knew she was an ogbanje. for he knew certainly that something was amiss. These women never saw the inside of the hut."Come along.

When the mat was at last removed she was drenched in perspiration
When the mat was at last removed she was drenched in perspiration." she replied and disappeared in the darkness. it seeks sympathy in its mother's hut. As the rains became heavier the women planted maize. And he went.' he thought as he looked at his ten-year-old daughter. Uchendu before her.Nwoye's younger brothers were about to tell their mother the true story of the accident when Ikemefuna looked at them sternly and they held their peace. Many of them spoke at great length and in fury. She shut her eyes for a while and opened them again in an effort to see. Without it."I have come to you for help. with music and dancing and a great feast." said Nwoye's mother. And there was eating and drinking till night. and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten. It was sudden and tremendous. my child. 'Don't touch!'But when I hold her waist-beads she pretends not to know. and the world lay panting under the live. I began to fend for myself at an age when most people still suck at their mothers' breasts." Nwoye's mother said.""He tapped three of my best palm trees to death. Okonkwo did not know at first that she was not at home.

and as if in sympathy the smoldering log also sighed. Sometimes when he went to big village meetings or communal ancestral feasts he allowed Ikemefuna to accompany him. father? You are beyond our knowledge.- they all fled in terror. "I warned Nwankwo to keep a sharp eye and a sharp ear. Only a few of them saw these white men and their followers. They all have food in their own homes.""Your words are good. There is not a single clan in these parts that I do not know very well. Darkness held a vague terror for these people. The next child was a girl." pleaded from a reasonable distance. Once in a while Chielo was possessed by the spirit of her god and she began to prophesy. It was not very easy getting the men of high title and the elders together after the excitement of the first day. But they have cast you out like lepers." he said. As our people say. others Abame or Aninta. When his wife Ekwefi protested that two goats were sufficient for the feast he told her that it was not her affair. Now Ekwefi was a woman of forty-five who had suffered a great deal in her time. He would return later to his mother and his brothers and sisters and convert them to the new faith." said Mr. Obierika had sent one of his relatives all the way to Umuike to buy that goat It was the one he would present alive to his in-laws.""Somebody told me yesterday.

went down quickly on one knee in an attempt to fling his man backwards over his head." Some of them had big sticks and some even machetes. The heathen say you will die if you do this or that. and even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was agbala."No. Okonkwo looked away." said Obierika.' said Mother Kite. When i say no to them they think i am hard hearted. They were locusts."We shall be going. But when a father beats his child. The chalk women also returned to tell a similar story."Umezulike. before they finally left for their village. Ekwefi tried to pull out the horny beak but it was too hard. what did the mother of this duckling say when you swooped and carried its child away?' 'It said nothing. He had discerned a clear overtone of tragedy in the crier's voice. Bring me my daughter. Two judges walked around the wrestlers and when they thought they were equally matched. Obierika. Evil Forest then stood up. New yams could not be eaten until some had first been offered to these powers. "who will protect us from the anger of our neglected gods and ancestors?""Your gods are not alive and cannot do you any harm.

for Mr. Ezinma was always surprised that her mother could lift a pot from the fire with her bare hands. And so he did now. metallic and thirsty clap. He asked Okagbue to come up and rest while he took a hand. without serious danger to his own health. her voice cracking like the angry bark of thunder in the dry season. "Whoever has a job in hand. There was no barn to inherit."Oho. You are a great family. And so everybody came to see the white man.It was a great funeral. but they were really talking at the top of their voices.""Once upon a time. Sometimes another village would ask Unoka's band and their dancing egwugwu to come and stay with them and teach them their tunes. folded her arms in front of her and began to sway her waist like a grown-up young lady. The children stood in the darkness outside their hut watching the strange event. If. untouched by the ax and the bush-fire."It was Wednesday in Holy Week and Mr. floated on the chaos. will you go to see the wrestling?" Ezinma asked after a suitable interval." he said.

The priestess' voice was already growing faint in the distance." He presented the kola nut to them. was the wife of Ogbuefi Udo. As our fathers said. everybody knew by instinct that they were very good to eat. "But I have also heard that Abame people were weak and foolish. Children were warned not to whistle at night for fear of evil spirits." said Nwoye's mother. and piling up his debts. So he waited impatiently for the dry season to come. "she will bring you back very soon. I have done my best to make Nwoye grow into a man. Uchendu pulled gently at his gray beard and gnashed his teeth. The women and children sent up a great shout and took to their heels. But Ezinma had seen clearly all the thought and hidden meaning behind the few words. he was treated with great honor and respect. He was still young but he had won fame as the greatest wrestler in the nine villages." replied Okonkwo. Ekwefi was also awakened and her benumbed fears revived.As soon as his father walked in. Ezeudu is dead. It was already dusk when the two parties came to this agreement. and then painted his big toe. Then he tried to settle the matter the way he used to settle such matters when he was a little boy.

""What has happened?" asked Okonkwo.The earth quickly came to life and the birds in the forests fluttered around and chirped merrily. And so when he called Ikemefuna to fetch his gun."Go and bring me some cold water."Ekwefi turned the hen over in the mortar and began to pluck the feathers.; "Did he die?" asked Ezinma.That was many years ago. Even the very little children seemed to know. A child belongs to its father and his family and not to its mother and her family. because Oduche had not died immediately from his wounds. Gome." Okonkwo said. but she must wait for Ezinma to wake. The imagery of an efulefu in the language of the clan was a man who sold his machete and wore the sheath to battle. It was a tremendous sight. who laughed uneasily because. Those men of Abame were fools. who at once paid the heavy fine which the village imposed on anyone whose cow was let loose on his neighbors' crops. It was addressed as "Our Father. Their fathers had never dared to stand before our ancestors. Their bodies shone with sweat. On the second day Uchendu called together his sons and daughters and his nephew. The suitor just goes on bringing bags of cowries until his in-laws tell him to stop. The bride-price had been paid and all but the last ceremony had been performed.

They argued for a short while and fell into silence again.And then the storm burst. He dared not go too near the missionaries for fear of his father. He accepted the half-full horn from his brother and drank it. waiting for him. They can steal your cloth from off your waist in that market. Your duty is to comfort your wives and children and take them back to your fatherland after seven years. It seemed as if the world had gone mad. "What about you? Can you answer my question?"They all shook their heads. Nwoye's mother. "My father.So when the daughter of Umuofia was killed in Mbaino. a huge wooden face painted white except for the round hollow eyes and the charred teeth that were as big as a man's fingers. he had begun even in his father's lifetime to lay the foundations of a prosperous future. not even for fear of a goddess. but she was held down.The elders of the clan had decided that Ikemefuna should be in Okonkwo's care for a while. He did not know who the girl was. Why is that? Your mother was brought home to me and buried with my people. Okonkwo said he was sorry for what he had said." said Obierika's eldest brother. And then one morning three white men led by a band of ordinary men like us came to the clan. I have come to pay you my respects and also to ask a favor. But it was a resilient spirit.

"The market of Umuike is a wonderful place. Do you not think that they came to our clan by mistake."We had meant to set out from my house before cockcrow. There was an immediate stir. And so they arrived home again. He was afraid of being thought weak. But whenever they came to preach in the open marketplace or the village playground.Ekwefi rose early on the following morning and went to her farm with her daughter. The first cup went to Okonkwo. My in-law.Ezeudu had been the oldest man in his village.His anger thus satisfied. Kiaga restrained them. 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. he had allowed what he regarded as a reasonable and manly interval to pass and then gone with his machete to the shrine. Maduka. The chalk women also returned to tell a similar story. "It's true that a child belongs to its father.Everybody at the kindred meeting took sides with Osugo when Okonkwo called him a woman."When nearly two years later Obierika paid another visit to his friend in exile the circumstances were less happy. In front of them was a row of stools on which nobody sat. because it judged a man by the work or his hands. not even with broomsticks. he had not slept at all last night.

reached Okonkwo from his wives' huts as each woman and her children told folk stories. He addressed Nwakibie. The drums beat the unmistakable wrestling dance - quick. Ezinma turned left as if she was going to the stream. A steady cloud of smoke rose from his head.That was the kind of story that Nwoye loved." said Ogbuefi Ezeudu. paid regular visits to them."That was all he had said. Then he remembered that he had not taken out his snuff-spoon. "In Abame and Aninta the title is worth less than two cowries. He brought another seven baskets and cooked them himself. Eneke the bird says that since men have learned to shoot without missing. "Umuofia kwenu. silence returned to the world. He rounded off his prayer and went to see what it was all about. He therefore treated Ikemefuna as he treated everybody else - with a heavy hand. But now she found the half-light of the incipient moon more terrifying than darkness. All the women shouted with joy because Ekwefi's troubles were at last ended." 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. The woman was Mgbafo and the three men with her were her brothers. my hand has touched the ground."Evil Forest then turned to the other group and addressed the eldest of the three brothers. Ukegbu.

But let us ostracize these men. She went in and knocked at his door and he came out. When they were out of earshot. She stood until Chielo had increased the distance between them and she began to follow again. He tried not to think about Ikemefuna.""That is very strange. We would then not be held accountable for their abominations. But no one thought It would be as long as three years. It was even heard in the surrounding villages.And the little church was at that moment too deeply absorbed in its own troubles to annoy the clan." continued Odukwe. He wore a haggard and mournful look except when he was drinking or playing on his flute. And so they each took a new name. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness. He searched in it for his snuff-bottle.Very soon after. A bowl of pounded yams can throw him in a wrestling match.The drums beat and the flutes sang and the spectators held their breath. my friend. You see. the white missionary. "I shall not talk about thanking you any more. I have learned that a man who makes trouble for others is also making it for himself. Uchendu pulled gently at his gray beard and gnashed his teeth.

The rainbow began to appear. If one says no to the other."I am Evil Forest. You will have what is good for you and I will have what is good for me. And this faith had been strengthened when a year or so ago a medicine man had dug up Ezinma's iyi-uwa. and she was notorious for her late cooking."There was immediate excitement and those who were sitting jumped to their feet.The night was very quiet. whom she called "my daughter. "Beware." said Okonkwo.""Is he staying long with us?" she asked."The medicine man then ordered that there should be no mourning for the dead child.That night a bell-man went through the length and breadth of Mbanta proclaiming that the adherents of the new faith were thenceforth excluded from the life and privileges of the clan.She had prayed for the moon to rise. People made way for him on all sides and the noise subsided. as if he was going to pounce on somebody. the Evil Forest was a fit home for such undesirable people. more fierce than it had ever been known. Ezinma was crying loudly now. It was a smooth pebble wrapped in a dirty rag. as she had accepted others??with listless resignation. urging the others to hurry up. Their sound was no longer a separate thing from the living village.

came into the obi from outside. You may ask why I am saying all this. Amadiora or the thunderbolt. They sat in a half-moon. It was called a string. You are a great family. It was said that he wore glasses on his eyes so that he could see and talk to evil spirits.' said the birds when they had heard him. She ran faster. He had therefore put his drinking-horn into his goatskin bag for the occasion. As for the boy."No. and although ailing she seemed determined to live. and when he died he was buried by his kind in the Evil Forest. "A child's fingers are not scalded by a piece of hot yam which its mother puts into its palm. said that until the abominable gang was chased out of the village with whips there would be no peace. This was about eight days after the fight." Okonkwo said. entered their mothers' wombs to be born again. And so on this particular night as the crier's voice was gradually swallowed up in the distance. who were putting the last delicate touches of razor to her coiffure and cam wood on her smooth skin. An oil lamp was lit and Okonkwo tasted from each bowl. The rain became lighter and lighter until it fell in slanting showers. Earth's emissary.

who had been walking about aimlessly in his compound in suppressed anger. Okoye rolled his goatskin and departed. that my children do not resemble me. Your mother is there to protect you. And it was not too hot either. His name was Nwakibie and he had taken the highest but one title which a man could take in the clan. Spirits always addressed humans as "bodies. calling on her mother. she had said. a machete for cutting down the soft cassava stem." said one of them.Okonkwo cleared his throat and moved his feet to the beat of the drums. And so everybody came to see the white man. of all people." he swore."Oho. or tie-tie. Very often it was Ezinma who decided what food her mother should prepare. The harmattan was in the air and seemed to distill a hazy feeling of sleep on the world. Then the metal gong sounded and the flute was blown. Every man wears the thread of title on his ankle. and then turning to his brother and his son he said: "Let us go out and whisper together. They were the lazy easy-going ones who always put off clearing their farms as long as they could. "Let us not presume to do so now.

" said Obierika. on their backs and their thighs. Every man can see it in his own compound."Will you give Ezinma some fire to bring to me?" Her own children and Ikemefuna had gone to the stream."He does not know that either. And so he feigned that he no longer cared for women's stories. And what is the result? Their clan is full of the evil spirits of these unburied dead. and many farmers wept as they dug up the miserable and rotting yams.An iron gong sounded. He had been cast out of his clan like a fish onto a dry." said Obierika. He had a large compound enclosed by a thick wall of red earth. Where is my daughter. the man saw it vaguely in the darkness. If one says no to the other. As soon as Uchendu saw him with his sad and weary company he guessed what had happened. "My daughter's suitor is coming today and I hope we will clinch the matter of the bride-price. They were called kotma. The crowd burst into a thunderous roar. But Tortoise jumped to his feet and asked: Tor whom have you prepared this feast?'"'For all of you. my great friend."Ekwefi. The earth burned like hot coals and roasted all the yams that had been sown." replied Nwoye.

He was tall and huge. and two or three pieces of land on which tofarm during the coming planting season. she had said. Kiaga had asked the women to bring red earth and white chalk and water to scrub the church for Easter. and turned to his sons and daughters. She pulled again and it came off. A sudden hush had fallen on the women. The birth of her children. Unoka. as everybody knew they would. he was terribly afraid. But two years later when a son was born he called him Nwofia??"Begotten in the Wilderness. But it was a resilient spirit. And in all the nine villages of Umuofia a town crier with his ogene asked every man to be present tomorrow morning. and Okeke says we should pretend not to see. and the rest went back."They want a piece of land to build their shrine."Go and bring me some cold water. warming their bodies. Yam stood for manliness. There is not a single clan in these parts that I do not know very well."Ekwefi turned the hen over in the mortar and began to pluck the feathers. Another one was wailing near his right ear. and gave it to Ibe to fill.

In her hand was the cloth pad on which the pot should have rested on her head. and at his death there were only three men in the whole clan who were older. trying to minimize Ojiugo's thoughtlessness. looking up from the yams she was peeling. and when he died he was buried by his kind in the Evil Forest. Could he remember them all? He would tell her about Nwoye and his mother.All this had happened more than a year ago and Ezinma had not been ill since. But if a man caused it. Then he took it away to bury in the Evil Forest. their hoes and machetes. If a clansman killed a royal python accidentally. And he had all but achieved it." he said. a thing set apart??a taboo for ever. speaking in a tremulous. Three converts had gone into the village and boasted openly that all the gods were dead and impotent and that they were prepared to defy them by burning all their shrines. except his priestess. Ezinma's voice soon faded away and only Chielo was heard moving farther and farther into the distance." said Ofoedu. Obiageli. "But Nweke did not appear until it was quite light. Some birds chirruped in the forests around. Every man wears the thread of title on his ankle. Ikemefuna was equally excited.

Okonkwo brought out his snuff-bottle and offered it to Ogbuefi Ezenwa.""Yes. And so he changed the subject and talked about music. Now you talk about his son." said Obierika. Nothing that happened in the world of the animals ever escaped his notice. At first it appeared as if it might prove too great for his spirit. And then like the sound of his cannon he crashed on the compound. and sent for the missionaries." He prayed especially for Okonkwo and his family. Some of it also went to the bride and her attendant maidens. a large crowd of men from Ezeudu's quarter stormed Okonkwo's compound.' said Tortoise. and then painted his big toe.The metal gong beat continuously now and the flute. his heels hardly touched the ground and he seemed to walk on springs.""Your words are good. "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."Nwoye did not fully understand. But let us ostracize these men.The confusion that followed was without parallel in the tradition of Umuofia. and the sun seemed hidden behind a thick cloud. Then the bride. their hoes and machetes.

The drums beat the unmistakable wrestling dance - quick.'"'You do not know me. His own hut." said Obierika to his son. She was saying again and again that Agbala wanted to see his daughter. gods of wood and stone. Ezenwa took it. spears. you would still have committed a great evil to beat her. dressed in garbs of war.Okonkwo's neighbors heard his wife crying and sent their voices over the compound walls to ask what was the matter."Agbala do-o-o-o! Agbala ekeneo-o-o-o! Chi negbu madu ubosi ndu ya nato ya uto daluo-o-o! ??"Ekwefi could already see the hills looming in the moonlight. in spite of his failings in other directions.The year that Okonkwo took eight hundred seed-yams from Nwakibie was the worst year in living memory. She would want to hear everything that had happened to him in all these years. only to return to their places almost immediately. He asked Okonkwo a few questions about the dead child. the white man began to speak to them. whose feeling of importance was manifest in her sprightly walk.' he said as they flew on their way. The old man listened silently to the end and then said with some relief: "It is a female ochu. he sat down in his obi and mourned his friend's calamity. became for Ekwefi mere physical agony devoid of promise. and the tuber was pulled out.

as the saying goes. Evil Forest then stood up. unhappily. He had fallen ill on the previous night. and walked to its beat." said an old man. An animal rubs its itching flank against a tree.And so Obierika went to Mbanta to see his friend." said Okonkwo. But for a young man whose father had no yams. An osu could not attend an assembly of the free-born. But they have cast you out like lepers. solid drops of frozen water which the people called "the nuts of the water of heaven. which was rubbed with red earth so that it shone. But there were some too who came because they had friends in our town. Okonkwo's first wife."What are you doing here?" Obierika had asked when after many difficulties the missionaries had allowed him to speak to the boy.She wore a coiffure which was done up into a crest in the middle of the head." and on each occasion he faced a different direction and seemed to push the air with a clenched fist.""It is already too late. carrying a wooden dish with three kola nuts and alligator pepper. whom she called her daughter. His name was Okagbue Uyanwa. It contained other things apart from his snuff-bottle.

Unoka loved it all. Nwoye's callow mind was greatly puzzled. The elders sat in a big circle and the singers went round singing each man's praise as they came before him. But the one knew what the other was thinking.""Yes. Although her husband's wives were saying that it was nothing more than iba. The happy voices of children playing in open fields would then be heard.That was many years ago. and he sent his kotma to catch Aneto."Call your wife and child. We pray for life. Even the few kinsmen who had not been able to come had their shares taken out for them in due term." said Akukalia. Only then did she realize.Share-cropping was a very slow way of building up a barn of one's own. "1 told you." She sat down and stretched her legs in front of her.Ekwefi did not answer." said Okonkwo's voice. In Umunso they do not bargain at all.But somehow Okonkwo could never become as enthusiastic over feasts as most people. Many of these messengers came from Umuru on the bank of the Great River." They were hard and painful on the body as they fell. Nwoye's mother swore at her and settled down again to her peeling.

To show affection was a sign of weakness."Yes. Okonkwo had returned home and sat waiting. A mighty wind arose and filled the air with dust. in the sunshine. All others stood except those who came early enough to secure places on the few stands which had been built by placing smooth logs on forked pillars. Where is my daughter. An osu could not attend an assembly of the free-born. "He hardly ever walks.""Nwoye is old enough to impregnate a woman. Because of her size she made her way through trees and creepers more quickly than her followers. It was the first time for many years that a man had broken the sacred peace. but ill. with music and dancing and a great feast. especially the wooden mortar in which yam was pounded. But she had grown so bitter about her own chi that she could not rejoice with others over their good fortune. He always gnashed his teeth as he listened to those who came to consult him." said Obierika. Unoka prayed to their ancestors for life and health." Okonkwo said to himself again. And in fairness to Umuofia it should be recorded that it never went to war unless its case was clear and just and was accepted as such by its Oracle - the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves. If it does its power will be gone. for although nobody else knew it.The Feast of the New Yam was approaching and Umuofia was in a festival mood.

Whenever Nwoye's mother sang this song he felt carried away to the distant scene in the sky where Vulture. but Ezeani seemed to pay no attention. Ezinma had not wanted to cooperate with him at first.He did not sleep at night. Then the crier gave his message. He did not know who the girl was.And then the priestess screamed. malevolent. They had the same style and one saw the other's plans beforehand. Every nerve and every muscle stood out on their arms."We cannot all rush out like that. 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. And the other boy was flat on his back. Ekwefi quickly moved away from her line of retreat."Is that not Obiageli weeping?" Ekwefi called across the yard to Nwoye's mother. with Ezinma sleeping on her back. was passing by the church on his way from the neighboring village. smiled broadly and said to his father: "Do you hear that?" He then said to the others: "He will never admit that I am a good tapper. But it is your turn now.""That is very strange. The fact was that Obiageli had been making inyanga with her pot. I owe them no yams. and the crowd answered. The first thing he would do would be to rebuild his compound on a more magnificent scale.

Everybody had been invited??men.Okonkwo was popularly called the "Roaring Flame. His name was Maduka. His wives wept bitterly and their children wept with them without knowing why. Some years the harmattan was very severe and a dense haze hung on the atmosphere. but ill. That is a wise action. And then from the center of the delirious fury came a cry of agony and shouts of horror. He hit the bottle against his knee to shake up the tobacco. Then he remembered that he had not taken out his snuff-spoon."And so three goats were slaughtered and a number of fowls. for as soon as the first rain came farming would begin. The pots of wine stood in their midst."That was all he had said. The soup was brought out hot from the fire and in the very pot in which it had been cooked. she was in close communion with the departed fathers of the clan whose bodies had been committed to earth. 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. Now and again a full-chested lamentation rose above the wailing whenever a man came into the place of death. and they no longer spent the evenings in his mother's hut while she cooked." said Ezinma. "If you split another yam of this size. That was a favorite saying of children."You think you are the greatest sufferer in the world? Do you know that men are sometimes banished for life? Do you know that men sometimes lose all their yams and even their children? I had six wives once. That was the way people answered calls from outside.

and even in the trees. He would have liked to return earlier and build his compound that year before the rains stopped. "We do not ask for wealth because he that has health and children will also have wealth. Everybody in the crowd was talking." replied Okonkwo. It was even heard in the surrounding villages. went down quickly on one knee in an attempt to fling his man backwards over his head. And so they arrived home again. and very strong. urging the others to hurry up. of all people. Gome.At last the two teams danced into the circle and the crowd roared and clapped. And so everybody came to see the white man. fresh yams and not the shriveled and fibrous crop of the previous year." he said. whom he had thrown away. No ogbanje would yield her secrets easily."I beg you to accept this little kola. That was a source of great sorrow to the leaders of the clan. Everybody knew she was an ogbanje. for he knew certainly that something was amiss. These women never saw the inside of the hut."Come along.