to dry and fire was then set to it. But in spite of these disadvantages. and in the end they were received by them They asked for a plot of land to build on. Ezinma.

Earth's emissary
Earth's emissary. He hoped to get another four hundred yams from one of his father's friends at Isiuzo. Nwakibie sent for his wives."There is one important thing which we must not forget. Do you hear that. It was said that they had built a place of judgment in Umuofia to protect the followers of their religion. After that nothing happened for a long time between the church and the clan.Ezinma did not call her mother Nne like all children."No. "I have even heard that in some tribes a man's children belong to his wife and her family. But it is not so. trembling. he had already put aside his goatskin bag and his big cloth and was in his underwear. and gave it to Ibe to fill. she was in close communion with the departed fathers of the clan whose bodies had been committed to earth.But apart from the church. He began to wonder why he had felt uneasy at all. He was quite different. They all have food in their own homes. He exchanged greetings with Okonkwo and led the way into his obi. Thirty.

"If you had been poor in your last life I would have asked you to be rich when you come again. In the end Parrot. But when he reached Tortoise's house he told his wife to bring out all the hard things in the house.There were seven men in Obierika's hut when Okonkwo returned. Idigo was the man who knew how to grind good snuff. The other four black men were also their brothers. came first. and as it dwelt on it." said Okonkwo. during the last harvest season. But no one who had ever crawled into his awful shrine had come out without the fear of his power. all the same. Ani. Ukegbu counted them. "You are our teacher." said Obierika. Chielo passed by."The market of Umuike is a wonderful place. when he saw Nwoye among the Christians. He was light in complexion and his eyes were red and fiery. She just jogged along in a half-sleep.

what did the mother of this duckling say when you swooped and carried its child away?' 'It said nothing. they could gather firewood together for roasting the ones that would be eaten there on the farm. There was no festival in all the seasons of the year which gave her as much pleasure as the wrestling match."Get me a pot. confident voice. She remembered that night. she could bear no other person but her father."Ekwefi went to bring the pot and Okonkwo selected the best from his bundle. He would now have to make a bigger farm." Okonkwo threatened. Some of them were very violent. Okonkwo.As the men ate and drank palm-wine they talked about the customs of their neighbors. A sickly odor hung in the air wherever he went. and also a drinking gourd. in turn. and they. And what is the result? Their clan is full of the evil spirits of these unburied dead. especially at festivals and also when an old man died. But as he flew home his long talon pierced the leaves and the rain fell as it had never fallen before. Only then did she realize.

" said Okagbue. I fear for you. Even Mgbafo took to her heels and had to be restrained by her brothers. seeing that the new religion welcomed twins and such abominations. "How much longer do you think you will live?" she asked. but not overmuch. Nothing happened at its proper time. I fear for you. He pressed the trigger and there was a loud report accompanied by the wail of his wives and children. occasionally feeling with her palm the wet. stood immediately behind the only gate in the red walls. and she guessed they must be on the village ilo. Every nerve and every muscle stood out on their arms."Umezulike."Where else but in his house in the hills and the caves?" replied the priestess." said his daughter Ezinma when she brought the food to him. A great evil has come upon their land as the Oracle had warned. and two days later he returned home with a lad of fifteen and a young virgin. who will hold his head up among my people.""The world is large. Why is that? Your mother was brought home to me and buried with my people.

the priestess of Agbala. But when she finally appeared holding a cock in her right hand." Okonkwo thundered."Odukwe was short and thickset."Come and show me the exact spot. As soon as he left. and after that the dry season. among the missionaries in Umuofia. returning. and two others after her."Where is Mgbogo?" asked one of them. Di-go-go-di-go-di-di-go-go floated in the message-laden night air.As the man who had cleared his throat drew up and raised his machete.Qkonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. I shall break your jaw. In ordinary life Chielo was a widow with two children.Ezeudu had been the oldest man in his village. You know as well as I do that our forefathers ordained that before we plant any crops in the earth we should observe a week in which a man does not say a harsh word to his neighbor. and any time he passed her way he told Ear that he was still alive. and Ekwefi recoiled."He does not know that either.

The crowd burst into a thunderous roar." he said as he broke it. The bride's mother led the way.That was years ago. Such a man was Ogbuefi Ugonna." said Okonkwo's voice. And there he stood in his hard shell full of food and wine but without any wings to fly home. is a beast. and washed away the yam heaps. The spirit of wars was upon them. and there was a murmur of surprise and disagreement. if it lost its tail it soon grew another. why it is that one of the commonest names we give our children is Nneka. yellow and dark green.It was late afternoon before Nwoye returned.On the following morning the entire neighborhood wore a festive air because Okonkwo's friend. Ezinma? You are older than Obiageli but she has more sense. the priestess of Agbala. But he was not the man to go about telling his neighbors that he was in error. Maduka. It was slow and painful.

the grown-up." replied Okonkwo.""Somebody told me yesterday."It was only this morning. The bush was alive with the tread of feet on dry leaves and sticks and the moving aside of tree branches. the whole clan gathers there. called the converts the excrement of the clan. The harvest was over. "I warned Nwankwo to keep a sharp eye and a sharp ear. She rose. and she was greatly feared. She miscarried after she had gone to sleep with her lover. They throw away large numbers of men and women without burial. It was a very good wine and powerful. Even the very little children seemed to know. confident voice. Last year neither of them had thrown the other even though the judges had allowed the contest to go on longer than was the custom. "We have been sent by this great God to ask you to leave your wicked ways and false gods and turn to Him so that you may be saved when you die. There were nine of them. The oldest member of this extensive family was Okonkwo's uncle. And so he was always happy when he heard him grumbling about women.

cutting down every tree or animal they saw. But he had long learned how to lay that ghost. in a cleared spot. and she put all her being into it. But the one knew what the other was thinking. buoyant maiden. But her love of wrestling contests was still as strong as it was thirty years ago. blew into it to remove any dust that might be there. But they have cast you out like lepers. but even now they have not found the mouth with which to tell of their suffering. When he began again. "I dislike cold water dropping on my back."Listen to me." he intoned. 'She should have been a boy. She had married Anene because Okonkwo was too poor then to marry. conversing with his father in low tones. no one could kill them without having to flee from the clan. "Who will drink the dregs?" he asked. I implore you. may Agbala shave your head with a blunt razor! May he twist your neck until you see your heels!"Ekwefi stood rooted to the spot.

""Too much of his grandfather. Was it waiting to snap its teeth together? After passing and re-passing by the church.And now the rains had really come. It was an occasion for giving thanks to Ani." said Okonkwo. Once he got up from bed and walked about his compound.Ikemefuna came to Umuofia at the end of the carefree season between harvest and planting. Hisspeech was so eloquent that all the birds were glad they had brought him. and earth rose. The seven wasted and weary years were at last dragging to a close. "But I have also heard that Abame people were weak and foolish. and a great land case began. who saw only its back with the many-colored patterns and drawings done by specially chosen women at regular intervals.- he was full of cunning. All was silent. and Okonkwo filled his horn again.The next morning the crazy men actually began to clear a part of the forest and to build their house. That was not luck." She died in her eleventh month. his half-sister.Evil Forest began to speak and all the while he spoke everyone was silent.

persistent and unchanging. They have said so. or playground. The iron horse was still tied to the sacred silk-cotton tree.""Your chi is very much awake."They say that Okoli killed the sacred python. As for the boy." Okonkwo agreed. He is an exile."Akueke moved to the other end of the hut and began to remove the waist-beads. Then the bride. and who like a madman had cut the anklet of his titles and cast it away to join the Christians. Tortoise stood up in his many-colored plumage and thanked them for their invitation. and each hut seen from the others looked like a soft eye of yellow half-light set in the solid massiveness of night.' said the birds when they had heard him. The elders of the clan replied. have no toes." 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. perhaps for the first time. which was strengthened by such little conspiracies as eating eggs in the bedroom."Yes.

beginning with the eldest man. He was in fact an outcast. the priestess. She stood for a while. The medicine man ignored him. had gone to consult Agbala.""I was only speaking in jest."The birds gathered round to eat what was left and to peck at the bones he had thrown all about the floor.- he was full of cunning. carrying the stamp of their mutilation??a missing finger or perhaps a dark line where the medicine man's razor had cut them. Instead of saying "myself" he always said "my buttocks." asked another man."She has gone to plait her hair.""There is no story that is not true. Ikemefuna came into Okonkwo's household. But you are still a child. He could not take any of the four titles of the clan. Ekwefi hurried to the main footpath and turned left in the direction of the voice. and they had been immediately thrown away. But somehow he knew he was not going to see them. Uzowulu.

urging the others to hurry up. moved to the center."I beg you to accept this little kola. each brought her bowl of foo-foo and bowl of soup to her husband." replied Uzowulu. "One of the young children had opened the gate of the cow-shed. He made him feel grown-up. Obierika sent word that the two huts had been built and Okonkwo began to prepare for his return. All the grass had long been scorched brown. you and me and all of us. away from the crowd.They sat in a big circle on the ground and the young bride in the center with a hen in her right hand. woman." said Okonkwo. Some of them came over to see for themselves. Why was that?"Okonkwo shook his head. not even with broomsticks. and it seemed now as if it was happening all over again. The ancient drums of death beat. In the end Parrot. Do not bear a hand in his death.

the priest of the earth goddess." said Ekwefi. He was still young but he had won fame as the greatest wrestler in the nine villages. He breathed heavily. the farthest village in the clan. But they were still alive.Yam. of course. The custom here is to serve the spokesman first and the others later. who walked away and never returned. Okonkwo remembered his own father. Okonkwo. Some of them had been heavily whipped." said Okonkwo. Marriage should be a play and not a fight so we are falling down again. Ikezue strove to dig in his right heel behind Okafo so as to pitch him backwards in the clever ege style."What happened?" her mother asked. The children were also decorated.In this way the moons and the seasons passed. Even the sacred fish in their mysterious lake have fled and the lake has turned the color of blood. but they never brought them into the village.

Many people went out with baskets trying to catch them. and as if in sympathy the smoldering log also sighed. He sighed again. It was not the mad logic of the Trinity that captivated him. tapped it on his kneecap."That is not the end of the story. dressed in garbs of war. Yam foo-foo and vegetable soup was the chief food in the celebration. "All the gods you have named are not gods at all. "is it true that when people are grown up."The white man's court has decided that it should belong to Nnama's family. like splitting wood."Where else but in his house in the hills and the caves?" replied the priestess. 1 know you will not despair. And they might also have noticed that Okonkwo was not among the titled men and elders who sat behind the row of egwugwu. and although it had not yet appeared on the sky its light had already melted down the darkness. and so the victim could not be buried in her bowels. took a long broom and swept the ground in front of his father's obi. but not overmuch. and the burial was near. Okonkwo had gone to a medicine man.

children sought for shelter."Why do you stand there as though she had been kidnapped?" asked Okonkwo as he went back to his hut. the owner of all land.- and in this way the cover was strengthened on the wall."I sometimes think he is too sharp. 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. and he loved the first kites that returned with the dry season. and they no longer spent the evenings in his mother's hut while she cooked.Then the tragedy of his first son had occurred."He sprang to his feet. came into the obi from outside. He would return later to his mother and his brothers and sisters and convert them to the new faith. He always gnashed his teeth as he listened to those who came to consult him.It was well known among the people of Mbanta that their gods and ancestors were sometimes long-suffering and would deliberately allow a man to go on defying them. her left palm closed on her fish and her eyes gleaming with tears. Somewhere a man was taking one of the titles of his clan. "So you must finish this. The dark top soil soon gave way to the bright red earth with which women scrubbed the floors and walls of huts. there was no other way. The yams he had sown before the drought were his own. "Beware.

Why did they not fight back? Had they no guns and machetes? We would be cowards lo compare ourselves with the men of Abame. and all the rest rushed away to see the cow that had been let loose. On Obierika's side were his two elder brothers and Maduka. She will be a good wife to you." he swore. It was slow and painful. She often called her Ezigbo."Don't you know what kind of man Uzowulu is? He will not listen to any other decision. the matter lies between him and the god. and he loved this season of the year." he mocked. in a body. Ezinma sneezed.""All their customs are upside-down. But she picked her way easily on the sandy footpath hedged on either side by branches and damp leaves. Worshippers and those who came to seek knowledge from the god crawled on their belly through the hole and found themselves in a dark. But he had long learned how to lay that ghost. She pulled again and it came off. and we would be like Abame. the Oracle of the Hills and Caves. "Amadiora will break your head for you!"Some days later.

" said Obierika."I wish she were a boy.But Mr.The youngest of Uchendu's five sons. lest he strike you in his anger. with which he carried the brown snuff to his nostrils. "Your wife was at fault. and even now he could still hear it as it grew dimmer and dimmer in the distance. go to the church and wipe out the entire vile and miscreant gang. Another one was wailing near his right ear. the Creator of all the world and all the men and women." said Ofoedu. I would sooner strangle him with my own hands.Okonkwo brought out his snuff-bottle and offered it to Ogbuefi Ezenwa." he mocked. "Welcome. 'Don't touch!' If i hold her footShe says. It is a bad custom which these people observe because they lack understanding. He searched his bag again and brought out a small. They were both Uzowulu's neighbors. Mr.

" and was allowed to go wherever it chose. There were only four titles in the clan. There were many women. But they were still alive. It filled him with fire as it had always done from his youth.After the death of Ekwefi's second child."Ekwefi turned the hen over in the mortar and began to pluck the feathers. "lest Agbala be angry with you. He therefore treated Ikemefuna as he treated everybody else - with a heavy hand. Okonkwo got ready quickly and the party set out with Ikemefuna carrying the pot of wine. looking at the position of the sun. She then went down on one knee. Nwoye's mother thanked her and she went back to her mother's hut. He would now have to make a bigger farm."You must take him to salute our father.He is fit to be a slave. He hoped to get another four hundred yams from one of his father's friends at Isiuzo. It was a great feast."Yes. Uchendu. if a child washed his hands he could eat with kings.

The priestess' voice came at longer intervals now."Thank you. One morning three of them came to my house. It was on the seventh day that he died. Chielo's voice now came after long intervals. His visitor was amazed. Obierika pointed at the two heavy bags. He asked the birds to take a message for his wife." Altogether there were fifty pots of wine. and at the end he had been taken out and handed over to a stranger.There were seven drums and they were arranged according to their sizes in a long wooden basket. It rose and faded with the wind??a peaceful dance from a distant clan.""It is indeed true."He uncovered his second wife's dish and began to eat from it. And at last the locusts did descend.Gradually the rains became lighter and less frequent. Nwoye's callow mind was greatly puzzled.-but the more he tried the more he thought about him. when Ogbuefi Ezeudu came in. carried him shoulder high and danced through the cheering crowd. He could neither marry nor be married by the free-born.

But a few years later she ran away from her husband and came to live with Okonkwo."There was immediate excitement and those who were sitting jumped to their feet. You. When he walked. sang for mercy."The crowd roared with laughter. The troublesome nanny-goat sniffed about. Evil Forest rose to his feet and order was immediately restored. But two years later when a son was born he called him Nwofia??"Begotten in the Wilderness. He did not understand it. The poor and unknown would not dare to come forth. I salute you. "1 told you. but he did not answer. "Our own men and our sons have joined the ranks of the stranger."The market of Umuike is a wonderful place. what do I do? Do i shut my eyes? No! I take a stick and break his head That is what a man does. you sow your yams on exhausted farms that take no labor to clear. and so everyone in his family listened. and he knew that his father wanted him to be a man. And so although Okonkwo was still young.

as usual.' Those men of Abame were fools. It might happen again this year. and they no longer spent the evenings in his mother's hut while she cooked. or "Mother is Supreme?" We all know that a man is the head of the family and his wives do his bidding. he was at a loss. Okonkwo. Let her go and stay with her people.She had prayed for the moon to rise. and long stacks of yam stood out prosperously in it. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness.As the broken kola nuts were passed round.Okonkwo did as the priest said. Ezinma was always surprised that her mother could lift a pot from the fire with her bare hands. He had been a great and fearless warrior in his time. was a widely-traveled man who knew the customs of different peoples. Ekwefi mopped her with a piece of cloth and she lay down on a dry mat and was soon asleep. The cut bush was left to dry and fire was then set to it. But in spite of these disadvantages. and in the end they were received by them They asked for a plot of land to build on. Ezinma.