They offered them as much of the Evil Forest as they cared to take. her blood still ran cold whenever she remembered that night.

The priestess bent down on one knee and Ezinma climbed on her back
The priestess bent down on one knee and Ezinma climbed on her back."Don't you know what kind of man Uzowulu is? He will not listen to any other decision. And what made it worse in Okonkwo's case was that he had to support his mother and two sisters from his meagre harvest. my sons. Ezinma's fire was now sending up thick clouds of smoke. relaxed again. The thick dregs of palm-wine were supposed to be good for men who were going in to their wives. Groups of four or five men sat round with a pot in their midst. it could also mean a man who had taken no title. and about the locusts?? Then quite suddenly a thought came upon him. And so heavily did it rain onVulture that he did not return to deliver his message but flew to a distant land. Whenever the thought of his father's weakness and failure troubled him he expelled it by thinking about his own strength and success. and the quiet spectators murmured to themselves.' And so Daughter Kite returned the duckling and took a chick instead. who had lived about two hundred years before. Why should that be? How are you different from other men who shave their hair? The same God created you and them. "1 have brought you this little kola. long way from home. All was silent. she found her lying on the mat. leaving what we are cooking to burn in the fire. like something agitating with a metallic life." He turned to Odukwe.

fifth and sixth years. Where are the young suckers that will grow when the old banana tree dies? If Ezinma had been a boy I would have been happier.""What will I see?" she asked. His yams grew abundantly. He could fashion out flutes from bamboo stems and even from the elephant grass. He had felt very anxious but did not show it. The fire did not burn with a flame. He heard the voice of singing and although it came from a handful of men it was loud and confident. She went on fanning it until it burst into flames. but he stood beckoning to them. he was terribly afraid. It was this man that Okonkwo threw in a fight which the old men agreed was one of the fiercest since the founder of their town engaged a spirit of the wild for seven days and seven nights." replied Okukwe.""That is true. watching."That was all he had said. Ekwefi hurried to the main footpath and turned left in the direction of the voice." He pulled his staff from the hard earth and thrust it back. and sat speechless. The children had lost interest and were playing.- then silence descended from the sky and swallowed the noise. When Unoka died he had taken no title at all and he was heavily in debt. She went.

breakfast was hastily eaten and women and children began to gather at Obierika's compound to help the bride's mother in her difficult but happy task of cooking for a whole village. he would use his fists. The rain fell in thin. and filled the village with excitement. 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. There was an immediate stir. There were only three such boys in each team. How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us? The white man is very clever. because her father had called her one evening and said to her: "There are many good and prosperous people here. and Okonkwo filled his horn again. all the descendants of Okolo.As soon as the day broke."For three years Ikemefuna lived in Okonkwo's household and the elders of Umuofia seemed to have forgotten about him. Ogbuefi Idigo was talking about the palm-wine tapper.Am oyim de de de de! flew around the dark. a thing set apart??a taboo for ever."At last the great day came and Tortoise was the first to arrive at the meeting place. who had begun to play a part in the affairs of his motherland.""Nna ayi. His love of talk had grown with age and sickness." Some of them had big sticks and some even machetes. Tears of gratitude filled her eyes. She nodded.

Okonkwo." said one man. If any one of you prefers to be a woman. pointing at the far wall of his hut. and in its place a sort of smile hovered. She was called Crystal of Beauty. "The world has no end. worthless. "But I want all of you to note what 1 am going to say."You have not eaten for two days. when he saw Nwoye among the Christians. They never answered yes for fear it might be an evil spirit calling.Just then the distant beating of drums began to reach them."Answer truthfully. As the evening drew near. and the others to the chalk quarry."Okonkwo bit his lips as anger welled up within him.Gradually the rains became lighter and less frequent. The words of the hymn were like the drops of frozen rain melting on the dry palate of the panting earth. As soon as Unoka understood what his friend was driving at. The women and children sent up a great shout and took to their heels. Go home and work like a man. before the first cock-crow.

"Life to you. "That is the story. children sat around their mother's cooking fire telling stories. Ekwefi. Okonkwo saw clearly the high esteem in which he would be held.Seven years was a long time to be away from one's clan. but she was held down. the fear of failure and of weakness. but not overmuch. For although locusts had not visited Umuofia for many years."Is it well?" Okonkwo asked." said his father. drank a little and handed back the horn. carried him shoulder high and danced through the cheering crowd. There were twenty-two of them."Go home and sleep. And as he told them of the past they sat in darkness or the dim glow of logs. Tears of gratitude filled her eyes."He has married Okadigbo's second daughter. He had an old rusty gun made by a clever blacksmith who had come to live in Umuofta long ago.""That is very true. Okonkwo's gun had exploded and a piece of iron had pierced the boy's heart. To show affection was a sign of weakness.

the old man supporting himself with his stick." And he arranged the requisite rites and sacrifices. All the other dancers made way for her."Bring me a hoe. in their due proportions. one of those evil essences loosed upon the world by the potent "medicines" which the tribe had made in the distant past against its enemies but had now forgotten how to control. whom he had thrown away. she returned to her mother's hut to help with the cooking. But his fondness only showed on very rare occasions. Every man of Umuofia was asked to gather at the market place tomorrow morning. A few moments later he went behind the hut and began to vomit painfully."Okonkwo never did things by halves.' 'You must return the duckling. closed hut like tongues of fire. And let me tell you one thing. unless it be the emotion of anger. and would not go to war against it without first trying a peaceful settlement. "It wounds my heart to see these young men killing palm trees in the name of tapping.""It is the result of a great medicine." said the woman.The confusion that followed was without parallel in the tradition of Umuofia.But some of the egwugwu were quite harmless. "It is not to pay you back for all you did for me in these seven years.

They set fire to his houses. for whom is it well? There is no one for whom it is well. his mind would have been centered on his work."Outside the obi Okagbue and Okonkwo were digging the pit to find where Ezinma had buried her iyi-uwa.In the morning the market place was full. Aninta. Does a man speak when a god speaks? Beware!"She walked through Okonkwo's hut into the circular compound and went straight toward Ekwefi's hut. But two years later when a son was born he called him Nwofia??"Begotten in the Wilderness.It came slowly. So he began to plan how he would go to the sky. lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper. It was a rare achievement." replied Okonkwo. Is it right that you. If the song ended on his right foot. his mother was alive. called him by his name and went back to her hut. She pulled again and it came off. Ezinma went with her and helped in preparing the vegetables. But it turned out to be even bigger than we expected." replied Uzowulu. Okoye was a great talker and he spoke for a long time. called round his neighbors and made merry.

At the beginning of their journey the men of Umuofia talked and laughed about the locusts. He was imprisoned with all the leaders of his family. They were very fat goats." said Obierika. and went into the village in the morning to preach the gospel. twenty years or more.Okonkwo knew these things. Soon it covered half the sky. and they ran for their lives. "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."Umuofia kwenu!" shouted the leading egwugwu. another group with hoes and baskets to the village earth pit. his half-sister. demolished his red walls. The drums rose to a frenzy. had gone to consult the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves to find out why he always had a miserable harvest. and the quiet spectators murmured to themselves. She prepared it the way he liked??with slices of oil-bean and fish. And this faith had been strengthened when a year or so ago a medicine man had dug up Ezinma's iyi-uwa. neither getting too near nor keeping too far back. which. Okonkwo decided to go out hunting. He brought another seven baskets and cooked them himself.

and stammered. She was called Crystal of Beauty. Kiaga." said Okonkwo. But I fear for you young people because you do not understand how strong is the bond of kinship. He had a large barn full of yams and he had three wives. He had discerned a clear overtone of tragedy in the crier's voice. to honor the earth goddess and the ancestral spirits of the clan." she replied. despite his madness. But whenever they came to preach in the open marketplace or the village playground. "You will bring to the shrine of Ani tomorrow one she-goat. The same thought also came to Okonkwo's mind. and they. Unoka loved it all. His wives and children were very happy too. he kept it secret. Okonkwo told him. "I remember now. On her arms were red and yellow bangles."That woman standing there is my wife. Okonkwo!" she warned. They will take him outside Umuofia as is the custom.

His mind went back to Ikemefuna and he shivered. but he did not say it. Ekwefi. Igwelo had a job in hand because he had married his first wife a month or two before. As she buried one child after another her sorrow gave way to despair and then to grim resignation. who was laid on a mat." said Ekwefi. People laughed at him because he was a loafer. I am Dry-meat-that-fills-the-mouth. "Use the fan. she thought. Ani played a greater part in the life of the people than any other diety. The harvest was over.After the singing the interpreter spoke about the Son of God whose name was Jesu Kristi. They must have bypassed it long ago. A deathly silence descended on Okonkwo's compound. Every man of Umuofia was asked to gather at the market place tomorrow morning. Okonkwo ate the food absent-mindedly. He turned it on to his left palm. raised the pot on his left knee and began to pour out the wine. They set fire to his houses. and in a basket beside her were green vegetables and beans."It was Wednesday in Holy Week and Mr.

Nwoye."Then listen to me. It was such a forest that. If it does its power will be gone.Anasi was a middle-aged woman. she was dead. or took pity on their mothers. and each hut seen from the others looked like a soft eye of yellow half-light set in the solid massiveness of night.That night he collected his most valuable belongings into head-loads. She had married Anene because Okonkwo was too poor then to marry.""I shall wait too. and we would be like Abame. and the man growled at him to go on and not stand looking back. Women and children returning from the stream with pots of water on their heads wondered what was happening until they saw Okagbue and guessed that it must be something to do with ogbanje. moved to the center. She went on fanning it until it burst into flames. It was the fear of himself. The crowd followed her silently. She went in and knocked at his door and he came out.It was a great funeral. but they never brought them into the village. and sent for the missionaries. for that was his father's name.

Brown. They danced back to the center together and then closed in. But his mother and his three-year-old sister?? of course she would not be three now. But tonight she was addressing her prophecy and greetings to Okonkwo. one of those wicked children who. where the white men first came many years before and where they had built the center of their religion and trade and government. Ezinma placed her mother's dish before him and sat with Obiageli. He refused to join in the meal. perhaps for the first time. As our fathers said. For days and nights together it poured down in violent torrents. who had joined in plucking the feathers. Any wonder then that his son Okonkwo was ashamed of him? Fortunately.""What has happened to that piece of land in dispute?" asked Okonkwo.The youngest of Uchendu's five sons."After the kola nut had been eaten Okonkwo brought his palm- wine from the corner of the hut where it had been placed and stood it in the center of the group." But it was a different Chielo she now saw in the yellow half-light. And so people said he had no respect for the gods of the clan. He stretched himself and scratched his thigh where a mosquito had bitten him as he slept."That is not the end of the story."Your buttocks said he had a son."Our father. We have tried to settle their quarrels time without number and on each occasion Uzowulu was guilty??""It is a lie!" Uzowulu shouted.

and on the other the offer of a young man and a virgin as compensation.buy uggs He calls you his father. Okonkwo had begun to sow with the first rains. until crops withered and the dead could not be buried because the hoes broke on the stony Earth. I have done my best to make Nwoye grow into a man.'"He began to eat and the birds grumbled angrily. Gome."Ezeudu!" he called in his guttural voice. And so. 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. into a healthy. If they became more troublesome than they already were they would simply be driven out of the clan. Okonkwo's gun had exploded and a piece of iron had pierced the boy's heart. Okonkwo remembered his own father. with her suitor and his relatives. who drank a cup or two each. They haggle and bargain as if they were buying a goat or a cow in the market.They sat in a big circle on the ground and the young bride in the center with a hen in her right hand."Every year. and I am happy you have come to see us."What is iyi-uwa?" she asked in return.' said the young kite." said Ezinma.

"Answer me.""Too much of his grandfather.Then the missionaries burst into song. folded her arms in front of her and began to sway her waist like a grown-up young lady.But the year had gone mad. She turned round on her low stool and put the beak in the fire for a few moments.At first Ikemefuna was very much afraid. Kiaga.""Why?" asked Obierika and Okonkwo together. the one young and beautiful. too old to attend Ndulue during his illness. The birth of her children. No one had actually seen the man do it." they said. food and palm-wine."Who killed this banana tree?" he asked. "The people of Umuike wanted their market to grow and swallow up the markets of their neighbors. moved to the center. They sat in a half-moon.Ikemefuna had begun to feel like a member of Okonkwo's family. and then flew away. Ekwefi. "His name is Amadi.

others said he was not the equal of Ikezue. when he had worked on one side of the wall and Ikemefuna and Nwoye on the other. came first." And he told him what an osu was. Her suitor and his relatives surveyed her young body with expert eyes as if to assure themselves that she was beautiful and ripe. The men stood outside the circle. Those were good days when a man had friends in distant clans. like something agitating with a metallic life. looking at Nwakibie's elder son Igwelo with a malicious twinkle in his eye. "Beware. As the evening wore on. a light rain had fallen during the night and the soil would not be very hard. all the same. or ndichie. Before the day was over he was dead."Who are the young men with you?" he asked as he sat down again on his goatskin.""Yes. some of them having come a long way from their homes in distant villages. One man tied his cloth to a tree branch and hanged himself. And then it became known that the white man's fetish had unbelievable power." Ekwefi said to the woman who had stood shoulder to shoulder with her since the beginning of the matches. "1 want Okonkwo to answer me. not only in his motherland but also in Umuofia.

Your generation does not know that. The rainy season was approaching when they would go away until the dry season returned. We all know him. Clearly his personal god or chi was not made for great things. Three young men from the victorious boy's team ran forward.At first Ikemefuna was very much afraid. every man with his goatskin bag hung on one shoulder and a rolled goatskin mat under his arm. who was then an ailing man." he said sadly. Wherever he went he carried with him the mark of his forbidden caste??long. gazing into a log fire. and two or three pieces of land on which tofarm during the coming planting season." said Ezinma. And immediately Okonkwo's eyes were opened and he saw the whole matter clearly. their hoes and machetes. Some of them were very violent. The medicine man ignored him. People made way for him on all sides and the noise subsided. As soon as the two boys closed in." said Okonkwo. Nwoye had heard that twins were put in earthenware pots and thrown away in the forest."Tortoise saw all these preparations and soon discovered what it all meant. Okonkwo's wives had scrubbed the walls and the huts with red earth until they reflected light.

The bride's mother led the way." Okonkwo made a sound full of disgust. one of these women went to Ozoemena's hut and told her. Okonkwo cleared his throat. The men trod dry leaves on the sand." came her voice. where every woman had a shallow well for fermenting her cassava. The seven wasted and weary years were at last dragging to a close. and sometimes two rainbows." said Obierika.' said Mother Kite to her daughter.""There is no song in the story. This was a womanly clan. carrying a wooden dish with three kola nuts and alligator pepper. He remembered once when men had talked in low tones with his father. He does not belong here." They laughed and agreed. "Will you go?""Yes. Her suitor and his relatives surveyed her young body with expert eyes as if to assure themselves that she was beautiful and ripe.Ekwefi did not answer. There were also pots of yam pottage. One of them was so old and infirm that he leaned heavily on a stick." Quite often she bought beancakes and gave Ekwefi some to take home to Ezinma.

Even Mgbafo took to her heels and had to be restrained by her brothers. The bride-price had been paid and all but the last ceremony had been performed. the feasting and fellowship of the first day or the wrestling Contest of the second. Kiaga." Altogether there were fifty pots of wine. And what made it worse in Okonkwo's case was that he had to support his mother and two sisters from his meagre harvest. Their children carried pots of water."The two outcasts shaved off their hair. And so he feigned that he no longer cared for women's stories.At first Ikemefuna was very much afraid."You know what it is." she said." he swore. it would have been impossible to eat. He just carried her into his bed and in the darkness began to feel around her waist for the loose end of her cloth. "Whether you are spirit or man. and the rest went back. Now and again a full-chested lamentation rose above the wailing whenever a man came into the place of death. and they were merely her messengers. "when she was pregnant. "1 have brought you this little kola. At first they were afraid they might die. "All the gods you have named are not gods at all.

It was a very expensive ceremony and he was gathering all his resources together. she could bear no other person but her father. Who knows what may happen tomorrow? Perhaps green men will come to our clan and shoot us. I would have asked you to bring courage.The land of the living was not far removed from the domain of the ancestors. they became the lords of the land."That wine is the work of a good tapper. She nodded. drew some lines on the floor. His sons brought out the pots of palm-wine." He got up painfully. Kiaga's joy was very great. my hand has touched the ground. Here we say he cannot climb the tall tree but he can tap the short ones standing on the ground. and was about to say something when the old man continued:"Yes.So Okonkwo encouraged the boys to sit with him in his obi. And every man whose arm was strong."Forgive me. they say. He exchanged greetings with Okonkwo and led the way into his obi." replied her mother. It was not until the following day that Okonkwo told him the full story. Neither of the other wives dared to interfere beyond an occasional and tentative.

Ikemefuna had an endless stock of folk tales." said the medicine man. But as the dog said. He was roused in the morning by someone banging on his door."Bring me a hoe.The drum sounded again and the flute blew. "I shall survive anything. who were still outside the circle. It was even heard in the surrounding villages." said one of them. in the sunshine. and sometimes two rainbows."Yes. Amalinze was a wily craftsman. he made sacrifices of atonement and performed an expensive burial ceremony such as was done for a great man.Obierika then presented to him a small bundle of short broomsticks. Evil Forest represented the village of Umueru. Ekwefi hurried to the main footpath and turned left in the direction of the voice. One day as Ezinma was eating an egg Okonkwo had come in unexpectedly from his hut."Just then Obierika's son.As the broken kola nuts were passed round. nor even a young wife. Chielo never ceased in her chanting.

There were six of them and one was a white man. And she had agreed. "Bear no hand in his death. She sometimes broke into a run and stopped again suddenly. you have become a woman indeed. It was like the desire for woman. Ekwefi even gave her such delicacies as eggs. She wore a black necklace which hung down in three coils just above her full. On the second day Uchendu called together his sons and daughters and his nephew. She looked very much like her mother."She has gone to plait her hair."What did he say?" the white man asked his interpreter. Amalinze was the great wrestler who for seven years was unbeaten. And so she brought out her husband's hoes. And so he was always happy when he heard him grumbling about women. Perhaps he had been going to Mbaino and had lost his way. Ofoedu ate slowly and talked about the locusts. He was tall and huge. Obierika presented kola nuts to his in-laws. "My father told me that he had been told that in the past a man who broke the peace was dragged on the ground through the village until he died. It was true they were rescuing twins from the bush."The white man's court has decided that it should belong to Nnama's family. And when he did this he saw that his father was pleased.

Okonkwo was very happy to receive his friend. Obierika offered him a lobe of the kola nut he had broken with Okonkwo. At any rate." he announced when he sat down. A child cannot pay for its mother's milk. and two days later he returned home with a lad of fifteen and a young virgin."It was in the second year of Okonkwo's exile that his friend. took out two leaves and began to chew them. When they had eaten they talked about many things: about the heavy rains which were drowning the yams. It had been early in the morning. but to settle the dispute. who had felt more angry than the others.No work was done during the Week of Peace. saluted the spirits and began his story. with a full beard and a bald head. A baby on its mother's back does not know that the way is long."Agbala do-o-o-o!?? Agbala ekeneo-o-o-o! ??" Ekwefi trudged behind."Come. the old man supporting himself with his stick. He then roused Ezinma and placed her on the stool. and at his death there were only three men in the whole clan who were older. "The evil you have done can ruin the whole clan. The heathen speak nothing but falsehood.

but every farmer knew that without sunshine the tubers would not grow. As the elders said.""God will not permit it." said one of them.It was not yet noon on the second day of the New Yam Festival. Instead of saying "myself" he always said "my buttocks. his face beaming with blessedness and peace. and prayed that the rain might fall in the night. "that Abame is no more?""How is that?" asked Uchendu and Okonkwo together. They can steal your cloth from off your waist in that market. and Ojiugo's daughter. He pressed the trigger and there was a loud report accompanied by the wail of his wives and children." Umuofia obodo dike! Umuofia obodo dike! It said this over and over again. and he knew it was due to Ikemefuna. Ezinma shook every tree violently with a long stick before she bent down to cut the stem and dig out the tuber. but Okonkwo was as slippery as a fish in water. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. Umuofia has decided to kill him. And they all knew Ekwefi and her daughter very well. "Thank you for calling us together. the priestess." They offered them as much of the Evil Forest as they cared to take. her blood still ran cold whenever she remembered that night.