Forest."Where is Ojiugo?" he asked his second wife. He passed her a piece of fish. or ndichie. As the rains became heavier the women planted maize.

but he went to the birds and asked to be allowed to go with them
but he went to the birds and asked to be allowed to go with them. but so great was the work the new religion had done among the converts that they did not immediately leave the church when the outcasts came in."After the Week of Peace every man and his family began to clear the bush to make new farms. Obiageli brought up the rear.It seemed to Ekwefi that the night had become a little lighter.Okonkwo was beginning to feel like his old self again. She thought of all the terrors of the night. He knew the names of all the birds and could set clever traps for the little bush rodents. "Perhaps you can already guess what it is. The happy voices of children playing in open fields would then be heard. "1 have brought you this little kola. who was greatly perplexed. With this magic fan she beckons to the market all the neighboring clans. 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. "lest Agbala be angry with you. If there is any one among you who thinks he knows more let him speak up. Okonkwo on his bamboo bed tried to figure out the nature of the emergency - war with a neighboring clan? That seemed the most likely reason.Thus the men of Umuofia pursued their way. and Ekwefi asked Nwoye's mother and Ojiugo to explain to Obierika's wife that she would be late. Her coming was quite useless. a huge wooden face painted white except for the round hollow eyes and the charred teeth that were as big as a man's fingers.

Uchendu's eldest daughter had come from Obodo. Amalinze was the great wrestler who for seven years was unbeaten.""And so everybody comes.A strange and sudden weakness descended on Ekwefi as she stood gazing in the direction of the voices like a hen whose only chick has been carried away by a kite. so his chi agreed. And they might also have noticed that Okonkwo was not among the titled men and elders who sat behind the row of egwugwu. called round his neighbors and made merry."That woman standing there is my wife. was marrying a new wife."Umuofia kwenu!" shouted the leading egwugwu. It very quickly went damp. And for the first time they had a woman. "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. Kiaga. ran out again and aimed at her as she clambered over the dwarf wall of the barn. Her mother consoled her and promised to buy her her another pot. They seemed to forget all about him as soon as they had taken the decision." said someone light-heartedly and the crowd laughed. And in all the nine villages of Umuofia a town crier with his ogene asked every man to be present tomorrow morning. The drums and the dancing began again and reached fever-heat. It was the day on which her suitor (having already paid the greater part of her bride-price) would bring palm-wine not only to her parents and immediate relatives but to the wide and extensive group of kinsmen called umunna.

and people came from far and near to consult it. Although he had felt uneasy at first."I will not have a son who cannot hold up his head in the gathering of the clan. Evil Forest then stood up. She has the right spirit." he said. It is more difficult and more bitter when a man fails alone. Ezinma shook every tree violently with a long stick before she bent down to cut the stem and dig out the tuber. "that was why the snake-lizard killed his mother. he had already put aside his goatskin bag and his big cloth and was in his underwear. Okonkwo was only a boy then and Uchendu still remembered him crying the traditional farewell: "Mother. indeed. Obiageli.""It means you are going to cry.'"None of the birds had heard of this custom but they knew that Tortoise. Ezinma turned left as if she was going to the stream. The young ailing girl who had caused her mother so much heartache had been transformed. touching the earth. A man's life from birth to death was a series of transition rites which brought him nearer and nearer to his ancestors. Who knows what may happen tomorrow? Perhaps green men will come to our clan and shoot us. Okoye said the next half a dozen sentences in proverbs.

I greet you. Because he had taken titles. The yams put on luxuriant green leaves. "It is not to pay you back for all you did for me in these seven years.Okonkwo turned on his side and went back to sleep.She did not know how long she waited." He waved at his sons and daughters. and then turning to his brother and his son he said: "Let us go out and whisper together. the harvest of the previous year. Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly. Neither of the other wives had. The men were seized and beaten until they streamed with blood. and although ailing she seemed determined to live. He could not stop the rain now.Umuofia had indeed changed during the seven years Okonkwo had been in exile. Ezinma sneezed. Their wives also. Nothing that happened in the world of the animals ever escaped his notice."I have kola. He was roused in the morning by someone banging on his door."Come along then and show me the spot.

He did not know who the girl was. He searched his bag again and brought out a small. and they swore never to lend him any more money because he never paid back. in a terrifying voice. His eldest son." said the old man. It was called a string."My in-law has told you that we went to his house. A woman fled as soon as an egwugwu came in sight. into a healthy.Ezinma was still sleeping when everyone else was astir. who saw only its back with the many-colored patterns and drawings done by specially chosen women at regular intervals. so that he was full of food and drink and his body filled out in his shell. But that did not alter the facts.Ekwefi was tired and sleepy from the exhausting experiences of the previous night." he asked. but never heard its voice. As soon as the two boys closed in. who was now the eldest surviving member of that family. A toad does not run in the daytime for nothing. and very strong.

He told you that he came to take back her bride-price and we refused to give it him."I have come to you for help." Nwoye's mother said. and girls came from the inner compound to dance. Everyone was puzzled. Thirty. I did not hang myself. The clan was like a lizard. 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.Okonkwo called his three wives and told them to get things together for a great feast." said Obierika. which was fastened to the rafters. And so they each took a new name. and there had been a mad rush for shelter earlier in the day when one appeared with a sharp machete and was only prevented from doing serious harm by two men who restrained him with the help of a strong rope tied round his waist. When they did." They offered them as much of the Evil Forest as they cared to take. But he had long learned how to lay that ghost.Qkonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. "all the birds were invited to a feast in the sky."Ezeudu was a great man. because Oduche had not died immediately from his wounds.

Unoka. The birds were silenced in the forests.- Onwumbiko died in his fifteenth month." said Ojiugo. and the polite name for leprosy was "the white skin. "I planted the farm nearly two years ago." Uzowulu replied. she found her lying on the mat. I did not hang myself. "She should have been a boy. He passed them over to his eldest brother. Mgbafo. "There must be a reason for it. But although Okonkwo was a great man whose prowess was universally acknowledged. leaving a regular pattern of hair. The happy voices of children playing in open fields would then be heard. Their church stood on a circular clearing that looked like the open mouth of the Evil Forest. If you had been a coward. "But I am greatly afraid. close to the Great Shrine. He had finished it on the very day the locusts came.

""That is why the drum has not been beaten to tell Umuofla."After the Week of Peace every man and his family began to clear the bush to make new farms. If one says no to the other.Umuofia had indeed changed during the seven years Okonkwo had been in exile.Everybody at the kindred meeting took sides with Osugo when Okonkwo called him a woman. He was called the Cat because his back would never touch the earth. when she had seen Ogbu-agali-odu. They stood round in a huge circle leaving the center of the playground free."That was many years ago." replied Okoye."You know what it is.Okonkwo did as the priest said.""Don't cry. "You are already a skeleton. He had felt very anxious but did not show it. The child was called Onwumbiko. He told them that they worshipped false gods. She hurried through Okonkwo's hut and went outside. But as he flew home his long talon pierced the leaves and the rain fell as it had never fallen before. Listen to me and I shall tell you. It was the fear of himself.

demolished his red walls."Who is that?" he growled."Point at the spot with your finger. Your mother is there to protect you."It is an ozo dance. There were little holes from one side to the other in the upper levels of the wall. cutting down every tree or animal they saw."There must be something behind it."Where have you been?" he stammered. but she must wait for Ezinma to wake. And so they killed him. If we were all afraid of blood. If the clan had disobeyed the Oracle they would surely have been beaten. And so when Okonkwo of Umuofia arrived at Mbaino as the proud and imperious emissary of war. Most of them were sons of our land whose mothers had been buried with us.At this point an old man said he had a question. "All the gods you have named are not gods at all. some of whom now stood enthralled. Brown. The egwugwu house into which they emerged faced the forest. Not only the low-born and the outcast but sometimes a worthy man had joined it.

And supporting his mother also meant supporting his father. he had stalked his victim. Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly. Obierika and half a dozen other friends came to help and to console him.And now the rains had really come. There was nobody in the hut and the fireplace was cold. Ikezue strove to dig in his right heel behind Okafo so as to pitch him backwards in the clever ege style." she began. and how Sky withheld rain for seven years. He had one consolation. Okoye. "and her child is not twenty-eight days yet. jumping over walls and dancing on the roof." said Okagbue. as husbands' wives were wont to."After the Week of Peace every man and his family began to clear the bush to make new farms." he said and cleared his throat. But it is not so. where every woman had a shallow well for fermenting her cassava. "she will bring you back very soon. worthless.

but every farmer knew that without sunshine the tubers would not grow. cheap uggs for saleThey sang his praise and the young women clapped their hands:"Who will wrestle for our village?Okafo will wrestle for our village. talking excitedly and praying that the locusts should camp in Umuofia for the night. May all you took out return again tenfold. like coco-yams. went down quickly on one knee in an attempt to fling his man backwards over his head.Sometimes a man came to consult the spirit of his dead father or relative. some of them with their water-pots to the stream. He was always alone and was shaped like a coffin.When she had shaken hands. in fact. Everybody stood to let her pass and then filed after her.Share-cropping was a very slow way of building up a barn of one's own. Ezinma took it to him in his obi. As she buried one child after another her sorrow gave way to despair and then to grim resignation.Evil Forest began to speak and all the while he spoke everyone was silent. "How man men have lain with you since my brother first expressed his desire to marry you?""None. He had been a great and fearless warrior in his time. unlike the deep and liquid rumbling of the rainy season. Even the greatest medicine men took shelter when he was near. welcoming it back from its long.

His anger thus satisfied. 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. Even in those days he was not a man of many words. And if anybody was so foolhardy as to pass by the shrine after dusk he was sure to see the old woman hopping about."She has gone to plait her hair. as usual." he answered. It filled him with fire as it had always done from his youth." She died in her eleventh month. But the second time did not count. She walked numbly along." he said quietly to Ezinma. and the sound of wooden mortar and pestle as Nwayieke pounded her foo-foo. Every woman in the neighborhood knew the sound of Nwayieke's mortar and pestle. Most of the men and women of Abame had gone to their farms."Once upon a time. Ezinma's fire was now sending up thick clouds of smoke. Some years the harmattan was very severe and a dense haze hung on the atmosphere. he kept it secret.The whole village turned out on the ilo. The two voices disappeared into the thick darkness.

silence returned to the world. when he was young. "How dare you.What moved Obierika to visit Okonkwo was the sudden appearance of the latter's son. but no one thought the stories were true. He said he was one of them. Okonkwo decided to go out hunting. the women who had gone for red earth returned with empty baskets.Everybody agreed that Igwelo should drink the dregs. "And you know how leaves become smaller after cooking. and he was soon chosen as the man to speak for the party because he was a great orator. And then the smooth. and a little hoe for digging out the tuber. When we gather together in the moonlit village ground it is not because of the moon."Get me a pot.""You do not understand.In this way Akuke's bride-price was finally settled at twenty bags of cowries. You do not know what it is to speak with one voice. It all began over the question of admitting outcasts. It was as if a spell had been cast. And that is why we say that mother is supreme.

the earth goddess and the source of all fertility."Odukwe's body. And so he feigned that he no longer cared for women's stories."That was about five years ago. 'She should have been a boy. and he loved the first kites that returned with the dry season. "We have been sent by this great God to ask you to leave your wicked ways and false gods and turn to Him so that you may be saved when you die. We pray for life. And so everybody came to see the white man. Many people laughed at his dialect and the way he used words strangely."She is ill in bed. who was greatly perplexed. The drums rose to a frenzy. there was no other way. They were talking excitedly among themselves because the white man had said he was going to live among them. and the man growled at him to go on and not stand looking back. They guarded the prison. "I am an old man and I like to talk.As soon as the priestess stepped into this ring of hills her voice was not only doubled in strength but was thrown back on all sides. When everyone had drunk two or three horns. a place which was already becoming remote and vague in his imagination.

And yet we say Nneka - 'Mother is Supreme. and they swore never to lend him any more money because he never paid back. Okonkwo had gone to a medicine man. and he could hear his own flute weaving in and out of them. Nothing wouldhappen to Ezinma. Young men pounded the foo-foo or split firewood. 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. It was Okonkwo's uncle. Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly." said another woman. Ekwefi trudged along between two fears. Sometimes it was not necessary to dig. go to the church and wipe out the entire vile and miscreant gang. and the women had formed themselves into three groups for this purpose. "He seemed to speak through his nose. Tortoise also took one.The arrival of the missionaries had caused a considerable stir in the village of Mbanta. and one almost heard them stretching to breaking point. And so they arrived home again. which was strengthened by such little conspiracies as eating eggs in the bedroom. Everybody knew she was an ogbanje.

Dangerous animals became even more sinister and uncanny in the dark. yellow and dark green.Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men usually had." he said when Okonkwo had spoken. another group with hoes and baskets to the village earth pit. who drank a cup or two each. Obiageli. It was said that he wore glasses on his eyes so that he could see and talk to evil spirits.Ekwefi was tired and sleepy from the exhausting experiences of the previous night. And it began to shake and rattle. for his father's relatives to see. only to return to their places almost immediately. endless space in the presence of Agbala. My in-law. The egwugwu with the springy walk was one of the dead fathers of the clan. a long. When i say no to them they think i am hard hearted.Okonkwo sat in his obi crunching happily with Ikemefuna and Nwoye. my daughter. And when he got there he found it was a man making a sacrifice. others said he was not the equal of Ikezue.

who was two years younger. "and her child is not twenty-eight days yet. Is it true that Okonkwo nearly killed you with his gun?""It is true indeed. the village playground. She beckons in front of her and behind her. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat." Okonkwo threatened. they kept their imagination to themselves. Ezinma sneezed." continued Odukwe. and most of them never did because they died too young - before they could be asked questions. and the other an old and faint shadow. For although locusts had not visited Umuofia for many years. to Obierika's compound. but the fattest of all was tethered to a peg near the wall of the compound and was as big as a small cow. just as he would not attempt to start it in the heart of the dry season. picking his words with great care:"It is Okonkwo that 1 primarily wish to speak to. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness. The women began to talk excitedly. when she had seen Ogbu-agali-odu. and on her waist four or five rows of jigida.

""Have you heard. In that way she will elude her wicked tormentor and break its evil cycle of birth and death." he said. and even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was agbala." said the old man. Unoka. Then Chielo's renewed outburst came from only a few paces ahead."I did not say He had a wife. He could not understand it until he looked back and saw that what he led at the end of the tether was not a goat but a heavy log of wood. And then appeared on the horizon a slowly-moving mass like a boundless sheet of black cloud drifting towards Umuofia." said some of the elders." said Ezinma."It is here.Uchendu took the hen from her. "Beware of exchanging words with Agbala. Igwelo had a job in hand because he had married his first wife a month or two before. They set out early that morning." He drank his palm-wine. He would return with a flourish."Get me a pot. They were grieved by the indignity and mourned for their neglected farms.

And in all the nine villages of Umuofia a town crier with his ogene asked every man to be present tomorrow morning. "And he was riding an iron horse. They saluted one another and then reappeared on the ilo. And then from the center of the delirious fury came a cry of agony and shouts of horror. Sometimes another village would ask Unoka's band and their dancing egwugwu to come and stay with them and teach them their tunes. smiling. but if one picked out the flute as it went up and down and then broke up into short snatches. Okonkwo. then. That was always the trouble with Okeke's snuff. who also counted them and said:"We had not thought to go below thirty. But although it had happened so long ago. and turned to his sons and daughters. who was also a diviner of the Afa Oracle."It was in the second year of Okonkwo's exile that his friend. This was about eight days after the fight. He just hung limp."But you said it was where they bury children?" asked the medicine man. Njide.Okonkwo turned on his side and went back to sleep."Ezinma is dying.

So Okonkwo encouraged the boys to sit with him in his obi. She greeted her god in a multitude of names??the owner of the future." he said. But as they drew near to the outskirts of Umuofia silence fell upon them too. "Now they are behaving like men. And so people said he had no respect for the gods of the clan. the harvest of the previous year. empty men. Ekwefi. Okafo raised his right leg and swung it over his rival's head. But Unoka was such a man that he always succeeded in borrowing more. The people surged forward. a vibrant silence made more intense by the universal trill of a million million forest insects.""I think it is good that our clan holds the ozo title in high esteem. and from the very first seemed to have kindled a new fire in the younger boy. It was on the seventh day that he died. With this magic fan she beckons to the market all the neighboring clans. Nwoye.He is fit to be a slave. had asked Ear to marry him. When they had eaten they talked about many things: about the heavy rains which were drowning the yams.

as was the custom."Every year. When they carried him away. The palm fronds were helpless in keeping them back." said Ezinma. And he was afraid to look back. and they closed in. But this is a matter which we know.- Onwumbiko died in his fifteenth month. who was greatly perplexed. It was a smooth pebble wrapped in a dirty rag. "Ozoemena was. and the cannon shattered the silence. In Umuofia's latest war he was the first to bring home a human head. "I remember when I was a young boy there was a song about them.""Nna ayi. "Let us give them a portion of the Evil Forest."Where is Ojiugo?" he asked his second wife. He passed her a piece of fish. or ndichie. As the rains became heavier the women planted maize.