as she got up. Evil Forest represented the village of Umueru. Ezinma struggled to escape from the choking and overpowering steam.

He had a large barn full of yams and he had three wives
He had a large barn full of yams and he had three wives. he thought over the matter." said the old man. "A child's fingers are not scalded by a piece of hot yam which its mother puts into its palm. which was fastened to the rafters. He could not do anything without telling her. Okonkwo's wives and children and those who came to help them with the cooking began to bring out the food."He said nothing. He heard the blow. I am Dry-meat-that-fills-the-mouth. and prayed that the rain might fall in the night. Had she been running too? How could she go so fast with Ezinma on her back? Although the night was cool. He just hung limp. and through these Okonkwo passed the rope. but he did not answer. and a girl." he said as he broke it.

The only work that men did at this time was covering the walls of their compound with new palm fronds."You think you are the greatest sufferer in the world? Do you know that men are sometimes banished for life? Do you know that men sometimes lose all their yams and even their children? I had six wives once. and so everyone in his family listened. "I must thank my mother's kinsmen before I go.'When Ekwefi brought the hoe.Okonkwo knew she was not speaking the truth. 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. I have come to pay you my respects and also to ask a favor. After the pot-bearers came Ibe." Okonkwo made a sound full of disgust.When she got to the big udala tree Ezinma turned left into the bush." said Okonkwo as he rose to go." He pulled his staff from the hard earth and thrust it back. But Okagbue said he was not tired yet. The oldest member of this extensive family was Okonkwo's uncle. the priestess of Agbala. 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.

It said that other white men were on their way. and was not given the first or the second burial.In this way the moons and the seasons passed."Ezinma looked at her mother.""Very true.At last they took a turning and began to head for the caves. "Life to all of us. The crowd roared and clapped and for a while drowned the frenzied drums. But it was like beginning life anew without the vigor and enthusiasm of youth. But it was the season of rest between the harvest and the next planting season. He sang. and the women had formed themselves into three groups for this purpose. and what is good among one people is an abomination with others. Uchendu. They stood round in a huge circle leaving the center of the playground free. As the evening drew near. But if a man caused it.

" he intoned." he said. They had then drawn patterns on them in white. like splitting wood. of how his father. Without further argument Okonkwo gave her a sound beating and left her and her only daughter weeping. There were only three such boys in each team. but there is too much of his mother in him. When the will of the goddess had been done. neither early nor late. looking at the position of the sun."Thank you. They were not the real wrestlers. "they killed him and tied up his iron horse."He has married Okadigbo's second daughter. the farthest village in the clan." They were hard and painful on the body as they fell.

Darkness was around the corner." replied Obierika." he said. Thank you.""I was only speaking in jest. the white missionary. "one would think he never sucked at his mother's breast. And so he is bowed with grief. Okonkwo ground his teeth in disgust." His staff came down again. His enemies said his good fortune had gone to his head. who was also a diviner of the Afa Oracle.""I think she will stay." ';. and we expected a big feast. she had said."Where are her children? Did she take them?" he asked with unusual coolness and restraint.

She gave the dish to her father's eldest brother and then shook hands." said Ekwefi with a heavy sigh.- they must be going towards Umuachi. They all admired it and said that that was the way things should be done."Sometimes I wish I had not taken the ozo title. prophesying.The young church in Mbanta had a few crises early in its life. had entered his eye. The dark top soil soon gave way to the bright red earth with which women scrubbed the floors and walls of huts. and all the rest rushed away to see the cow that had been let loose. The man who had whispered now called out aloud. the old man supporting himself with his stick. The moon was shining. Kiaga restrained them."We cannot all rush out like that. even the bravest among them. As Idigo had said.

And this was the message. Evil Forest rose to his feet and order was immediately restored." said Okagbue. Nwakibie brought down his own horn. His mind went to his latest show of manliness. She presented the cock to the musicians and began to dance. And she realized too with something like a jerk that Chielo was no longer moving forward. and then turning to his brother and his son he said: "Let us go out and whisper together. one of these women went to Ozoemena's hut and told her. gome. "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. their legs and feet. He could hardly imagine that Okonkwo was not his real father.Everybody at the kindred meeting took sides with Osugo when Okonkwo called him a woman." Obierika thought. "If a man comes into my hut and defecates on the floor. He always said that whenever he saw a dead man's mouth he saw the folly of not eating what one had in one's lifetime.

reached Okonkwo from his wives' huts as each woman and her children told folk stories.As the man who had cleared his throat drew up and raised his machete. Many people laughed at his dialect and the way he used words strangely. The children made endless trips to the stream.Umuofia had indeed changed during the seven years Okonkwo had been in exile. it seeks sympathy in its mother's hut. But as he walked through the market he realized that people were pointing at him as they do to a madman. in silence." the men said among themselves. and girls came from the inner compound to dance."How is your father?" Obierika asked. 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. talking excitedly and praying that the locusts should camp in Umuofia for the night. and tears stood in his eyes. This was one of the lighter tasks of the after-harvest season. the harvest of the previous year. The total effect was gay and brisk.

The night was impenetrably dark. as you know. Okonkwo. as she had accepted others??with listless resignation. waiting for him. 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. whose frantic rhythm was no longer a mere disembodied sound but the very heartbeat of the people. When she came to the main road. He knew that Nwakibie would not refuse him. Those who were big enough to carry even a few yams in a tiny basket went with grown-ups to the farm. Nwoye. Fireflies went about with their tiny green lamps. "one would think he never sucked at his mother's breast. He was called the Cat because his back would never touch the earth. But she had lived so long that perhaps she had decided to stay. 'You have done very well.The young suitor.

"Another woman said. rumbling like thunder in the rainy season. Obierika nodded in agreement. a man asks his kinsman to scratch him." said Machi. And so when he called Ikemefuna to fetch his gun. But in absence of work. hungry to do harm to the living."Answer me!" he roared again. He searched his bag and brought out his snuff-bottle. He dared not go too near the missionaries for fear of his father." came the voice like a sharp knife cutting through the night. taking each string separately. And so they each took a new name. She broke them into little pieces across the sole of her foot and began to build a fire. She was already beginning to doubt the wisdom of her coming. Who knows what may happen tomorrow? Perhaps green men will come to our clan and shoot us.

and. But he was always uncomfortable sitting around for days waiting for a feast or getting over it."Although they were almost the same age." said an old man. "But what is good in one place is bad in another place. 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. It was only then that they exchanged greetings and shook hands over what was left of the food."That is not strange.""God will not permit it. guns and even his cannon. Ezinma had not wanted to cooperate with him at first."Answer me!" he roared again. When they had all taken. The priestess bent down on one knee and Ezinma climbed on her back. The harmattan was in the air and seemed to distill a hazy feeling of sleep on the world. it was in large. or watched him as he tapped his palm tree for the evening wine.

and only then realized for the first time that the child had died on the same market-day as it had been born.""Ee-e-e!""Prosperous men and great warriors. At one stage Ekwefi was so afraid that she nearly called out to Chielo for companionship and human sympathy. I forgot to tell you another thing which the Oracle said. but they were really talking at the top of their voices.After the wine had been drunk Okonkwo laid his difficulties before Nwakibie. He asked Okagbue to come up and rest while he took a hand. Then the bride. 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. They had thrown down their water-pots and lain by the roadside expecting the sinister light to descend on them and kill them. whereupon Ear fell on the floor in uncontrollable laughter. And so they each took a new name. as her father and other grownup people did. They were mostly the kind of people that were called efulefu. That showed that in time he would be able to control his women-folk. His hands trembled vaguely on the black pot he carried. taking each string separately.

he had begun even in his father's lifetime to lay the foundations of a prosperous future. He threw down the gun and jumped into the barn and there lay the woman. may Agbala shave your head with a blunt razor! May he twist your neck until you see your heels!"Ekwefi stood rooted to the spot."Why do you stand there as though she had been kidnapped?" asked Okonkwo as he went back to his hut. tall and strongly built. who will hold his head up among my people." said Mr. And not only his chi but his clan too. A mighty wind arose and filled the air with dust. All cooking pots." resumed Obierika. who was the priest of the earth goddess. pointing with his finger. It was already dusk when the two parties came to this agreement. returning. who with his brothers and half-brothers had been dancing the traditional farewell to their father. but they grew women's crops.

If they imagined what was inside. I am Fire-that-burns-without-faggots. and Ekwefi recoiled.Although such stories were now often told they looked like fairy-tales in Mbanta and did not as yet affect the relationship between the new church and the clan." A cold shiver ran down Okonkwo's back as he remembered the last time the old man had visited him.All the umunna were invited to the feast. his heels hardly touched the ground and he seemed to walk on springs. The ancient drums of death beat.Onwumbiko was not given proper burial when he died. Evil Forest rose to his feet and order was immediately restored."How is your father?" Obierika asked. Nwoye. It was there that her third child was born and circumcised on the eighth day. He searched his bag and brought out his snuff-bottle. was expected to invite large numbers of guests from far and wide. "1 want Okonkwo to answer me. The harmattan was in the air and seemed to distill a hazy feeling of sleep on the world.

with which he made two wings."Thank you."It has not always been so.""There is no song in the story."We have now built a church." said Obierika. ivory spoon. rumbling like thunder in the rainy season. because you understand us and we understand you. It filled him with fire as it had always done from his youth. perhaps for the first time." said Okonkwo.""It is the result of a great medicine."But Nwoye's mother dropped her pot of hot soup the other day and it broke on the floor. Ezinma." Obierika again drank a little of his wine.The way into the shrine was a round hole at the side of a hill.

who came out of her hut to draw water from a gigantic pot in the shade of a small tree in the middle of the compound. But tonight she was addressing her prophecy and greetings to Okonkwo. although one of them did not speak Ibo.Okonkwo was also feeling tired. 'Your dead father wants you to sacrifice a goat to him. There was a long break. But the song spread in Umuofia. in the other hand. it would not be done.At this point an old man said he had a question. and walked to its beat. Kiaga was going to send into the village for his men-converts when he saw them coming on their own.""You sound as if you question the authority and the decision of the Oracle. and he knew it was due to Ikemefuna."I did not know it was you. There was a long break." A cold shiver ran down Okonkwo's back as he remembered the last time the old man had visited him.

" He presented the kola nut to them. It was a smooth pebble wrapped in a dirty rag. The sound of her benumbed steps seemed to come from some other person walking behind her. 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. Tortoise had no wings."Don't be afraid. children sat around their mother's cooking fire telling stories. three times. Later on I sold some of the seed-yams and gave out others to sharecroppers."If you bring us all this way for nothing I shall beat sense into you. There must have been about ten thousand men there. She was going to the stream to fetch water." Altogether there were fifty pots of wine. 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. As soon as she got up. Evil Forest represented the village of Umueru. Ezinma struggled to escape from the choking and overpowering steam.