although he thought for a long time he found no answer. Evergreen trees wore a dusty coat of brown. It was also part of the night. like a mother and her daughter.

Now and again the cannon boomed
Now and again the cannon boomed. he sat down in his obi and mourned his friend's calamity. "That boy calls you father. and others who could think of nowhere else open to escape. If I had not seen the few survivors with my own eyes and heard their story with my own ears.Later. Here we say he cannot climb the tall tree but he can tap the short ones standing on the ground. They just pulled the stump. Even the oldest men could only remember one or two other occasions somewhere in the dim past. She would wait at the mouth."Agbala do-o-o-o! Agbala ekeneo-o-o-o! ??" Chielo began once again to chant greetings to her god. But somehow he knew he was not going to see them. and perhaps other women as well. But he now knew that they were for foolish women and children. and he had moments of sadness and depression But he and Nwoye had become so deeply attached to each other that such moments became less frequent and less poignant.The moon was now up and she could see Chielo and Ezinma clearly. some of them with their water-pots to the stream. He had tried to protect them from the smoldering earth by making rings of thick sisal leaves around them. as she had accepted others??with listless resignation.

Ojiugo's children were eating with the children of his first wife. and perhaps other women as well. Sometimes it was not necessary to dig. my child."Nwoye did not fully understand. His name was Nwakibie and he had taken the highest but one title which a man could take in the clan. Now and again an ancestral spirit or egwugwu appeared from the underworld. It was as if water had been poured on the tightened skin of a drum. He brought out a sharp razor from the goatskin bag slung from his left shoulder and began to mutilate the child."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. she was dead. The cannon seemed to rend the sky. and Ezinma brought his goatskin bag from the far end of the hut.Later. and girls came from the inner compound to dance. "Amadiora will break your head for you!"Some days later. Ekwefi mopped her with a piece of cloth and she lay down on a dry mat and was soon asleep. and by then he had become gravely worried. "people should not talk when they are eating or pepper may go down the wrong way.

" replied Okonkwo. Ezinma. Unoka loved the good hire and the good fellowship. as everybody knew they would. drew some lines on the floor. led out the giant goat from the inner compound. and for protection against their enemies. "And these white men. "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. He had fallen ill on the previous night. Okonkwo and the two boys were working on the red outer walls of the compound. She had already walked so long that she began to feel a slight numbness in the limbs and in the head. Okonkwo's youngest wife."Where else but in his house in the hills and the caves?" replied the priestess.And so the neighboring clans who naturally knew of these things feared Umuofia. His enemies said his good fortune had gone to his head. He had lost the years in which he might have taken the highest titles in the clan. He had finished it on the very day the locusts came. The naming ceremony after seven market weeks became an empty ritual.

as the saying goes." he said as he went. His name was Okagbue Uyanwa. We have albinos among us. who walked away and never returned.He is fit to be a slave. She looked very much like her mother. The egwugwu had emerged once again from their underground home. The fact was that Obiageli had been making inyanga with her pot. why it is that one of the commonest names we give our children is Nneka. There was nobody in the hut and the fireplace was cold. Their hosts took him as the king of the birds. with a start. urging the others to hurry up. No! he could not be. women and children left their work or their play and ran into the open to see the unfamiliar sight. machetes. Her basket was balanced on her head. But when she finally appeared holding a cock in her right hand.

" said Ekwefi. all alone in that fearful place. It had not happened for many a long year. boomed the hollow metal. Okonkwo got ready quickly and the party set out with Ikemefuna carrying the pot of wine. and although it had not yet appeared on the sky its light had already melted down the darkness. and each stroke is one hundred cowries.' replied the man. that my children do not resemble me. that my children do not resemble me. her moments of depression when she would snap at everybody like an angry dog. who would not lend his knife for cutting up dogmeat because the dog was taboo to him." lied Nwoye's mother. They went back to their caves in a distant land.During the planting season Okonkwo worked daily on his farms from cock-crow until the chickens went to roost. that is not the beginning. They scrubbed and painted the outside walls under the supervision of men.Ezinma did not call her mother Nne like all children. It was indeed the shrine of a great god.

His yams grew abundantly. on the day that Nwoye's mother celebrated the birth of her three sons with feasting and music. Because of her size she made her way through trees and creepers more quickly than her followers. The law of Umuofia is that if a woman runs away from her husband her bride-price is returned.""I don't know how we got that law. thought that it was possible that they would also be received. but every farmer knew that without sunshine the tubers would not grow. Unoka. I have come to pay you my respects and also to ask a favor. He addressed Nwakibie."When this was interpreted to the men of Mbanta they broke into derisive laughter." came her voice. Then he took it away to bury in the Evil Forest. His fame rested on solid personal achievements.But the war that now threatened was a just war. When your neighbors go out with their ax to cut down virgin forests. In the center of the crowd a boy lay in a pool of blood. He did not understand it. they said to themselves.

and a little hoe for digging out the tuber." said Machi. a debtor. Okonkwo had returned home and sat waiting. It was an ill omen. Nwoye. especially as he looked somewhat different from the others.""It is so indeed."I am Evil Forest." Okonkwo and Obierika said together. he sat down in his obi and mourned his friend's calamity. The white man was also their brother because they were all sons of God. I say it because I fear for the younger generation.At last the two teams danced into the circle and the crowd roared and clapped. In fact he had not killed a rat with his gun. The Oracle of the Hills and the Caves has pronounced it. and when he died he was buried by his kind in the Evil Forest.It was a great funeral."The court messengers did not like to be called Ashy-Buttocks.

and she agreed also. an old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb. His wives wept bitterly and their children wept with them without knowing why. None of them was a man of title. But I want you to have nothing to do with it. Okonkwo was not a man of thought but of action.' replied the young kite. They were very fat goats. Bring me my daughter. or took pity on their mothers. thus completing a circle with their hosts."Go and bring me some cold water. and two others after her. 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. "The world has no end. He passed them over to his eldest brother. reappeared every year for seven years and then disappeared for another lifetime. it would not be done. which should be a woman's crowning glory.

"No. She turned round sharply and walked through Okonkwo's hut. like something agitating with a metallic life.""That is why the drum has not been beaten to tell Umuofla. She started to cry. And he found that Okonkwo did not wish to speak about Nwoye."He belongs to the clan. "Agbala greets you. He then broke the kola nut and threw one of the lobes on the ground for the ancestors. "that in some clans it is an abomination for a man to die during the Week of Peace. It had its shrine in the centre of Umuofia." she said. whereupon Ear fell on the floor in uncontrollable laughter."At last the great day came and Tortoise was the first to arrive at the meeting place.Everyone was now about. Each of his three wives had her own hut. If they imagined what was inside.The men then continued their drinking and talking. The cannon seemed to rend the sky.

Kiaga stopped them and began to explain."I am Evil Forest. Her arms were folded across her bare breasts."I must go home to tap my palm trees for the afternoon. Kiaga was going to send into the village for his men-converts when he saw them coming on their own. But a few years later she ran away from her husband and came to live with Okonkwo.From that day Amikwu took the young bride and she became his wife. quietly and deliberately. If it ended on his left. when Mr. but Okonkwo sat unmoved.Okonkwo and his family worked very hard to plant a new farm. All was silent." He turned again to Okonkwo and said." Ofoedu agreed. The missionaries had come to Umuofia. and then turning to his brother and his son he said: "Let us go out and whisper together." he said. But that was only to be expected.

Everybody was killed. Any wonder then that his son Okonkwo was ashamed of him? Fortunately." Obierika said to his son. "It pleases me to see a young man like you these days when our youth has gone so soft. But it went from day to day without a pause." The three rose and went outside. We should have waited for the sun to rise and dry the leaves. go to the church and wipe out the entire vile and miscreant gang. Some kinsmen ate it with egusi soup and others with bitter-leaf soup. It was like a man wondering in broad daylight why a dream had appeared so terrible to him at night. Beyond that limit no man was suffered to go." replied Uzowulu."There is one important thing which we must not forget.But before this quiet and final rite. If only he could find some work to do he would be able to forget. He wanted first to know why they had been outlawed." said Mgbogo's next-door neighbor. unless it was one of the stubborn ones who returned. Can you tell me.

"I beg you to accept this little kola. it said. The clan was like a lizard. It was Chielo.Okonkwo shook his head doubtfully. Tortoise had no wings. He is an exile.Ekwefi had suffered a good deal in her life." he said."When did you become a shivering old woman. 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. beat me up and took my wife and children away. and by then he had become gravely worried. And although she believed that the iyi-uwa which had been dug up was genuine. by Ezeani. She saw the other children with their water-pots and remembered that they were going to fetch water for Obierika's wife. It was for this man that Okonkwo worked to earn his first seed yams. there was always a large quantity of food left over at the end of the day. They will serve you when I have eaten.

Obierika." He paused. He had lost the years in which he might have taken the highest titles in the clan. Like all good farmers.Ekwefi had suffered a good deal in her life. "when she was pregnant. And not only his chi but his clan too. He was a wealthy farmer and had two barns full of yams. "1 shall think of another one with a song. And he was afraid to look back. Kiaga was praying in the church when he heard the women talking excitedly. If you think you are the greatest sufferer in the world ask my daughter. He was a good eater and he could drink one or two fairly big gourds of palm-wine. And so he was always happy when he heard him grumbling about women. He calls you his father. and said through gleaming white teeth firmly clenched: "Those sons of wild animals have dared to murder a daughter of Umuofia. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion.At last the two teams danced into the circle and the crowd roared and clapped. on the day that Nwoye's mother celebrated the birth of her three sons with feasting and music.

it was in large.""Yes. and then flew away. But it would be impolite to rush him. One of them was so old and infirm that he leaned heavily on a stick. gazing into a log fire. and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten." she replied. but to settle the dispute. Clearly his personal god or chi was not made for great things. "They have that custom in Obodoani. There was coming and going between them. the white man began to speak to them." A cold shiver ran down Okonkwo's back as he remembered the last time the old man had visited him. If you give me some yam seeds I shall not fail you. It was an occasion for giving thanks to Ani. do you know me?" asked the spirit. because it would hear. and I am still alive.

Her husband had brought out more yams than usual because the medicine man had to be fed. But he was so weak that his legs could hardly carry him. the priestess of Agbala." She sat down and stretched her legs in front of her. Cam wood was rubbed lightly into her skin. Nwoye was there. He asked them for health and children." said Ezinma. and very strong. That was always the trouble with Okeke's snuff. afraid of your next-door neighbor. Although he had prospered in his motherland Okonkwo knew that he would have prospered even more in Umuofia. "one would think he never sucked at his mother's breast. Mr.There were twelve men on each side and the challenge went from one side to the other. 'Don't touch!' If i hold her footShe says. They are gods of deceit who tell you to kill your fellows and destroy innocent children. The drums and the dancing began again and reached fever-heat. followed by Akueke.

Sometimes another village would ask Unoka's band and their dancing egwugwu to come and stay with them and teach them their tunes. The blazing sun returned. and at the end of it beat his instrument again. I have cleared a farm but have no yams to sow. He had fallen ill on the previous night."She is ill in bed. As our people say." He pulled his staff from the hard earth and thrust it back. And if anything happened to her could she stop it? She would not dare to enter the underground caves. It was a fierce contest. 'Your dead father wants you to sacrifice a goat to him. a vibrant silence made more intense by the universal trill of a million million forest insects. Nwoye was there. Okonkwo's youngest wife. and then turning to his brother and his son he said: "Let us go out and whisper together. She was very heavy with child. Okonkwo had gone to a medicine man. Then he poured out for the others. She will be a good wife to you.

And so the two of them refused every offer of marriage in Mbanta. His yams grew abundantly. and he gave to Vulture rain wrapped in leaves of coco-yam."Okonkwo never did things by halves. They were very fat goats. There is only one true God and He has the earth. and gave it to Ibe to fill." He rose and left the hut. He asked Okagbue to come up and rest while he took a hand. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace. was a man's crop. A bond of sympathy had grown between them as the years had passed. 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.As soon as the day broke."Yes. At first it appeared as if it might prove too great for his spirit.""There is no story that is not true.Ezeudu had taken three titles in his life.The young men who kept order on these occasions dashed about.

who said he should die. The three women talked excitedly about the relations who had been invited. I owe that man a thousand cowries."Don't be afraid. "Umuofia kwenu. Kiaga. after the rains. he thought. boomed the hollow metal."Come and show me the exact spot. of course. In fact he recovered from his illness only a few days before the Week of Peace began. 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.' said the birds when they had heard him. but she went to Okonkwo's compound. The lad's name was Ikemefuna." He waved at his sons and daughters. many years."Answer truthfully.

scooped out two mouthfuls and fled from the hut to chew the cud in the goats' shed. when he was young."But Nwoye's mother dropped her pot of hot soup the other day and it broke on the floor. She was alive and well.Okonkwo and his family worked very hard to plant a new farm. Do you hear that. "His shell broke into pieces." Okonkwo said to the lad. He asked the birds to take a message for his wife. The egwugwu with the springy walk was one of the dead fathers of the clan. especially with the children. pushing the air with his raffia arms. therefore." said Uchendu. Ezeudu is dead. Why should a man suffer so grievously for an offense he had committed inadvertently? But although he thought for a long time he found no answer. Evergreen trees wore a dusty coat of brown. It was also part of the night. like a mother and her daughter.