nine villages and even beyond. years ago. with sticks. It was difficult to say which the people enjoyed more.

but never heard its voice
but never heard its voice. She turned round sharply and walked through Okonkwo's hut. Maduka. His fame rested on solid personal achievements. They were the lazy easy-going ones who always put off clearing their farms as long as they could. You grew your ears for decoration.The youngest of Uchendu's five sons.Everybody agreed that Igwelo should drink the dregs. of course. He would build a bigger barn than he had had before and he would build huts for two new wives." ';. pushing the air with his raffia arms."Ekwefi went to bring the pot and Okonkwo selected the best from his bundle." he began. But although Okonkwo was a great man whose prowess was universally acknowledged." A cold shiver ran down Okonkwo's back as he remembered the last time the old man had visited him. Neither of the other wives had. a fairly small swarm came. They only saw the red earth he threw up mounting higher and higher. leaving a regular pattern of hair. which was full of men who had offended against the white man's law. Okoye rolled his goatskin and departed. women and children. "Which is this god of yours. ozo is so low that every beggar takes it. long ago.

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. and would not go to war against it without first trying a peaceful settlement. A palm-oil lamp gave out yellowish light. Unoka would play with them."At last the hen was plucked clean. Their bodies shone with sweat. Nwoye's mother thanked her and she went back to her mother's hut. and when he got home he went straight to Okonkwo's hut and told him what he had seen. 'Don't touch!' If i hold her footShe says. She looked straight ahead of her and walked back to the village. away from the gates of God and from the tender shepherd's care. Kiaga. "Are you mad?"Okonkwo did not answer. He was carried to the Evil Forest and left there to die. they have killed me!" as he ran towards him. and he could hear his own flute weaving in and out of them. Obiako. like coco-yams."None. the fear of failure and of weakness. Once in a while Chielo was possessed by the spirit of her god and she began to prophesy." he said. who walked away and never returned."What is iyi-uwa?" she asked in return."Why do you stand there as though she had been kidnapped?" asked Okonkwo as he went back to his hut.""It is so indeed.

also had a basket of plantains and coco-yams and a small pot of palm-oil. "that in some clans it is an abomination for a man to die during the Week of Peace. they settled on the roofs and covered the bare ground. women and children left their work or their play and ran into the open to see the unfamiliar sight. "The children are still very young. more terrible and more sinister than the anger." said Ekwefi. He tried not to think about Ikemefuna. and Nwakibie's two grown-up sons were also present in his obi. They have joined his religion and they help to uphold his government.The Feast of the New Yam was approaching and Umuofia was in a festival mood. If such a thing were ever to happen. Every market day. Every man wears the thread of title on his ankle. He raised it carefully with the hoe and threw it to the surface. or obi. had gone to consult Agbala." said another. What did they know about the man?" He ground his teeth again and told a story to illustrate his point. But the Ibo people have a proverb that when a man says yes his chi says yes also. but not overmuch. And there was eating and drinking till night. She often called her Ezigbo. But when a father beats his child.At last the rain came. Young men and boys in single file.

The earth quickly came to life and the birds in the forests fluttered around and chirped merrily. They were silent for a long time. he took with him his flute."I am calling a feast because I have the wherewithal. Even the oldest men could only remember one or two other occasions somewhere in the dim past. chewing the fish."Two years ago." he said. She had. Ekwefi quickly took her to their bedroom and placed her on their high bamboo bed." said Ofoedu. Anasi was the first wife and the others could not drink before her." said Ekwefi.Everybody agreed that Igwelo should drink the dregs. The drums begin at noon but the wrestling waits until the sun begins to sink. The first voice gets to Chukwu. Why was that?"Okonkwo shook his head. He sat down again and called two witnesses. I did not send her away. He would remember his own childhood. and they had been immediately thrown away. met to hear a report of Okonkwo's mission. and the smell of burning hair blended with the smell of cooking."Tell them." answered one of Obierika's companions. Two judges walked around the wrestlers and when they thought they were equally matched.

"When this was interpreted to the men of Mbanta they broke into derisive laughter. She was the ultimate judge of morality and conduct. The story was told in Umuofia. Nwoye. overpowered him and obtained his first human head. full of power and beauty. Why is that? Your mother was brought home to me and buried with my people. or Holy Feast as it was called in Ibo."I have heard. The birth of her children. It was a little village called Mbanta. His love of talk had grown with age and sickness. made up her mind. The short trees and sparse undergrowth which surrounded the men's village began to give way to giant trees and climbers which perhaps had stood from the beginning of things."Ezinma's voice from the darkness warmed her mother's heart. but if one picked out the flute as it went up and down and then broke up into short snatches. 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. and the world lay panting under the live. Why was that?"Okonkwo shook his head. And he found that Okonkwo did not wish to speak about Nwoye. and earth and sky once again became separate. The iron horse was still tied to the sacred silk-cotton tree. might have noticed that the second egwugwu had the springywalk of Okonkwo. some alligator pepper and a lump of white chalk. There were six of them and one was a white man. But they were still alive.

We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. he had begun even in his father's lifetime to lay the foundations of a prosperous future.""The world is large. greeted themselves in their esoteric language. He sang. One of these days your jigida will catch fire on your waist. They were very happy and began to prepare themselves for the great day. He asked the birds to take a message for his wife. but ill. yams of the old year were all disposed of by those who still had them. he thought over the matter. He presented a kola nut and an alligator pepper. Neighbors sat around. At last Sky was moved to pity. Ekwefi was reassured."That was about five years ago. She is buried there.As the palm-wine was drunk one of the oldest members of the umunna rose to thank Okonkwo:"If I say that we did not expect such a big feast I will be suggesting that we did not know how openhanded our son.Everybody at the kindred meeting took sides with Osugo when Okonkwo called him a woman. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. or Evil Spirit. you would still have committed a great evil to beat her. After a few more hoe-fuls of earth he struck the iyi-uwa. It was unheard of to beat somebody during the sacred week. 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 had something to say for every man.

Every woman immediately abandoned whatever she was doing and rushed out in the direction of the cry. no one could kill them without having to flee from the clan. And so they arrived home again. 1 owe them no cocoyams. a long." Obierika again drank a little of his wine."Tell them.Three young men helped Obierika to slaughter the two goats with which the soup was made. It was Ekwefl's turn to tell a story. And every man whose arm was strong." The three rose and went outside."Bring me a low stool for Ezinma. "Your friend Anene asked me to greet you." He paused for a long while." said Okagbue."The next day. yams of the old year were all disposed of by those who still had them. and what is good among one people is an abomination with others.And now the rains had really come. When the pot fell down and broke she burst out laughing. picking his words with great care:"It is Okonkwo that 1 primarily wish to speak to.- the only thing worth demonstrating was strength. just a little bigger than the round opening into a henhouse. he was asking Unoka to return the two hundred cowries he had borrowed from him more than two years before. It was said that when such a spirit appeared. Then the crier gave his message.

"You must take him to salute our father. about the next ancestral feast and about the impending war with the village of Mbaino. She had married Anene because Okonkwo was too poor then to marry. afraid to go in. the sky. by Okonkwo's brusqueness in dealing with less successful men. As the smoke rose into the sky kites appeared from different directions and hovered over the burning field in silent valediction.One morning Okonkwo's cousin." And he arranged the requisite rites and sacrifices. Not only the low-born and the outcast but sometimes a worthy man had joined it."Ekwefi went to bring the pot and Okonkwo selected the best from his bundle."Tufia-al" the priestess cursed. 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. They surged forward as the two young men danced into the circle. Everybody stood to let her pass and then filed after her. and Obiageli told her mournful story. Those who were big enough to carry even a few yams in a tiny basket went with grown-ups to the farm. or how.As soon as his father walked in. "I had something better to do. and walked to its beat. Ekwefi tried to pull out the horny beak but it was too hard. he kept it secret. which was only broken when a new palm frond was lifted on to the wall or when a busy hen moved dry leaves about in her ceaseless search for food. "on an Eke market day a little band of fugitives came into our town. and to soften his heart with a song of the suffering of the sons of men.

" His staff came down again. Then the metal gong sounded and the flute was blown. She stood until Chielo had increased the distance between them and she began to follow again. waiting for him. Thirty. and gave it to Ibe to fill. But all of a sudden she would go down again. food and palm-wine. The palm fronds were helpless in keeping them back. and earth rose. They sang the latest song in the village:" If I hold her handShe says. But if you allow sorrow to weigh you down and kill you they will all die in exile. Okonkwo helped them put down their loads.Okonkwo had eaten from his wives' dishes and was nowreclining with his back against the wall."We shall be going. Nwoye's mother swore at her and settled down again to her peeling. but if one picked out the flute as it went up and down and then broke up into short snatches. Ezinma. Anyone seeing Chielo in ordinary life would hardly believe she was the same person who prophesied when the spirit of Agbala was upon her.Ezinma brought them a bowl of water with which to wash their hands."Ee-e-e!"The kola was eaten and the drinking of palm-wine began. 'There is something ominous behind the silence." he said. Her husband had brought out more yams than usual because the medicine man had to be fed. The first day passed and the second and third and fourth. Rain fell as it had never fallen before.

and with him were his father and uncle. roots and barks of medicinal trees and shrubs. And that was also the year Okonkwo broke the peace. and when he died he was buried by his kind in the Evil Forest. If I had not seen the few survivors with my own eyes and heard their story with my own ears. Their children carried pots of water. ran out again and aimed at her as she clambered over the dwarf wall of the barn. Go ahead and prepare your farm. It was a tremendous sight." he said."Then listen to me. She just jogged along in a half-sleep."It is near that orange tree. Uchendu before her. beat him up and took our sister and her children away."And it died this morning?"Okonkwo said yes. and about the locusts?? Then quite suddenly a thought came upon him. but its vigor was undiminished. The fact was that Obiageli had been making inyanga with her pot. she did not hear them. Why should that be? How are you different from other men who shave their hair? The same God created you and them. The neighbors sat around watching the pit becoming deeper and deeper. She was full of the power of her god."Swear on this staff of my fathers. So I shall ask you to come again the way you came before. "my eyelid is twitching.

or the children of Eru. Okonkwo said yes very strongly. Unoka prayed to their ancestors for life and health. she was in close communion with the departed fathers of the clan whose bodies had been committed to earth. She remembered that night. whereupon Ear fell on the floor in uncontrollable laughter. And this faith had been strengthened when a year or so ago a medicine man had dug up Ezinma's iyi-uwa."Umuofia kwenu. they take new names for the occasion.He did not sleep at night. Okonkwo!" she warned. Okagbue worked tirelessly and in silence. brought in a pot of sweet wine tapped from the raffia palm. The faint and distant wailing of women settled like a sediment of sorrow on the earth. But when he reached Tortoise's house he told his wife to bring out all the hard things in the house. And supporting his mother also meant supporting his father. "I warned Nwankwo to keep a sharp eye and a sharp ear. If we allow you to come with us you will soon begin your mischief."Umuofia kwenu!" shouted the leading egwugwu.The metal gong beat continuously now and the flute. "Welcome."Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?" asked Okagbue when Ezinma finally stopped outside her father's obi. Obiageli. and a powerful flute blew a high-pitched blast. it would not be done. the priestess of Agbala.

his back shining with perspiration. Their hosts took him as the king of the birds. He had had no patience with his father. Nothing wouldhappen to Ezinma. At first the clan had assumed that it would not survive. and Umuofia. And." replied Okonkwo. He refused to join in the meal. Everybody was lean except Cat. As our fathers said. "Beware. with which he made two wings. They cross seven rivers to make their farms. because you understand us and we understand you. but Okonkwo sat unmoved. And there he stood in his hard shell full of food and wine but without any wings to fly home. and most of them never did because they died too young - before they could be asked questions. closely followed by Nwoye and his two younger brothers."Oho. leaving what we are cooking to burn in the fire. the Oracle of the Hills and Caves. He was like an elder brother to Nwoye. And so nobody gave serious thought to the stories about the white man's government or the consequences of killing the Christians. That week they won a handful more converts. she could bear no other person but her father.

gome. and so all the clan was at his funeral. who were putting the last delicate touches of razor to her coiffure and cam wood on her smooth skin. But they were still alive. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic. who will hold his head up among my people. They were all fully dressed as if they were going to a big clan meeting or to pay a visit to a neighboring village. Then something had given way inside him. someone else rose and filled it."We have now built a church. Near the barn was a small house." He brought down his staff heavily on the floor. and at his death there were only three men in the whole clan who were older. feeling with her palm the wet. and each party brought with them a huge pot of palm-wine. so she cupped her right hand to shelter the flame. and because of their ash-colored shorts they earned the additional name of Ashy Buttocks. Obierika had sent one of his relatives all the way to Umuike to buy that goat It was the one he would present alive to his in-laws. Each of them carried a long cane basket."He uncovered his second wife's dish and began to eat from it. She wore a black necklace which hung down in three coils just above her full. no matter how heavily the family ate or how many friends and relatives they invited from neighboring villages. and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad. At last Vulture was sent to plead with Sky.When she got to the big udala tree Ezinma turned left into the bush." said Okonkwo.

The nine villages of Umuofia had grown out of the nine sons of the first father of the clan. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. which every man kept in his obi and with which his guests drew lines on the floor before they ate kola nuts. In the end Okonkwo threw the Cat. and on her waist four or five rows of jigida. She gave the dish to her father's eldest brother and then shook hands. Ogbuefi Ezeugo was a powerful orator and was always chosen to speak on such occasions. She stood until Chielo had increased the distance between them and she began to follow again.'"He began to eat and the birds grumbled angrily. The kola nut was given him to break. "let her not sleep in her hut. He who brings kola brings life. and from the very first seemed to have kindled a new fire in the younger boy. Okonkwo pleaded with her to come back in the morning because Ezinma was now asleep."As soon as he entered his last year in exile Okonkwo sent money to Obierika to build him two huts in his old compound where he and his family would live until he built more huts and the outside wall of his compound.He did not sleep at night. nor even a young wife. We do not pray to have more money but to have more kinsmen. And they began to shoot.Low voices. asked on behalf of the clan to look after him in the interim. One of the things every man learned was the language of the hollowed-out wooden instrument. Kiaga was praying in the church when he heard the women talking excitedly. And so he changed the subject and talked about music. But they were very rare and short-lived.They sat in a big circle on the ground and the young bride in the center with a hen in her right hand.

the god of the sky. Obierika. the fear of failure and of weakness. he made sacrifices of atonement and performed an expensive burial ceremony such as was done for a great man. And when he got there he found it was a man making a sacrifice. During those years no single day passed in the sky without his beating the woman. "and leave the child alone. It tried Okonkwo's patience beyond words."My hand is on the ground. She was used to Chielo calling her "my daughter." Okonkwo was specially fond of Ezinma. Okonkwo's son.""He was indeed. She nodded."He will do great things. When the pot fell down and broke she burst out laughing." Mosquito went away humiliated. and so they made them that offer which nobody in his right senses would accept. The neighbors and Okonkwo's wives were now talking."Do what you are told. Indeed he respected him for his industry and success. I implore you. He never stopped regretting that Ezinma was a girl. a vibrant silence made more intense by the universal trill of a million million forest insects.Ekwefi peeled the yams quickly. I would have asked you to get life.

full of power and beauty. and it was he who had received Okonkwo's mother twenty and ten years before when she had been brought home Irom Umuofia to be buried with her people." said Obierika.""It is the result of a great medicine. The drums and the dancing began again and reached fever-heat. "they killed him and tied up his iron horse. who had begun to play a part in the affairs of his motherland.Gradually the rains became lighter and less frequent."Tell my wife." said Okagbue. In the center of the crowd a boy lay in a pool of blood. because the cold and dry harmattan wind was blowing down Irom the north. When all the birds had gathered together. She walked numbly along. She hurried through Okonkwo's hut and went outside. Okonkwo stood by. They have said so. meanwhile.""I did not know that. And she went into her hut to warm the vegetable soup she had cooked last night. because there was no humanity there. are known in all the clan for the weakness of your machete and your hoe. jumping over walls and dancing on the roof.The men in the obi had already begun to drink the palm-wine which Akueke's suitor had brought.She set the pot on the fire and Okonkwo took up his machete to return to his obi."I will not have a son who cannot hold up his head in the gathering of the clan.

women and children. who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo." Obierika thought. tall. "I have heard that many years ago. indeed.""How did they get hold of Ancto to hang him?" asked Okonkwo. the sun is shining. Not long after. and so the victim could not be buried in her bowels. Okonkwo was the greatest wrestler and warrior alive. And when a man is at peace with his gods and his ancestors. Her eyes were useless to her in the darkness. Because of her size she made her way through trees and creepers more quickly than her followers."Ezinma ran in the direction of the barn and brought back two yams from the dwarf wall. She will be a good wife to you. "But Nweke did not appear until it was quite light. he had begun even in his father's lifetime to lay the foundations of a prosperous future." he asked. called her mother by her name. She could no longer think.""It was always said that Ndulue and Ozoemena had one mind. But for a young man whose father had no yams."The birds gathered round to eat what was left and to peck at the bones he had thrown all about the floor. But they always returned to the long rope he trailed behind. His eldest son.

They sat in a half-circle and began to talk of many things. The yams put on luxuriant green leaves. his back shining with perspiration.""Is he well?" asked Nwoye.""It is like the story of white men who. It was a good riddance." He presented the kola nut to them. Ezinma placed her mother's dish before him and sat with Obiageli. Iweka. will you go to see the wrestling?" Ezinma asked after a suitable interval. but even now they have not found the mouth with which to tell of their suffering. Ezigbo. The heathen speak nothing but falsehood.Okonkwo shook his head doubtfully."Your buttocks understand our language. its sullenness over."We had meant to set out from my house before cockcrow. and he who could feed his family on yams from one harvest to another was a very great man indeed. and each party brought with them a huge pot of palm-wine. His eldest son. Chielo never ceased in her chanting. for in spite of their worthlessness they still belonged to the clan. which was full of men who had offended against the white man's law." she began. Kiaga's joy was very great. The custom here is to serve the spokesman first and the others later.

It was Okonkwo's uncle. Do you not think that they came to our clan by mistake."Okonkwo brought the wine and they began to drink."Where have you been?" he stammered. There were huge bowls of foo-foo and steaming pots of soup. "That is the story. "Let us go. Ezinma struggled to escape from the choking and overpowering steam."Locusts are descending. like splitting wood. When they had all taken. and so have Uchendu and Unachukwu and Emefo. spread her mat on the floor and built a fire. He stretched himself and scratched his thigh where a mosquito had bitten him as he slept. Was it not on an Eke day that they fled into Umuofia?" he asked his two companions. because Oduche had not died immediately from his wounds. "Okoli told me himself that it was false. He had therefore put his drinking-horn into his goatskin bag for the occasion.""He has." came her voice. and he prayed to the ancestors. they settled on the roofs and covered the bare ground. warming their bodies. As she knelt by her. She has the right spirit. What you have done will not please the Earth.

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. thought that it was possible that they would also be received. Wherever he went he carried with him the mark of his forbidden caste??long. Machi. As the rains became heavier the women planted maize. Whenever the thought of his father's weakness and failure troubled him he expelled it by thinking about his own strength and success. the man saw it vaguely in the darkness. They must have used a powerful medicine to make themselves invisible until the market was full. Any wonder then that his son Okonkwo was ashamed of him? Fortunately. Okonkwo made a present of two cocks to them. But it was as silly as all women's stories. shrill and powerful. "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. He slapped the ear and hoped he had killed it. as everybody knew they would. We do not pray to have more money but to have more kinsmen. But Ekwefi was not thinking about that. Most of them were sons of our land whose mothers had been buried with us.""Some people say the Oracle warned him that he would fall off a palm tree and kill himself."When they had eaten. and the new faith was a mad dog that had come to eat it up. They just pulled the stump. A vague chill had descended on him and his head had seemed to swell. They all admired it and said that that was the way things should be done. He would teach her! But Nwoye resembled his grandfather. "If you split another yam of this size.

the messenger of earth. Unoka. The first cock has crowed. Do you not think that they came to our clan by mistake. gome. A steady cloud of smoke rose from his head. boomed the hollow metal. Then it occurred to her that they could not have been heading for the cave. After waiting in vain for her dish he went to her hut to see what she was doing. chewing the fish. Their sound was no longer a separate thing from the living village." said Okonkwo. "People traveled more in those days. The women had come to the church with empty waterpots. was among them." was joyfully chanted everywhere. They each made nine or ten trips carrying Okonkwo's yams to store in Obierika's barn. In Umunso they do not bargain at all. "God will laugh at them on the judgment day.Okonkwo planted what was left of his seed-yams when the rains finally returned. He had become wholly absorbed into his new family. It was a sad miscalculation. All the women shouted with joy because Ekwefi's troubles were at last ended. He still had the eight hundred from Nwakibie and the four hundred from his father's friend. The priestess in those days was a woman called Chika. let him follow Nwoye now while I am alive so that I can curse him.

Everyone looked in the direction of the egwugwu house." said one of the converts. She will be a good wife to you. in a cleared spot. that I am not afraid of blood and if anyone tells you that I am." He paused. this medicine stands on the market ground in the shape of an old woman with a fan. a man of war. Some kinsmen ate it with egusi soup and others with bitter-leaf soup.Okonkwo's wives. When he thought he had waited long enough he again returned to the shrine. She had borne ten children and nine of them had died in infancy. I would have asked you to get life.""Ee-e-e!""This is not the first time my people have come to marry your daughter. "But I have also heard that Abame people were weak and foolish. nor even a young wife. somewhat indulgently. cooking and eating. The goat was then led back to the inner compound. If a man dies at this time he is not buried but cast into the Evil Forest. and sometimes two rainbows. Do you hear that. It was a smooth pebble wrapped in a dirty rag. But he had long learned how to lay that ghost. Nwoye knew that it was right to be masculine and to be violent." replied Okoye.

"I have heard that many years ago. Nwoye's callow mind was greatly puzzled. 'When mother-cow is chewing grass its young ones watch its mouth. you sow your yams on exhausted farms that take no labor to clear. He was always alone and was shaped like a coffin.And now the rains had really come. He was carried to the Evil Forest and left there to die. The elders sat in a big circle and the singers went round singing each man's praise as they came before him. He died and rotted away above the earth.'to bring out all the soft things in my house and cover the compound with them so that I can jump down from the sky without very great danger. But there were some too who came because they had friends in our town. but they were really talking at the top of their voices. The old man who received him was his mother's younger brother."Father. and the children who sang songs of welcome to them. or rather to his death. and through these Okonkwo passed the rope. killed his animals and destroyed his barn. But she had got worse and worse. He could hardly imagine that Okonkwo was not his real father. Uzowulu. flat. who had risen so suddenly from great poverty and misfortune to be one of the lords of the clan."Oye. Age was respected among his people." He paused for a long time and then said: "I told you on my last visit to Mbanta how they hanged Aneto.

" He paused. persistent and unchanging." he said. Ekwefi uttered a scream and sprang to her feet. in the sunshine. The clan was worried. But he left hold of Nwoye. therefore.""Your words are good."What is iyi-uwa?" she asked in return.The moon was now up and she could see Chielo and Ezinma clearly. But there was one woman who had no doubt whatever in her mind. and then turning to his brother and his son he said: "Let us go out and whisper together. When they had eaten they talked about many things: about the heavy rains which were drowning the yams. She put back the empty pot on the circular pad in the corner. you wicked daughter of Akalogoli?" Okonkwo swore furiously."I must go home to tap my palm trees for the afternoon. stood near the edge of the pit because he wanted to take in all that happened. I have learned to be stingy with my yams. Obiako.""Ee-e-e!""Prosperous men and great warriors. and Okonkwo filled his horn again." But before they went he whispered something to his first wife. Quick as the lightning of Amadiora. Kiaga stood firm."Unoka was like that in his last days.

and he loved the first kites that returned with the dry season. That was how Okonkwo first came to know that agbala was not only another name for a woman. But this is a matter which we know. They will serve you when I have eaten. It is the law of our fathers. Obierika pointed at the two heavy bags. close to the Great Shrine."Okonkwo bit his lips as anger welled up within him. anxiety mounted in every heart that heaved on a bamboo bed that night. where titled men climb trees and pound foo-foo for their wives.His father.Okonkwo sat in his obi crunching happily with Ikemefuna and Nwoye. As far as the villagers were concerned. The iron horse was still tied to the sacred silk-cotton tree. His hands trembled vaguely on the black pot he carried. "She has iba. and his happiest moments were the two or three moons after the harvest when the village musicians brought down their instruments. At any rate. "But they will understand when they go to their plot of land tomorrow morning. The glowing logs only served to light up vaguely the dark figure of the priestess. The cannon seemed to rend the sky." said Obiageli.' he said as they flew on their way. Unoka. Evil Forest represented the village of Umueru. There were six of them and one was a white man.

the priestess."Agbala do-o-o-o! Agbala ekeneo-o-o-o-o. There was once a man who went to sell a goat. She had got ready her basket of coco-yams and fish. machetes. suddenly overcome with fury."You will blow your eyes out. malevolent. Nwoye's mother is already cooking. Again and again Iguedo was called and men waited breathlessly in all the nine villages. and the dry. Uzowulu should recover from his madness and come in the proper way to beg his wife to return she will do so on the understanding that if he ever beats her again we shall cut off his genitals for him. but six. talking was the next best. somewhat indulgently. It was as quick as the other two.Suddenly Okagbue sprang to the surface with the agility of a leopard. a man who pays respect to the great paves the way for his own greatness. Unoka had a sense of the dramatic and so he allowed a pause. Umuofia has decided to kill him. You. They have said so.Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. years ago. with sticks. It was difficult to say which the people enjoyed more.