your waist.One day a neighbor called Okoye came in to see him. and a little hoe for digging out the tuber. Then everything had been broken.

" said Ekwefi
" said Ekwefi. It is not bravery when a man fights with a woman. Ani played a greater part in the life of the people than any other diety. so that even when it was said that a ceremony would begin "after the midday meal" everyone understood that it would begin a long time later. he belonged to the clan as a whole. He then adjusted his cloth.Everybody at the kindred meeting took sides with Osugo when Okonkwo called him a woman. calling him "Our father. and who like a madman had cut the anklet of his titles and cast it away to join the Christians. Those were good days when a man had friends in distant clans. lasted only a brief moment. He looked at each yam carefully to see whether it was good for sowing. Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men had. The medicine man ignored him." He prayed especially for Okonkwo and his family. He was greatly surprised. Ekwefi's mind went back to the days when they were young. and of the forces of nature. Unfortunately for her Okonkwo heard it and ran madly into his room for the loaded gun. but every farmer knew that without sunshine the tubers would not grow. "And these white men.

Chielo's voice now came after long intervals. But the arrivees persevered. And so Okonkwo was ruled by one passion - to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved. In the end he decided that Nnadi must live in that land of Ikemefuna's favorite story where the ant holds his court in splendor and the sands dance forever. Soon it covered half the sky. And so he is bowed with grief. When all was laid out." he said sadly. "If I had a son like him I should be happy. as usual. But Ekwefi was not thinking about that. and brought back a duckling. But she had lived so long that perhaps she had decided to stay. came to visit him. Every child loved the harvest season. that Chielo had stopped her chanting. And they began to shoot. "What about you? Can you answer my question?"They all shook their heads. in spite of his failings in other directions. 'You are full of cunning and you are ungrateful. A mighty wind arose and filled the air with dust.

Then it went nearer and named the village: " Iguedo of the yellow grinding-stone!" It was Okonkwo's village. and when he got home he went straight to Okonkwo's hut and told him what he had seen. and so they made them that offer which nobody in his right senses would accept. his back shining with perspiration.She did not know how long she waited. It was clear that the bags were full of cowries.One day a neighbor called Okoye came in to see him. But it was as silly as all women's stories. tears gushed from her eyes. The glowing logs only served to light up vaguely the dark figure of the priestess. In Umuofia's latest war he was the first to bring home a human head."No. They sang his praise and the young women clapped their hands:"Who will wrestle for our village?Okafo will wrestle for our village. called round his neighbors and made merry. and he saw himself taking the highest title in the land. and hung their goatskin bags and sheathed machetes over their left shoulders. and it was his firmness that saved the young church." he said." said Obierika. Guns fired the last salute and the cannon rent the sky. He had lost the chance to lead his warlike clan against the new religion.

He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart. As the Ibo say: "When the moon is shining the cripple becomes hungry for a walk. He could hear in his mind's ear the blood-stirring and intricate rhythms of the ekwe and the udu and the ogene. and a powerful flute blew a high-pitched blast. of course. It was a deep bag and took almost the whole length of his arm. It was a very expensive ceremony and he was gathering all his resources together. and during this time Okonkwo's fame had grown like a bush-fire in the harmattan." But she could not. And what made it worse in Okonkwo's case was that he had to support his mother and two sisters from his meagre harvest.And so the neighboring clans who naturally knew of these things feared Umuofia. They came to discover what the future held for them or to consult the spirits of their departed fathers. 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. If any money came his way. "It is not to pay you back for all you did for me in these seven years. And then the locusts came. "What we are eating is finished. and they began to go back the way they had come. Those who were big enough to carry even a few yams in a tiny basket went with grown-ups to the farm. called on Okonkwo in his obi. But it only lasted till the end of the service.

and as it dwelt on it. every man with his goatskin bag hung on one shoulder and a rolled goatskin mat under his arm. They were possessed by the spirit of the drums. and the crowd answered. a debtor. He had therefore put his drinking-horn into his goatskin bag for the occasion.""All their customs are upside-down."Two years ago. on the other hand. The happy voices of children playing in open fields would then be heard. Living fire begets cold.' said her mother. The troublesome nanny-goat sniffed about. I did not send her away. "Okoli told me himself that it was false. A toad does not run in the daytime for nothing. He passed them over to his eldest brother. as husbands' wives were wont to. On his head were two powerful horns. Two judges walked around the wrestlers and when they thought they were equally matched. When the moon rose late in the night.

his back shining with perspiration."Ogbuefi Ndulue of Ire village. But before he could answer. One morning three of them came to my house. Gome. He looked terrible with the smoked raffia "body. But there was one woman who had no doubt whatever in her mind. and they were merely her messengers. Obierika's second wife followed with a pot of soup. We put our fingers into our ears to stop us hearing. Now and again the cannon boomed. who was a prosperous farmer."The two men sat in silence for a long while afterwards. Ezinma sneezed. 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. which was strengthened by such little conspiracies as eating eggs in the bedroom. He did not understand it. It was a very good wine and powerful. for that was his father's name. 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. waving their palm fronds.

It was even heard in the surrounding villages.""They were fools. As soon as he heard of the great feast in the sky his throat began to itch at the very thought.""But they are beating the drums. fire does not burn them?" Ezinma. And then like the sound of his cannon he crashed on the compound." asked Obierika.Okonkwo cleared his throat and moved his feet to the beat of the drums. like learning to become left-handed in old age. Okonkwo had slaughtered a goat for her."I don't know why such a trifle should come before the said one elder to another. You buried it in the ground somewhere so that you can die and return again to torment your mother. impotent ash. And so Tortoise ate the best part of the food and then drank two pots of palm-wine. gome. and the others to the chalk quarry." Okonkwo made a sound full of disgust. And so Nwoye was developing into a sad-faced youth. And so Nwoye was developing into a sad-faced youth.'"'You do not know me. He therefore treated Ikemefuna as he treated everybody else - with a heavy hand.

"Ee-e-e!"The kola was eaten and the drinking of palm-wine began. It was like the desire for woman. nearly all the osu in Mbanta followed their example. and sent for the missionaries. It was a different woman??the priestess of Agbala."Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?" Okagbue had asked Ezinma.It came slowly. "They had been warned that danger was ahead."The two outcasts shaved off their hair. and the burial was near. She nodded. 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.""Uzowulu's body. There was coming and going between them. But there was no doubt that he liked the boy. He shrugged his shoulders and went away to tap his afternoon palm-wine. "Kill one of your sons for me. She was very heavy with child. in the same way as they would meet if a death occurred . "You have offended neither the gods nor your fathers." and on each occasion he faced a different direction and seemed to push the air with a clenched fist.

They sat in a half-moon."No. her voice cracking like the angry bark of thunder in the dry season. and all the rest rushed away to see the cow that had been let loose. They called him the little bird nza who so far forgot himself after a heavy meal that he challenged his chi. He was tall and huge.Okonkwo's wives. These people are daily pouring filth over us. But she had grown so bitter about her own chi that she could not rejoice with others over their good fortune. "We should do something. do you know me?""How can I know you."It should be ready in four days or even three. Everybody in the crowd was talking. Whenever Nwoye's mother sang this song he felt carried away to the distant scene in the sky where Vulture. who had given much money to the white man's messengers and interpreter." said Obierika. If he had killed Ikemefuna during the busy planting season or harvesting it would not have been so bad. and evil fortune followed him to the grave. Of all his children she alone understood his every mood. Dum! Dum! Dum! boomed the cannon at intervals.As Okonkwo sat in his hut that night.

But her love of wrestling contests was still as strong as itUGG Genuine Boots was thirty years ago. Some of them will even ride the iron horse themselves."At last the hen was plucked clean. whom she called her daughter. The happy voices of children playing in open fields would then be heard. and they were merely her messengers. But let us drink the wine first. and soon returned with a bowl of cool water from the earthen pot in her mother's hut. Sometimes another village would ask Unoka's band and their dancing egwugwu to come and stay with them and teach them their tunes. She had about three teeth and was always smoking her pipe. which were black with soot. and many farmers wept as they dug up the miserable and rotting yams. That was not luck. But almost immediately a shout of joy broke out in all directions."At last the hen was plucked clean. Nwoye had heard that twins were put in earthenware pots and thrown away in the forest. But Ezinma had seen clearly all the thought and hidden meaning behind the few words. was a very exacting king. They thought the priestess might be going to her house. But it would be impolite to rush him." said Uchendu.

These sudden bouts of sickness and health were typical of her kind. which had been stretched taut with excitement. Those were good days when a man had friends in distant clans. Only a few of them saw these white men and their followers.Okonkwo was inwardly pleased at his son's development. When the youngest wife went to call her again to be present at the washing of the body. They scrubbed and painted the outside walls under the supervision of men. How else could they say that Ani and Amadiora were harmless? And Idemili and Ogwugwu too? And some of them began to go away. And so. the priest of the earth goddess." he said. Before the day was over he was dead. He also took with him a pot of palm-wine. The women had come to the church with empty waterpots.His father. When they saw it they drove it back to its owner.But Ekwefi did not hear these consolations. Not long after.And then quite suddenly a shadow fell on the world. He rounded off his prayer and went to see what it was all about. guttural and awesome.

I have done my best to make Nwoye grow into a man.During the planting season Okonkwo worked daily on his farms from cock-crow until the chickens went to roost. It was a sad miscalculation. and in its place a sort of smile hovered. They surged forward as the two young men danced into the circle. and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten. What she had seen was the shape of a man climbing a palm tree. The three white men and a very large number of other men surrounded the market." He drank his palm-wine. The Ibo evangelists consulted among themselves and decided that the man probably meant bicycle.Okonkwo remembered that tragic year with a cold shiver throughout the rest of his life. And then like the sound of his cannon he crashed on the compound. The white man had gone back to Umuofia. and most of them never did because they died too young - before they could be asked questions. picking his words with great care:"It is Okonkwo that 1 primarily wish to speak to. and asked Okonkwo to have a word with him outside. "and yet he is full of sorrow because he has come to live in his motherland for a few years. Nwoye went to his mother's hut and told her that Ikemefuna was going home."The birds gathered round to eat what was left and to peck at the bones he had thrown all about the floor. "Life to you.One morning Okonkwo's cousin.

and brought back a duckling. He exchanged greetings with Okonkwo and led the way into his obi." He paused. But tonight she was addressing her prophecy and greetings to Okonkwo."Uzowulu's body. It was a little village called Mbanta. Okonkwo pleaded with her to come back in the morning because Ezinma was now asleep. in fact. Thirty. The earth burned like hot coals and roasted all the yams that had been sown. seeing that the new religion welcomed twins and such abominations. Her suitor and his relatives surveyed her young body with expert eyes as if to assure themselves that she was beautiful and ripe. She has the right spirit. as was the custom. and Ekwefi asked Nwoye's mother and Ojiugo to explain to Obierika's wife that she would be late. as was the custom. And what was more. He was like the man in the song who had ten and one wives and not enough soup for his foo-foo. there was no other way."Is Anasi not in?" he asked them. whom they had asked to leave them for a while so that they might "whisper together.

The rains had come and yams had been sown. Nwoye's mother is already cooking. Nothing happened at its proper time. The first day passed and the second and third and fourth. "Every day I tell you that jigida and fire are not friends. or the children of Eru. Okonkwo rose to speak. These men must be mad. The daughters of the clan did not return to their homes immediately but spent two more days with their kinsmen. But Ekwefi could not see her. "They want to ruin us. sandy footway began to throw up the heat that lay buried in it.""But he had no wings." The man who had contradicted him had no titles."He uncovered his second wife's dish and began to eat from it. and the meeting continued. whose feeling of importance was manifest in her sprightly walk. Okonkwo got ready quickly and the party set out with Ikemefuna carrying the pot of wine. The clan was worried. she prayed a thousand times. And then after another lifetime these men opened the caves again and the locusts came to Umuofia.

in silence. and the sands felt like live coals to the feet. As soon as the two boys closed in. who drank a cup or two each. How could she know that Ekwefi's bitterness did not flow outwards to others but inwards into her own soul. because it had been inadvertent."When did you become a shivering old woman. and on the other the offer of a young man and a virgin as compensation. It was a different woman??the priestess of Agbala. If you are sending him on an errand he flies away before he has heard half of the message. Many young men have come to me to ask for yams but I have refused because I knew they would just dump them in the earth and leave them to be choked by weeds. Then the group drank. and because of their ash-colored shorts they earned the additional name of Ashy Buttocks. He had an old rusty gun made by a clever blacksmith who had come to live in Umuofta long ago.""Let us not reason like cowards. She went back to the hut and brought her pot." said Okonkwo's voice. The neighbors and Okonkwo's wives were now talking."Where have you been?" he stammered. These people are daily pouring filth over us. And you.

" said Okonkwo. It looked like whispering. Neither of the other wives had. I implore you. "You have offended neither the gods nor your fathers. They had something to say for every man." Obierika again drank a little of his wine. he was terribly afraid. Okonkwo wondered what was amiss. but offered to use his teeth. 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.Uchendu took the hen from her."Every year. Obiageli. It was a brief resting period between the exacting and arduous planting season and the equally exacting but light-hearted month of harvests. carrying a pot of palm-wine on his head. drank a little and handed back the horn. and his face beamed. and sleepy. The chalk women also returned to tell a similar story. but inwardly they were happy for what they took to be their own foresight.

in the same way as they would meet if a death occurred . Nwoye's mother thanked her and she went back to her mother's hut.""Why?" asked Obierika and Okonkwo together. when Okonkwo's in-laws began to leave for their homes The second day of the new year was the day of the great wrestling match between Okonkwo's village and their neighbors." He got up painfully. Nwoye's mother thanked her and she went back to her mother's hut. He changed them every day.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. They then set about painting themselves with cam wood and drawing beautiful black patterns on their stomachs and on their backs. Unoka was able to give an answer between fresh outbursts of mirth.- they all fled in terror. and stammered. He accepted the half-full horn from his brother and drank it."Ezeudu was a great man. and during this time Okonkwo's fame had grown like a bush-fire in the harmattan. Cam wood was rubbed lightly into her skin."They say that Okoli killed the sacred python. they could gather firewood together for roasting the ones that would be eaten there on the farm. Hisspeech was so eloquent that all the birds were glad they had brought him. pulled out his staff and thrust it into the earth again."We are at last getting somewhere.

The crime was of two kinds."At last the hen was plucked clean. But this is a matter which we know. they talked about everything except the thing for which they had gathered. All this happened many years ago. He had been cast out of his clan like a fish onto a dry. Uchendu.'"Parrot promised to deliver the message. Okonkwo. How could he know that his father had taken a hand in killing a daughter of Umuofia? All he knew was that a few men had arrived at their house." he said.All this anthill activity was going smoothly when a sudden interruption came. She was already beginning to doubt the wisdom of her coming. ran out again and aimed at her as she clambered over the dwarf wall of the barn. Groups of four or five men sat round with a pot in their midst. "Are you mad?"Okonkwo did not answer. No woman ever asked questions about the most powerful and the most secret cult in the clan. "We are going directly. only waking to full life when Chielo sang. The people surged forward. Some of them were accompanied by their sons bearing carved wooden stools.

A great evil has come upon their land as the Oracle had warned." Okonkwo was surprised. She just jogged along in a half-sleep.Okonkwo sprang from his bed.Ekwefi ladled her husband's share of the pottage into a bowl and covered it. and we expected a big feast. Okonkwo rose to speak. and long stacks of yam stood out prosperously in it. that Chielo had stopped her chanting. and he sought to correct him by constant nagging and beating. That was why he had called him a woman. "She should have been a boy. took out two leaves and began to chew them. to honor the earth goddess and the ancestral spirits of the clan." he said. He then installed his personal god and the symbols of his departed fathers. how he had often wandered around looking for a kite sailing leisurely against the blue sky. Perhaps she has come to stay. gazing into a log fire. and his eyes were red and fierce like the eyes of a rat when it was caught by the tail and dashed against the floor. Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down.

and his happiest moments were the two or three moons after the harvest when the village musicians brought down their instruments. The two judges were already moving forward to separate them when Ikezue. He searched his bag and brought out his snuff-bottle. She wore the anklet of her husband's titles. and the burial was near. Sometimes another village would ask Unoka's band and their dancing egwugwu to come and stay with them and teach them their tunes.They came in the cold harmattan season after the harvests had been gathered. The huge voice of the crowd then rose to the sky and in every direction. who had risen so suddenly from great poverty and misfortune to be one of the lords of the clan. They only saw the red earth he threw up mounting higher and higher. He then roused Ezinma and placed her on the stool. drank a little and handed back the horn. shiny pebble fell out.The New Yam Festival was thus an occasion for joy throughout Umuofia. beat him up and took our sister and her children away." Ezinma pointed out." said Uchendu"I swear."They are here. How else could they say that Ani and Amadiora were harmless? And Idemili and Ogwugwu too? And some of them began to go away. At an early age he had achieved fame as the greatest wrestler in all the land. "Which is this god of yours.

He fell and fell and fell until he began to fear that he would never stop falling. I cannot live on the bank of a river and wash my hands with spittle. The ill-fated lad was called Ikemefuna. And the other boy was flat on his back. and sat speechless. or God's house. Neither of the other wives had."Okonkwo thanked him again and again and went home feeling happy. The drums begin at noon but the wrestling waits until the sun begins to sink. Now you talk about his son."Tell my wife. It was Nwoye's mother. "do you not grow yams where you come from?"Inwardly Okonkwo knew that the boys were still too young to understand fully the difficult art of preparing seed-yams. 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. the one young and beautiful. now desperate. But you lived long. One of these days your jigida will catch fire on your waist.One day a neighbor called Okoye came in to see him. and a little hoe for digging out the tuber. Then everything had been broken.