disagreement. he has learned to fly without perching. when he slept. There was so much food and drink that many kinsmen whistled in surprise. the fear of the forest.

The hosts nodded in approval and seemed to say. Are you deaf?" Okonkwo roared at her. Her daughter was only ten years old but she was wiser than her years."Come. He was roused in the morning by someone banging on his door. Temporary cooking tripods were erected on every available space by bringing together three blocks of sun-dried earth and making a fire in their midst." he said. And when he did this he saw that his father was pleased. which was part of the night." he began.The drums beat and the flutes sang and the spectators held their breath. His wives and children were very happy too. She would wait at the mouth. An evil forest was. which had dozed in the noon-day haze. The way he said it sent cold fear down Ikemefuna's back.Okonkwo brought out his snuff-bottle and offered it to Ogbuefi Ezenwa.Okoye was also a musician."Umuofia kwenu!" roared Evil Forest. At last Ogbuefi Ezeugo stood up in the midst of them and bellowed four times. I salute you. in their due proportions.As the men drank.