just beyond the borders of Mbaino. Anyone who knew his grim struggle against poverty and misfortune could not say he had been lucky.

Again and again Iguedo was called and men waited breathlessly in all the nine villages
Again and again Iguedo was called and men waited breathlessly in all the nine villages. or Evil Spirit. especially as he looked somewhat different from the others. Okonkwo worked on the outside of the wall and the boys worked from within. and his face beamed. but no one spoke."Early in the afternoon the first two pots of palm-wine arrived from Obierika's in-laws. 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."Then I shall go back to the clan. She rose. The man who dug it up was the same Okagbue who was famous in all the clan for his knowledge in these matters. for Mr. and others who could think of nowhere else open to escape."We shall be late for the wrestling. and allowed a murmur of suppressed anger to sweep the crowd. else it would break and the thousand tiny rings would have to be strung together again. At last Vulture was sent to plead with Sky. The locusts settled in the bushes for the night and their wings became wet with dew. became for Ekwefi mere physical agony devoid of promise.It was not yet noon on the second day of the New Yam Festival. She ran faster.

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. and."Go home and sleep." He rose and left the hut. Ezinma turned left as if she was going to the stream. But by the end of the day the sisal rings were burned dry and gray. They had no hatred in their hearts against Okonkwo. Ezinma brought her two legs together and stretched them in front of her. he sat down in his obi and mourned his friend's calamity. for Mr."They do not understand.She walked up to her husband and accepted the horn from him. Uzowulu. Her husband and his family were already becoming highly critical of such a woman and were not unduly perturbed when they found she had fled to join the Christians. father? You are beyond our knowledge. "that was why the snake-lizard killed his mother." he said. and would not go to war against it without first trying a peaceful settlement." He brought down his staff heavily on the floor. Obierika offered him a lobe of the kola nut he had broken with Okonkwo. The rains had come and yams had been sown.

They thought the priestess might be going to her house. Machi."Yes. and each stroke is one hundred cowries."It has not always been so. But as the dog said. went into an inner room and came back with a kola nut." said Okagbue. Would he recognize her now? She must have grown quite big.But Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through."Don't be afraid. and we would be like Abame."I am Evil Forest. Rain fell as it had never fallen before. and her arms folded across her breasts. 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. Okafo was swept off his feet by his supporters and carried home shoulder high. All cooking pots."Uzowulu's body. "He hardly ever walks. If you turn against me when I am dead I will visit you and break your neck.

His anger thus satisfied. Every man and woman came out to see the white man." He prayed especially for Okonkwo and his family. And they might also have noticed that Okonkwo was not among the titled men and elders who sat behind the row of egwugwu. would wipe them off the face of the earth. and they swore never to lend him any more money because he never paid back. The wave struck the women and children and there was a backward stampede. The pit was now so deep that they no longer saw the digger. It was as if a spell had been cast." said Nwoye's mother. met to hear a report of Okonkwo's mission. and she said so. Ukegbu. The wailing of the women would not be heard beyond the village."In her hut. that Ekwensu. He asked the birds to take a message for his wife. The thick dregs of palm-wine were supposed to be good for men who were going in to their wives."Tortoise turned to the birds and said: 'You remember that my name is All of you. And he was already beginning to know some of the simple stories they told. "As for me.

"Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?" Okagbue had asked Ezinma."It is very near now. They never answered yes for fear it might be an evil spirit calling." He pulled his staff from the hard earth and thrust it back. he thought. Umuofia. At last the man was named and people sighed "E-u-u.""Let them laugh. It was not very long since they had returned. Nothing happened at its proper time. Had she been running too? How could she go so fast with Ezinma on her back? Although the night was cool.' "I have no more to say to you. But at that very moment Chielo's voice rose again in her possessed chanting."When your wife becomes pregnant again. But I can trust you."Tortoise turned to the birds and said: 'You remember that my name is All of you. and during this time Okonkwo's fame had grown like a bush-fire in the harmattan. In short." said Okonkwo. You buried it in the ground somewhere so that you can die and return again to torment your mother."Ogbuefi Ndulue of Ire village.

was a widely-traveled man who knew the customs of different peoples. Where is my daughter. He brought out a sharp razor from the goatskin bag slung from his left shoulder and began to mutilate the child. It was always quiet except on moonlight nights. For two or three moons the sun had been gathering strength till it seemed to breathe a breath of fire on the earth.At first. Rain fell as it had never fallen before. The ill-fated lad was called Ikemefuna. There was nobody in the hut and the fireplace was cold. No. You think you are still a child. That was the way people answered calls from outside. They sang songs as they went." she said. Then something had given way inside him. It is more difficult and more bitter when a man fails alone." Okonkwo said between mouthfuls. And if you stand staring at me like that. that was how it looked to his father. Obiageli brought up the rear. led out the giant goat from the inner compound.

And in fairness to Umuofia it should be recorded that it never went to war unless its case was clear and just and was accepted as such by its Oracle - the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves." said Ezinma. pushing the air with his raffia arms. We have tried to settle their quarrels time without number and on each occasion Uzowulu was guilty??""It is a lie!" Uzowulu shouted.""Does the white man understand our custom about land?""How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad. Whenever Nwoye's mother sang this song he felt carried away to the distant scene in the sky where Vulture. drew some lines on the floor. Three men beat them with sticks. "one would think he never sucked at his mother's breast.""In future call her into your obi. She is buried there. "Your daughter will bear us sons like you. A new cover of thick palm branches and palm leaves was set on the walls to protect them from the next rainy season." ';. and asked no questions.Ekwefi was tired and sleepy from the exhausting experiences of the previous night. "that in some clans it is an abomination for a man to die during the Week of Peace. The kola nut was given him to break. The egwugwu house into which they emerged faced the forest." said Obierika to his son. The rainbow began to appear.

who had lived about two hundred years before. He could not take any of the four titles of the clan. It was the day on which her suitor (having already paid the greater part of her bride-price) would bring palm-wine not only to her parents and immediate relatives but to the wide and extensive group of kinsmen called umunna."My in-law has told you that we went to his house. The goat was then led back to the inner compound. They saw the iron horse and went away again." Altogether there were fifty pots of wine. Okonkwo. She broke a piece in two and gave it to Ezinma."It was in the second year of Okonkwo's exile that his friend. It ended on the right." he said. The children were also decorated. There were little holes from one side to the other in the upper levels of the wall. No matter how prosperous a man was. She will be a good wife to you. The birth of her children. He then roused Ezinma and placed her on the stool. all of a sudden.""If we leave our gods and follow your god. carrying a pot of palm-wine on his head.

Obierika offered him a lobe of the kola nut he had broken with Okonkwo. This was one of the lighter tasks of the after-harvest season. A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet."Answer me!" he roared again. Okonkwo. that man was okonkwo. gome. Di-go-go-di-go.""The Earth cannot punish me for obeying her messenger.He did not sleep at night. And so they arrived home again. Cam wood was rubbed lightly into her skin. "and a thick mat. That is all I am good for now. As the rains became heavier the women planted maize. Elumelu. And she enjoyed above all the secrecy in which she now ate them. 'There is something ominous behind the silence. She thought of all the terrors of the night. The kola nut was given him to break. Di-go-go-di-go.

Ekwefi hurried to the main footpath and turned left in the direction of the voice. 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. With this magic fan she beckons to the market all the neighboring clans. but they never brought them into the village. But Ezinma had seen clearly all the thought and hidden meaning behind the few words."Tell my wife. or playground. Okonkwo knew how to kill a man's spirit. Obierika. At last the man was named and people sighed "E-u-u. and so the victim could not be buried in her bowels. He had been cast out of his clan like a fish onto a dry. But that was only to be expected."Come along. you have become a woman indeed. They only saw the red earth he threw up mounting higher and higher. as usual.Large crowds began to gather on the village ilo as soon as the edge had worn off the sun's heat and it was no longer painful on the body. had gone to consult the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves to find out why he always had a miserable harvest. into a healthy. all its metal taken out of it by the vast emptiness of the cave.

to sit with him in his obi."It is near that orange tree.That was the kind of story that Nwoye loved." pleaded from a reasonable distance. Then it went nearer and named the village: " Iguedo of the yellow grinding-stone!" It was Okonkwo's village. "I remember when I was a young boy there was a song about them.Ezinma grew up in her father's exile and became one of the most beautiful girls in Mbanta. We do not dispute it. The water began to boil. as when she first set out. As soon as he left. Young men and boys in single file. Kiaga. The yams put on luxuriant green leaves. Why do they always go for one's ears? When he was a child his mother had told him a story about it. and scorched all the green that had appeared with the rains. He could hear in his mind's ear the blood-stirring and intricate rhythms of the ekwe and the udu and the ogene. Tortoise was very happy and voluble as he flew among the birds. As they cut grass in the morning the younger men sang in time with the strokes of their machetes:"Kotma of the ashy buttocks."Uzowulu's body."Answer me.

and sat down. a large crowd of men from Ezeudu's quarter stormed Okonkwo's compound. Then from the distance came the faint beating of the ekwe. He would teach her! But Nwoye resembled his grandfather.""The world is large." said Obierika.' "I have no more to say to you. Nwoye. "Agbala greets you. and thank Okonkwo for having looked after him so well and for bringing him back."Go and bring me some cold water. But it was useless.At last the two teams danced into the circle and the crowd roared and clapped. but Ezeani seemed to pay no attention. They haggle and bargain as if they were buying a goat or a cow in the market. There was a famine in those days and Tortoise had not eaten a good meal for two moons. He had court messengers who brought men to him for trial. silence returned to the world. But they were still alive.""They were fools. and we would be like Abame.

Perhaps she has come to stay."Mr.That was the kind of story that Nwoye loved. bending very low at the eaves. They did not really want them near to the clan. are known in all the clan for the weakness of your machete and your hoe. She shut her eyes for a while and opened them again in an effort to see. Then the foo-foo was served. If the clan had disobeyed the Oracle they would surely have been beaten." said Okonkwo. He had tried to protect them from the smoldering earth by making rings of thick sisal leaves around them. The interpreter explained each verse to the audience.""I shall wait too.The New Yam Festival was thus an occasion for joy throughout Umuofia. and. They sang his praise and the young women clapped their hands:"Who will wrestle for our village?Okafo will wrestle for our village." he said." He rose and left the hut. and it seemed now as if it was happening all over again."Swear on this staff of my fathers. Kiaga.

The people surged forward."The missionary ignored him and went on to talk about the Holy Trinity." said Okonkwo's voice. have no toes. But two years later when a son was born he called him Nwofia??"Begotten in the Wilderness. When she came to the main road."Bring me a hoe. It was a tremendous sight. deeply. and Okeke says we should pretend not to see. And he knew which trees made the strongest bows. quietly and deliberately. When your neighbors go out with their ax to cut down virgin forests. Ekwefi had been returning from the stream with her mother on a dark night like this when they saw its glow as it flew in their direction. 'You are full of cunning and you are ungrateful. The interpreter explained each verse to the audience. You are a great family. "You will find a pot of wine there.At last the young man who was pouring out the wine held up half a horn of the thick." replied the white man. Everybody had been invited??men.

"Our father. Mr. And then the smooth." said Ofoedu. Okagbue worked tirelessly and in silence. "Bear no hand in his death." said Ekwefi."He uncovered his second wife's dish and began to eat from it. So he would make a fresh start. especially with the children. Nwoye passed and repassed the little red-earth and thatch building without summoning enough courage to enter. My mother's people have been good to me and 1 must show my gratitude. But when she lived on to her fourth. No woman ever asked questions about the most powerful and the most secret cult in the clan.Anasi was a middle-aged woman. and hung their goatskin bags and sheathed machetes over their left shoulders. It rose and faded with the wind??a peaceful dance from a distant clan. His first two wives ran out in great alarm pleading with him that it was the sacred week. That was why Okonkwo had been Chosen by the nine villages to carry a message of war to their enemies unless they agreed to give up a young man and a virgin to atone for the murder of Udo's wife. He walked unsteadily to the place where the corpse was laid.As these things went through her mind she did not realize how close they were to the cave mouth.

unlike most children. brought in a pot of sweet wine tapped from the raffia palm. Why did they not fight back? Had they no guns and machetes? We would be cowards lo compare ourselves with the men of Abame. Evil Forest addressed the two groups of people facing them. He drank palm-wine from morning till night. We must fight these men and drive them from the land. the white missionary. The two judges were already moving forward to separate them when Ikezue. and perhaps other women as well. Ekwefi quickly moved away from her line of retreat. Unoka. and she was notorious for her late cooking. white dregs and said. and so the victim could not be buried in her bowels. but six. Neither of the other wives dared to interfere beyond an occasional and tentative. 'There is something ominous behind the silence. "and yet he is full of sorrow because he has come to live in his motherland for a few years. He asked Okagbue to come up and rest while he took a hand."When they had cut the goats' throats and collected the blood in a bowl. I think.

and when he got home he went straight to Okonkwo's hut and told him what he had seen. If you had been a coward. Almost immediately the women came in with a big bowl of foo-foo. and sometimes two rainbows. She gave the dish to her father's eldest brother and then shook hands. It all began over the question of admitting outcasts. and in a basket beside her were green vegetables and beans. I knew your father. "Kill one of your sons for me. There was a famine in those days and Tortoise had not eaten a good meal for two moons. and tears stood in his eyes. Unoka. "I have heard that many years ago. the priestess. her voice cracking like the angry bark of thunder in the dry season. who laughed uneasily because." said one of the younger men." He paused for a long while. Okonkwo. The sound of her benumbed steps seemed to come from some other person walking behind her. He always said that whenever he saw a dead man's mouth he saw the folly of not eating what one had in one's lifetime.

And then it became known that the white man's fetish had unbelievable power. was a man's crop. His mother had wept bitterly. burning forehead. 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. Okonkwo took up his goatskin bag to go. And so they walked out together. He had court messengers who brought men to him for trial. They were all fully dressed as if they were going to a big clan meeting or to pay a visit to a neighboring village. When the will of the goddess had been done.Nneka had had four previous pregnancies and child-births.Okagbue went back into the pit. their hoes and machetes. Sometimes when he went to big village meetings or communal ancestral feasts he allowed Ikemefuna to accompany him." he said.When the rain finally came. And then came the clap of thunder. But he always found fault with their effort. The fire did not burn with a flame."Where is Ojiugo?" he asked his second wife.He was tall but very thin and had a slight stoop.

But his fondness only showed on very rare occasions. 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. They danced back to the center together and then closed in. Ogbuefi Ugonna had thought of the Feast in terms of eating and drinking. He stepped forward. This was one of the lighter tasks of the after-harvest season. You have a manly and a proud heart. forty."Come and show me the exact spot. but so great was the work the new religion had done among the converts that they did not immediately leave the church when the outcasts came in. as you know. the king of crops.There were seven drums and they were arranged according to their sizes in a long wooden basket. whereupon his father beat him heavily. If the clan had disobeyed the Oracle they would surely have been beaten. go in peace. This year they were the wise ones."But this particular night was dark and silent. The suitor just goes on bringing bags of cowries until his in-laws tell him to stop. Nwakibie sent for his wives. In ordinary life Chielo was a widow with two children.

"Ezinma ran in the direction of the barn and brought back two yams from the dwarf wall.The sun rose slowly to the center of the sky.Just then the distant beating of drums began to reach them."I beg you to accept this little kola.Okonkwo was inwardly pleased at his son's development. The spirit of wars was upon them. The sickness was an abomination to the earth.'Ask my dead father if he ever had a fowl when he was alive. If we put ourselves between the god and his victim we may receive blows intended for the offender. They sang the latest song in the village:" If I hold her handShe says. But Unoka was such a man that he always succeeded in borrowing more. Gome. But everybody knew that he was going to die and Aneto got his belongings together in readiness to flee. They argued for a short while and fell into silence again. And so it was time for the final ceremony of confession. At his age I was already fending for myself. He had cracked them himself. That also is true. emerged from her hut. And then like the sound of his cannon he crashed on the compound." she replied.

and turned to his sons and daughters. But as the dog said.Before it was dusk Ezeani. but Okonkwo was as slippery as a fish in water. He had a large barn full of yams and he had three wives. Kiaga had asked the women to bring red earth and white chalk and water to scrub the church for Easter. Yam. and its priests and medicine men were feared in all the surrounding country. to harvest cassava tubers. i fear for the clan. or ndichie. It was a full gathering of umuada. They seemed to forget all about him as soon as they had taken the decision. "There must be a reason for it. The woman was Mgbafo and the three men with her were her brothers. They too sat just in front of the huge circle of spectators. and they began to go back the way they had come. he beat her again so that if the neighbors had not gone in to save her she would have been killed. the wife of Amadi. just beyond the borders of Mbaino. Anyone who knew his grim struggle against poverty and misfortune could not say he had been lucky.