you. He was like the man in the song who had ten and one wives and not enough soup for his foo-foo.

Every man of Umuofia was asked to gather at the market place tomorrow morning
Every man of Umuofia was asked to gather at the market place tomorrow morning. And in a clear unemotional voice he told Umuofia how their daughter had gone to market at Mbaino and had been killed. Nwoye." said Uchendu to his peers when they consulted among themselves. woman. It was not done earlier because the rains were too heavy and would have washed away the heap of trodden earth. his mother was alive. Earth's emissary."Because I did not want to. Everybody was lean except Cat.Large crowds began to gather on the village ilo as soon as the edge had worn off the sun's heat and it was no longer painful on the body.Okoye was also a musician. and even now he could still hear it as it grew dimmer and dimmer in the distance. Mr." she said. took out two leaves and began to chew them. That was the day it happened."Just then Obierika's son."It is very near now. "She must have broken her waterpot. He can curse the gods of his fathers and his ancestors. reappeared every year for seven years and then disappeared for another lifetime."It is false. moved to the center. She went on fanning it until it burst into flames. let him follow Nwoye now while I am alive so that I can curse him.

was telling two other men who came to visit him that the punishment for breaking the Peace of Ani had become very mild in their clan. "You look very tired. The elders consulted their Oracle and it told them that the strange man would break their clan and spread destruction among them. And now he was going to take the Idemili title. gazing into a log fire."Where is Mgbogo?" asked one of them. Unfortunately for her Okonkwo heard it and ran madly into his room for the loaded gun.""Some people say the Oracle warned him that he would fall off a palm tree and kill himself. He refused to join in the meal. But he now knew that they were for foolish women and children." Mosquito went away humiliated. It was a cry in the distance: oji odu aru ijiji-o-o! (The one that uses its tail to drive flies away!). He could return to the clan after seven years. were fixed on her. But it is not our custom to debar anyone from the stream or the quarry. I am an old man and you are all children. They had built a court where the District Commissioner judged cases in ignorance. "Somebody is walking behind me!" she said. He then adjusted his cloth. and even in the trees. cutting down every tree or animal they saw. He watched the sky all day for signs of rain clouds and lay awake all night. light and gay."We have now built a church. The young men who kept order flew around. Okafo raised his right leg and swung it over his rival's head.

But I want you to have nothing to do with it. "Beware. young and old.A hush fell on the compound immediately.In this way Akuke's bride-price was finally settled at twenty bags of cowries.At last the two teams danced into the circle and the crowd roared and clapped."Sit like a woman!" Okonkwo shouted at her."Uzowulu's body. gome. Everybody stood to let her pass and then filed after her." he said. As soon as she got up.On a moonlight night it would be different. and on their way they paid short courtesy visits to prominent men like Okonkwo.Obierika's compound was as busy as an anthill. Rain fell as it had never fallen before. and we expected a big feast. And before the cock crowed Okonkwo and his family were fleeing to his motherland. was called a flaming fire. A man can now leave his father and his brothers. roasting and eating maize."When they had cut the goats' throats and collected the blood in a bowl. reached Okonkwo from his wives' huts as each woman and her children told folk stories."What is iyi-uwa?" she asked in return." said his eldest brother."Five women stayed behind to look after the cooking-pots.

Ezinma went deeper and deeper and the crowd went with her." said the convert. When he walked. Kiaga was going to send into the village for his men-converts when he saw them coming on their own. Groups of four or five men sat round with a pot in their midst. When he began again. He was a very strong man and rarely felt fatigue. It is almost dawn. a cake of salt and smoked fish which she would present to Obierika's wife. fire does not burn them?" Ezinma." he said sadly. tangled hair. It was said that he wore glasses on his eyes so that he could see and talk to evil spirits.""That is true. for you people. When the pot fell down and broke she burst out laughing. The oldest member of this extensive family was Okonkwo's uncle. twenty years or more. and he was grateful. broke into life and activity." he said. only they did not understand him. One of them was so old and infirm that he leaned heavily on a stick. Mgbafo and her brothers were as still as statues into whose faces the artist has molded defiance. children sat around their mother's cooking fire telling stories. It was one of those gay and rollicking tunes of evangelism which had the power of plucking at silent and dusty chords in the heart of an Ibo man.

Okonkwo had eaten from his wives' dishes and was nowreclining with his back against the wall. Then all Umuofia turned out in spite of the cold harmattan. He addressed Nwakibie. only more holy than the village variety." she answered. Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down."You are a big man now.' replied the young kite. Many people looked around. Even Mgbafo took to her heels and had to be restrained by her brothers. fantastic figures that dissolved under her steady gaze and then formed again in new shapes.""That is very true. Okonkwo was not a man of thought but of action. That was why he had called him a woman."It is near that orange tree."Thank you." He paused. he sat down in his obi and mourned his friend's calamity. Okonkwo. "The people of Umuike wanted their market to grow and swallow up the markets of their neighbors. when Okonkwo's in-laws began to leave for their homes The second day of the new year was the day of the great wrestling match between Okonkwo's village and their neighbors. and the women sat on a sisal mat spread on a raised bank of earth.From that day Amikwu took the young bride and she became his wife. they could see from his color and his language. An animal rubs its itching flank against a tree. They were already far enough where they stood and there was room for running away if any of them should go towards them.

Tortoise stood up in his many-colored plumage and thanked them for their invitation. When everything had been set before the guests. As soon as she became pregnant she went to live with her old mother in another village. nine of the greatest masked spirits in the clan came out together it was a terrifying spectacle. beat him up and took our sister and her children away. Obiageli brought up the rear. He had had the same kind of feeling not long ago. As they cut grass in the morning the younger men sang in time with the strokes of their machetes:"Kotma of the ashy buttocks. now said"You told us with your own mouth that there was only one god. Okonkwo ground his teeth in disgust. The first day passed and the second and third and fourth. Many people laughed at his dialect and the way he used words strangely. But if you allow sorrow to weigh you down and kill you they will all die in exile. and Okonkwo filled his horn again." said Obierika. They did not stay very long.""Oho." he said. Some people even said that they had heard the spirits flying and flapping their wings against the roof of the cave. He played on the ogene.But the war that now threatened was a just war. "Our duty is not to blame this man or to praise that. in spite of his failings in other directions." he said. some of them with their water-pots to the stream. Perhaps he had been going to Mbaino and had lost his way.

A bond of sympathy had grown between them as the years had passed. Okonkwo. There was foo-foo and yam pottage. or Evil Spirit." But before they went he whispered something to his first wife."They do not understand. to Obierika's compound. She presented the cock to the musicians and began to dance.The land of the living was not far removed from the domain of the ancestors." he announced when he sat down. another man asked a question: "Where is the white man's horse?" he asked. but when they went away Okonkwo sat still for a very long time supporting his chin in his palms."As they spoke Ezinma emerged from the hut." said Obierika. Most communal ceremonies took place at that time of the day."Leave her to me.""But they are beating the drums. As soon as she became pregnant she went to live with her old mother in another village. and even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was agbala." she said. Ekwefi brought her to the fireplace. or tie-tie. She was full of the power of her god. They were already far enough where they stood and there was room for running away if any of them should go towards them. But it turned out to be even bigger than we expected.The sun rose slowly to the center of the sky.

"Ekwefi went into her hut and came out again with Ezinma. As soon as he heard of the great feast in the sky his throat began to itch at the very thought.The only course open to Okonkwo was to flee from the clan. or Holy Feast as it was called in Ibo. "before 1 put any crop in the earth.And so nature was not interfered with in the middle of the rainy season." she replied. and they agreed about the beating. And then Nkechi came in. which were passed round for all to see and then returned to him.""And so everybody comes. Nobody thought that such a thing could ever happen.""That is very strange. His visitor was amazed. How could such a man be a follower of Christ?"He needs Christ more than you and I. and the meeting continued. He saw himself and his fathers crowding round their ancestral shrine waiting in vain for worship and sacrifice and finding nothing but ashes of bygone days. When we gather together in the moonlit village ground it is not because of the moon. There was the story of a very stubborn man who staggered back to his house and had to be carried again to the forest and tied to a tree."Ezinma went outside and brought some sticks from a huge bundle of firewood." he said as he went. She buried her face in her lap and waited. She beckons in front of her and behind her. He could hear in his mind's ear the blood-stirring and intricate rhythms of the ekwe and the udu and the ogene. Some said Ezimili. He asked the birds to take a message for his wife.

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. The lad's name was Ikemefuna. like something agitating with a metallic life. Two little groups of people stood at a respectable distance beyond the stools."Yes. who will hold his head up among my people. taking their bride home to spend seven market weeks with her suitor's family. They all have food in their own homes. but every farmer knew that without sunshine the tubers would not grow. She could no longer think." Quite often she bought beancakes and gave Ekwefi some to take home to Ezinma. The seven wasted and weary years were at last dragging to a close. As for the boy." said Obierika. Okonkwo's youngest wife."Umuofia kwenu!" he roared. young and old.""I pray she stays. Some of these prisoners had thrown away their twins and some had molested the Christians. When a man blasphemes. 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. returning. The priestess. and the polite name for leprosy was "the white skin. And so he regretted every day of his exile.""Does the white man understand our custom about land?""How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad.

A chick that will grow into a cock can be spotted the very day it hatches. I have done my best to make Nwoye grow into a man.Uchendu had been told by one of his grandchildren that three strangers had come to Okonkwo's house. He breathed heavily. His mind went to his latest show of manliness. How could she know that Ekwefi's bitterness did not flow outwards to others but inwards into her own soul."It is here." said one of the converts. who was once the village beauty.The land of the living was not far removed from the domain of the ancestors. too." said Obierika. and they took up fans and began to fan themselves. The bride's mother led the way."Yaa!" replied the thunderous crowd. he sat down in his obi and mourned his friend's calamity. guns and cannon were fired. His visitor was amazed. Unoka loved the good hire and the good fellowship."None." said the joker. Her heart jumped painfully within her. And they were right."Who are the young men with you?" he asked as he sat down again on his goatskin. so she cupped her right hand to shelter the flame." He laughed a mirthless laughter.

he kept it secret. he. you can tell a ripe corn by its look. they talked about everything except the thing for which they had gathered. and which she no doubt still told to her younger children??stories of the tortoise and his wily ways. or obi. He worshipped them with sacrifices of kola nut. where every woman had a shallow well for fermenting her cassava. Nwayieke lived four compounds away.Okonkwo returned when he felt the medicine had cooked long anough. how many twins she has borne and thrown away. Nwoye passed and repassed the little red-earth and thatch building without summoning enough courage to enter. They sat in a half-circle and began to talk of many things. the wife who had just been beaten murmured something about guns that never shot. Onwumbiko??"Death. I salute you. they could gather firewood together for roasting the ones that would be eaten there on the farm.The night was very quiet. Okonkwo helped them put down their loads. wiping the foam of wine from his mustache with the back of his left hand. 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."Your buttocks understand our language. I implore you. floated on the chaos. 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. As soon as the two boys closed in.

It was evening and the sun was settingUchendu's eldest daughter." she replied. Early that morning as he offered a sacrifice of new yam and palm oil to his ancestors he asked them to protect him. And she realized too with something like a jerk that Chielo was no longer moving forward. for as soon as the first rain came farming would begin. Obierika offered him a lobe of the kola nut he had broken with Okonkwo. Okonkwo slept. Children no longer stayed indoors but ran about singing:"The rain is falling. But at that very moment Chielo's voice rose again in her possessed chanting. some alligator pepper and a lump of white chalk. It told of one sheep out on the hills. A razor was taboo to him. Anyone seeing Chielo in ordinary life would hardly believe she was the same person who prophesied when the spirit of Agbala was upon her. indeed. The fact was that Obiageli had been making inyanga with her pot.""Yes" said Obierika. Okonkwo remembered his own father. "Amadiora will break your head for you!"Some days later. and soon they were the strongest adherents of the new faith." she began. to help them in their cooking. Ekwefi had nothing but good wishes for her. An oil lamp was lit and Okonkwo tasted from each bowl. lasted only a brief moment.Okonkwo cleared his throat and moved his feet to the beat of the drums. But that did not alter the facts.

"I will tell Obierika's wife that you are coming later.As soon as the day broke. "people should not talk when they are eating or pepper may go down the wrong way. In that way she will elude her wicked tormentor and break its evil cycle of birth and death. Okonkwo ground his teeth in disgust. who were putting the last delicate touches of razor to her coiffure and cam wood on her smooth skin.As night fell. you sow your yams on exhausted farms that take no labor to clear. She knelt on her knees and hands at the threshold and called her husband. almost to himself. I sacrifice a cock to Ani. His words may also be good. And he knew which trees made the strongest bows. The moon was definitely rising. whom he had thrown away. but nothing like this had ever happened. who walked away and never returned. Whenever one of these ancient men appeared in the crowd to dance unsteadily the funeral steps of the tribe. also carrying an oil lamp.""Let us not reason like cowards. "You are our teacher. It came from the direction of the ilo. And he knew which trees made the strongest bows. A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet. That was why he had called him a woman." said Obierika.

and two days later he returned home with a lad of fifteen and a young virgin. food was presented to the guests. I would have asked you to get life. the wife who had just been beaten murmured something about guns that never shot. her voice terrible as it echoed through the dark void. and so they stood waiting. And so nobody gave serious thought to the stories about the white man's government or the consequences of killing the Christians. They stood round in a huge circle leaving the center of the playground free. And so he regretted every day of his exile. close to the Great Shrine. It had not happened for many a long year. Kiaga.As the men ate and drank palm-wine they talked about the customs of their neighbors. They boast about victory over death. If any money came his way. or watched him as he tapped his palm tree for the evening wine. They sat in a half-circle and began to talk of many things. Okonkwo did not know at first that she was not at home. If I were you I would have stayed at home."Do what you are told. She believed because it was that faith alone that gave her own life any kind of meaning. mother is going. Nwoye overheard it and burst into tears. The oldest man present said sternly that those whose palm-kernels were cracked for them by a benevolent spirit should not forget to be humble. The meat was then shared so that every member of the umunna had a portion. Ikemefuna came into Okonkwo's household.

""I do not. It was a miracle. Children were warned not to whistle at night for fear of evil spirits. But he was not a failure like Unoka. These court messengers were greatly hated in Umuofia because they were foreigners and also arrogant and high-handed. But her love of wrestling contests was still as strong as it was thirty years ago. She walked numbly along. He stepped forward. "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. Ekwefi had nothing but good wishes for her. The rainy season was approaching when they would go away until the dry season returned. If there is any one among you who thinks he knows more let him speak up. But he has not come to wake me up in the morning for it. My mother's people have been good to me and 1 must show my gratitude. "Poor child."The village has outlawed us. gome went the gong." said Ezelagbo. though his dialect was different and harsh to the enrs of Mbanta. "Yaa!". slanting showers through sunshine and quiet breeze. and the sands felt like live coals to the feet. as Ekwefi had said. killed his animals and destroyed his barn. Ikemefuna was equally excited. When they saw it they drove it back to its owner.

"Has Nweke married a wife?" asked Okonkwo."How can I know you. and in the end they were received by them They asked for a plot of land to build on."Do you think you are cutting up yams for cooking?" he asked Nwoye. And so on this particular night as the crier's voice was gradually swallowed up in the distance." said Ezinma. It was Chielo. Okonkwo had called in another medicine man who was famous in the clan for his great knowledge about ogbanje children.Having sworn that oath. I do not owe my inlaws anything. The soup was brought out hot from the fire and in the very pot in which it had been cooked. She would wait at the mouth. and the burial was near. and two days later he returned home with a lad of fifteen and a young virgin. and at the end he had been taken out and handed over to a stranger." said Okonkwo. That was a source of great sorrow to the leaders of the clan." he said. The first cock has crowed.The priestess screamed. And what was more."I don't know why such a trifle should come before the said one elder to another. and terror seized her.""Your chi is very much awake. which children were rarely allowed to eat because such food tempted them to steal. It was not the mad logic of the Trinity that captivated him.

It is not bravery when a man fights with a woman." His tone now changed from anger to command. But she picked her way easily on the sandy footpath hedged on either side by branches and damp leaves. Soon after."None. Okonkwo and the boys worked in complete silence. in the other hand. But his mother and his three-year-old sister?? of course she would not be three now. and the elders of his family.It came slowly. Ezinma. His actions were deliberate. a place which was already becoming remote and vague in his imagination. Brown. The egwugwu with the springy walk was one of the dead fathers of the clan. You may have heard of the title I intend to take shortly. The same thought also came to Okonkwo's mind. she thought. The locusts settled in the bushes for the night and their wings became wet with dew. And it was not too hot either. and at the end he had been taken out and handed over to a stranger. He called his son." A cold shiver ran down Okonkwo's back as he remembered the last time the old man had visited him. the women who had gone for red earth returned with empty baskets. nor the walls of his compound."I beg you to accept this little kola.

As she buried one child after another her sorrow gave way to despair and then to grim resignation. when he slept. and he loved the first kites that returned with the dry season. 'Don't touch!' If i hold her footShe says. then.Ekwefi peeled the yams quickly. Such a man was Ogbuefi Ugonna. ivory spoon." replied Okukwe. Gome. were fixed on her." said Obiageli. and with him were his father and uncle. "you. He shrugged his shoulders and went away to tap his afternoon palm-wine. They all wore smoked raffia skirts and their bodies were painted with chalk and charcoal. She looked straight ahead of her and walked back to the village.- it was either too early or too late." he asked Obierika. guns and even his cannon. As for Ikemefuna. the rulers and elders of Mbanta assembled to decide on their action. they take new names for the occasion. only they did not understand him. The married women wore their best cloths and the girls wore red and black waist-beads and anklets of brass. But it was like beginning life anew without the vigor and enthusiasm of youth.

That was the kind of story that Nwoye loved. And when he did this he saw that his father was pleased. If I were you I would have stayed at home. Then something had given way inside him."Abame has been wiped out. "But Nweke did not appear until it was quite light. Kiaga's congregation at Mbanta.The sun rose slowly to the center of the sky. but somehow he still preferred the stories that his mother used to tell. "1 want Okonkwo to answer me.""Yes."You need some sleep yourself.The festival was now only three days away. He was taking his family of three wives and their children to seek refuge in his motherland. or playground. she sat down on a stony ledge and waited. but so great was the work the new religion had done among the converts that they did not immediately leave the church when the outcasts came in. He remembered the story she often told of the quarrel between Earth and Sky long ago. as you know. But such was her anxiety for her daughter that she could not rid herself completely of her fear. Even a man's motherland is strange to him nowadays. We live in peace with our fellows to honor our great goddess of the earth without whose blessing our crops will not grow. And so nobody gave serious thought to the stories about the white man's government or the consequences of killing the Christians. called on Okonkwo in his obi. she could bear no other person but her father. It was not the mad logic of the Trinity that captivated him.

The people surged forward. in which he took a pinch of snuff and sneezed noisily. It was only then that they exchanged greetings and shook hands over what was left of the food. the priestess. Okonkwo said he was sorry for what he had said.But Ezinma's iyi-uwa had looked real enough.The old man. Ikemefuna had an endless stock of folk tales."It was my husband's. I shall break your jaw. roots and barks of medicinal trees and shrubs.""Nwoye is old enough to impregnate a woman. her moments of depression when she would snap at everybody like an angry dog. another man asked a question: "Where is the white man's horse?" he asked. and when they had seen it and thanked him. Ezinma placed her mother's dish before him and sat with Obiageli. Every woman immediately abandoned whatever she was doing and rushed out in the direction of the cry. It was sudden and tremendous."Go home and sleep. If you are sending him on an errand he flies away before he has heard half of the message. 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. The spirit of wars was upon them. When Ekwefi had followed the priestess."You are a big man now. Okonkwo sprang to his feet and quickly sat down again. 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.

She set the pot on the fire and Okonkwo took up his machete to return to his obi. And if anything happened to her could she stop it? She would not dare to enter the underground caves. others said he was not the equal of Ikezue. That also is true. and asked Okonkwo to have a word with him outside. woman. rubbed his left palm on his body to dry it before tipping a little snuff into it. He had many friends here and came to see them quite often. Surely the earth goddess would not visit the sins of the missionaries on the innocent villagers?But on one occasion the missionaries had tried to over step the bounds. But his wives and young children were not as strong. And if they could not help in digging up the yams. meanwhile. Ezinma? Agbala wants to see her. You yourselves took her. The locusts settled in the bushes for the night and their wings became wet with dew. "They use medicine.In the distance the drums continued to beat. But it was useless. I cannot yet find a mouth with which to tell the story. silencing him.Ekwefi still had some cassava left on her farm from the previous year. I shall pay you. Obiageli. But as he flew home his long talon pierced the leaves and the rain fell as it had never fallen before. And for the first time they had a woman. He told them that they worshipped false gods.

"I will tell Obierika's wife that you are coming later. turning to Obierika. and passed the disc over to his guest.Large crowds began to gather on the village ilo as soon as the edge had worn off the sun's heat and it was no longer painful on the body. palm-oil and pepper for the soup. And so. After all the toil one only got a third of the harvest.Okonkwo had eaten from his wives' dishes and was nowreclining with his back against the wall. Most of the men and women of Abame had gone to their farms. Okonkwo and the two boys were working on the red outer walls of the compound. Her heart beat violently and she stood still. Some birds chirruped in the forests around."Will you give Ezinma some fire to bring to me?" Her own children and Ikemefuna had gone to the stream."Don't you know what kind of man Uzowulu is? He will not listen to any other decision. There were little holes from one side to the other in the upper levels of the wall. They chose to fly home on an empty stomach. And what do you think the Oracle would do then?""You know very well. And what do you think the Oracle would do then?""You know very well. If they imagined what was inside. slanting showers through sunshine and quiet breeze. It was there that her third child was born and circumcised on the eighth day.""Yes."Agbala do-o-o-o! Agbala ekeneo-o-o-o! ??" Chielo began once again to chant greetings to her god. They just pulled the stump. Okonkwo had slaughtered a goat for her." said Evil Forest.

If you give me some yam seeds I shall not fail you. They were beaten in the prison by the kotma and made to work every morning clearing the government compound and fetching wood for the white Commissioner and the court messengers.As night fell. They were both Uzowulu's neighbors. I salute you. The old man listened silently to the end and then said with some relief: "It is a female ochu. "Life to you. It descended on him again. Okonkwo's wives had scrubbed the walls and the huts with red earth until they reflected light. and even in the trees."Uzowulu's body. Akueni. The rain became lighter and lighter until it fell in slanting showers.""He was indeed. He searched his bag again and brought out a small. The earth burned like hot coals and roasted all the yams that had been sown. I do not owe my inlaws anything. mother is going. but not today. And if you stand staring at me like that.""It is true. Ezinma. He dared not go too near the missionaries for fear of his father. for in spite of their worthlessness they still belonged to the clan. but they were really talking at the top of their voices.""That is very true.

Am I dead? They said I would die if i took care of twins." said the convert. What you have done will not please the Earth. They were returning home with baskets of yams from a distant farm across the stream when they heard the voice of an infant crying in the thick forest. "I have felt it.""Do you think a thief can do that kind of thing single-handed?" asked Nwankwo. They will serve you when I have eaten. Some of them did become tired of their evil rounds of birth and death. or the children of Eru."I have heard. and before they began to speak in low tones Nwoye and Ikemefuna were sent out.""But they are beating the drums. It was as if water had been poured on the tightened skin of a drum.As Okonkwo sat in his hut that night. The fowl Ekwefi had just killed was in the wooden mortar. After the pot-bearers came Ibe. The birth of her children. like learning to become left-handed in old age." said one of the women. She gave the dish to her father's eldest brother and then shook hands. "She has iba." said Okonkwo. I did not send her away. it would not be done. Uchendu. His first two wives ran out in great alarm pleading with him that it was the sacred week.

And so Tortoise ate the best part of the food and then drank two pots of palm-wine. At the end. her voice cracking like the angry bark of thunder in the dry season. Why should that be? How are you different from other men who shave their hair? The same God created you and them."Thank you. I sow the yams when the first rain has fallen. He walked back to his obi to await Ojiugo's return. You yourselves took her. The priestess bent down on one knee and Ezinma climbed on her back."No.The missionaries spent their first four or five nights in the marketplace. They had built their church there." He paused. He still thought about his mother and his three-year-old sister. in your obi or in her own hut?" asked the medicine man. and they each gave him a feather. beans and cassava. as usual.""They are not all that young. The white man has no sense."Call your wife and child."No. of course. When a man was afflicted with swelling in the stomach and the limbs he was not allowed to die in the house. and although it had not yet appeared on the sky its light had already melted down the darkness.Many people went out with baskets trying to catch them.

the whole clan gathers there." said Obierika.""Your words are good. Nwoye would feign annoyance and grumble aloud about women and their troubles. "They will put off Ndulue's funeral until his wife has been buried. She would want to hear everything that had happened to him in all these years." said Okonkwo." This was interpreted to them but very few of them heard.""Your words are good. was a man's crop."Odukwe was short and thickset. At last Sky was moved to pity. Am I dead? They said I would die if i took care of twins. Every market day. Ezinma was always surprised that her mother could lift a pot from the fire with her bare hands. "You fear that you will die. But you were rich. and went into the village in the morning to preach the gospel. and the crowd followed her. They sang songs as they went. when they came. Okonkwo. gome. Uchendu. My mother was one of you. He was like the man in the song who had ten and one wives and not enough soup for his foo-foo.