woke up once in the middle of the night and his mind went back to the past three days without making him feel uneasy.

They just pulled the stump
They just pulled the stump. Violent deaths were frequent. But as they drew near to the outskirts of Umuofia silence fell upon them too. She nodded."Your buttocks said he had a son. "Those that hear my words are my father and my mother. wiping the foam of wine from his mustache with the back of his left hand. No."Our father. despite his madness. 'It just walked away. When your neighbors go out with their ax to cut down virgin forests. And if you stand staring at me like that. and would not go to war against it without first trying a peaceful settlement.The priestess' voice was already growing faint in the distance. Those who were big enough to carry even a few yams in a tiny basket went with grown-ups to the farm. and nodded their heads in approval of all he said. His eldest son."What does it all mean?" asked Mr. holding her breasts with her hands to stop them flapping noisily against her body." And so they all went to help Obierika's wife??Nwoye's mother with her four children and Ojiugo with her two."I wish she were a boy. and Okonkwo filled his horn again.

Okonkwo turned on his side and went back to sleep. Mr. seeing that the new religion welcomed twins and such abominations. the wife of Amadi. that man was okonkwo. Without it. These moods descended on her suddenly and for no apparent reason. reappeared every year for seven years and then disappeared for another lifetime. Ogbuefi Ezeugo was a powerful orator and was always chosen to speak on such occasions. walked in their midst. in their due proportions. Obiageli took the first dish and returned to her mother's hut." said his daughter Ezinma when she brought the food to him. It was like a wedding feast. Ekwefi picked her way carefully and quietly." Ezinma offered. The harvest was over. Amalinze was a wily craftsman."What is iyi-uwa?" she asked in return.""Yes" said Obierika. I am Fire-that-burns-without-faggots." Altogether there were fifty pots of wine."The village has outlawed us.

one hen.Seven years was a long time to be away from one's clan. the in-laws began to arrive. Her husband and his family were already becoming highly critical of such a woman and were not unduly perturbed when they found she had fled to join the Christians. Tortoise also took one. This year they talked of nothing else but the nso-ani which Okonkwo had committed."Ogbuefi Ndulue of Ire village. The wailing of the women would not be heard beyond the village. holding it by the ankle and dragging it on the ground behind him.No work was done during the Week of Peace. It was not done earlier because the rains were too heavy and would have washed away the heap of trodden earth.""Why?" asked Obierika and Okonkwo together. To abandon the gods of one's father and go about with a lot of effeminate men clucking like old hens was the very depth of abomination. But for a young man whose father had no yams. He remembered the story she often told of the quarrel between Earth and Sky long ago. through lonely forest paths. who had begun to play a part in the affairs of his motherland."I shall return very soon. Nwoye's mother thanked her and she went back to her mother's hut. Evil men and all the heathen who in their blindness bowed to wood and stone were thrown into a fire that burned like palm-oil.""Too much of his grandfather. guns and even his cannon.The priestess' voice was already growing faint in the distance.

ivory spoon. he said to Okonkwo:"That boy calls you father. and they agreed about the beating."Don't you see the pot is full of yams?" Ekwefi asked.""You were very much like that yourself." said Machi. armed with sheathed machetes. His mind went back to Ikemefuna and he shivered. "You look very tired. 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. my friend. He was ill for three market weeks. People laughed at him because he was a loafer. "1 have brought you this little kola. Okonkwo had returned home and sat waiting. He played on the ogene. The New Yam Festival seemed to him to be a much bigger event here than in his own village. The lad's name was Ikemefuna. Your mother is there to protect you.In spite of this incident the New Yam Festival was celebrated with great joy in Okonkwo's household. thought that it was possible that they would also be received. But 1 thought you would need the money now and so I brought it. That is all I am good for now.

The man who had whispered now called out aloud. She prepared it the way he liked??with slices of oil-bean and fish." said one man. He was in fact an outcast. And as he told them of the past they sat in darkness or the dim glow of logs. They were among the best wrestlers in all the nine villages." The boy smiled. I began to own a farm at your age. there was no other way. "His name is Amadi.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.The year that Okonkwo took eight hundred seed-yams from Nwakibie was the worst year in living memory. But he was always uncomfortable sitting around for days waiting for a feast or getting over it. His mother's kinsmen had been very kind to him. He called his son. they have killed me!" as he ran towards him. "The children are still very young. and on their way they paid short courtesy visits to prominent men like Okonkwo." They all laughed.Okonkwo was well received by his mother's kinsmen in Mbanta. Okoye was a great talker and he spoke for a long time. Kiaga. but he went to the birds and asked to be allowed to go with them.

Okonkwo slept. And she realized too with something like a jerk that Chielo was no longer moving forward. but he did not answer. She presented the cock to the musicians and began to dance. and then painted his big toe." said Okagbue. So he killed himself too. There were little holes from one side to the other in the upper levels of the wall. And then the locusts came. It might happen again this year. now said"You told us with your own mouth that there was only one god. and it was not until late in the evening that one of them saw for the first time his in-law who had arrived during the course of the meal and had fallen to on the opposite side. As soon as Unoka understood what his friend was driving at. who had given much money to the white man's messengers and interpreter. moved to the center. fire does not burn them?" Ezinma. "I have felt it. 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."Bring me a low stool for Ezinma. Okafo was swept off his feet by his supporters and carried home shoulder high.One morning Okonkwo's cousin."Tortoise turned to the birds and said: 'You remember that my name is All of you. You do not know what it is to speak with one voice.

"But you can explain to her. persistent and unchanging.""Ee-e-e!""This is not the first time my people have come to marry your daughter. or obi. The troublesome nanny-goat sniffed about."Yes. Every man can see it in his own compound. "Your wife was at fault. The church had come and led many astray. The elders said locusts came once in a generation. He warmed himself in the fire and ate the entrails. This happened in the rainy season. looked left and right and turned right. The elders of the clan replied. There is only one true God and He has the earth. silence returned to the world. He was determined that his return should be marked by his people."I do not know the answer."Do you know Ogbuefi Ndulue?" Ofoedu asked. had asked Ear to marry him. I did not send her away. but he had been too surprised to weep. Hisspeech was so eloquent that all the birds were glad they had brought him.

An evil forest was. like coco-yams. To abandon the gods of one's father and go about with a lot of effeminate men clucking like old hens was the very depth of abomination. was a very exacting king. with sticks. wiping the foam of wine from his mustache with the back of his left hand. there was always a large quantity of food left over at the end of the day. He exchanged greetings with Okonkwo and led the way into his obi.""It is like the story of white men who.But somehow Okonkwo could never become as enthusiastic over feasts as most people. Two little groups of people stood at a respectable distance beyond the stools. and the women had formed themselves into three groups for this purpose. like learning to become left-handed in old age. that they have strayed from their way to a land where everybody is like them?"Okonkwo's first wife soon finished her cooking and set before their guests a big meal of pounded yams and bitter-leaf soup." said Obierika." he said. His name was Maduka." said her mother. but even now they have not found the mouth with which to tell of their suffering. You may have heard of the title I intend to take shortly."I am Evil Forest. but not overmuch. Kiaga.

"Oye. Ezinma took it to him in his obi. That was always the trouble with Okeke's snuff. and there was a murmur of surprise and disagreement. and Umuofia. It is the kind of action for which the goddess wipes out whole families. impotent ash. Kiaga. only more holy than the village variety. Chielo was not a woman that night." said Okonkwo. another man asked a question: "Where is the white man's horse?" he asked. It was powerful in war and in magic."Bring me a hoe. Darkness was around the corner. But such was her anxiety for her daughter that she could not rid herself completely of her fear. astride the steaming pot. "Amadiora will break your head for you!"Some days later. But he had recently fallen ill. The chalk women also returned to tell a similar story. The earth goddess whom you have insulted may refuse to give us her increase. If I were you I would have stayed at home." she said when they got to the tree.

" They were hard and painful on the body as they fell. Is it right that you. had asked Ear to marry him.""That is true. The sound of her benumbed steps seemed to come from some other person walking behind her. She will bear you nine sons like the mother of our town. He hit the bottle against his knee to shake up the tobacco. my friend."Your buttocks understand our language. rubbed his left palm on his body to dry it before tipping a little snuff into it. therefore. and the cannon shattered the silence. If we allow you to come with us you will soon begin your mischief. But before they left each took back the feather he had lent to Tortoise. Okonkwo did not know at first that she was not at home." Ezinma said. "His shell broke into pieces." said Obierika. I knew your father.At last they took a turning and began to head for the caves. They can steal your cloth from off your waist in that market. but even now they have not found the mouth with which to tell of their suffering. At the end.

On the following morning the entire neighborhood wore a festive air because Okonkwo's friend. and who like a madman had cut the anklet of his titles and cast it away to join the Christians. It was also part of the night. which should be a woman's crowning glory. The other wives drank in the same way.""There is no story that is not true."It was in the second year of Okonkwo's exile that his friend." replied Obierika. And they were right.The night was impenetrably dark. They stood round in a huge circle leaving the center of the playground free." He sipped his wine. emerged from her hut. His love of talk had grown with age and sickness. A sudden hush had fallen on the women. He was a flaming fire. But what of our own people who are following their way and have been given power? They would go to Umuru and bring the soldiers.

Her mother always took her into their bedroom and shut the door. "She has iba. They must have used a powerful medicine to make themselves invisible until the market was full.When they had all gathered. a vibrant silence made more intense by the universal trill of a million million forest insects. Okonkwo's youngest wife.She had prayed for the moon to rise. and in a basket beside her were green vegetables and beans. He remembered the story she often told of the quarrel between Earth and Sky long ago. He told them that they worshipped false gods.""Not before you have had your breakfast. "Mother Kite once sent her daughter to bring food." said Ezelagbo. Her husband's wife took this for malevolence.' But my wife's brothers said they had nothing to tell me. and each hut seen from the others looked like a soft eye of yellow half-light set in the solid massiveness of night. He does not belong here.

and before they began to speak in low tones Nwoye and Ikemefuna were sent out."When he killed Oduche in the fight over the land. Umuazu. And indeed he was possessed by the fear of his father's contemptible life and shameful death. She slowed down her pace so as to increase the distance between them." He waved at his sons and daughters. They all have food in their own homes. Why. He was in fact a coward and could not bear the sight of blood. "on an Eke market day a little band of fugitives came into our town. conversing with his father in low tones. Not only the low-born and the outcast but sometimes a worthy man had joined it. and said through gleaming white teeth firmly clenched: "Those sons of wild animals have dared to murder a daughter of Umuofia. Dum! Dum! Dum! boomed the cannon at intervals.It was not yet noon on the second day of the New Yam Festival. Umuazu."Agbala do-o-o-o! Umuachi! Agbala ekene unuo-o-ol" It was just as Ekwefi had thought.

Evil Forest then stood up."What does it all mean?" asked Mr. and everyone filled his bags and pots with locusts. Unoka was never happy when it came to wars. and sometimes two rainbows. One mind said to her: "Woman. "before 1 put any crop in the earth. Unlike his father he could stand the look of blood."It has not always been so.Okonkwo knew she was not speaking the truth. that my children do not resemble me. Okoye said the next half a dozen sentences in proverbs. by Okonkwo's brusqueness in dealing with less successful men. if a child washed his hands he could eat with kings. I think."Yes.When they had harvested a sizable heap they carried it down in two trips to the stream.

"Yes.' he thought as he looked at his ten-year-old daughter. woman. stood immediately behind the only gate in the red walls."If you bring us all this way for nothing I shall beat sense into you. It very quickly went damp. And every man whose arm was strong. He addressed Nwakibie. with which he made two wings."There is one important thing which we must not forget. It was a full gathering of umuada. He rounded off his prayer and went to see what it was all about. and the whole country became the brown-earth color of the vast. It looked like an equal match." Obierika agreed."Yes. Mr.

"Okonkwo bit his lips as anger welled up within him. it would not be done. He had a large barn full of yams and he had three wives. A man can now leave his father and his brothers. was a very exacting king. A new cover of thick palm branches and palm leaves was set on the walls to protect them from the next rainy season. she sat down on a stony ledge and waited."We shall be late for the wrestling. Okonkwo's son. but she must wait for Ezinma to wake. "I sold the big ones as soon as you left.Later. He passed her a piece of fish. who saw only its back with the many-colored patterns and drawings done by specially chosen women at regular intervals." At the same time the priestess also said. 'Don't touch!'But when I hold her waist-beads she pretends not to know. "So he must have a wife and all of them must have buttocks.

The meat was then shared so that every member of the umunna had a portion. but even now they have not found the mouth with which to tell of their suffering. but they are too young to leave their mother. Not only the low-born and the outcast but sometimes a worthy man had joined it. If only he could find some work to do he would be able to forget. he belonged to the clan as a whole." He was talking about Okonkwo. No woman ever did. So Nwoye and Ikemefuna would listen to Okonkwo's stories about tribal wars."Ah. He turned it on to his left palm. Evergreen trees wore a dusty coat of brown. A chick that will grow into a cock can be spotted the very day it hatches. They did not stay very long. Most communal ceremonies took place at that time of the day. After a few more hoe-fuls of earth he struck the iyi-uwa. who suddenly gave up his trade.

You have committed a great evil. That was why he had called him a woman. They set fire to his houses. which was passed under his right arm-pit and tied above his left shoulder."I am following Chielo. And then Nkechi came in.These outcasts." he answered. He raised it carefully with the hoe and threw it to the surface. full of power and beauty. No. and then painted his big toe. And then appeared on the horizon a slowly-moving mass like a boundless sheet of black cloud drifting towards Umuofia. I did not send her away." she replied. No ogbanje would yield her secrets easily. And so when the priestess with Ezinma on her back disappeared through a hole hardly big enough to pass a hen.

For two or three moons the sun had been gathering strength till it seemed to breathe a breath of fire on the earth. The air was full of dust and the smell of gunpowder. It came from the direction of the ilo. She was peeling new yams. where the white men first came many years before and where they had built the center of their religion and trade and government. It was said that he wore glasses on his eyes so that he could see and talk to evil spirits. and they had quickened their steps. and who like a madman had cut the anklet of his titles and cast it away to join the Christians. But Ekwefi could not see her. At first the clan had assumed that it would not survive.The young suitor."Have you?" asked Obierika. and kill him there. my child. then. to her right and to her left. people said it was refusing food.

had gone to consult the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves to find out why he always had a miserable harvest. but the villagers told them that there was no king."Yes. but never heard its voice. long way from home. 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 had no patience with unsuccessful men. The first cock has crowed.At first Ikemefuna was very much afraid. They also said I would die if I built my church on this ground. and she guessed they must be on the village ilo. twenty-five. and the solid mass was now broken by tiny eyes of light like shining star dust. He pushed the thought out of his mind. gome. And so the stranger had brought him. The way he said it sent cold fear down Ikemefuna's back.

He is an exile. Most communal ceremonies took place at that time of the day. But at that very moment Chielo's voice rose again in her possessed chanting.Many others spoke.Okagbue went back into the pit. who were putting the last delicate touches of razor to her coiffure and cam wood on her smooth skin. And so they killed him. looked left and right and turned right." Okonkwo asked himself. The soup was brought out hot from the fire and in the very pot in which it had been cooked. Obierika's relatives and friends began to arrive.One of the men behind him cleared his throat."Bring me my bag.Okonkwo was given a plot of ground on which to build his compound. She turned round on her low stool and put the beak in the fire for a few moments. "I do not blame you for not hearing the cock crow. He searched his bag again and brought out a small.

Many years ago when Okonkwo was still a boy his father. especially the wooden mortar in which yam was pounded. Some of these prisoners were men of title who should be above such mean occupation. and Okonkwo's women and children heard from their huts all that she said. and they each gave him a feather. The nine egwugwu then went away to consult together in their house. thought that it was possible that they would also be received. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat. He looked at each yam carefully to see whether it was good for sowing. And so everybody came to see the white man. It was the ekwe talking to the clan. when the rains had stopped and the sun rose every morning with dazzling beauty. its sullenness over. as Ekwefi had said. All the family were there and some of the neighbors too. Men stirred on their bamboo beds and listened anxiously. she prayed a thousand times.

Now Ekwefi was a woman of forty-five who had suffered a great deal in her time.But stories were already gaining ground that the white man had not only brought a religion but also a government. especially the youngest. the feasting and fellowship of the first day or the wrestling Contest of the second. These moods descended on her suddenly and for no apparent reason. It was Chielo. 1 know you will not despair. looking at Nwakibie's elder son Igwelo with a malicious twinkle in his eye." said Uchendu. But it is your turn now. Listen to me and I shall tell you. There was no festival in all the seasons of the year which gave her as much pleasure as the wrestling match. and when he died he was buried by his kind in the Evil Forest. and cut them up. and asked no questions. when the rains had stopped and the sun rose every morning with dazzling beauty. He woke up once in the middle of the night and his mind went back to the past three days without making him feel uneasy.