their cooking. and even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was agbala. But as the dog said." resumed Obierika.

"Have you?" asked Obierika
"Have you?" asked Obierika. Okonkwo was still pleading that the girl had been ill of late and was asleep. We must fight these men and drive them from the land." said Mr. If. The personal dynamism required to counter the forces of these extremes of weather would be far too great for the human frame."When did you set out from home?" asked Okonkwo. Many people looked around. She could no longer think. The hymn about brothers who sat in darkness and in fear seemed to answer a vague and persistent question that haunted his young soul??the question of the twins crying in the bush and the question of Ikemefuna who was killed. I shall pay you. He knew that he had lost his place among the nine masked spirits who administered justice in the clan.""What did the white man say before they killed him?" asked Uchendu."And so three goats were slaughtered and a number of fowls. burning forehead."Sit like a woman!" Okonkwo shouted at her. Okonkwo always asked his wives' relations."Come and show me the exact spot." said Ekwefi. because the cold and dry harmattan wind was blowing down Irom the north. But before he could answer.He was a person dedicated to a god. more fierce than it had ever been known. he. But you are still a child. bringing the third dish.

looked forward to the New Yam Festival because it began the season of plenty??the new year. It is a bad custom because it always leads to a quarrel."Leave her to me. slit its throat with a sharp knife and allowed some of the blood to fall on the ancestral staff. the grown-up. Okonkwo was. She nodded. She is buried there. Some kinsmen ate it with egusi soup and others with bitter-leaf soup. who was now in charge of the infant congregation. Okonkwo did not know at first that she was not at home. or with their father in his obi warming themselves from a log fire. in the other hand. So much of it was cooked that. and he sought to correct him by constant nagging and beating. Then the rain became less violent." Okonkwo said. He was to be called All oj you. like learning to become left-handed in old age. "One of the young children had opened the gate of the cow-shed.The night was impenetrably dark. but no one spoke. My in-law." 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.The wrestlers were now almost still in each other's grip. My mother's people have been good to me and 1 must show my gratitude.

""It is like the story of white men who."That was all he had said. he is not too young. Nwoye was there."Obiako has always been a strange one." said Okonkwo. And you. the son of Obierika. Obierika's relatives and friends began to arrive. which was part of the night. It was a very good wine and powerful. and although ailing she seemed determined to live. The clan was worried. such as befitted a noble warrior. Every nerve and every muscle stood out on their arms." But Death took no notice.Ezinma was an only child and the center of her mother's world. and they were merely her messengers. guns and cannon were fired. food was presented to the guests. Ukegbu. and none of them died." he said." continued Odukwe. some alligator pepper and a lump of white chalk. And whenever the moon forsook evening and rose at cock-crow the nights were as black as charcoal.

"It wounds my heart to see these young men killing palm trees in the name of tapping. He had a slight stammer and whenever he was angry and could not get his words out quickly enough. "and we want you all to come in every seventh day to worship the true God. He picked it up. long ago. Idigo was the man who knew how to grind good snuff. But good men who worshipped the true God lived forever in His happy kingdom." He paused. He had an old rusty gun made by a clever blacksmith who had come to live in Umuofta long ago. 'She should have been a boy. They seemed to forget all about him as soon as they had taken the decision. He was carried to the Evil Forest and left there to die. why it is that one of the commonest names we give our children is Nneka. They must have used a powerful medicine to make themselves invisible until the market was full. Ekwefi."They would have gone on arguing had Ofoedu not come in just then. The elders sat in a big circle and the singers went round singing each man's praise as they came before him. 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. Okonkwo looked up from his work and wondered if it was going to rain at such an unlikely time of the year. moved to the center."After the Week of Peace every man and his family began to clear the bush to make new farms. persistent and unchanging. Some women ran away in fear when it was thrown." Mosquito went away humiliated. But let us ostracize these men." Okonkwo and Obierika said together.

he had allowed what he regarded as a reasonable and manly interval to pass and then gone with his machete to the shrine. It was instinctive. and they ran for their lives.In the distance the drums continued to beat. And there were again only three. Five matches ended in this way. She beckons in front of her and behind her.- they all fled in terror. How could he have begotten a woman for a son? At Nwoye's age Okonkwo had already become famous throughout Umuofia for his wrestling and his fearlessness." Okonkwo made a sound full of disgust. and although ailing she seemed determined to live. When he began again. But when she finally appeared holding a cock in her right hand. and after they had shaken hands he asked Okonkwo who they were.""It means you are going to cry. were whispering together. He was imprisoned with all the leaders of his family. carrying a basket full of water. "1 do not know how to thank you. They were talking excitedly among themselves because the white man had said he was going to live among them. who was two years younger. Obiageli. The man who had whispered now called out aloud. who clung to her. Kiaga was praying in the church when he heard the women talking excitedly. Such was Unoka's fate.

""I pray she stays. now desperate."Early in the afternoon the first two pots of palm-wine arrived from Obierika's in-laws. In the other group were her husband. So Nwoye and Ikemefuna would listen to Okonkwo's stories about tribal wars. or rather held out her hand to be shaken. the "medicine house" or shrine where Okonkwo kept the wooden symbols of his personal god and of his ancestral spirits. And then one morning three white men led by a band of ordinary men like us came to the clan. but the ekwe carried the news to all the nine villages and even beyond. He just carried her into his bed and in the darkness began to feel around her waist for the loose end of her cloth. They were the harbingers sent to survey the land. who had been walking about aimlessly in his compound in suppressed anger."Umuofia kwenu!""Yaa!""Umuofia kwenu!""Yaa!"Evil Forest then thrust the pointed end of his rattling staff into the earth. more fierce than it had ever been known. the rulers of Mbanta gave to the missionaries." Obierika thought.Okonkwo was popularly called the "Roaring Flame. Ikemefuna had an endless stock of folk tales. Why was that?"Okonkwo shook his head." said Obierika. Throughout that day Nwoye sat in his mother's hut and tears stood in his eyes. You do not know what it is to speak with one voice. There was so much food and drink that many kinsmen whistled in surprise.Okonkwo sprang from his bed. She was very heavy with child. and girls came from the inner compound to dance.

" he said as he broke it. There was no question of killing a missionary here." Ekwefi said to the woman who had stood shoulder to shoulder with her since the beginning of the matches.'"Tortoise had a sweet tongue. and the hosts looked at each other as if to say. "When did you become one of the ndichie of Umuofia?"And so Nwoye's mother took Ikemefuna to her hut and asked no more questions. blowing it with her breath. Nwakibie brought down his own horn. They argued for a short while and fell into silence again. Nwoye remembered this period very vividly till the end of his life.The confusion that followed was without parallel in the tradition of Umuofia. He was a good eater and he could drink one or two fairly big gourds of palm-wine. Nwoye's mother was very kind to him and treated him as one of her own children. and perhaps other women as well. It was a tremendous sight. and she was notorious for her late cooking. refreshed and thankful. They would go to such hosts for as long as three or four markets."Your half-sister.Ezinma took the dish in one hand and the empty water bowl in the other and went back to her mother's hut. one of those evil essences loosed upon the world by the potent "medicines" which the tribe had made in the distant past against its enemies but had now forgotten how to control. The egwugwu had emerged once again from their underground home.Dusk was already approaching when their contest began." he said. Who knows what may happen tomorrow? Perhaps green men will come to our clan and shoot us.Ekwefi peeled the yams quickly.

Then came the voices of the egwugwu. Nwoye. had entered his eye.Of his three wives Ekwefi was the only one who would have the audacity to bang on his door. The elders of the clan replied." said Okagbue. In the other group were her husband.The nine villages of Umuofia had grown out of the nine sons of the first father of the clan. yellow and dark green. And how is my daughter. In fact he recovered from his illness only a few days before the Week of Peace began." he said. and Ikemefuna." said Ezinma to her mother. Sometimes it poured down in such thick sheets of water that earth and sky seemed merged in one gray wetness." he said.As the men ate and drank palm-wine they talked about the customs of their neighbors. carrying his stool and his goatskin bag. "who will protect us from the anger of our neglected gods and ancestors?""Your gods are not alive and cannot do you any harm. carrying a basket full of water. He was greatly surprised." she said. "1 told you. Umuofia has decided to kill him." said Obierika sadly.""Have you heard.

from Umuofia to Mbaino. Now that she walked slowly she had time to think. The white man had gone back to Umuofia. and it could not be done later because harvesting would soon set in. In fact he recovered from his illness only a few days before the Week of Peace began. working feverishly from one drum to another. "Your friend Anene asked me to greet you. And they were right. They saw the iron horse and went away again. and on their way they paid short courtesy visits to prominent men like Okonkwo. red in tooth and claw." he intoned." he said. And now he was going to take the Idemili title. and. Okonkwo's second wife had merely cut a few leaves off it to wrap some food.Ezinma brought them a bowl of water with which to wash their hands. In short. So much of it was cooked that. Why do they always go for one's ears? When he was a child his mother had told him a story about it. You stay at home."Sometimes I wish I had not taken the ozo title. She called her by her name. "How much longer do you think you will live?" she asked. Everybody knew she was an ogbanje.- Onwumbiko died in his fifteenth month.

"Ee-e-e!""We are giving you our daughter today." he said. and about some effeminate men who had refused to come with them. The men stood outside the circle.Okonkwo sprang from his bed." said Okagbue. When he brought out the snuff-bottle he tapped it a few times against his knee-cap before taking out some snuff on the palm of his left hand. These women never saw the inside of the hut."Will you give Ezinma some fire to bring to me?" Her own children and Ikemefuna had gone to the stream. Many people looked around. Her husband had brought out more yams than usual because the medicine man had to be fed. like learning to become left-handed in old age."Okonkwo never did things by halves."Umuofia kwenu!" shouted the leading egwugwu. And this was the message. afraid of your next-door neighbor. warming their bodies. full of power and beauty. greeted Okonkwo and turned towards the compound. A man can now leave his father and his brothers. Then it occurred to her that they could not have been heading for the cave. the god of yams. but never heard its voice." Obierika agreed. Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly. The moon had been rising later and later every night until now it was seen only at dawn.

which were black with soot. He hoped to get another four hundred yams from one of his father's friends at Isiuzo." Okonkwo agreed. looked forward to the New Yam Festival because it began the season of plenty??the new year. Okonkwo had gone to a medicine man. so she cupped her right hand to shelter the flame. Old men and children would then sit round log fires. She had got ready her basket of coco-yams and fish."Yes. He told them that they worshipped false gods.She did not know how long she waited. persistent and unchanging. If a man dies at this time he is not buried but cast into the Evil Forest. she thought. and he loved the first kites that returned with the dry season.Suddenly Okagbue sprang to the surface with the agility of a leopard. had died ten years ago. The hymn about brothers who sat in darkness and in fear seemed to answer a vague and persistent question that haunted his young soul??the question of the twins crying in the bush and the question of Ikemefuna who was killed. Even the sacred fish in their mysterious lake have fled and the lake has turned the color of blood. When Ekwefi had followed the priestess. but the elders counseled patience till nightfall. and the smallest group had ten lines. had gone to consult Agbala. Three converts had gone into the village and boasted openly that all the gods were dead and impotent and that they were prepared to defy them by burning all their shrines. "There must be a reason for it. It was the first time for many years that a man had broken the sacred peace.

and four or five others in his own age group. And when a man is at peace with his gods and his ancestors. was then twelve years old but was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness. but even if you came into your obi and found her lover on top of her. Amikwu and his people had taken palm-wine to the bride's kinsmen about two moons before Okonkwo's arrival in Mbanta. The Lord shall have them in derision. In the end the fearless ones went near and even touched him. should he. my daughter.As the man who had cleared his throat drew up and raised his machete. How could he have begotten a woman for a son? At Nwoye's age Okonkwo had already become famous throughout Umuofia for his wrestling and his fearlessness. "But they will understand when they go to their plot of land tomorrow morning. 'Don't touch!'But when I hold her waist-beads she pretends not to know. It was a very good wine and powerful. It might happen again this year. nor the walls of his compound. and his face beamed. Kiaga.There were no stars in the sky because there was a rain-cloud. self-assured and confident. The ancestral spirits of the clan were abroad. How could she know that Ekwefi's bitterness did not flow outwards to others but inwards into her own soul. Nwoye would feign annoyance and grumble aloud about women and their troubles.Of his three wives Ekwefi was the only one who would have the audacity to bang on his door. And if you stand staring at me like that. It was a sad miscalculation.

" said Ekwefi. You yourselves took her. The bush was alive with the tread of feet on dry leaves and sticks and the moving aside of tree branches. and terror seized her. They have said so. "Now they are behaving like men."This is Obierika. You stay at home. A mighty wind arose and filled the air with dust. could not shelter under his roof. Ekwefi quickly took her to their bedroom and placed her on their high bamboo bed. and it was his firmness that saved the young church. others Abame or Aninta. Okonkwo's son. do not allow him a moment's rest. who must taste his wine before anyone else. They guarded the prison. and with him were his father and uncle. Ezinma. He searched his bag and brought out his snuff-bottle. and how Sky withheld rain for seven years. was a failure." she said. bringing the third dish. She shut her eyes for a while and opened them again in an effort to see."Will you give Ezinma some fire to bring to me?" Her own children and Ikemefuna had gone to the stream.

" 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. This was before the planting season began. I am not afraid of work."No. and so all the clan was at his funeral. She had already walked so long that she began to feel a slight numbness in the limbs and in the head."It was Wednesday in Holy Week and Mr. Her daughter was only ten years old but she was wiser than her years. and within a short time all the birds agreed that he was a changed man. People made way for him on all sides and the noise subsided. and you are afraid. Two little groups of people stood at a respectable distance beyond the stools. And for many days this rare food was eaten with solid palm-oil. unhappily."At last the hen was plucked clean. He held out his hands to them when they came into his obi. And if anybody was so foolhardy as to pass by the shrine after dusk he was sure to see the old woman hopping about. Unoka." They offered them as much of the Evil Forest as they cared to take."For three years Ikemefuna lived in Okonkwo's household and the elders of Umuofia seemed to have forgotten about him. And such was the deep fear that their enemies had for Umuofia that they treated Okonkwo like a king and brought him a virgin who was given to Udo as wife. He knew that he was a fierce fighter. Ekwefi quickly moved away from her line of retreat. When one came to think of it. And he told them about this new God. Okonkwo's first son.

"Oho. As the rains became heavier the women planted maize."Obiageli broke her pot today. It was as if water had been poured on the tightened skin of a drum. A palm-oil lamp gave out yellowish light. the people of the sky set before their guests the most delectable dishes Tortoise had even seen or dreamed of. Her basket was balanced on her head. Unoka. All the neighbors and relations who had come to mourn gathered round them.Okagbue went back into the pit. and sent for the missionaries. He was merely led into greater complexities. "My son has told me about you. But he thought that one could not begin too early. Tears of gratitude filled her eyes. "I shall not talk about thanking you any more.And then the priestess screamed. Ekwefi uttered a scream and sprang to her feet.""That is very bad. and the rest went back.She set the pot on the fire and Okonkwo took up his machete to return to his obi. As soon as she became pregnant she went to live with her old mother in another village." He prayed especially for Okonkwo and his family.The nine villages of Umuofia had grown out of the nine sons of the first father of the clan. On the last night before the festival. closed hut like tongues of fire.

Because he had taken titles. He brought another seven baskets and cooked them himself. But the Hills and the Caves were as silent as death. He still thought about his mother and his three-year-old sister. If ever a man deserved his success. reached Okonkwo from his wives' huts as each woman and her children told folk stories." said Mgbogo's next-door neighbor. No matter how prosperous a man was. He held a short staff in his hand which he brought down on the floor to emphasize his points. Nothing pleased Nwoye now more than to be sent for by his mother or another of his father's wives to do one of those difficult and masculine tasks in the home. the rulers and elders of Mbanta assembled to decide on their action. It was for this man that Okonkwo worked to earn his first seed yams.And so Obierika went to Mbanta to see his friend. Within a short time the first two bouts were over. It contained other things apart from his snuff-bottle. and our clan can no longer act like one. passing back the disc. unlike most children.Ekwefi peeled the yams quickly.Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men usually had.""Oho. who suddenly gave up his trade. It might happen again this year." he said and cleared his throat. seeing that the new religion welcomed twins and such abominations. It began by naming the clan: Umuofia obodo dike! "the land of the brave.

cutting down every tree or animal they saw. Sometimes the sun shone through the rain and a light breeze blew. What she had seen was the shape of a man climbing a palm tree. Okoye rolled his goatskin and departed. tangled hair. "I shall carry you on my back.- Onwumbiko died in his fifteenth month. what did the mother of this duckling say when you swooped and carried its child away?' 'It said nothing. Her husband's first wife had already had three sons. especially their hair." He paused for a long time and then said: "I told you on my last visit to Mbanta how they hanged Aneto. Yam foo-foo and vegetable soup was the chief food in the celebration.As he broke the kola.' And so Daughter Kite returned the duckling and took a chick instead."Agbala do-o-o-o!?? Agbala ekeneo-o-o-o! ??" Ekwefi trudged behind.Anasi was a middle-aged woman."Okonkwo bit his lips as anger welled up within him. He died of the swelling which was an abomination to the earth goddess.At last the rain came. He worked. he is telling a lie. silencing him. the rulers and elders of Mbanta assembled to decide on their action." and on each occasion he faced a different direction and seemed to push the air with a clenched fist.No work was done during the Week of Peace. But he has not come to wake me up in the morning for it.

"We will go with you to meet those cowards. Ikemefuna was equally excited."Don't cry. you have become a woman indeed.Many years ago when Okonkwo was still a boy his father. for Mr. Obierika sent word that the two huts had been built and Okonkwo began to prepare for his return. Okoye was a great talker and he spoke for a long time. And so on this particular night as the crier's voice was gradually swallowed up in the distance. "there is no slave or free. Nothing happened at its proper time. He shrugged his shoulders and went away to tap his afternoon palm-wine."You are a big man now. reappeared every year for seven years and then disappeared for another lifetime." He got up painfully. He saw himself and his fathers crowding round their ancestral shrine waiting in vain for worship and sacrifice and finding nothing but ashes of bygone days. She was very heavy with child."Bring me my bag."Listen to me."Before God.At last the two teams danced into the circle and the crowd roared and clapped. or pounding food. The crowd wondered who would throw the other this year.' said the young kite. He made him feel grown-up. We should have waited for the sun to rise and dry the leaves.

"If I had a son like him I should be happy. It was a brief resting period between the exacting and arduous planting season and the equally exacting but light-hearted month of harvests. My mother was one of you." Obierika agreed. Okonkwo's house was on the way to the stream. The crowd roared and clapped and for a while drowned the frenzied drums. or God's house. It was one of those gay and rollicking tunes of evangelism which had the power of plucking at silent and dusty chords in the heart of an Ibo man. That was always the trouble with Okeke's snuff. but I shall be happy if you marry in Umuofia when we return home." They all laughed." said Obierika."The next day a group of elders from all the nine villages of Umuofia came to Okonkwo's house early in the morning. They throw away large numbers of men and women without burial. and during this time Okonkwo's fame had grown like a bush-fire in the harmattan. but they had never in all their lives heard of women being debarred from the stream. or playground. "I planted the farm nearly two years ago. And so everybody came to see the white man."He died this morning.Okonkwo did as the priest said. except the old and the sick who were at home and a handful of men and women whose chi were wide awake and brought them out of that market."Ezinma went outside and brought some sticks from a huge bundle of firewood. Let her go and stay with her people. We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so. When i say no to them they think i am hard hearted.

I owe them no yams."1 am one of them. It was like the pulsation of its heart. She had already walked so long that she began to feel a slight numbness in the limbs and in the head." said Ekwefi with a heavy sigh. If ever a man deserved his success. Some of these prisoners were men of title who should be above such mean occupation. Okonkwo. But two years later when a son was born he called him Nwofia??"Begotten in the Wilderness. There was an oil lamp in all the four huts on Okonkwo's compound. "You look very tired. She greeted her god in a multitude of names??the owner of the future. A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet.Ezinma took the dish in one hand and the empty water bowl in the other and went back to her mother's hut.' replied the young kite.- instead of thirty there were now only fifteen." replied Okonkwo. It always surprised him when he thought of it later that he did not sink under the load of despair. lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper. 'There is something ominous behind the silence. As soon as he left. But Tortoise jumped to his feet and asked: Tor whom have you prepared this feast?'"'For all of you.As the men ate and drank palm-wine they talked about the customs of their neighbors. "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. Unfortunately for her Okonkwo heard it and ran madly into his room for the loaded gun. It would not be long before the suitors came.

Then he would show his wealth by initiating his sons into the ozo society. The first voice gets to Chukwu. Okonkwo bent down and looked into her hut. I salute you. Okonkwo bent down and looked into her hut. making music and feasting. who had joined in plucking the feathers." said Obierika. killed his animals and destroyed his barn. He asked the birds to take a message for his wife. Three converts had gone into the village and boasted openly that all the gods were dead and impotent and that they were prepared to defy them by burning all their shrines. holding the ancestral staff of the family. The young men who kept order flew around. The men were seized and beaten until they streamed with blood. Okonkwo and his wife followed at a respectful distance. his mother was alive. He had an old rusty gun made by a clever blacksmith who had come to live in Umuofta long ago. called the converts the excrement of the clan." And he took another pinch of snuff. There were also pots of palm-wine. She stood until Chielo had increased the distance between them and she began to follow again.Okonkwo had eaten from his wives' dishes and was nowreclining with his back against the wall. And then after another lifetime these men opened the caves again and the locusts came to Umuofia. Nwoye turned round to walk into the inner compound when his father. Okonkwo had begun to sow with the first rains. It was full of meat and fish.

It was the first time for many years that a man had broken the sacred peace. His words may also be good.-but the more he tried the more he thought about him. The priestess. Okoye was a great talker and he spoke for a long time. which only made the darkness more profound. and brought back a duckling. He turned it on to his left palm. took a long broom and swept the ground in front of his father's obi. and all the rest rushed away to see the cow that had been let loose.- they merely set the scene."Umuofia kwenu!""Yaa!""Umuofia kwenu!""Yaa!"Evil Forest then thrust the pointed end of his rattling staff into the earth."A little more?? I said a little. and he who could feed his family on yams from one harvest to another was a very great man indeed. Everyone knew then that she would live because her bond with the world of ogbanje had been broken. Ekwefi. who had brought it from her mother's hut.Ekwefi ladled her husband's share of the pottage into a bowl and covered it. On the last night before the festival. When we gather together in the moonlit village ground it is not because of the moon. "Welcome.Okonkwo spent the next few days preparing his seed-yams. and everyone filled his bags and pots with locusts. For three or four moons it demanded hard work and constant attention from cock-crow till the chickens went back to roost. through lonely forest paths.""Yes.

" He sipped his wine. The man who dug it up was the same Okagbue who was famous in all the clan for his knowledge in these matters. The yams put on luxuriant green leaves. Nwoye passed and repassed the little red-earth and thatch building without summoning enough courage to enter. There was nothing new in that. his harvest will be good or bad according to the strength of his arm. Even the sacred fish in their mysterious lake have fled and the lake has turned the color of blood. I salute you."But the leaves will be wet. Di-go-go-di-go-di-di-go-go floated in the message-laden night air. and in a basket beside her were green vegetables and beans. It was as if a spell had been cast. he sat down in his obi and mourned his friend's calamity. But you will never hear. tangled hair." said the medicine man.With a father like Unoka. "Now they are behaving like men." The crowd agreed. and she was notorious for her late cooking. Kiaga's joy was very great.As for the boy himself. Okonkwo was one of them. That was the way the clan at first looked at it. but to settle the dispute. A baby on its mother's back does not know that the way is long.

It is good in these days when the younger generation consider themselves wiser than their sires to see a man doing things in the grand. There were only four titles in the clan. by Ezeani. for you people.On a moonlight night it would be different. It was very much like Obiageli. the wife who had just been beaten murmured something about guns that never shot. prophesying. Gome. Why had Okonkwo withdrawn to the rear? Ikemefuna felt his legs melting under him."Yes. "Beware of exchanging words with Agbala. In the end Oduche died and Aneto was taken to Umuru and hanged. when they died. Okonkwo. They sat in a half-moon. The neighbors and relations also saw the coincidence and said among themselves that it was very significant.Mr."Obiageli broke her pot today. "Are you mad?"Okonkwo did not answer. and they took up fans and began to fan themselves. A vague chill had descended on him and his head had seemed to swell. and they knocked against each other as he searched.""You do not understand."Don't be foolish. Ezinma.

Tortoise also took one. And she enjoyed above all the secrecy in which she now ate them. The chalk women also returned to tell a similar story. came to visit him. If the song ended on his right foot. The young ailing girl who had caused her mother so much heartache had been transformed. my child. who walked away and never returned. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart. That was his fifth head and he was not an old man yet. shiny pebble fell out. "People traveled more in those days. "I shall tell them my mind if they do. and during this time Okonkwo's fame had grown like a bush-fire in the harmattan. I began to own a farm at your age."When he killed Oduche in the fight over the land."What happened?" her mother asked. When they finished. Work no longer had for him the pleasure it used to have. who had been talking. it is play'. But I want you to have nothing to do with it. "you. There was so much food and drink that many kinsmen whistled in surprise. But they were very rare and short-lived. Ezinma.

Kiaga. I shall break your jaw. It was indeed the shrine of a great god. They all have food in their own homes."Is that not Obiageli weeping?" Ekwefi called across the yard to Nwoye's mother. Without it. Would he recognize her now? She must have grown quite big. the in-laws began to arrive. confident voice. for Mr. It was a story of brothers who lived in darkness and in fear." said Obierika. overpowered him and obtained his first human head. If it ended on his left. and two others after her.It was a great funeral. Then everything had been broken. And so they arrived home again. Ukegbu. If any money came his way. And so he changed the subject and talked about music. He even remembered how he had laughed when Ikemefuna told him that the proper name for a corn cob with only a few scattered grains was eze-agadi-nwayi. waiting for the women to finish their cooking. and even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was agbala. But as the dog said." resumed Obierika.