right from her left. They will not allow us into the markets. They were among the best wrestlers in all the nine villages.

Amadiora or the thunderbolt
Amadiora or the thunderbolt. He was in fact an outcast."Since I survived that year.""They have indeed soiled the name of ozo."Yes. Nwoye. When your neighbors go out with their ax to cut down virgin forests. At first it appeared as if it might prove too great for his spirit."Answer truthfully."He said nothing. If a gang of efulefu decided to live in the Evil Forest it was their own affair. That had been his life-spring. As the rain began to fall more soberly and in smaller liquid drops." They laughed and agreed. But I want you to have nothing to do with it. The air. For days and nights together it poured down in violent torrents. The priestess. before the first cock-crow. and men dashed about in frenzy. One morning three of them came to my house." He paused for a long while. Okonkwo made a present of two cocks to them. "Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?""Where they bury children. Machi. carrying the stamp of their mutilation??a missing finger or perhaps a dark line where the medicine man's razor had cut them.

She often called her Ezigbo. He was like an elder brother to Nwoye.As the day wore on his in-laws arrived from three surrounding villages. and when there was no work to do he sat in a silent half-sleep. "Welcome. He asked them for health and children. folded her arms in front of her and began to sway her waist like a grown-up young lady. The lad's name was Ikemefuna."Unless you shave off the mark of your heathen belief I will not admit you into the church. The three women talked excitedly about the relations who had been invited. Ekwefi broke into a run as though to stop them. Ekwefi. Her back was turned on the footpath that led out of the hills. They had the same style and one saw the other's plans beforehand.He was a person dedicated to a god. He passed them over to his eldest brother. It was said that when such a spirit appeared."No. alive with sinister forces and powers of darkness."You must take him to salute our father. She had about three teeth and was always smoking her pipe. It was powerful in war and in magic.Okonkwo brought out his snuff-bottle and offered it to Ogbuefi Ezenwa. and during this time Okonkwo's fame had grown like a bush-fire in the harmattan."For the first time in three nights. Their children carried pots of water.

The kola nut was given him to break. burning forehead. She will bear you nine sons like the mother of our town. a vibrant silence made more intense by the universal trill of a million million forest insects. Tortoise's wife sent for him and he gathered all the bits of shell and stuck them together. "The children are still very young. Ekwefi picked her way carefully and quietly."I am Evil Forest. Go and see if your father has brought out yams for the afternoon. they held them over an open fire to burn off the hair. but many of them believed that the strange faith and the white man's god would not last.It was well known among the people of Mbanta that their gods and ancestors were sometimes long-suffering and would deliberately allow a man to go on defying them. When everyone had drunk two or three horns."It is very near now. It was Okonkwo's uncle. Their leader was called Evil Forest. who was greatly perplexed. Ezeudu is dead. Evil Forest represented the village of Umueru. Obierika. "We will allow three or four women to stay behind. He sat down again and called two witnesses." lied Nwoye's mother. if it lost its tail it soon grew another. Ezinma turned left as if she was going to the stream.The night was impenetrably dark.

and passed the disc over to his guest. Some said Ezimili. Some people even said that they had heard the spirits flying and flapping their wings against the roof of the cave. long way from home."Umezulike." Altogether there were fifty pots of wine. Whenever Nwoye's mother sang this song he felt carried away to the distant scene in the sky where Vulture. Such was Unoka's fate. The poor and unknown would not dare to come forth. Those who were big enough to carry even a few yams in a tiny basket went with grown-ups to the farm. And not only his chi but his clan too. That was why Okonkwo had been Chosen by the nine villages to carry a message of war to their enemies unless they agreed to give up a young man and a virgin to atone for the murder of Udo's wife. could not shelter under his roof.Thus the men of Umuofia pursued their way. They came to discover what the future held for them or to consult the spirits of their departed fathers. The first cock has crowed."Answer the question at once. When the will of the goddess had been done. 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. he has learned to fly without perching. and so were his cousins and their wives when he sent for them and told them who his guest was. His wives wept bitterly and their children wept with them without knowing why. Her fear had vanished.At last they took a turning and began to head for the caves. His actions were deliberate. It was unbelievable.

A bowl of pounded yams can throw him in a wrestling match. At the end they decided. It was the fear of himself.' Why is that?"There was silence. "Let us go."Akueke moved to the other end of the hut and began to remove the waist-beads. They have a big market in Abame on every other Afo day and."Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?" Okagbue had asked Ezinma. But as he flew home his long talon pierced the leaves and the rain fell as it had never fallen before. The pot fell and broke in the sand. Uchendu. And immediately Okonkwo's eyes were opened and he saw the whole matter clearly. They seemed to forget all about him as soon as they had taken the decision. or how. But at that very moment Chielo's voice rose again in her possessed chanting. "Kill one of your sons for me.""The world is large. and also a drinking gourd. degenerate and effeminate? Perhaps he was not his son.He went back to the church and told Mr. If the clan had disobeyed the Oracle they would surely have been beaten. and others prepared vegetable soup."Nwakibie cleared his throat. and others who could think of nowhere else open to escape. He calls you his father. "that Okonkwo and I were talking about Abame and Aninta.

""The only other person is Udenkwo. Groups of four or five men sat round with a pot in their midst.Okonkwo's wives. no matter how heavily the family ate or how many friends and relatives they invited from neighboring villages.Okonkwo was beginning to feel like his old self again. Such a man was Ogbuefi Ugonna.Everyone was now about. The neighbors sat around watching the pit becoming deeper and deeper. all the descendants of Okolo. Then she suddenly turned round and began to walk back to the road."Do you think you are cutting up yams for cooking?" he asked Nwoye. If there is any one among you who thinks he knows more let him speak up. "Let us go. "And you know how leaves become smaller after cooking. There were six of them and one was a white man. The egwugwu house into which they emerged faced the forest. slanting showers through sunshine and quiet breeze. "Poor child. The Ibo evangelists consulted among themselves and decided that the man probably meant bicycle. The birds were silenced in the forests. and does not lose it even if he steals. And then suddenly like one possessed he shot out his left hand and pointed in the direction of Mbaino. Behind them was the big and ancient silk-cotton tree which was sacred. pushed back the bolt on his door and ran into Ekwefi's hut. Go home and work like a man. There was coming and going between them.

Maduka. who saw only its back with the many-colored patterns and drawings done by specially chosen women at regular intervals. When they had all taken. if a child washed his hands he could eat with kings. Okonkwo." he said. and his bushy eyebrows and wide nose gave him a very severe look. Okonkwo stood by."The body of Odukwe. It had not happened for many a long year. Her mother consoled her and promised to buy her her another pot. and perhaps other women as well. twenty years or more. It must have been a very long time. and he had moments of sadness and depression But he and Nwoye had become so deeply attached to each other that such moments became less frequent and less poignant. Each of Uchendu's five sons contributed three hundred seed-yams to enable their cousin to plant a farm. became for Ekwefi mere physical agony devoid of promise. and he owed every neighbor some money.""What did the white man say before they killed him?" asked Uchendu. and there was too much saltpeter in it. hungry to do harm to the living." This was interpreted to them but very few of them heard. "But you can explain to her. Those were good days when a man had friends in distant clans. that night. They argued for a short while and fell into silence again.

"The medicine man then ordered that there should be no mourning for the dead child. "1 thought you were going into the shrine with Chielo." said another man." said Uchendu. People called on their neighbors and drank palm-wine. They faced the elders. Some of them were too angry to eat.' he thought as he looked at his ten-year-old daughter. Once he got up from bed and walked about his compound.It was not yet noon on the second day of the New Yam Festival. 'When mother-cow is chewing grass its young ones watch its mouth." he announced when he sat down. He calls you his father. He could return to the clan after seven years. but he had been too surprised to weep. and he loved the first kites that returned with the dry season. The medicine man ignored him. put down his load and sat down.""We have seen it. but that they had many children to feed. had crawled out of the shrine on her belly like a snake. who will hold his head up among my people. Her husband's wife took this for malevolence. His fame rested on solid personal achievements. lest he should be found to resemble his father. "Look at those lines of chalk.

"when she was pregnant. Those who found themselves nearest to them merely moved to another seat."It is an ozo dance. Is it right that you. It was on the seventh day that he died. A proud heart can survive a general failure because such failure does not prick its pride. Of course they had all heard the bell-man. chewing the fish."Do you know Ogbuefi Ndulue?" Ofoedu asked.Okonkwo's prosperity was visible in his household.The last match was between the leaders of the teams. If we were all afraid of blood. 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. not even for fear of a goddess. '1 am a changed man.She had prayed for the moon to rise. Some of them were not at home and only four came in. "Your friend Anene asked me to greet you. That is all I am good for now."She will bring her back soon. Whenever the thought of his father's weakness and failure troubled him he expelled it by thinking about his own strength and success.But apart from the church. and others who could think of nowhere else open to escape. It was powerful in war and in magic. asked on behalf of the clan to look after him in the interim. They were mostly the kind of people that were called efulefu.

so she cupped her right hand to shelter the flame. and of the bird eneke-nti-oba who challenged the whole world to a wrestling contest and was finally thrown by the cat. He could not understand what was happening to him or what he had done.Ezinma did not call her mother Nne like all children. and when he died he was buried by his kind in the Evil Forest. during the last harvest season. Kiaga. were fixed on her. He told them that the true God lived on high and that all men when they died went before Him for judgment. Without it. Umuazu. the whole clan gathers there. pointing with his finger. but the fattest of all was tethered to a peg near the wall of the compound and was as big as a small cow. "Your daughter will bear us sons like you." the medicine man told Okonkwo in a cool. and the dry. and the smallest group had ten lines. Why had Okonkwo withdrawn to the rear? Ikemefuna felt his legs melting under him. was called a flaming fire. What you have done will not please the Earth. Although he had prospered in his motherland Okonkwo knew that he would have prospered even more in Umuofia. They were merely cleansing the land which Okonkwo had polluted with the blood of a clansman. and perhaps other women as well. the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves. and so have Uchendu and Unachukwu and Emefo.

Okonkwo had returned home and sat waiting. where his friend gave them out year by year to sharecroppers."1 have told you to let her alone.The youngest of Uchendu's five sons. but six. and the rest went back. Somewhere a man was taking one of the titles of his clan. when the land had been moistened by two or three heavy rains. "I sold the big ones as soon as you left. "Your wife was at fault."Nwoye always wondered who Nnadi was and why he should live all by himself." said Obierika. Okonkwo slept. 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.Go-di-di-go-go-di-go." she said. If it ended on his left."It has not always been so. when his father had not been dead very long."Umuofia kwenu!" he roared. Although her husband's wives were saying that it was nothing more than iba.

"When I think that it is only eighteen months since the Seed was first sown among you."On what market-day was it born?" he asked.Ekwefi was tired and sleepy from the exhausting experiences of the previous night. She shut her eyes for a while and opened them again in an effort to see. All the women shouted with joy because Ekwefi's troubles were at last ended." he asked. when Ogbuefi Ezeudu came in.The Feast of the New Yam was held every year before the harvest began.""That means you will see something. But now she found the half-light of the incipient moon more terrifying than darkness. But I think you ought to break it. Ezeudu was the oldest man in this quarter of Umuofia.""I pray she stays. 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."But the leaves will be wet. It was not the mad logic of the Trinity that captivated him. She had about three teeth and was always smoking her pipe.The first cock had not crowed. He picked it up."Umuofia kwenu!" he roared. the shouting and the firing of guns.

" said Uchendu. and also a drinking gourd.""The only other person is Udenkwo. and went round the circle shaking hands with all. they talked about everything except the thing for which they had gathered."Who are the young men with you?" he asked as he sat down again on his goatskin. If a man kills the sacred python in the secrecy of his hut. At first the bride was not among them. If we should try to drive out the white men in Umuofia we should find it easy.' said Tortoise. because there was no humanity there. "So look after him. who had given much money to the white man's messengers and interpreter. As soon as she became pregnant she went to live with her old mother in another village. but many of them believed that the strange faith and the white man's god would not last. She was afraid of what might happen if Chielo suddenly turned round and saw her. Every man rose in order of years and took a share." said Uchendu. he had gone to consult the Oracle. Umuazu. gome.

her left palm closed on her fish and her eyes gleaming with tears. I owe that man a thousand cowries. Sometimes when he went to big village meetings or communal ancestral feasts he allowed Ikemefuna to accompany him."Nwakibie cleared his throat."1 am one of them. Ezinma. I clear the bush and set fire to it when it is dry." said Uchendu.As the man who had cleared his throat drew up and raised his machete. she did not hear them." he told her. I began to fend for myself at an age when most people still suck at their mothers' breasts. whose eyes. You." he said as he went."He sprang to his feet. machetes. "Beware of exchanging words with Agbala. she returned to her mother's hut to help with the cooking.' she called. and drinking palm-wine copiously.

"Where is Ojiugo?" he asked his second wife. He must have a wife. but that they had many children to feed. Gome. Chielo passed by. They said she was coming. But very few people had ever seen that kind of wrestling before. Her voice was as clear as metal. overpowered him and obtained his first human head. Her husband had brought out more yams than usual because the medicine man had to be fed. he had stalked his victim. Kiaga. They were the harbingers sent to survey the land." said Okagbue.It was a great funeral."I sometimes think he is too sharp."Their clan is now completely empty. might have noticed that the second egwugwu had the springywalk of Okonkwo. The huge voice of the crowd then rose to the sky and in every direction. Okonkwo brought out kola nut and placed it before the priest. and went away.

Nwoye went to his mother's hut and told her that Ikemefuna was going home. He was carried to the Evil Forest and left there to die. The imagery of an efulefu in the language of the clan was a man who sold his machete and wore the sheath to battle. But that was only to be expected. She immediately dropped her pestle with which she was grinding pepper." He filled the first horn and gave to his father. Although he had prospered in his motherland Okonkwo knew that he would have prospered even more in Umuofia. They all have food in their own homes. Okonkwo worked on the outside of the wall and the boys worked from within." said Nwakibie." said Obierika. They were all fully dressed as if they were going to a big clan meeting or to pay a visit to a neighboring village. I am an old man and you are all children. They seemed to forget all about him as soon as they had taken the decision.""That is so. with which he carried the brown snuff to his nostrils. with love."A little more?? I said a little. and they ran for their lives. He then adjusted his cloth. These men must be mad.

and they nodded their heads. 'but tell me. If the song ended on his right foot. In the end the fearless ones went near and even touched him. who was greatly perplexed." came her voice."Once upon a time. But I think you ought to break it. the king of crops. she sat down on a stony ledge and waited. "You look very tired. She shut her eyes for a while and opened them again in an effort to see."Your buttocks understand our language. condemned for seven years to live in a strange land."No. guns and cannon were fired. It was then that the one-handed spirit came. If you turn against me when I am dead I will visit you and break your neck. But in this case she ran away to save her life. she thought. Nwoye was there.

Some said Okafo was the better man. "and we want you all to come in every seventh day to worship the true God. eating the peelings."She is ill in bed. on the other hand. The birth of her children.He took a pot of palm-wine and a cock to Nwakibie. the beating of drums and the brandishing and clanging of machetes increased. Nwoye's mother carried a basket of coco-yams. And he was afraid to look back.- instead of thirty there were now only fifteen. go to the church and wipe out the entire vile and miscreant gang. and was punished. pushing the air with his raffia arms. who sat next to him. who at once paid the heavy fine which the village imposed on anyone whose cow was let loose on his neighbors' crops. Most communal ceremonies took place at that time of the day. But you lived long. Living fire begets cold. Those things a man built for himself or inherited from his father. which only made the darkness more profound.

A sickly odor hung in the air wherever he went. "1 have brought you this little kola. He could hardly imagine that Okonkwo was not his real father.Ekwefi knelt beside the sick child.Okonkwo knew she was not speaking the truth. as was the custom. women and children. They will take him outside Umuofia as is the custom. But I can tell you. I clear the bush and set fire to it when it is dry. he was not afraid now. But each time she had borne twins. wiping the foam of wine from his mustache with the back of his left hand.- he was full of cunning. and he had moments of sadness and depression But he and Nwoye had become so deeply attached to each other that such moments became less frequent and less poignant. had gained ground.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. The old man listened silently to the end and then said with some relief: "It is a female ochu. It was like the market. Okafo raised his right leg and swung it over his rival's head. Every man and woman came out to see the white man.

The priestess' voice came at longer intervals now. Ojiugo.""The Earth cannot punish me for obeying her messenger. And it began to shake and rattle. It seemed as if the world had gone mad. "How much longer do you think you will live?" she asked. There were six of them and one was a white man. He did not know who the girl was.But the year had gone mad. If a gang of efulefu decided to live in the Evil Forest it was their own affair.Ekwefi had suffered a good deal in her life. After a few more hoe-fuls of earth he struck the iyi-uwa. His priestess stood by the sacred fire which she built in the heart of the cave and proclaimed the will of the god. Okonkwo was clearly cut out for great things. His mother's kinsmen had been very kind to him. At the opposite end of the compound was a shed for the goats. He had a large barn full of yams and he had three wives. they held them over an open fire to burn off the hair.""I think it is good that our clan holds the ozo title in high esteem. Age was respected among his people. Then the group drank.

Go and see if your father has brought out yams for the afternoon. "He hardly ever walks. The goat was then led back to the inner compound. She was very friendly with Ekwefi and they shared a common shed in the market. When he died this morning. He watched the sky all day for signs of rain clouds and lay awake all night. "that I shall bring many iron horses when we have settled down among them. setting up a wave of expectation in the crowd. "So look after him. A man's place was not always there. "before I kill you!" He seized a heavy stick that lay on the dwarf wall and hit him two or three savage blows. roots and barks of medicinal trees and shrubs. His two younger brothers are more promising."Do you know Ogbuefi Ndulue?" Ofoedu asked. When the women had exacted the penalty they checked among themselves to see if any woman had failed to come out when the cry had been raised. At first it appeared as if it might prove too great for his spirit. All the neighbors and relations who had come to mourn gathered round them. Nwoye knew that it was right to be masculine and to be violent. But in this case she ran away to save her life. He was in fact a coward and could not bear the sight of blood. All else was silent.

None of them was a man of title.Okonkwo turned on his side and went back to sleep."For three years Ikemefuna lived in Okonkwo's household and the elders of Umuofia seemed to have forgotten about him. And so the stranger had brought him. Odukwe continued:"Last year when my sister was recovering from an illness. When a man blasphemes. He searched his bag again and brought out a small. Then he poured out for the others. who had risen so suddenly from great poverty and misfortune to be one of the lords of the clan. which children were rarely allowed to eat because such food tempted them to steal. He would return later to his mother and his brothers and sisters and convert them to the new faith. That was the only time Ekwefi ever saw Ogbu-agali-odu. jumping over walls and dancing on the roof." he said. a loud cheer rose from the crowd. An ultimatum was immediately dispatched to Mbaino asking them to choose between war - on the one hand." said Ekwefi. Okoye rolled his goatskin and departed." Okonkwo made a sound full of disgust."Ekwefi!" a voice called from one of the other huts. If a man dies at this time he is not buried but cast into the Evil Forest.

and went round the circle shaking hands with all. and he sent his kotma to catch Aneto. He was a great man.That was the kind of story that Nwoye loved. Okagbue worked tirelessly and in silence. and his children the while praying to the white man's god." he said." They offered them as much of the Evil Forest as they cared to take."Two years ago. Obierika nodded in agreement. but that they had many children to feed.He sent for the five sons and they came and sat in his obi."Go into that room."We cannot all rush out like that. and it seemed now as if it was happening all over again. "and leave the child alone.Gradually the rains became lighter and less frequent. Ozoemena??"May it not happen again. who was fat and whose body shone as if oil was rubbed on it??"She broke off because at that very moment a loud and high-pitched voice broke the outer silence of the night. I salute you. The world was now peopled with vague.

But for a young man whose father had no yams."Is that me?" Ekwefi called back. My sister lived with him for nine years.""Ee-e-e!"The oldest man in the camp of the visitors replied: "It will be good for you and it will be good for us. "It wounds my heart to see these young men killing palm trees in the name of tapping. You think you are still a child. Mr. And that was also the year Okonkwo broke the peace." said Ezinma touching the ground with her finger."When did you set out from home?" asked Okonkwo. sat on a mat on the floor. and sleepy. mother. to harvest cassava tubers. But as the dog said. It was as if a spell had been cast. who had been talking. Do not bear a hand in his death. We did not see it.""All their customs are upside-down.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.

and the women sat on a sisal mat spread on a raised bank of earth."Yes."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. Ekwefi's mind went back to the days when they were young." said Uchendu. he had allowed what he regarded as a reasonable and manly interval to pass and then gone with his machete to the shrine. Eneke the bird says that since men have learned to shoot without missing. The three women talked excitedly about the relations who had been invited." He paused. The poor and unknown would not dare to come forth. neither early nor late. but when they went away Okonkwo sat still for a very long time supporting his chin in his palms. as was the custom.Okonkwo had eaten from his wives' dishes and was nowreclining with his back against the wall. 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."It was only this morning. "I must thank my mother's kinsmen before I go. As the elders said. Later in the day he called Ikemefuna and told him that he was to be taken home the next day."Agbala do-o-o-o!?? Agbala ekeneo-o-o-o! ??" Ekwefi trudged behind.""Is he staying long with us?" she asked.

And then suddenly like one possessed he shot out his left hand and pointed in the direction of Mbaino. Then he remembered that he had not taken out his snuff-spoon. They came when misfortune dogged their steps or when they had a dispute with their neighbors. But it was impossible to refuse Ezinma anything." said Okonkwo's voice. but they were really talking at the top of their voices. The locusts settled in the bushes for the night and their wings became wet with dew. "In many other clans a man of title is not forbidden to climb the palm tree. 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. Two little groups of people stood at a respectable distance beyond the stools. But Ekwefi and Ezinma had heard the noise and run out to see what it was.' And so Daughter Kite returned the duckling and took a chick instead. Ikeocha. Guns were fired on all sides and sparks flew out as machetes clanged together in warriors' salutes. Okoye rolled his goatskin and departed. forty-five. It was a deep bag and took almost the whole length of his arm."It should be ready in four days or even three. I have none now except that young girl who knows not her right from her left. They will not allow us into the markets. They were among the best wrestlers in all the nine villages.