hold her handShe says. "The world has no end. But the song spread in Umuofia. the priest of the earth goddess. He passed them over to his eldest brother.

Cam wood was rubbed lightly into her skin
Cam wood was rubbed lightly into her skin. They then set about painting themselves with cam wood and drawing beautiful black patterns on their stomachs and on their backs. rubbing off the grains of sand that clung to his thighs.The Oracle was called Agbala."Come and shake hands with me. When they did." said Okonkwo. one hen. An ultimatum was immediately dispatched to Mbaino asking them to choose between war - on the one hand. by Ezeani."At last the great day came and Tortoise was the first to arrive at the meeting place." he said. At first Ekwefi accepted her. I sacrifice a cock to Ani. twenty-five. long journey. she did not hear them. But they were still alive. They will take him outside Umuofia as is the custom. "If you split another yam of this size." he said. a cake of salt and smoked fish which she would present to Obierika's wife. had entered his eye.

"He sprang to his feet. But it is not our custom to debar anyone from the stream or the quarry. and each hut seen from the others looked like a soft eye of yellow half-light set in the solid massiveness of night. She buried her face in her lap and waited. The musicians with their wood. His own home had gradually become very faint and distant. And so on this particular night as the crier's voice was gradually swallowed up in the distance."Where is Mgbogo?" asked one of them.Everybody agreed that Igwelo should drink the dregs.The young suitor. You."They want a piece of land to build their shrine. Ekwefi brought her to the fireplace. each of them carrying a heavy bag on his head. She did not marry him then because he was too poor to pay her bride-price. The lad's name was Ikemefuna.These outcasts. Now you talk about his son. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion."Uzowulu's body. his half-sister."Where does Agbala want to see her?" Ekwefi asked. It was the fear of himself.

They were merely cleansing the land which Okonkwo had polluted with the blood of a clansman. But she had lived so long that perhaps she had decided to stay. The daughters of Uehuiona were also there. Am I dead? They said I would die if i took care of twins. The air was cool and damp with dew. At the end they decided. and so did his little children. But they always returned to the long rope he trailed behind." said Uchendu after a long silence. If any one of you prefers to be a woman. They also drank water from small pots and ate kola nuts. The priestess was now saluting the village of Umuachi. Beyond that limit no man was suffered to go. he was not a hunter. "Beware. But they were still alive." She died in her eleventh month. They were duly presented to the women. She continually ran into the luxuriant weeds and creepers that walled in the path. But the one knew what the other was thinking. Ezeudu was to be buried after dark with only a glowing brand to light the sacred ceremony. Ezinma shook every tree violently with a long stick before she bent down to cut the stem and dig out the tuber.He went back to the church and told Mr.

"It is false. They were possessed by the spirit of the drums. he had gone to consult the Oracle. taking their bride home to spend seven market weeks with her suitor's family. They had built their church there.The night was very quiet. He wanted first to know why they had been outlawed. and four or five others in his own age group. "before i learned how to tap." he said."Tortoise saw all these preparations and soon discovered what it all meant. so heavy and persistent that even the village rain-maker no longer claimed to be able to intervene. Two judges walked around the wrestlers and when they thought they were equally matched. But she refused them all. But after a while this custom was stopped because it spoiled the peace which it was meant to preserve." He put it down to his inflexible will. That was in fact the reason why he had come to see Unoka. breakfast was hastily eaten and women and children began to gather at Obierika's compound to help the bride's mother in her difficult but happy task of cooking for a whole village. The fire did not burn with a flame. slanting showers through sunshine and quiet breeze. but she was held down. Why is that? Your mother was brought home to me and buried with my people. Now and again the cannon boomed.

""He tapped three of my best palm trees to death. They saluted one another and then reappeared on the ilo."It is here. She placed Ezinma carefully on the bed and went away without saying a word to anybody. machetes. He spoke through an interpreter who was an Ibo man. shook hands with Okonkwo and went into the compound. had entered his eye. and in one deft movement she lifted the pot from the fire and poured the boiling water over the fowl. The young tendrils were protected from earth-heat with rings of sisal leaves. Your mother is there to protect you." said Obierika. people said it was refusing food. Some people even said that they had heard the spirits flying and flapping their wings against the roof of the cave. for in spite of the palm fruit hung across the mouth of the pot to restrain the lively liquor. and Umuofia was still swallowed up in sleep and silence when the ekwe began to talk. who had begun to pour out the wine." They were hard and painful on the body as they fell.Okonkwo was popularly called the "Roaring Flame.""I can tell you. won a handful of converts and were already sending evangelists to the surrounding towns and villages."As they spoke Ezinma emerged from the hut. His death showed that the gods were still able to fight their own battles.

The drums and the dancing began again and reached fever-heat.As the day wore on his in-laws arrived from three surrounding villages. 1 know you will not despair.Qkonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. But his mother and his three-year-old sister?? of course she would not be three now. That was the way the clan at first looked at it. They all have food in their own homes." replied Uzowulu. One of them was so old and infirm that he leaned heavily on a stick. "In those other clans you speak of. He presented a kola nut and an alligator pepper. "You are our teacher. guns and cannon were fired. when Mr. "Which is this god of yours. Okonkwo had clearly washed his hands and so he ate with kings and elders. He was very good on his flute.'"Parrot promised to deliver the message. as the Ibo people say. I salute you. And so she brought out her husband's hoes. "that was why the snake-lizard killed his mother. especially the wooden mortar in which yam was pounded.

"Answer me. whose name was Ibe. They boast about victory over death.The way into the shrine was a round hole at the side of a hill. Living fire begets cold. 'She should have been a boy." he said. The Ibo evangelists consulted among themselves and decided that the man probably meant bicycle. He had a large barn full of yams and he had three wives. At such times she seemed beyond danger. This man told him that the child was an ogbanje."I must go home to tap my palm trees for the afternoon. and long stacks of yam stood out prosperously in it. And then one morning three white men led by a band of ordinary men like us came to the clan. It is the law of our fathers. He could not take any of the four titles of the clan."The body of Odukwe. Okonkwo came after her. She turned round sharply and walked through Okonkwo's hut." he said. whereupon Ear fell on the floor in uncontrollable laughter." said Okonkwo. he thought over the matter.

"But the leaves will be wet. That was not luck. in a cleared spot. and the little children to visit their playmates in the neighboring compounds. He had a large barn full of yams and he had three wives. He therefore treated Ikemefuna as he treated everybody else - with a heavy hand. Okonkwo always asked his wives' relations. Obiageli." The three rose and went outside.At this point an old man said he had a question. it seeks sympathy in its mother's hut. as her father and other grownup people did."Unoka was an ill-fated man. And this was the message. The people surged forward. and Okonkwo's women and children heard from their huts all that she said. Not long after. He tried not to think about Ikemefuna. and asked no questions. and when he died he was buried by his kind in the Evil Forest. or rather to his death. but he did not say it. She went in and knocked at his door and he came out.

every man with his goatskin bag hung on one shoulder and a rolled goatskin mat under his arm. It was also part of the night.The last big rains of the year were falling. and even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was agbala." she replied. The house was now a pandemonium of quavering voices: Am oyim de de de de! filled the air as the spirits of the ancestors. because it would hear. anxiety. someone else rose and filled it. Now Ekwefi was a woman of forty-five who had suffered a great deal in her time. I have done my best to make Nwoye grow into a man. Could he remember them all? He would tell her about Nwoye and his mother. condemned for seven years to live in a strange land.""Go and bring our own. and you can teach us the things of the new faith. He then roused Ezinma and placed her on the stool. "But you can explain to her. "Poor child. like something agitating with a metallic life. Every man wears the thread of title on his ankle.The last match was between the leaders of the teams. The iron horse was still tied to the sacred silk-cotton tree. Onwumbiko??"Death.

Do you hear that. because her father had called her one evening and said to her: "There are many good and prosperous people here. Ekwefi was reassured. as her mother had been called in her youth. in silence. But on one point there was general agreement??the active principle in that medicine had been an old woman with one leg. "We should do something. But he was so weak that his legs could hardly carry him. twenty-five. You. That had been his life-spring. Every woman immediately abandoned whatever she was doing and rushed out in the direction of the cry. She broke a piece in two and gave it to Ezinma. When the moon rose late in the night. else it would break and the thousand tiny rings would have to be strung together again. Uchendu's eldest daughter had come from Obodo. burning torches were set on wooden tripods and the young men raised a song. The first cup went to Okonkwo. the priestess of Agbala." He rose and left the hut. 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. He was poor and his wife and children had barely enough to eat. The egwugwu had emerged once again from their underground home.

And so he changed the subject and talked about music. He went into the obi and saluted his father."We have heard both sides of the case. and saw those who stood or sat next to them. They had built a court where the District Commissioner judged cases in ignorance. my hand has touched the ground." he said." he intoned. Only the really great men in the clan were able to do this.Gradually the rains became lighter and less frequent. who only stayed in the hope that it might come to chasing the men out of the village or whipping them. His greatest friend. To crown it all he had taken two titles and had shown incredible prowess in two inter-tribal wars. greeted themselves in their esoteric language."Where is Ojiugo?" he asked his second wife. Okonkwo and the two boys were working on the red outer walls of the compound. They would go to such hosts for as long as three or four markets. He had sown four hundred seeds when the rains dried up and the heat returned. They formed a circular ring with a break at one point through which the foot-track led to the center of the circle. As soon as the two boys closed in. Then it occurred to her that they could not have been heading for the cave.""Somebody told me yesterday. Now and again an ancestral spirit or egwugwu appeared from the underworld.

"The next day a group of elders from all the nine villages of Umuofia came to Okonkwo's house early in the morning. go in peace. His name was Nwoye. passing back the disc. It was a good riddance. "I have never seen such a large crowd of people. Evil Forest then stood up. but he did not answer. and his children after him. and so all the clan was at his funeral.After the death of Ekwefi's second child.' Those men of Abame were fools. But you were a fearless warrior. He looked at each yam carefully to see whether it was good for sowing. Maduka. As long as they lasted.As soon as his father walked in. The women began to talk excitedly. He was taking his family of three wives and their children to seek refuge in his motherland. or what?"The interpreter spoke to the white man and he immediately gave his answer. He knew that he was a fierce fighter. In front of them was a row of stools on which nobody sat." Ezinma began.

blew into it to remove any dust that might be there. as Ekwefi had said. "I planted the farm nearly two years ago. they held them over an open fire to burn off the hair. where he thought they must be. Her husband's first wife had already had three sons. making music and feasting. go to the church and wipe out the entire vile and miscreant gang.And so the neighboring clans who naturally knew of these things feared Umuofia. Okonkwo came next and Ekwefi followed him. Groups of four or five men sat round with a pot in their midst. He heard Ikemefuna cry." she said. She was the priestess of Agbala. He knew the names of all the birds and could set clever traps for the little bush rodents. Tortoise also took one. ivory spoon. "Which is this god of yours. They were the harbingers sent to survey the land. It came from the direction of the ilo. He was imprisoned with all the leaders of his family. Ekwefi was reassured. The women and children sent up a great shout and took to their heels.

She started to cry. The suitor just goes on bringing bags of cowries until his in-laws tell him to stop. Many people laughed at his dialect and the way he used words strangely. Amikwu and his people had taken palm-wine to the bride's kinsmen about two moons before Okonkwo's arrival in Mbanta. His name was Okagbue Uyanwa. and then he continued: "Each group there represents a debt to someone."Their clan is now completely empty. and of the forces of nature." said Ekwefi with a heavy sigh. They did not really want them near to the clan.The Oracle was called Agbala. what do we do? Do we go and stop his mouth? No. "Are you afraid you may dissolve?"The harvesting was easy.As the years of exile passed one by one it seemed to him that his chi might now be making amends for the past disaster. They did not stay very long. and when he died he was buried by his kind in the Evil Forest. first with little sticks and later with tall and big tree branches. The elders of the clan replied. Okonkwo's first son. 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.At this point an old man said he had a question. But they always returned to the long rope he trailed behind." replied Uzowulu.

because it had been inadvertent. food was presented to the guests. These people are daily pouring filth over us."I have kola. "I sold the big ones as soon as you left.""An albino.Okonkwo turned on his side and went back to sleep. It was a little village called Mbanta. Okonkwo ate the food absent-mindedly.In this way the moons and the seasons passed. Trees were uprooted and deep gorges appeared everywhere. he was told. but they looked on from the fringe like outsiders."The court messengers did not like to be called Ashy-Buttocks. Okonkwo came next and Ekwefi followed him. Nwoye's mother swore at her and settled down again to her peeling. New yams could not be eaten until some had first been offered to these powers. and each stroke is one hundred cowries. and prayed that the rain might fall in the night. He danced a few steps to the funeral drums and then went to see the corpse. Unoka loved it all.And now the rains had really come. They sat in a half-moon.

But it was momentary. This was before the planting season began. She saw the other children with their water-pots and remembered that they were going to fetch water for Obierika's wife."The white man's court has decided that it should belong to Nnama's family.At this point an old man said he had a question. But his fondness only showed on very rare occasions. and she was greatly feared. 'When mother-cow is chewing grass its young ones watch its mouth. Everybody had been invited??men. and the tuber was pulled out." replied Uzowulu. But when she lived on to her fourth. waiting for him. The blazing sun returned.' 'You must return the duckling. just a little bigger than the round opening into a henhouse. who was fat and whose body shone as if oil was rubbed on it??"She broke off because at that very moment a loud and high-pitched voice broke the outer silence of the night. They scrubbed and painted the outside walls under the supervision of men. "that he repeated over and over again a word that resembled Mbaino. "But if the Oracle said that my son should be killed I would neither dispute it nor be the one to do it. a thing set apart??a taboo for ever. It was called a string.When the rain finally came.

" said Obierika. and in one deft movement she lifted the pot from the fire and poured the boiling water over the fowl. He rounded off his prayer and went to see what it was all about. It was powerful in war and in magic. The air was full of dust and the smell of gunpowder.At last the day came by which all the missionaries should have died."Listen to me. Her husband's wife took this for malevolence. She often called her Ezigbo. "My father. now said"You told us with your own mouth that there was only one god. It is against the will of God. looked forward to the New Yam Festival because it began the season of plenty??the new year.But some of the egwugwu were quite harmless. made up her mind. and as it dwelt on it. All else was silent. "Welcome. Sometimes another village would ask Unoka's band and their dancing egwugwu to come and stay with them and teach them their tunes. was marrying a new wife. He had an old rusty gun made by a clever blacksmith who had come to live in Umuofta long ago. and four or five others in his own age group. just as he would not attempt to start it in the heart of the dry season.

There were also pots of palm-wine." said one of the women." said Obierika.- he was full of cunning. He was to be called All oj you. He grew rapidly like a yam tendril in the rainy season. where every woman had a shallow well for fermenting her cassava." she called. who was greatly perplexed.As soon as day broke." He looked in the direction of Okonkwo. And so one Sunday two of them went into the church. Kiaga." He paused. A deep murmur went through the crowd when he said this.Even Okonkwo himself became very fond of the boy - inwardly of course. But after a while this custom was stopped because it spoiled the peace which it was meant to preserve. also had a basket of plantains and coco-yams and a small pot of palm-oil. Sometimes when he went to big village meetings or communal ancestral feasts he allowed Ikemefuna to accompany him. He rounded off his prayer and went to see what it was all about. 'There is something ominous behind the silence. Okonkwo was clearly cut out for great things. When they did.

and the tuber was pulled out. We have tried to settle their quarrels time without number and on each occasion Uzowulu was guilty??""It is a lie!" Uzowulu shouted."As they stood there together. But she had got worse and worse."And it died this morning?"Okonkwo said yes." suggested Okonkwo. and passed the disc over to his guest. 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. And she had agreed. An evil forest was where the clan buried all those who died of the really evil diseases. A young man from one team danced across the center to the other side and pointed at whomever he wanted to fight. His mother and sisters worked hard enough. It was the justice of the earth goddess. she had said. who lived near the udala tree. they say. But his wives and young children were not as strong. Okagbue's voice was unchanged. he was treated with great honor and respect. He moved his hand over his white head and stroked his white beard. You stay at home. Inwardly.At last the young man who was pouring out the wine held up half a horn of the thick.

The men were seized and beaten until they streamed with blood. but no one spoke. But he was so weak that his legs could hardly carry him. Ekwefi was reassured.Okonkwo's wives. "They had been warned that danger was ahead.The footway had now become a narrow line in the heart of the forest. And what is the result? An abominable religion has settled among you.One of the men behind him cleared his throat. 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.No work was done during the Week of Peace. and sometimes two rainbows. A steady cloud of smoke rose from his head. Her husband's first wife had already had three sons. but even now they have not found the mouth with which to tell of their suffering. But he always found fault with their effort.""What will I see?" she asked. But they have cast you out like lepers. are known in all the clan for the weakness of your machete and your hoe. If your in-law brings wine to you. Kiaga restrained them. But although it had happened so long ago. Was it not on an Eke day that they fled into Umuofia?" he asked his two companions.

"Okonkwo never did things by halves. So much of it was cooked that." said Ogbuefi Ezeudu. and would not go to war against it without first trying a peaceful settlement."At last the hen was plucked clean. pulled out his staff and thrust it into the earth again. It was said that when such a spirit appeared. He knew it must be Ekwefi."He sprang to his feet. Unlike his father he could stand the look of blood. the distance they had covered. They made single mounds of earth in straight lines all over the field and sowed the yams in them. When a man was afflicted with swelling in the stomach and the limbs he was not allowed to die in the house. of all people. Okonkwo got ready quickly and the party set out with Ikemefuna carrying the pot of wine. my hand has touched the ground. And when a man is at peace with his gods and his ancestors. and very strong."Is that me?" Ekwefi called back. And in all the nine villages of Umuofia a town crier with his ogene asked every man to be present tomorrow morning. 'Don't touch!' If i hold her footShe says." But she could not. She began to run.

her wrath was loosed on all the land and not just on the offender. burning forehead." Okonkwo replied." said Nwoye's mother."Whose cow was it?" asked the women who had been allowed to stay behind. She could not be expected to cook and eat while her husband starved. "and leave the child alone. The chalk women also returned to tell a similar story. to her right and to her left. one of those wicked children who. Even the oldest men could only remember one or two other occasions somewhere in the dim past. children sought for shelter."Will you give Ezinma some fire to bring to me?" Her own children and Ikemefuna had gone to the stream." He laughed a mirthless laughter.""Yes. and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten. But you lived long." said Uchendu."The market of Umuike is a wonderful place. 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."In her hut. and in the end they were received by them They asked for a plot of land to build on. The conversation at once centered on him.

Every child loved the harvest season. Ezinma? You are older than Obiageli but she has more sense.The priestess screamed.As soon as the day broke. Her deepening despair found expression in the names she gave her children. It was a very expensive ceremony and he was gathering all his resources together. and she agreed also."Remove your jigida first."Your buttocks understand our language. His name was Okagbue Uyanwa. It was a very good wine and powerful. talking excitedly and praying that the locusts should camp in Umuofia for the night. Unoka prayed to their ancestors for life and health. The eight other egwugwu were as still as statues.Okonkwo was given a plot of ground on which to build his compound. We must cook quickly or we shall be late for the wrestling. "It is enough."The village has outlawed us. They sang the latest song in the village:" If I hold her handShe says. "The world has no end. But the song spread in Umuofia. the priest of the earth goddess. He passed them over to his eldest brother.