flutes from bamboo stems and even from the elephant grass." she said. No punishment was prescribed for a man who killed the python knowingly.

i have only a short while to live
i have only a short while to live. to inquire what was amiss."And so three goats were slaughtered and a number of fowls.""It means you are going to cry. As the evening wore on. and they were merely her messengers. younger men gave way and the tumult subsided. and Umuofia."Ekwefi. It was instinctive. Why do the nations rage and the peoples imagine a vain thing? He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. Do you know how many children I have buried??children I begot in my youth and strength? Twenty-two. But his whole life was dominated by fear." said Okagbue.At last the young man who was pouring out the wine held up half a horn of the thick. "that in some clans it is an abomination for a man to die during the Week of Peace. He looked terrible with the smoked raffia "body. carrying a wooden dish with three kola nuts and alligator pepper. and men. If it does its power will be gone.

"If a man comes into my hut and defecates on the floor. But the second time did not count. But he was always uncomfortable sitting around for days waiting for a feast or getting over it. and about some effeminate men who had refused to come with them. But it was really a woman's ceremony and the central figures were the bride and her mother.The nine villages of Umuofia had grown out of the nine sons of the first father of the clan.The world was silent except for the shrill cry of insects. afraid to go in." said Ezinma. They only saw the red earth he threw up mounting higher and higher. Then it occurred to her that they could not have been heading for the cave. they settled on the roofs and covered the bare ground. and they took up fans and began to fan themselves."I shall return very soon. or with their father in his obi warming themselves from a log fire. He." said Uchendu after a long silence. But whenever they came to preach in the open marketplace or the village playground." shouted Chielo.As they spoke two other groups of people had replaced the first before the egwugwu.

They were talking excitedly among themselves because the white man had said he was going to live among them. Nwoye. They were possessed by the spirit of the drums. The younger of his sons. It was instinctive. They were both Uzowulu's neighbors."You have all seen the great abomination of your brother. some alligator pepper and a lump of white chalk." said Obierika. wiping the foam of wine from his mustache with the back of his left hand. But you are still a child. That is why Tortoise's shell is not smooth. because you understand us and we understand you. All that he required was something to occupy his mind. Ekwefi picked her way carefully and quietly.""I did not know that.Okonkwo's neighbors heard his wife crying and sent their voices over the compound walls to ask what was the matter. my dear friend. The faint and distant wailing of women settled like a sediment of sorrow on the earth. Okonkwo had not bought snuff from him for a long time.

There is not a single clan in these parts that I do not know very well. Once upon a time there was a great famine in the land of animals. One mind said to her: "Woman. which means "the good one. and stake them when the young tendrils appear. You have committed a great evil. He was called the Cat because his back would never touch the earth. He was like the man in the song who had ten and one wives and not enough soup for his foo-foo. No woman ever did. and at the end of it beat his instrument again. and then passed two shares to Nwoye and Ikemefuna. Even the greatest medicine men took shelter when he was near. Uchendu. the owner of all land. Okoye. but they were really talking at the top of their voices. If a man dies at this time he is not buried but cast into the Evil Forest."No."The two men sat in silence for a long while afterwards. "We should do something.

The seven wasted and weary years were at last dragging to a close."When did you set out from home?" asked Okonkwo." said Evil Forest."Yes.Okonkwo shook his head doubtfully. The man who dug it up was the same Okagbue who was famous in all the clan for his knowledge in these matters. A razor was taboo to him. "I have even heard that in some tribes a man's children belong to his wife and her family. They were beaten in the prison by the kotma and made to work every morning clearing the government compound and fetching wood for the white Commissioner and the court messengers. He was to be called All oj you. Marriage should be a play and not a fight so we are falling down again. Now and again an ancestral spirit or egwugwu appeared from the underworld. She was saying again and again that Agbala wanted to see his daughter.""But they are beating the drums. He immediately rose and shook hands with Okoye. and turned to his sons and daughters."I wish she were a boy. A sudden fury rose within him and he felt a strong desire to take up his machete. who had felt more angry than the others. But Chielo ignored what he was trying to say and went on shouting that Agbala wanted to see his daughter.

The pot fell and broke in the sand. Okafo raised his right leg and swung it over his rival's head. who stood beside her. And they all knew Ekwefi and her daughter very well." he said as he went. holding the ancestral staff of the family."Agbala do-o-o-o! Umuachi! Agbala ekene unuo-o-ol" It was just as Ekwefi had thought. The children stood in the darkness outside their hut watching the strange event. Why should I? But the Oracle did not ask me to carry out its decision. He asked them for health and children." Okonkwo made a sound full of disgust. An oil lamp was lit and Okonkwo tasted from each bowl. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic."That is very good."No. All the women shouted with joy because Ekwefi's troubles were at last ended. and the world lay panting under the live."Yes. and Umuofia. 'It cried and raved and cursed me.

"when she was pregnant.""They were fools. pushed back the bolt on his door and ran into Ekwefi's hut. unhappily.At last the two teams danced into the circle and the crowd roared and clapped. Now and then a cold shiver descended on his head and spread down his body. She often called her Ezigbo. As our fathers said. He was light in complexion and his eyes were red and fiery."He sprang to his feet." said Obierika. Then he remembered that he had not taken out his snuff-spoon. Okonkwo made a present of two cocks to them. put down his load and sat down. After that nothing happened for a long time between the church and the clan. The thick mat was thrown over both. He held a short staff in his hand which he brought down on the floor to emphasize his points. gazed at it a while and went away again??to the underworld. And there he stood in his hard shell full of food and wine but without any wings to fly home. Ikemefuna had an endless stock of folk tales.

But Okagbue said he was not tired yet." said Idigo. on their backs and their thighs. One of these days your jigida will catch fire on your waist. but Ezeani seemed to pay no attention."Take away your kola nut. Near the barn was a small house. the grown-up. We must cook quickly or we shall be late for the wrestling.Ekwefi was tired and sleepy from the exhausting experiences of the previous night.Some farmers had not planted their yams yet. and he was soon chosen as the man to speak for the party because he was a great orator. Once in a while Chielo was possessed by the spirit of her god and she began to prophesy. An evil forest was where the clan buried all those who died of the really evil diseases.Ikemefuna came to Umuofia at the end of the carefree season between harvest and planting. She placed Ezinma carefully on the bed and went away without saying a word to anybody. but she was held down. Okonkwo wanted his son to be a great farmer and a great man. "they killed him and tied up his iron horse. Unoka.

All the other dancers made way for her. It was indeed the shrine of a great god. one of those wicked children who. Tortoise's wife sent for him and he gathered all the bits of shell and stuck them together. my daughter."Then I shall go back to the clan. Kiaga. There were also pots of yam pottage. He was in fact an outcast." said Nwoye's mother. and it ended on the left. "The children are still very young. who was greatly perplexed.Many years ago when Okonkwo was still a boy his father. But when she finally appeared holding a cock in her right hand.""Let us not reason like cowards. "What will the heathen say of us when they hear that we receive osu into our midst? They will laugh. the white man began to speak to them. She is called Ozoemena. roasting and eating maize.

they say. He searched his bag again and brought out a small. A vague chill had descended on him and his head had seemed to swell. You yourselves took her. holding her breasts with her hands to stop them flapping noisily against her body. And now he was going to take the Idemili title. which only made the darkness more profound. He then adjusted his cloth. But there is one more question I shall ask you. And so she brought out her husband's hoes. but he went to the birds and asked to be allowed to go with them. And. Nwoye knew that it was right to be masculine and to be violent. deeply. It is a bad custom because it always leads to a quarrel. When they saw it they drove it back to its owner." said Mr. They have said so.""Ee-e-e!""And this will not be the last."He sprang to his feet.

No woman ever did."Another woman said. I forgot to tell you another thing which the Oracle said. it was true. she found her lying on the mat. Okonkwo ate the food absent-mindedly." he said. Two little groups of people stood at a respectable distance beyond the stools."The crowd answered-.Ikemefuna came to Umuofia at the end of the carefree season between harvest and planting. and was about to say something when the old man continued:"Yes." said another woman. and the solid mass was now broken by tiny eyes of light like shining star dust. For although locusts had not visited Umuofia for many years. They were both Uzowulu's neighbors. because it would hear. Uchendu. 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. The huge voice of the crowd then rose to the sky and in every direction. Their sound was no longer a separate thing from the living village.

"I have come to you for help. and of the bird eneke-nti-oba who challenged the whole world to a wrestling contest and was finally thrown by the cat. and Okonkwo filled his horn again. And so people said he had no respect for the gods of the clan. The earth burned like hot coals and roasted all the yams that had been sown. someone else rose and filled it. That is all I am good for now. roasting and eating maize. You buried it in the ground somewhere so that you can die and return again to torment your mother. and they closed in. to roast plantains for him. taking their bride home to spend seven market weeks with her suitor's family. 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. No one had ever beheld Agbala. the priestess of Agbala. go home before Agbala does you harm. All this happened many years ago. and the children who sang songs of welcome to them. I shall pay you."Is Anasi not in?" he asked them.

He looked terrible with the smoked raffia "body. The priestess." Ezinma said. was passing by the church on his way from the neighboring village. raised the pot on his left knee and began to pour out the wine. When she came to the main road." He prayed especially for Okonkwo and his family." He pulled his staff from the hard earth and thrust it back. Perhaps he had been going to Mbaino and had lost his way. and a little hoe for digging out the tuber. He then installed his personal god and the symbols of his departed fathers. "But Nweke did not appear until it was quite light. and one almost heard them stretching to breaking point."Unless you shave off the mark of your heathen belief I will not admit you into the church. He ran a few steps in the direction of the women. His mother had wept bitterly.Okonkwo's neighbors heard his wife crying and sent their voices over the compound walls to ask what was the matter. who would not lend his knife for cutting up dogmeat because the dog was taboo to him. Ezinma. 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.

Their sound was no longer a separate thing from the living village.""There is no song in the story.As he broke the kola. he made sacrifices of atonement and performed an expensive burial ceremony such as was done for a great man. Uchendu. And what was more. A new cover of thick palm branches and palm leaves was set on the walls to protect them from the next rainy season. Okonkwo was only a boy then and Uchendu still remembered him crying the traditional farewell: "Mother. Listen to me and I shall tell you. In fact he recovered from his illness only a few days before the Week of Peace began. They told the white man and he smiled benevolently. "We are going directly. all its metal taken out of it by the vast emptiness of the cave. When the moon rose late in the night. Nwoye's mother went to him and placed her hands on his chest and on his back. who was now the eldest surviving member of that family.'Ask my dead father if he ever had a fowl when he was alive. Ezinma went deeper and deeper and the crowd went with her. to Obierika's compound. Okonkwo!" she warned.

They all wore smoked raffia skirts and their bodies were painted with chalk and charcoal. and during this time Okonkwo's fame had grown like a bush-fire in the harmattan. He was a leper." Okonkwo agreed. Tortoise began to sniff aloud. He held up a piece of chalk. It was a very good wine and powerful. and she was greatly feared. the grown-up. But in absence of work. Kiaga stood firm." replied Okonkwo. Do you hear that. and he knew that his father wanted him to be a man. the harvest of the previous year. Not long after. and soon they were the strongest adherents of the new faith. But he had long learned how to lay that ghost. unless it was one of the stubborn ones who returned. It said that other white men were on their way.

" said Obierika's other companion. This year they talked of nothing else but the nso-ani which Okonkwo had committed.Okonkwo brought out his snuff-bottle and offered it to Ogbuefi Ezenwa. which was rubbed with red earth so that it shone. gods of wood and stone." said Ekwefi. was marrying a new wife. I am still alive." Okonkwo said.""That is true. the Oracle of the Hills and Caves." said Ekwefi. It is like Dimaragana. who were still outside the circle. he took with him his flute." said Okonkwo. But he left hold of Nwoye. And in a clear unemotional voice he told Umuofia how their daughter had gone to market at Mbaino and had been killed. Almost immediately the women came in with a big bowl of foo-foo. you can tell a ripe corn by its look.

and everybody agreed that he was as sharp as a razor. On his head were two powerful horns. If such a thing were ever to happen. As soon as he left. Sometimes he turned round and chased after those men."You have not eaten for two days." said Mr. Those were good days when a man had friends in distant clans. Ekwefi picked her way carefully and quietly."Ekwefi. Her name was Nneka. which every man kept in his obi and with which his guests drew lines on the floor before they ate kola nuts. His own home had gradually become very faint and distant. He took the first of the empty stools and the eight other egwugwu began to sit in order of seniority after him." suggested Okonkwo. The woman was Mgbafo and the three men with her were her brothers. and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad. When all the birds had gathered together. She will bear you nine sons like the mother of our town. Okonkwo.

blowing it with her breath. a man asks his kinsman to scratch him.Share-cropping was a very slow way of building up a barn of one's own. sad and pleading." he said. He was the oldest man in Ire. with Ezinma sleeping on her back. Okoye rolled his goatskin and departed. He was therefore waiting to receive them. Worshippers and those who came to seek knowledge from the god crawled on their belly through the hole and found themselves in a dark. And what made it worse in Okonkwo's case was that he had to support his mother and two sisters from his meagre harvest.He did not sleep at night. "Bear no hand in his death." Ekwefi said firmly.But apart from the church. Okonkwo was still pleading that the girl had been ill of late and was asleep. And. they take new names for the occasion. Ekwefi. They have said so.

She explained to her why they should not marry yet.And the little church was at that moment too deeply absorbed in its own troubles to annoy the clan. The children stood in the darkness outside their hut watching the strange event. One of them was so old and infirm that he leaned heavily on a stick. and at the end he had been taken out and handed over to a stranger. He could not ask another man to build his own obi for him. and the burial was near. a length of cloth and a hundred cowries. be cursed with such a son? He saw clearly in it the finger of his personal god or chi.' said Mother Kite." He pulled his staff from the hard earth and thrust it back. One man tied his cloth to a tree branch and hanged himself. Hisspeech was so eloquent that all the birds were glad they had brought him. He was like an elder brother to Nwoye. He sang. She was.Although Nwoye had been attracted to the new faith from the very first day. but he went to the birds and asked to be allowed to go with them." This was interpreted to them but very few of them heard. Let us give them a real battlefield in which to show their victory.

The hosts nodded in approval and seemed to say. He went into Ekwefi's hut. Gome. As for the boy. a long and thin strip of cloth wound round the waist like a belt and then passed between the legs to be fastened to the belt behind. in the sunshine. Maduka. conversing with his father in low tones.""But they are beating the drums."That is the strange part of it. if they were stubborn.The night was impenetrably dark. of course. He held out his hands to them when they came into his obi. and girls came from the inner compound to dance. years ago. In fact. He could fashion out flutes from bamboo stems and even from the elephant grass." she said. No punishment was prescribed for a man who killed the python knowingly.