pouring grains of corn into a bag full of holes." And he told him what an osu was. Somebody was dead. The missionaries had come to Umuofia." said Okonkwo after a pause.

People laughed at him because he was a loafer
People laughed at him because he was a loafer. This was before the planting season began. or "Mother is Supreme?" We all know that a man is the head of the family and his wives do his bidding. It was a gay and airy kind of rain. But it was impossible to refuse Ezinma anything. rumbling like thunder in the rainy season. They were mostly the kind of people that were called efulefu. "How man men have lain with you since my brother first expressed his desire to marry you?""None. in each of the countless thatched huts of Umuofia.But the war that now threatened was a just war. And then after another lifetime these men opened the caves again and the locusts came to Umuofia. We put our fingers into our ears to stop us hearing. and he gave to Vulture rain wrapped in leaves of coco-yam. Sometimes he decided that a yam was too big to be sown as one seed and he split it deftly along its length with his sharp knife. she could not ignore the fact that some really evil children sometimes misled people into digging up a specious one. The same thought also came to Okonkwo's mind. what do we do? Do we go and stop his mouth? No. "Three or four of us should stay behind. his head pointing to the earth and his legs skywards."You think you are the greatest sufferer in the world? Do you know that men are sometimes banished for life? Do you know that men sometimes lose all their yams and even their children? I had six wives once. or rather held out her hand to be shaken.

Later. Ekwefi was beginning to feel hot from her running. and everyone filled his bags and pots with locusts." said Okonkwo. worthless. Okonkwo!" she warned. How a woman could carry a child of that size so easily and for so long was a miracle. There were nine of them. "I shall survive anything."He took down the pot from the fire and placed it in front of the stool. he fled to Aninta to escape the wrath of the earth. "We are going directly. he fled to Aninta to escape the wrath of the earth. The oldest member of this extensive family was Okonkwo's uncle. I did not send her away. Ekwefi.""Anyway. condemned for seven years to live in a strange land. It was already dusk when the two parties came to this agreement. "We are going directly. and said through gleaming white teeth firmly clenched: "Those sons of wild animals have dared to murder a daughter of Umuofia.

Many others spoke.Okonkwo knew she was not speaking the truth."When they had cut the goats' throats and collected the blood in a bowl."They would have gone on arguing had Ofoedu not come in just then. It was the time of the year when everybody was at home. That was the way people answered calls from outside. It rose and faded with the wind??a peaceful dance from a distant clan."Since I survived that year. "Where are you going?" he asked. His hands trembled vaguely on the black pot he carried. were whispering together. which was passed under his right arm-pit and tied above his left shoulder. Even Mgbafo took to her heels and had to be restrained by her brothers. hung above the fireplace. and from the very first seemed to have kindled a new fire in the younger boy. But very few people had ever seen that kind of wrestling before. and so did his little children. He then adjusted his cloth." He turned again to Okonkwo and said. holding it by the ankle and dragging it on the ground behind him."Oho.

The footway had now become a narrow line in the heart of the forest. just a little bigger than the round opening into a henhouse."The missionary ignored him and went on to talk about the Holy Trinity. He had fallen ill on the previous night. and there was a murmur of surprise and disagreement.Nwoye's younger brothers were about to tell their mother the true story of the accident when Ikemefuna looked at them sternly and they held their peace. He raised it carefully with the hoe and threw it to the surface."Ezinma's voice from the darkness warmed her mother's heart. They passed their cloths under the right arm-pit. His priestess stood by the sacred fire which she built in the heart of the cave and proclaimed the will of the god. It was full of meat and fish. He tried in vain to force the thought out of his mind. This was before the planting season began.""He has. If any money came his way. 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. "the goddess of the earth. Ezinma had not wanted to cooperate with him at first. He sang the song again. chewing the fish. It was always quiet except on moonlight nights.

" Okonkwo asked himself. "In many other clans a man of title is not forbidden to climb the palm tree. and he loved the first kites that returned with the dry season. There was an immediate stir. endless space in the presence of Agbala.Okonkwo was popularly called the "Roaring Flame. The oldest man present said sternly that those whose palm-kernels were cracked for them by a benevolent spirit should not forget to be humble. Okonkwo had gone to a medicine man. But it was a resilient spirit. And so when the priestess with Ezinma on her back disappeared through a hole hardly big enough to pass a hen. When she had borne her third son in succession. to the boys and they passed it round the wooden stays and then back to him. He was taking his family of three wives and their children to seek refuge in his motherland. waiting for him. Ofoedu ate slowly and talked about the locusts. Her brass anklets rattled as she danced and her body gleamed with cam wood in the soft yellow light." He turned to Odukwe.But the most dreaded of all was yet to come. They did not stay very long."Having spoken plainly so far."Do you think you are cutting up yams for cooking?" he asked Nwoye.

Their fathers had never dared to stand before our ancestors. He had been a great and fearless warrior in his time. its sullenness over."It is not our custom to fight for our gods. 'Your dead father wants you to sacrifice a goat to him. He sang. A great evil has come upon their land as the Oracle had warned. reappeared every year for seven years and then disappeared for another lifetime. for he had no grave. The youngest of them was four years old. But his mother and his three-year-old sister?? of course she would not be three now.She walked up to her husband and accepted the horn from him. Behind them was the big and ancient silk-cotton tree which was sacred. and then you will know. who were putting the last delicate touches of razor to her coiffure and cam wood on her smooth skin. and the elusive dance rose and fell with the wind. They sang songs as they went. If only he could find some work to do he would be able to forget. blowing it with her breath. He still had the eight hundred from Nwakibie and the four hundred from his father's friend. They were possessed by the spirit of the drums.

" Then more pots came. prophesying. "before 1 put any crop in the earth. There was coming and going between them. "that in some clans it is an abomination for a man to die during the Week of Peace. Unoka. And ten thousand men answered "Yaa!" each time. She walked numbly along. and his children the while praying to the white man's god.Mr. When we gather together in the moonlit village ground it is not because of the moon. some of whom now stood enthralled." said Mr. His name was Maduka. the messenger of earth. But although it had happened so long ago. The air was full of dust and the smell of gunpowder. A mighty wind arose and filled the air with dust. very shyly.' said her mother. And there was eating and drinking till night.

although one of them did not speak Ibo. She remembered that night. who was the eldest of the nine sons. He was in fact an outcast. Okagbue worked tirelessly and in silence. The first voice gets to Chukwu. especially their hair. He then roused Ezinma and placed her on the stool. "We should do something. Young men and boys in single file. and its priests and medicine men were feared in all the surrounding country. She knelt on her knees and hands at the threshold and called her husband." said Mr.""Go and bring our own. But it was like beginning life anew without the vigor and enthusiasm of youth.Just then the distant beating of drums began to reach them. with Ezinma sleeping on her back. like the prospect of annihilation."Thank you."Where do you sleep with your wife." she replied.

"I dislike cold water dropping on my back. to honor the earth goddess and the ancestral spirits of the clan.""That is true. Then send him word to fight for us.As night fell. If a clansman killed a royal python accidentally." she said. But the Ibo people have a proverb that when a man says yes his chi says yes also. for in spite of the palm fruit hung across the mouth of the pot to restrain the lively liquor. and Ezinma brought his goatskin bag from the far end of the hut. Ogbuefi Ugonna had thought of the Feast in terms of eating and drinking. The new year must begin with tasty.One of the men behind him cleared his throat. A steady cloud of smoke rose from his head.At last the rain came. And what was more. Most of them were sons of our land whose mothers had been buried with us." Ukegbu said. all the same. It was therefore understood that Ekwefi would provide cassava lor the feast."Agbala do-o-o-o!?? Agbala ekeneo-o-o-o! ??" Ekwefi trudged behind.

in a terrifying voice. Who else among his children could have read his thoughts so well? With two beautiful grown-up daughters his return to Umuofia would attract considerable attention. someone else rose and filled it. The three women talked excitedly about the relations who had been invited. it would not be done. It was after such a day at the farm during the last harvest that Nwoye had felt for the first time a snapping inside him like the one he now felt. which were black with soot. "I have heard that many years ago. like a hunter's dog that suddenly goes mad and turns on his master. a length of cloth and a hundred cowries. And ten thousand men answered "Yaa!" each time. facing the elders and grandees of the clan. and all the tragedy and sorrow of her life were packed in those words.""Ee-e-e!""And this will not be the last. very much shaken and frightened but quite unhurt. But they dared not complain openly. But she had grown so bitter about her own chi that she could not rejoice with others over their good fortune." the medicine man told Okonkwo in a cool. when his father walked in that night after killing Ikemefuna. Okonkwo on his bamboo bed tried to figure out the nature of the emergency - war with a neighboring clan? That seemed the most likely reason. Some years the harmattan was very severe and a dense haze hung on the atmosphere.

and none of them died. more fierce than it had ever been known. in their proper order. "there is no slave or free. Chielo. that night. We all know him. But let us ostracize these men. Even the enemy clan knew that. Even in those days he was not a man of many words. We pray for life. You see. But Chielo's voice was still a long way away. "How much longer do you think you will live?" she asked. not even about the terrors of night. Nwoye would feign annoyance and grumble aloud about women and their troubles. and Umuofia was still swallowed up in sleep and silence when the ekwe began to talk. was marrying a new wife. She was used to Chielo calling her "my daughter. But there is just one question I would like to ask him. "But they will understand when they go to their plot of land tomorrow morning.

He died and rotted away above the earth. You know his first wife who walks with a stick?""Yes. like splitting wood. Kiaga. and tears stood in his eyes. "I shall not talk about thanking you any more. And when. "One of the young children had opened the gate of the cow-shed. It was unbelievable. and allowed a brief pause. In fact he recovered from his illness only a few days before the Week of Peace began. became for Ekwefi mere physical agony devoid of promise. 'When mother-cow is chewing grass its young ones watch its mouth.""That cannot be. It was not the mad logic of the Trinity that captivated him. it would not be done."My hand is on the ground. the women who had gone for red earth returned with empty baskets. They will serve you when I have eaten. "It is a strange and terrible story." said another man.

She hurried through Okonkwo's hut and went outside. And she realized too with something like a jerk that Chielo was no longer moving forward. and everybody agreed that he was as sharp as a razor." said Idigo. Okonkwo was still pleading that the girl had been ill of late and was asleep. The men brought their goatskin mats.""He tapped three of my best palm trees to death. They came to discover what the future held for them or to consult the spirits of their departed fathers.But the year had gone mad. greeted Okonkwo and turned towards the compound. and there had been a mad rush for shelter earlier in the day when one appeared with a sharp machete and was only prevented from doing serious harm by two men who restrained him with the help of a strong rope tied round his waist. She nodded. She rose. cutting down every tree or animal they saw. And what was more. but even if you came into your obi and found her lover on top of her." he said to Okonkwo. They were duly presented to the women. followed by Akueke. The elders of the clan replied. She has the right spirit.

Bring me my daughter. She could not be expected to cook and eat while her husband starved."Where are her children? Did she take them?" he asked with unusual coolness and restraint. It contained other things apart from his snuff-bottle. Akueni. people said it was refusing food. but he had never yet come across them." They offered them as much of the Evil Forest as they cared to take. I sow the yams when the first rain has fallen. Anyone who knew his grim struggle against poverty and misfortune could not say he had been lucky. "They had been warned that danger was ahead. that was how it looked to his father." But before they went he whispered something to his first wife. It is a bad custom because it always leads to a quarrel. which had been stretched taut with excitement. but the fattest of all was tethered to a peg near the wall of the compound and was as big as a small cow. They sang his praise and the young women clapped their hands:"Who will wrestle for our village?Okafo will wrestle for our village. The daughters of the clan did not return to their homes immediately but spent two more days with their kinsmen. On receiving such a message through a younger brother or sister." They all laughed.' said Mother Kite to her daughter.

who has promised everlasting life to all who believe in His holy name. But it is not so. It was then uncertain whether the low rumbling of Amadiora's thunder came from above or below.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. It was even heard in the surrounding villages. who were still outside the circle."I will come with you. Uzowulu. through lonely forest paths. They will not allow us into the markets.As Okonkwo sat in his hut that night. "What about you? Can you answer my question?"They all shook their heads." he swore. because the cold and dry harmattan wind was blowing down Irom the north. But if a man caused it. from a few cowries to quite substantial amounts." He brought down his staff heavily on the floor."He sprang to his feet. But some of these losses were not irreparable. Ezinma struggled to escape from the choking and overpowering steam. Why is it that when a woman dies she is taken home to be buried with her own kinsmen? She is not buried with her husband's kinsmen.

"She has iba. The egwugwu with the springy walk was one of the dead fathers of the clan." She stood up and pulled out the fan which was fastened into one of the rafters. he would use his fists. stopped them.And so Obierika went to Mbanta to see his friend. The bride's mother led the way." He waved his arm where most of the young men sat. burning forehead. Umuofia has decided to kill him."Has Nweke married a wife?" asked Okonkwo. He hoped to get another four hundred yams from one of his father's friends at Isiuzo. He was very good on his flute. I did not send her away. And so at a very early age when he was striving desperately to build a barn through share-cropping Okonkwo was also fending for his father's house. Obierika sent word that the two huts had been built and Okonkwo began to prepare for his return. about their women. not even with broomsticks. but Ezeani seemed to pay no attention. Ezigbo."But the leaves will be wet.

He had a bad chi or personal god. in spite of his failings in other directions. He was to be called All oj you.""I did not know that.""That is true. As soon as the two boys closed in.Later. "In Abame and Aninta the title is worth less than two cowries. I would have asked you to bring courage."You must watch the pot carefully. ignorant of the love of God. the sun is shining. One of these days your jigida will catch fire on your waist. to sit with him in his obi. The women were screaming outside. But each time she had borne twins. and asking it if it had brought home any lengths of cloth."It is iba. hung above the fireplace. They set out early that morning. and long stacks of yam stood out prosperously in it.

He picked it up. Anyone seeing Chielo in ordinary life would hardly believe she was the same person who prophesied when the spirit of Agbala was upon her. 'It cried and raved and cursed me. Akueni. The first thing he would do would be to rebuild his compound on a more magnificent scale. And although she believed that the iyi-uwa which had been dug up was genuine.""Do you think a thief can do that kind of thing single-handed?" asked Nwankwo." He was talking about Okonkwo. "1 do not know how to thank you. Okonkwo had not bought snuff from him for a long time. and very strong. Those were good days when a man had friends in distant clans. But Okagbue said he was not tired yet. a man asks his kinsman to scratch him. asked her""Remember that if you do not answer truthfully you will suffer or even die at childbirth."That wine is the work of a good tapper."Where is Mgbogo?" asked one of them."The birds gathered round to eat what was left and to peck at the bones he had thrown all about the floor. but they looked on from the fringe like outsiders. pushed back the bolt on his door and ran into Ekwefi's hut. some alligator pepper and a lump of white chalk.

and regain the seven wasted years. Ikeocha. or rather held out her hand to be shaken. Palm trees swayed as the wind combed their leaves into flying crests like strange and fantastic coiffure. If it ended on his left. I shall give you some fish to eat. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat."Okonkwo bit his lips as anger welled up within him. that I am not afraid of blood and if anyone tells you that I am. He was a flaming fire."It is here. He was ill for three market weeks. 1 owe them no cocoyams. 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. and had just married his third wife." The man who had contradicted him had no titles. and at the end he had been taken out and handed over to a stranger.' said the birds when they had heard him." said the young man Who had been sent by Obierika to buy the giant goat "There are so many people on it that if you threw up a grain of sand it would not find a way to fall to earth again. But let us drink the wine first. You may have heard of the title I intend to take shortly.

He would remember his own childhood. Only then did she realize. Nwoye. no one could kill them without having to flee from the clan. But he was always uncomfortable sitting around for days waiting for a feast or getting over it."You have not eaten for two days. But before he could answer. She wore a black necklace which hung down in three coils just above her full. Okonkwo rose to speak. the interpreter. be cursed with such a son? He saw clearly in it the finger of his personal god or chi."Is Anasi not in?" he asked them.Okoye was also a musician. He would teach her! But Nwoye resembled his grandfather. A bond of sympathy had grown between them as the years had passed. It looked like whispering. And so heavily did it rain onVulture that he did not return to deliver his message but flew to a distant land. They only saw the red earth he threw up mounting higher and higher. but he did not answer."You think you are the greatest sufferer in the world? Do you know that men are sometimes banished for life? Do you know that men sometimes lose all their yams and even their children? I had six wives once. as you know.

She has the right spirit. He had called the first child born to him in exile Nneka??"Mother is Supreme"??out of politeness to his mother's kinsmen."Who is that?" he growled. do not allow him a moment's rest. The birds were silenced in the forests. People laughed at him because he was a loafer. and a girl. He called his son."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. and then he continued: "Each group there represents a debt to someone. It was a day old. The church had come and led many astray. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness.Many young men and prosperous middle-aged men of Mbanta came to marry her. Ekwefi believed deep inside her that Ezinma had come to stay. She will bear you nine sons like the mother of our town. It was like pouring grains of corn into a bag full of holes." And he told him what an osu was. Somebody was dead. The missionaries had come to Umuofia." said Okonkwo after a pause.