knowing why. Kiaga. "is it true that when people are grown up. Some said Okafo was the better man.

To show affection was a sign of weakness
To show affection was a sign of weakness. she found her lying on the mat. It was unbelievable. they said to themselves. But no one who had ever crawled into his awful shrine had come out without the fear of his power. she did not hear them. a machete for cutting down the soft cassava stem. Then the group drank. they held them over an open fire to burn off the hair. There was no barn to inherit. "You are not a stranger in Umuofia. She nodded. But Unoka was such a man that he always succeeded in borrowing more. let his wing break. The house was now a pandemonium of quavering voices: Am oyim de de de de! filled the air as the spirits of the ancestors. He could hear in his mind's ear the blood-stirring and intricate rhythms of the ekwe and the udu and the ogene." he asked.As the men ate and drank palm-wine they talked about the customs of their neighbors. On his head were two powerful horns. And he did pounce on people quite often. You have many wives and many children??more children than I have.All this had happened more than a year ago and Ezinma had not been ill since. I will only have a son who is a man."He belongs to the clan. They were the harbingers sent to survey the land. He died and rotted away above the earth.

"Let me make the fire for you. Mosquito. New yams could not be eaten until some had first been offered to these powers. stood near the edge of the pit because he wanted to take in all that happened. She often called her Ezigbo. he was treated with great honor and respect. And what made it worse in Okonkwo's case was that he had to support his mother and two sisters from his meagre harvest." said Ezinma. She rubbed each string downwards with her palms until it passed the buttocks and slipped down to the floor around her feet."I wish she were a boy. and he pointed to a man who sat near him with a bowed head. It was slow and painful. He searched his bag and brought out his snuff-bottle. How a woman could carry a child of that size so easily and for so long was a miracle." He drank his palm-wine. So much of it was cooked that. A few moments later he went behind the hut and began to vomit painfully."When he killed Oduche in the fight over the land.The nine villages of Umuofia had grown out of the nine sons of the first father of the clan. Earth's emissary." he said."But Nwoye's mother dropped her pot of hot soup the other day and it broke on the floor. his half-sister. Such was Unoka's fate. The elders of the clan replied. As soon as he heard of the great feast in the sky his throat began to itch at the very thought.

I married her with my money and my yams. But you lived long. and the children who sang songs of welcome to them.It was not yet noon on the second day of the New Yam Festival. 'but tell me. She hurried through Okonkwo's hut and went outside. she sat down on a stony ledge and waited."Nwoye always wondered who Nnadi was and why he should live all by himself." said Ekwefi. "I know what it is??the wrestling match. Many people looked around. but achievement was revered. leaving a regular pattern of hair. She was nine then and was just recovering from a serious illness. Even the few kinsmen who had not been able to come had their shares taken out for them in due term. many years."Obiako has always been a strange one. "How dare you. They had then drawn patterns on them in white.Ekwefi rose early on the following morning and went to her farm with her daughter. Many years ago another egwugwu had dared to stand his ground before him and had been transfixed to the spot for two days. he took up the rag with his left hand and began to untie it. "I have felt it. Okonkwo always asked his wives' relations. and I am still alive. The drums went mad and the crowds also.

but he did not answer.The daughters of the family were all there."Yes. and the sands felt like live coals to the feet. Whenever one of these ancient men appeared in the crowd to dance unsteadily the funeral steps of the tribe.- you stay at home and offer sacrifices to a reluctant soil. It was a day old.The Feast of the New Yam was held every year before the harvest began. "my eyelid is twitching. Some of them were very violent. but six. How else could they say that Ani and Amadiora were harmless? And Idemili and Ogwugwu too? And some of them began to go away.The young suitor. He looked at each yam carefully to see whether it was good for sowing. Their children carried pots of water. Once he got up from bed and walked about his compound."Your half-sister. Nwoye stood looking at him and did not say a word. nor even a young wife." They offered them as much of the Evil Forest as they cared to take.The footway had now become a narrow line in the heart of the forest. "We do not ask for wealth because he that has health and children will also have wealth. "And so they killed the white man and tied his iron horse to their sacred tree because it looked as if it would run away to call the man's friends. This roasted yam soaked in red palm-oil and eaten in the open farm was sweeter than any meal at home. and the quiet spectators murmured to themselves. Nwoye's mother is already cooking.

He searched his bag and brought out his snuff-bottle. The daughters of Uehuiona were also there. On the last night before the festival." said Mr. and soon the children were chasing one of their cocks. sandy beach. Okonkwo bent down and looked into her hut. The dark top soil soon gave way to the bright red earth with which women scrubbed the floors and walls of huts. Okonkwo's fear was greater than these." she said. It is almost dawn.That year the harvest was sad."Where else but in his house in the hills and the caves?" replied the priestess. the god who cut a man down when his life was sweetest to him."Don't you know what kind of man Uzowulu is? He will not listen to any other decision. stopped them.She walked up to her husband and accepted the horn from him. Okonkwo's youngest wife. That woman. Unoka was never happy when it came to wars." said Ekwefi."That is not strange. There were also pots of palm-wine. Why should a man suffer so grievously for an offense he had committed inadvertently? But although he thought for a long time he found no answer. As Idigo had said. As soon as Uchendu saw him with his sad and weary company he guessed what had happened.

but he went to the birds and asked to be allowed to go with them. and he gave to Vulture rain wrapped in leaves of coco-yam. no matter how heavily the family ate or how many friends and relatives they invited from neighboring villages. until crops withered and the dead could not be buried because the hoes broke on the stony Earth. Ikeocha. with a full beard and a bald head. Ikemefuna called him father. After her father's rebuke she developed an even keener appetite for eggs.""What has happened?" asked Okonkwo.""That is very bad." he mocked. The birds were silenced in the forests. He told them that they worshipped false gods. "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." he had said." Ofoedu agreed. Obierika nodded in agreement. and all the tragedy and sorrow of her life were packed in those words. who was now in charge of the infant congregation. "they killed him and tied up his iron horse. The air was cool and damp with dew. Two years after her marriage to Anene she could bear it no longer and she ran away to Okonkwo. In the end he decided that Nnadi must live in that land of Ikemefuna's favorite story where the ant holds his court in splendor and the sands dance forever. He had been cast out of his clan like a fish onto a dry. floated on the chaos." said Obierika to his son.

The Oracle of the Hills and the Caves has pronounced it. Its most potent war-medicine was as old as the clan itself."Ogbuefi Ndulue of Ire village. Ezinma went with her and helped in preparing the vegetables. He would stamp out the disquieting signs of laziness which he thought he already saw in him. A child cannot pay for its mother's milk. and because of their ash-colored shorts they earned the additional name of Ashy Buttocks. my friend." said Uchendu after a long silence. But if a man caused it. As they emerged into the open village from the narrow forest track the darkness was softened and it became possible to see the vague shape of trees. I shall give you some fish to eat. Evil Forest then stood up. Nwoye's mother carried a basket of coco-yams. Like all good farmers. women and children left their work or their play and ran into the open to see the unfamiliar sight. The way he said it sent cold fear down Ikemefuna's back. Di-go-go-di-go-di-di-go-go floated in the message-laden night air."When they had cut the goats' throats and collected the blood in a bowl. "before 1 put any crop in the earth. Neither of the other wives had. He changed them every day. A new cover of thick palm branches and palm leaves was set on the walls to protect them from the next rainy season.The world was silent except for the shrill cry of insects. dug her teeth into the real thing. Then send him word to fight for us.

The hosts nodded in approval and seemed to say. with which he carried the brown snuff to his nostrils. he had stalked his victim. Okonkwo's youngest wife also came out and joined the others. his sixteen-year-old son. and as if in sympathy the smoldering log also sighed. His name was Uchendu. If a man dies at this time he is not buried but cast into the Evil Forest. "I have heard that many years ago. "and her child is not twenty-eight days yet. or Evil Spirit.During the planting season Okonkwo worked daily on his farms from cock-crow until the chickens went to roost. like a son. and it came floating on the wind. Okonkwo. Many young men have come to me to ask for yams but I have refused because I knew they would just dump them in the earth and leave them to be choked by weeds. The drums rose to a frenzy. and sat down. Okonkwo's son. Then the rain became less violent. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay."When did you become a shivering old woman. Anyone who knew his grim struggle against poverty and misfortune could not say he had been lucky. my sons. and the other an old and faint shadow." he said.

The rains had come and yams had been sown. Now and again the cannon boomed. this medicine stands on the market ground in the shape of an old woman with a fan." said Nwakibie." He waved at his sons and daughters. He could not stop the rain now. I did not hang myself. Then everything had been broken.As the years of exile passed one by one it seemed to him that his chi might now be making amends for the past disaster. and the others to the chalk quarry."As they spoke Ezinma emerged from the hut. They were not the real wrestlers.But apart from the church."Nwoye did not fully understand. Each of Uchendu's five sons contributed three hundred seed-yams to enable their cousin to plant a farm. And so everybody came to see the white man.Everyone was now about. might have noticed that the second egwugwu had the springywalk of Okonkwo. But in this case she ran away to save her life. and the smallest group had ten lines."Where do you sleep with your wife. Umuazu.These outcasts. But all he said was: "When shall I go home?" When Okonkwo heard that he would not eat any food he came into the hut with a big stick in his hand and stood over him while he swallowed his yams. 'Then we can eat the chick. "In those other clans you speak of.

That year the harvest was sad. killed his animals and destroyed his barn."We are at last getting somewhere. he is not too young. Gome." she replied. despite his madness. the beating of drums and the brandishing and clanging of machetes increased. Some of it also went to the bride and her attendant maidens. Kiaga restrained them."Who is that?" he growled. I shall give you twice four hundred yams." said Ekwefi.""He was indeed. came into the obi from outside."What did he say?" the white man asked his interpreter. and he was soon chosen as the man to speak for the party because he was a great orator. Even in those days he was not a man of many words. and that first man was their harbinger sent to explore the terrain. Nwoye's mother swore at her and settled down again to her peeling. What is it that has happened to our people? Why have they lost the power to fight?""Have you not heard how the white man wiped out Abame?" asked Obierika. Maduka vanished into the compound like lightning. Okonkwo's first son." said the priestess. Ekwefi. Chielo was not a woman that night.

The two teams were ranged facing each other across the clear space. 'Don't touch!'But when I hold her waist-beads she pretends not to know. As the rain began to fall more soberly and in smaller liquid drops. Between Chielo's outbursts the night was alive with the shrill tremor of forest insects woven into the darkness. A baby on its mother's back does not know that the way is long.Okonkwo sat in his obi crunching happily with Ikemefuna and Nwoye. Rain fell as it had never fallen before. Dazed with fear. Our hosts in the sky will expect us to honor this age-old custom. They sympathized with their neighbors with much shaking of the head. and then you will know. But he now knew that they were for foolish women and children. But 1 thought you would need the money now and so I brought it. A sudden hush had fallen on the women. "lest Agbala be angry with you. Thirty. "and we want you all to come in every seventh day to worship the true God."Who killed this banana tree?" he asked.His life had been ruled by a great passion??to become one of the lords of the clan. Then the bride.Low voices.Okonkwo spent the next few days preparing his seed-yams. "that Abame is no more?""How is that?" asked Uchendu and Okonkwo together."It was Wednesday in Holy Week and Mr. because you understand us and we understand you. She believed because it was that faith alone that gave her own life any kind of meaning.

" replied Okonkwo. the top one. Nwayieke lived four compounds away.After the singing the interpreter spoke about the Son of God whose name was Jesu Kristi. His death showed that the gods were still able to fight their own battles.Okonkwo's prosperity was visible in his household. It is the law of our fathers.The youngest of Uchendu's five sons. is. Mgbafo and her brothers were as still as statues into whose faces the artist has molded defiance."No."Don't you know what kind of man Uzowulu is? He will not listen to any other decision. Uchendu pulled gently at his gray beard and gnashed his teeth. Are you deaf?" Okonkwo roared at her.And then the priestess screamed. We heard of it. young and old. She miscarried after she had gone to sleep with her lover. He worshipped them with sacrifices of kola nut."He uncovered his second wife's dish and began to eat from it. entered their mothers' wombs to be born again. We put our fingers into our ears to stop us hearing." But Death took no notice. She was peeling new yams. a long and thin strip of cloth wound round the waist like a belt and then passed between the legs to be fastened to the belt behind.' Those men of Abame were fools.

On his head were two powerful horns. "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. He did not understand it. The pot fell and broke in the sand. he is not too young. Onwumbiko??"Death. He was always alone and was shaped like a coffin. And so they fled into Umuofia with a woeful story. Unlike his father he could stand the look of blood."When your wife becomes pregnant again. She wore the anklet of her husband's titles. But for a young man whose father had no yams."Thank you. took her stick and walked over to the obi. At one stage Ekwefi was so afraid that she nearly called out to Chielo for companionship and human sympathy." said Obierika's eldest brother." said one of the priests. How else could they say that Ani and Amadiora were harmless? And Idemili and Ogwugwu too? And some of them began to go away. "Let us give them a portion of the Evil Forest. and with him were his father and uncle. She nodded." said the young man Who had been sent by Obierika to buy the giant goat "There are so many people on it that if you threw up a grain of sand it would not find a way to fall to earth again. It was after such a day at the farm during the last harvest that Nwoye had felt for the first time a snapping inside him like the one he now felt. But the Ibo people have a proverb that when a man says yes his chi says yes also." Okonkwo made a sound full of disgust. And then suddenly she had begun to shiver in the night.

Dangerous animals became even more sinister and uncanny in the dark." Obierika said to his son.""That is why the drum has not been beaten to tell Umuofla.But Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through." he said. but she went to Okonkwo's compound. Nwoye had heard that twins were put in earthenware pots and thrown away in the forest. The poor and unknown would not dare to come forth. She trudged slowly along. anxiety mounted in every heart that heaved on a bamboo bed that night. that I am not afraid of blood and if anyone tells you that I am. He dared not go too near the missionaries for fear of his father.His father. they take new names for the occasion. He went into the obi and saluted his father." said Okonkwo.'"Tortoise had a sweet tongue. one of those wicked children who." said Obierika to his son."I do not blame you. The egwugwu had emerged once again from their underground home. Their leader was called Evil Forest. A child belongs to its father and his family and not to its mother and her family. How else could they say that Ani and Amadiora were harmless? And Idemili and Ogwugwu too? And some of them began to go away. as you know. but he did not answer.

She wore the anklet of her husband's titles. If they imagined what was inside. He always gnashed his teeth as he listened to those who came to consult him. He changed them every day. butwhenever she thought she saw their shape it immediately dissolved like a melting lump of darkness. It was evening and the sun was settingUchendu's eldest daughter. He then adjusted his cloth. The young men who kept order flew around. and the elusive dance rose and fell with the wind. and it was said that. came first."Once upon a time. somewhat indulgently. Perhaps he had been going to Mbaino and had lost his way.All the umunna were invited to the feast. Ekwefi and her only daughter. But two years later when a son was born he called him Nwofia??"Begotten in the Wilderness."Ekwefi. as on that day. And that was how he came to look after the doomed lad who was sacrificed to the village of Umuofia by their neighbors to avoid war and bloodshed."On what market-day was it born?" he asked.""It is so indeed. Okonkwo wanted his son to be a great farmer and a great man. how he had often wandered around looking for a kite sailing leisurely against the blue sky. or osu. And so people said he had no respect for the gods of the clan.

'When people are invited to a great feast like this. The women were screaming outside. the feasting and fellowship of the first day or the wrestling Contest of the second. After a few more hoe-fuls of earth he struck the iyi-uwa. Our hosts in the sky will expect us to honor this age-old custom. rubbing her eyes and stretching her spare frame. but in doing so he would have taken something from the full penalty of seven years.So Okonkwo encouraged the boys to sit with him in his obi." And he took another pinch of snuff. The Oracle said to him. which had dozed in the noon-day haze. That was his fifth head and he was not an old man yet." said Obierika." And he did. He was very good on his flute. This was one of the lighter tasks of the after-harvest season. If you are sending him on an errand he flies away before he has heard half of the message. Ekwefi. But it only lasted till the end of the service."The body of Odukwe. his children and their mothers in the new year. He wore a haggard and mournful look except when he was drinking or playing on his flute. when he saw Nwoye among the Christians. She had not as much as looked at Okonkwo and Ekwefi or shown any surprise at finding them at the mouth of the cave."Ah. The hearing then began.

Go home and work like a man. 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. greeted Okonkwo and turned towards the compound. And this was the message. And there was eating and drinking till night. It had to be done slowly and carefully. She just jogged along in a half-sleep.""And have you never seen them?" asked Machi. It was instinctive. younger men gave way and the tumult subsided. But she picked her way easily on the sandy footpath hedged on either side by branches and damp leaves. They said she was coming. The goat was then led back to the inner compound. and since he now had three wives his guests would make a fairly big crowd. he is not too young. She was alive and well. Kiaga was going to send into the village for his men-converts when he saw them coming on their own. He was carried to the Evil Forest and left there to die. she returned to her mother's hut to help with the cooking. others Abame or Aninta. It was for this man that Okonkwo worked to earn his first seed yams. and scorched all the green that had appeared with the rains. There was nobody in the hut and the fireplace was cold.But the year had gone mad."As they spoke Ezinma emerged from the hut. and most of them never did because they died too young - before they could be asked questions.

But the one knew what the other was thinking. The priestess in those days was a woman called Chika. Was it waiting to snap its teeth together? After passing and re-passing by the church. As Idigo had said. which was full of men who had offended against the white man's law. The men stood outside the circle. They were grieved by the indignity and mourned for their neglected farms."Unoka was an ill-fated man." said the convert. because Oduche had not died immediately from his wounds. "it is this eyelid. Mr. to Obierika's compound. 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. Everyone knew then that she would live because her bond with the world of ogbanje had been broken."We have heard both sides of the case. and from the very first seemed to have kindled a new fire in the younger boy. It all began over the question of admitting outcasts."If you bring us all this way for nothing I shall beat sense into you. His visitor was amazed. Some of them were too angry to eat. That also is true."You do not know the answer? So you see that you are a child.The young church in Mbanta had a few crises early in its life. so she cupped her right hand to shelter the flame.The two teams were ranged facing each other across the clear space.

It had not happened for many a long year." he always said. Our elders say that the sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on those who kneel under them. Obierika. and Nwakibie's two grown-up sons were also present in his obi. I want you to be there.But Ekwefi did not hear these consolations. And so they arrived home again. If you are sending him on an errand he flies away before he has heard half of the message. and he who could feed his family on yams from one harvest to another was a very great man indeed. As she knelt by her. and asking it if it had brought home any lengths of cloth.Okonkwo planted what was left of his seed-yams when the rains finally returned."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." said Mr.- and in this way the cover was strengthened on the wall. She knelt on her knees and hands at the threshold and called her husband. and he prayed to the ancestors. and he said so with much threatening. Go home and work like a man. The elders consulted their Oracle and it told them that the strange man would break their clan and spread destruction among them.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. was a very exacting king. white dregs and said. She thought they must be going towards the sacred cave. mother is going.

We pray for life. a light rain had fallen during the night and the soil would not be very hard. and girls came from the inner compound to dance. Every man wears the thread of title on his ankle. holding it by the ankle and dragging it on the ground behind him.""What has happened?" asked Okonkwo. and you are afraid. The new year must begin with tasty. waiting for the women to finish their cooking. and they beat the men. that is a boy's job. They argued for a short while and fell into silence again."Ekwefi!" a voice called from one of the other huts. gazing into a log fire. But he always found fault with their effort. She was saying again and again that Agbala wanted to see his daughter.He took a pot of palm-wine and a cock to Nwakibie. Her heart beat violently and she stood still. "My father. It is the law of our fathers. and washed away the yam heaps. And as if they had been waiting for that. When she came to the main road. But Tortoise jumped to his feet and asked: Tor whom have you prepared this feast?'"'For all of you. somewhat indulgently."As he was speaking the boy returned.

and said through gleaming white teeth firmly clenched: "Those sons of wild animals have dared to murder a daughter of Umuofia." He turned to Uzowulu's group and allowed a short pause. It was like a man wondering in broad daylight why a dream had appeared so terrible to him at night. And so for three years Ikemefuna lived in Okonkwo's household. malevolent. the Oracle of the Hills and Caves. Its most potent war-medicine was as old as the clan itself. It is almost dawn. He raised his voice once or twice in manly sorrow and then sat down with the other men listening to the endless wailing of the women and the esoteric language of the ekwe. They stood round in a huge circle leaving the center of the playground free."Bring me a low stool for Ezinma. The first cock has crowed. He fell and fell and fell until he began to fear that he would never stop falling."It is here." said the old man. for as soon as the first rain came farming would begin. The rainbow was called the python of the sky. women and children. Those who were big enough to carry even a few yams in a tiny basket went with grown-ups to the farm.Okonkwo was provoked to justifiable anger by his youngest wife. Of all his children she alone understood his every mood. His actions were deliberate.Uzowulu stepped forward and presented his case. Obiageli took the first dish and returned to her mother's hut. flat. called him by his name and went back to her hut.

She could hear the priestess' voice. And before the cock crowed Okonkwo and his family were fleeing to his motherland. And they began to shoot. Okonkwo and the two boys were working on the red outer walls of the compound. when they died. sat on a mat on the floor. afraid to go in.. And what do you think the Oracle would do then?""You know very well. It must have been a very long time." And he took another pinch of snuff. All was silent. "They want to ruin us. He was a very strong man and rarely felt fatigue. met to hear a report of Okonkwo's mission." replied Okukwe. like splitting wood.""They have paid for their foolishness. And so Tortoise ate the best part of the food and then drank two pots of palm-wine. my dear friend."Evil Forest then turned to the other group and addressed the eldest of the three brothers. Obierika.Ezinma grew up in her father's exile and became one of the most beautiful girls in Mbanta. taking their bride home to spend seven market weeks with her suitor's family.Uzowulu stepped forward and presented his case. Then everything had been broken.

and brought out his snuff-bottle from the goatskin bag by his side. Some of them will even ride the iron horse themselves.No work was done during the Week of Peace. He was a good eater and he could drink one or two fairly big gourds of palm-wine. Okonkwo. And so nobody gave serious thought to the stories about the white man's government or the consequences of killing the Christians. The old man bore no ill will towards Okonkwo. All that he required was something to occupy his mind. I think. overpowered him and obtained his first human head. It descended on him again. But tonight she was addressing her prophecy and greetings to Okonkwo. The hearing then began. for that was his father's name. Men stirred on their bamboo beds and listened anxiously." said Ezinma touching the ground with her finger. and he could hear his own flute weaving in and out of them. How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us? The white man is very clever."The crowd roared with laughter.Okonkwo did as the priest said. long ago. And so everybody came to see the white man. The first cock has crowed. armed with sheathed machetes. Okonkwo. tapped it on his kneecap.

Ikeocha. "How much longer do you think you will live?" she asked. When they carried him away.Okonkwo had eaten from his wives' dishes and was nowreclining with his back against the wall.That was many years ago."But you said it was where they bury children?" asked the medicine man."Is that me?" Ekwefi called back. anxiety mounted in every heart that heaved on a bamboo bed that night.But some of the egwugwu were quite harmless. Their church stood on a circular clearing that looked like the open mouth of the Evil Forest. And they were right. which was shaved in beautiful patterns.That night he collected his most valuable belongings into head-loads. It ended on the right. 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. Her arms were folded across her bare breasts. "Perhaps you can already guess what it is. Then it occurred to her that they could not have been heading for the cave. As the evening wore on. An oil lamp was lit and Okonkwo tasted from each bowl. It was not external but lay deep within himself." said Obierika. You think you are still a child.When the rain finally came."Leave that boy at once!" said a voice in the outer compound. Their children carried pots of water.

- the only thing worth demonstrating was strength. sandy beach. Obierika. burning torches were set on wooden tripods and the young men raised a song. sandy footway began to throw up the heat that lay buried in it. and many farmers wept as they dug up the miserable and rotting yams."Because I did not want to. it said."Looking at a king's mouth. her blood still ran cold whenever she remembered that night. unless it be the emotion of anger." said Okonkwo. the son of Obierika. I owe them no yams. It was as quick as the other two. The women weeded the farm three times at definite periods in the life of the yams. They became ordinary human beings again."Come and show me the exact spot. And so when the priestess with Ezinma on her back disappeared through a hole hardly big enough to pass a hen. but they grew women's crops. it would have been impossible to eat. when the land had been moistened by two or three heavy rains."Don't you see the pot is full of yams?" Ekwefi asked. my dear friend. He still had the eight hundred from Nwakibie and the four hundred from his father's friend. were fixed on her.

" he swore. was celebrating his daughter's uri. the rulers of Mbanta gave to the missionaries." they said. How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us? The white man is very clever."I was coming over to see you as soon as I finished that thatch. moved to the center." she replied." Okonkwo said. And so he feigned that he no longer cared for women's stories."That is the money from your yams. not dead. But he was always uncomfortable sitting around for days waiting for a feast or getting over it."He said nothing. "that in some clans it is an abomination for a man to die during the Week of Peace. Okonkwo walked behind him. As the rain began to fall more soberly and in smaller liquid drops. 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. The huge voice of the crowd then rose to the sky and in every direction.Sometimes a man came to consult the spirit of his dead father or relative.The drum sounded again and the flute blew."The two outcasts shaved off their hair. His wives wept bitterly and their children wept with them without knowing why. Kiaga. "is it true that when people are grown up. Some said Okafo was the better man.