the village with whips there would be no peace. like the snapping of a tightened bow."Who are the young men with you?" he asked as he sat down again on his goatskin.

You may have heard of the title I intend to take shortly
You may have heard of the title I intend to take shortly. you have become a woman indeed.But somehow Okonkwo could never become as enthusiastic over feasts as most people. "it is this eyelid. So he waited impatiently for the dry season to come. Many of these messengers came from Umuru on the bank of the Great River.""Oho. They all wore smoked raffia skirts and their bodies were painted with chalk and charcoal. Some said Ezimili. and I am happy you have come to see us. He had court messengers who brought men to him for trial. It was a story of brothers who lived in darkness and in fear. To crown it all he had taken two titles and had shown incredible prowess in two inter-tribal wars. Then came the voices of the egwugwu. Then all Umuofia turned out in spite of the cold harmattan. I would have asked you to get life. Our hosts in the sky will expect us to honor this age-old custom. The words of the hymn were like the drops of frozen rain melting on the dry palate of the panting earth. when he slept.

"Agbala do-o-o-o! Umuachi! Agbala ekene unuo-o-ol" It was just as Ekwefi had thought. Ezinma. and on her waist four or five rows of jigida. he is telling a lie. I want you to be there. so heavy and persistent that even the village rain-maker no longer claimed to be able to intervene. she has told me about it.""He tapped three of my best palm trees to death. They should have armed themselves with their guns and their machetes even when they went to market. But he always found fault with their effort."Yes. where he built his headquarters and from where he paid regular visits to Mr. At the end of it Okonkwo was fully convinced that the man was mad. stood near the edge of the pit because he wanted to take in all that happened. I clear the bush and set fire to it when it is dry. living in a special area of the village.""We have seen it. he had stalked his victim. The two voices disappeared into the thick darkness.

one hen. An evil forest was. "How dare you. and Ezinma brought his goatskin bag from the far end of the hut. and only the old people had seen them before. became quite inseparable from him because he seemed to know everything. But there is just one question I would like to ask him. indeed. into a healthy. Quick as the lightning of Amadiora."Those who knew Amadi laughed. You have committed a great evil." replied her mother. "Kill one of your sons for me. It was evening and the sun was settingUchendu's eldest daughter. But such was her anxiety for her daughter that she could not rid herself completely of her fear. who had joined in plucking the feathers. And so they arrived home again. The elders consulted their Oracle and it told them that the strange man would break their clan and spread destruction among them.

1 know how to deal with them. They saluted one another and then reappeared on the ilo."The birds gathered round to eat what was left and to peck at the bones he had thrown all about the floor. 1 know more about the world than any of you. they say. which were passed round for all to see and then returned to him. and how Sky withheld rain for seven years. The words of the hymn were like the drops of frozen rain melting on the dry palate of the panting earth. Obierika nodded in agreement. and was now accorded great respect in all the clan. His eldest son. The first people who saw him ran away.Thus the men of Umuofia pursued their way. and in the end Okonkwo overcame his sorrow. wiping the foam of wine from his mustache with the back of his left hand.""I shall wait too. At any rate. whereupon Ear fell on the floor in uncontrollable laughter. and regain the seven wasted years.

He had a slight stammer and whenever he was angry and could not get his words out quickly enough. Okonkwo looked up from his work and wondered if it was going to rain at such an unlikely time of the year. clay and metal instruments went from song to song. Why is it that when a woman dies she is taken home to be buried with her own kinsmen? She is not buried with her husband's kinsmen.""Have you heard. They can steal your cloth from off your waist in that market. The cannon seemed to rend the sky.' 'You must return the duckling. But there was one woman who had no doubt whatever in her mind. and the world lay panting under the live. because an old man was very close to the ancestors. And every man whose arm was strong."Although they were almost the same age. After a few more hoe-fuls of earth he struck the iyi-uwa. "As for me. It was the first time for many years that a man had broken the sacred peace. As the rains became heavier the women planted maize. yams of the old year were all disposed of by those who still had them. neither getting too near nor keeping too far back.

was passing by the church on his way from the neighboring village. some of them having come a long way from their homes in distant villages.It was not yet noon on the second day of the New Yam Festival.Ikezue held out his right hand." said Okonkwo as he took his machete and went into the bush to collect the leaves and grasses and barks of trees that went into making the medicine for iba." he said. "I know what it is??the wrestling match. having enough in his barn to feed the ancestors with regular sacrifices."Nwoye always wondered who Nnadi was and why he should live all by himself. Somewhere a man was taking one of the titles of his clan. At an early age he had achieved fame as the greatest wrestler in all the land. A proud heart can survive a general failure because such failure does not prick its pride. Okonkwo was among them. He was merely led into greater complexities. He grew rapidly like a yam tendril in the rainy season. Okonkwo bent down and looked into her hut."Yes. We have albinos among us. All that he required was something to occupy his mind.

' replied the young kite. might have noticed that the second egwugwu had the springywalk of Okonkwo. warming their bodies. And so they arrived home again. and a powerful flute blew a high-pitched blast. That was why he had called him a woman. and the elders of his family. like the prospect of annihilation. He stretched himself and scratched his thigh where a mosquito had bitten him as he slept. about the next ancestral feast and about the impending war with the village of Mbaino.""It was always said that Ndulue and Ozoemena had one mind.""Anyway. She looked very much like her mother.Many others spoke. the emanation of the god of water. Their church stood on a circular clearing that looked like the open mouth of the Evil Forest. They can steal your cloth from off your waist in that market. like a solitary walker at night who passes an evil spirit an the way. And what was more.

""He was indeed. She put back the empty pot on the circular pad in the corner." said Ezinma. Nwoye's mother and Ojiugo would provide the other things like smoked fish. The goat was then led back to the inner compound. "Those that hear my words are my father and my mother. the suitor." asked Obierika. I implore you. Every man wears the thread of title on his ankle. She called her by her name.Okonkwo turned on his side and went back to sleep. and Ikemefuna." she replied. Ezinma went deeper and deeper and the crowd went with her.The year that Okonkwo took eight hundred seed-yams from Nwakibie was the worst year in living memory.Umuofia had indeed changed during the seven years Okonkwo had been in exile." said Nwakibie. When he finished his kola nut he said:"The things that happen these days are very strange.

"Odukwe was short and thickset. and also a drinking gourd. In fact he had not killed a rat with his gun.Okonkwo was popularly called the "Roaring Flame. Nwoye's sister.""Yes. or waist beads. living in a special area of the village. and when there was no work to do he sat in a silent half-sleep. and at the end he had been taken out and handed over to a stranger. and she was greatly feared. and one almost heard them stretching to breaking point."He belongs to the clan. It was full of meat and fish. It rose and faded with the wind??a peaceful dance from a distant clan. It was Chielo. which was fastened to the rafters. the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves. The villagers were so certain about the doom that awaited these men that one or two converts thought it wise to suspend their allegiance to the new faith.

Ogbuefi Idigo was talking about the palm-wine tapper. Okonkwo's youngest wife also came out and joined the others." His staff came down again. "Yaa!". go home before Agbala does you harm. and he was not afraid of war. The oldest member of this extensive family was Okonkwo's uncle. She broke them into little pieces across the sole of her foot and began to build a fire. That week they won a handful more converts.The young suitor. She started to cry. which was now surrounded by spectators. you sow your yams on exhausted farms that take no labor to clear. That woman. when he had worked on one side of the wall and Ikemefuna and Nwoye on the other. the village playground. which was full of men who had offended against the white man's law.- they merely set the scene. "Blessed is he who forsakes his father and his mother for my sake.

and stammered.At first. because her father had called her one evening and said to her: "There are many good and prosperous people here. The egwugwu with the springy walk was one of the dead fathers of the clan. He sighed again. That was a favorite saying of children. when Ogbuefi Ezeudu came in. If a clansman killed a royal python accidentally. Okonkwo and his wife followed at a respectful distance. On Obierika's side were his two elder brothers and Maduka. but they had never in all their lives heard of women being debarred from the stream. There was so much food and drink that many kinsmen whistled in surprise. And so for three years Ikemefuna lived in Okonkwo's household."And why did you not say so. But he had recently fallen ill. How a woman could carry a child of that size so easily and for so long was a miracle." he said. And so Nwoye was developing into a sad-faced youth. Then he and another man went before Ikemefuna and set a faster pace.

Brown. lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper. Stories about these strange men had grown sim one of them had been killed in Abame and his iron horse tied to the sacred silk-cotton tree. They sympathized with their neighbors with much shaking of the head. I would have asked you to bring courage.""Do you think a thief can do that kind of thing single-handed?" asked Nwankwo. It was a very expensive ceremony and he was gathering all his resources together. and asked no questions. The glowing logs only served to light up vaguely the dark figure of the priestess. He had finished it on the very day the locusts came. I have done my best to make Nwoye grow into a man. The crowd wondered who would throw the other this year. Has he thrown a hundred men?He has thrown four hundred men. and because of their ash-colored shorts they earned the additional name of Ashy Buttocks. There were six of them and one was a white man."Come and show me the exact spot." said Mr. When everything had been set before the guests.The night was very quiet.

He continued:"During the last planting season a white man had appeared in their clan. this feeling. They cross seven rivers to make their farms. Bring me my daughter. too old to attend Ndulue during his illness. and went round the circle shaking hands with all. Ezinma.On the following morning the entire neighborhood wore a festive air because Okonkwo's friend.""Anyway. Guns were fired on all sides and sparks flew out as machetes clanged together in warriors' salutes. They painted their bodies with red cam wood and drew beautiful patterns on them with uli. 'but tell me. the fear of failure and of weakness. It was as quick as the other two. Then all Umuofia turned out in spite of the cold harmattan. Okonkwo was among them. asked on behalf of the clan to look after him in the interim. The seven wasted and weary years were at last dragging to a close. But the drought continued for eight market weeks and the yams were killed.

But two years later when a son was born he called him Nwofia??"Begotten in the Wilderness. Okonkwo wanted his son to be a great farmer and a great man.As the men drank." answered his first wife. One day as Ezinma was eating an egg Okonkwo had come in unexpectedly from his hut. and in the end Okonkwo overcame his sorrow. a good harvest and happiness. to harvest cassava tubers."Answer me. I salute you. She then went down on one knee. She would want to hear everything that had happened to him in all these years. There were five groups. or the children of Eru. his three wives and eight children. but the fattest of all was tethered to a peg near the wall of the compound and was as big as a small cow."I shall return very soon. Unoka loved it all. But the drought continued for eight market weeks and the yams were killed.

When we gather together in the moonlit village ground it is not because of the moon. But although Okonkwo was a great man whose prowess was universally acknowledged. Okonkwo. and it was their counsel that prevailed in the end. As she knelt by her. and the world lay panting under the live. woman. This year they talked of nothing else but the nso-ani which Okonkwo had committed. one of them did something which no one could describe because it had been as quick as a flash.Okonkwo and his family worked very hard to plant a new farm.""Have you heard. then. which was rubbed with red earth so that it shone.""Yes. "Kill one of your sons for me. She knelt on her knees and hands at the threshold and called her husband. It had to be done slowly and carefully. There was an immediate stir.Okonkwo was very happy to receive his friend.

""What did the white man say before they killed him?" asked Uchendu. its sullenness over. Okonkwo would take care of meat and yams. It is not bravery when a man fights with a woman. It was the justice of the earth goddess. They also drank water from small pots and ate kola nuts." But it was a different Chielo she now saw in the yellow half-light. But I fear for you young people because you do not understand how strong is the bond of kinship. These court messengers were greatly hated in Umuofia because they were foreigners and also arrogant and high-handed. What would she do when they got to the cave? She would not dare to enter. who had been walking about aimlessly in his compound in suppressed anger. Okonkwo!" she warned. Fortunately. They have joined his religion and they help to uphold his government. They stood round in a huge circle leaving the center of the playground free."The birds gathered round to eat what was left and to peck at the bones he had thrown all about the floor. He woke up once in the middle of the night and his mind went back to the past three days without making him feel uneasy. She was about sixteen and just ripe for marriage. Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down.

Dew fell heavily and the air was cold. He would be very much happier working on his farm. and hung their goatskin bags and sheathed machetes over their left shoulders." said Ezinma to her mother. Kiaga. There were six of them and one was a white man. It had its shrine in the centre of Umuofia." she replied. boomed the hollow metal. But he threw himself into it like one possessed. somewhat indulgently. We heard of it." Okonkwo said between mouthfuls.Okonkwo was provoked to justifiable anger by his youngest wife. He had many friends here and came to see them quite often. They boast about victory over death. 'Ogbuefi Ndulue."Umezulike. You have committed a great evil.

""There is no story that is not true. "You are not a stranger in Umuofia. "Whoever has a job in hand.From that day Amikwu took the young bride and she became his wife. They were the lazy easy-going ones who always put off clearing their farms as long as they could." he said to Ikemefuna. if a child washed his hands he could eat with kings. I know it as I look at you. the messenger of earth." Okonkwo was surprised. For days and nights together it poured down in violent torrents.Some farmers had not planted their yams yet. Then the foo-foo was served."Yes. Then he and another man went before Ikemefuna and set a faster pace. who saw only its back with the many-colored patterns and drawings done by specially chosen women at regular intervals. The words of the hymn were like the drops of frozen rain melting on the dry palate of the panting earth. Was it not on an Eke day that they fled into Umuofia?" he asked his two companions. "What kind of lover sleeps with a pregnant woman?" There was a loud murmur of approbation from the crowd.

And then it became known that the white man's fetish had unbelievable power. but Okonkwo was as slippery as a fish in water. His yams grew abundantly." She sat down and stretched her legs in front of her. father? You are beyond our knowledge. For many market weeks nothing else happened."It is here.There was a wealthy man in Okonkwo's village who had three huge barns.""That is very strange. Amikwu and his people had taken palm-wine to the bride's kinsmen about two moons before Okonkwo's arrival in Mbanta. with sticks.The drums beat and the flutes sang and the spectators held their breath. with Ezinma sleeping on her back. He was afraid of being thought weak.Okonkwo knew she was not speaking the truth. Is it true that Okonkwo nearly killed you with his gun?""It is true indeed. said that until the abominable gang was chased out of the village with whips there would be no peace. like the snapping of a tightened bow."Who are the young men with you?" he asked as he sat down again on his goatskin.