piece in two and gave it to Ezinma.Okonkwo was very happy to receive his friend.

Only a few of them saw these white men and their followers
Only a few of them saw these white men and their followers."Then kill yourself. he was told." But he was a man of commanding presence and the clansmen listened to him. too busy to argue. just a little bigger than the round opening into a henhouse. He was a wealthy farmer and had two barns full of yams. like coco-yams. looking at Nwakibie's elder son Igwelo with a malicious twinkle in his eye. The drums beat the unmistakable wrestling dance - quick. as Ekwefi had said. They have said so. When she came to the main road.Gradually the rains became lighter and less frequent."Odukwe was short and thickset. father? You are beyond our knowledge. in their proper order.Qkonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. I salute you. So he waited impatiently for the dry season to come.""He has.Just then the distant beating of drums began to reach them. Amalinze was the great wrestler who for seven years was unbeaten.Then the tragedy of his first son had occurred." said an old man. the "medicine house" or shrine where Okonkwo kept the wooden symbols of his personal god and of his ancestral spirits.

who was once the village beauty.""And so everybody comes. His body rattled like a piece of dry stick in his empty shell. She sometimes broke into a run and stopped again suddenly. which was rubbed with red earth so that it shone. which was strengthened by such little conspiracies as eating eggs in the bedroom. Every man of Umuofia was asked to gather at the market place tomorrow morning. the rulers and elders of Mbanta assembled to decide on their action. It was such a forest that. and the others to the chalk quarry. Chielo. was passing by the church on his way from the neighboring village.' Those men of Abame were fools. All this happened many years ago. 1 know more about the world than any of you. if a child washed his hands he could eat with kings.He was by nature a very lively boy and he gradually became popular in Okonkwo's household. 'Ogbuefi Ndulue.Thus the men of Umuofia pursued their way. chewing the fish. Onwumbiko??"Death. Nobody knew how old. Akueni. The neighbors sat around watching the pit becoming deeper and deeper. He would build a bigger barn than he had had before and he would build huts for two new wives. But it was useless.

"None."Have you slept enough?" asked her mother. and he was soon chosen as the man to speak for the party because he was a great orator."Go and tell Akueke's mother that we have finished. His future sons-in-law would be men of authority in the clan. and he pointed to a man who sat near him with a bowed head. and in the end they were received by them They asked for a plot of land to build on. Okonkwo made a present of two cocks to them. The bride's mother led the way. Even the few kinsmen who had not been able to come had their shares taken out for them in due term." She sat down and stretched her legs in front of her.And then quite suddenly a shadow fell on the world. They are gods of deceit who tell you to kill your fellows and destroy innocent children. But you will never hear.The men in the obi had already begun to drink the palm-wine which Akueke's suitor had brought." She stood up and pulled out the fan which was fastened into one of the rafters. They argued for a short while and fell into silence again. They will take him outside Umuofia as is the custom. he thought over the matter. Ezinma placed her mother's dish before him and sat with Obiageli. and his relatives. and was full of the sap of life. a vibrant silence made more intense by the universal trill of a million million forest insects. they became the lords of the land."How can I know you. And to their greatest amazement the missionaries thanked them and burst into song.

especially the wooden mortar in which yam was pounded." said Ofoedu. It looked like an equal match. He sang the song again.""There is no song in the story."He has married Okadigbo's second daughter. his heels hardly touched the ground and he seemed to walk on springs. I have come to pay you my respects and also to ask a favor. Then came the voices of the egwugwu. almost overnight. 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. He did not know who the girl was. The daughters of Uehuiona were also there. She was the priestess of Agbala. yams of the old year were all disposed of by those who still had them. the suitor. But they dared not complain openly. "on an Eke market day a little band of fugitives came into our town. gome. As soon as she got up. was then twelve years old but was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness."Uzowulu's body. It was like a wedding feast."When nearly two years later Obierika paid another visit to his friend in exile the circumstances were less happy. Tears of gratitude filled her eyes. He hit the bottle against his knee to shake up the tobacco.

the women who had gone for red earth returned with empty baskets. she prayed a thousand times. Listen to me and I shall tell you."But Nwoye's mother dropped her pot of hot soup the other day and it broke on the floor. gome. Okafo seized it. Okoye was a great talker and he spoke for a long time.' Why is that?"There was silence. The men brought their goatskin mats.Okonkwo's family was astir like any other family in the neighborhood. Now and again a full-chested lamentation rose above the wailing whenever a man came into the place of death. "These are now your kinsmen. that my children do not resemble me. You stay at home. Okonkwo's first son. The women were screaming outside. Ozoemena??"May it not happen again. Ezinma rushed out of the hut. the grown-up. lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper. Okonkwo's second wife had merely cut a few leaves off it to wrap some food. and the elusive dance rose and fell with the wind. quietly and deliberately. the earth goddess and the source of all fertility. "I dislike cold water dropping on my back. "My son has told me about you.

Many of these messengers came from Umuru on the bank of the Great River. At first the clan had assumed that it would not survive. He held up a piece of chalk." He paused. was a very exacting king.""It is true. taking each string separately. "How much longer do you think you will live?" she asked. "Let us not presume to do so now. 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.The whole village turned out on the ilo. years ago. and men dashed about in frenzy. There was no question of killing a missionary here. Nwoye." said Obierika. Every woman immediately abandoned whatever she was doing and rushed out in the direction of the cry. He remembered once when men had talked in low tones with his father. unhappily."There was a long silence. he had already put aside his goatskin bag and his big cloth and was in his underwear."And it died this morning?"Okonkwo said yes. She stood until Chielo had increased the distance between them and she began to follow again. Ezinma? You are older than Obiageli but she has more sense. my friend. but the villagers told them that there was no king.

Okonkwo was the greatest wrestler and warrior alive. melons and beans between the yam mounds. reappeared every year for seven years and then disappeared for another lifetime. calling him "Our father. everybody knew by instinct that they were very good to eat. Then he remembered that he had not taken out his snuff-spoon.- and in this way the cover was strengthened on the wall. Chielo passed by.When the rain finally came. who suddenly gave up his trade."Akueke moved to the other end of the hut and began to remove the waist-beads. Uzowulu should recover from his madness and come in the proper way to beg his wife to return she will do so on the understanding that if he ever beats her again we shall cut off his genitals for him. It was a very good wine and powerful. returning.Having sworn that oath. Where is my daughter. At first Ekwefi accepted her. 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.""But they are beating the drums. Even Mgbafo took to her heels and had to be restrained by her brothers."We shall be going. Okonkwo bent down and looked into her hut. It is a poor soil and that is why the tubers are so small. He brought another seven baskets and cooked them himself. Their bodies shone with sweat.""It is indeed true.

There were only three such boys in each team.That was many years ago. he was at a loss. and soon returned with a bowl of cool water from the earthen pot in her mother's hut. he is not too young. had asked Ear to marry him. He never stopped regretting that Ezinma was a girl. my child. I say it because I fear for the younger generation."The court messengers did not like to be called Ashy-Buttocks.""It is the result of a great medicine." said Ezinma. I am worried about Nwoye. because there was no humanity there."That is the money from your yams. They came when misfortune dogged their steps or when they had a dispute with their neighbors. The cannon seemed to rend the sky. It was said that when such a spirit appeared. worthless." said Obierika. But if you allow sorrow to weigh you down and kill you they will all die in exile. his back shining with perspiration. The happy voices of children playing in open fields would then be heard.The first cock had not crowed. Obierika and half a dozen other friends came to help and to console him. I am Fire-that-burns-without-faggots.

that man was okonkwo. The inhabitants of Mbanta expected them all to be dead within four days. "The children are still very young. Okonkwo ate the food absent-mindedly. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. one saw that there was sorrow and grief there.Am oyim de de de de! flew around the dark. He would return later to his mother and his brothers and sisters and convert them to the new faith.""Is he well?" asked Nwoye." The man who had contradicted him had no titles. It was only when he had got there that it had occurred to him that the priestess might have chosen to go round the villages first. That was the only time Ekwefi ever saw Ogbu-agali-odu.Ezinma was an only child and the center of her mother's world. His name was Uchendu. 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. He was quite different. the "medicine house" or shrine where Okonkwo kept the wooden symbols of his personal god and of his ancestral spirits. the women who had gone for red earth returned with empty baskets.""But he had no wings." said Okonkwo's voice. The priestess bent down on one knee and Ezinma climbed on her back. who must taste his wine before anyone else. When the will of the goddess had been done. But the Christians had told the white man about the accident. It had not happened for many a long year. and he never saw her again.

When Okonkwo brought him home that day he called his most senior wife and handed him over to her. A mighty wind arose and filled the air with dust. It filled him with fire as it had always done from his youth.- they merely set the scene. On the last night before the festival. beat me up and took my wife and children away. how many twins she has borne and thrown away. Her basket was balanced on her head.Okagbue had again taken over the digging from Okonkwo. first with little sticks and later with tall and big tree branches." said Obierika. The story was told in Umuofia. the priestess. only more holy than the village variety. and regain the seven wasted years. He wanted Nwoye to grow into a tough young man capable of ruling his father's household when he was dead and gone to join the ancestors. more fierce than it had ever been known. and he never saw her again. she thought.Obierika's compound was as busy as an anthill. A toad does not run in the daytime for nothing. He changed them every day. That was the only time Ekwefi ever saw Ogbu-agali-odu. Okonkwo helped them put down their loads.At that moment they heard someone crying just outside their compound. making music and feasting.

but they never brought them into the village. Then he and another man went before Ikemefuna and set a faster pace. The new year must begin with tasty. It is like Dimaragana. but if one picked out the flute as it went up and down and then broke up into short snatches.But Ekwefi did not hear these consolations." continued Odukwe." said Okonkwo as he took his machete and went into the bush to collect the leaves and grasses and barks of trees that went into making the medicine for iba. and everyone filled his bags and pots with locusts. self-assured and confident." He paused for a long time and then said: "I told you on my last visit to Mbanta how they hanged Aneto.He brought with him two young men. They all have food in their own homes. was among them. nor the walls of his compound. Ekwefi was the only person in the happy company who went about with a cloud on her brow. He was imprisoned with all the leaders of his family. The old man bore no ill will towards Okonkwo.""That is true. and it ended on the left. Nwoye. She had got ready her basket of coco-yams and fish. It was only after the pot had been emptied that the suitor's father cleared his voice and announced the object of their visit. He can curse the gods of his fathers and his ancestors.As soon as day broke. "It's true that a child belongs to its father.

melons and beans between the yam mounds."Do you know me?""No man can know you." Ezinma offered. facing the elders and grandees of the clan."Who killed this tree? Or are you all deaf and dumb?"As a matter of fact the tree was very much alive. A toad does not run in the daytime for nothing. very much shaken and frightened but quite unhurt. She turned round sharply and walked through Okonkwo's hut. asked on behalf of the clan to look after him in the interim." He laughed a mirthless laughter. and in a basket beside her were green vegetables and beans. The children were also decorated."Okonkwo thanked him again and again and went home feeling happy. If I had not seen the few survivors with my own eyes and heard their story with my own ears. He is an exile.As soon as the priestess stepped into this ring of hills her voice was not only doubled in strength but was thrown back on all sides. or old woman.""What will I see?" she asked.Everybody at the kindred meeting took sides with Osugo when Okonkwo called him a woman. "I remember now. It was also the dumping ground for highly potent fetishes of great medicine men when they died.There were twelve men on each side and the challenge went from one side to the other. And so heavily did it rain onVulture that he did not return to deliver his message but flew to a distant land." she said when they got to the tree.The drummers took up their sticks and the air shivered and grew tense like a tightened bow. I know it as I look at you.

for Mr."Once upon a time. but not today. "People traveled more in those days. The harvest was over. facing the elders and grandees of the clan. Their bodies shone with sweat.Ekwefi still had some cassava left on her farm from the previous year. and it seldom did. You buried it in the ground somewhere so that you can die and return again to torment your mother. I salute you."The body of Odukwe. The people of the sky thought it must be their custom to leave all the food for their king. But her love of wrestling contests was still as strong as it was thirty years ago. And if the clan did not exact punishment for an offense against the great goddess. She was already beginning to doubt the wisdom of her coming. Okonkwo wondered what was amiss. having enough in his barn to feed the ancestors with regular sacrifices. As for his converts. all talking in low voices. looked forward to the New Yam Festival because it began the season of plenty??the new year. And so. To show affection was a sign of weakness. In the center of the crowd a boy lay in a pool of blood. Without looking at the man Okonkwo had said: "This meeting is for men. Ekwefi trudged along between two fears.

carrying a wooden dish with three kola nuts and alligator pepper. and at the end of three years he had become very distant indeed. talking was the next best. Although he had felt uneasy at first. They sat in a half-circle and began to talk of many things. He spoke through an interpreter who was an Ibo man. It was a little village called Mbanta. "The world has no end. Not only the low-born and the outcast but sometimes a worthy man had joined it."Agbala do-o-o-o! Agbala ekeneo-o-o-o! ??" Chielo began once again to chant greetings to her god. Alone Nnadi is cooking and eating. There were twenty-two of them. The children stood in the darkness outside their hut watching the strange event.But some of the egwugwu were quite harmless.It was clear from the way the crowd stood or sat that the ceremony was for men."He was not an albino. His mind went to his latest show of manliness. But I think you ought to break it. the rulers of Mbanta gave to the missionaries. Her heart jumped painfully within her. and Ekwefi asked Nwoye's mother and Ojiugo to explain to Obierika's wife that she would be late. If.Ekwefi ladled her husband's share of the pottage into a bowl and covered it. The priestess."Uzowulu's body. Ezinma went with her and helped in preparing the vegetables.

" Ekwefi said to the woman who had stood shoulder to shoulder with her since the beginning of the matches." she answered simply. The first people who saw him ran away. But it only lasted till the end of the service. There was once a man who went to sell a goat. waiting for him. now said"You told us with your own mouth that there was only one god. or ndichie. and when he recovered he seemed to have overcome his great fear and sadness. He was determined that his return should be marked by his people. As she knelt by her." Okonkwo said. The yams put on luxuriant green leaves. "and her child is not twenty-eight days yet. Nothing wouldhappen to Ezinma. and the women had formed themselves into three groups for this purpose. 1 know more about the world than any of you. who only stayed in the hope that it might come to chasing the men out of the village or whipping them. It filled him with fire as it had always done from his youth. Even the few kinsmen who had not been able to come had their shares taken out for them in due term. But it was really a woman's ceremony and the central figures were the bride and her mother. Their sound was no longer a separate thing from the living village. from where he had espied a fire. He watched the sky all day for signs of rain clouds and lay awake all night." said Okonkwo."Yes.

Okonkwo knew how to kill a man's spirit. a loud cheer rose from the crowd. beans and cassava. into a healthy. the women who had gone for red earth returned with empty baskets. It was the time for treading red earth with which to build walls.""He was indeed. He knew that he had lost his place among the nine masked spirits who administered justice in the clan. with love. full of power and beauty. the Oracle of the Hills and Caves. That also is true. But you will never hear. the god of yams." said Okonkwo. One of the things every man learned was the language of the hollowed-out wooden instrument. In the end Parrot. with which he made two wings.That was the kind of story that Nwoye loved. gazed at it a while and went away again??to the underworld. These sudden bouts of sickness and health were typical of her kind." said Okonkwo.He brought with him two young men. This was before the planting season began. He trembled with the desire to conquer and subdue. he beat her until she miscarried.

do you know me?" asked the spirit. Everybody was lean except Cat. and she was notorious for her late cooking." the others replied. who was once the village beauty. Nma. Her basket was balanced on her head. She explained to her why they should not marry yet. one hen. The medicine man ignored him.""I do not. They will take him outside Umuofia as is the custom."I have kola. But that was only to be expected. they kept their imagination to themselves. He would return later to his mother and his brothers and sisters and convert them to the new faith.""Very true. Okonkwo told him. "But I have also heard that Abame people were weak and foolish. She greeted her god in a multitude of names??the owner of the future. a man who pays respect to the great paves the way for his own greatness. It was like the desire for woman."Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?" Okagbue had asked Ezinma.' Do you know what he told the Oracle? He said. and when he died he was buried by his kind in the Evil Forest. her blood still ran cold whenever she remembered that night.

It was only then that they exchanged greetings and shook hands over what was left of the food. The crowd then shouted with ainger and thirst for blood.""They have indeed soiled the name of ozo. But he always found fault with their effort. Okonkwo was.""They have paid for their foolishness. and its priests and medicine men were feared in all the surrounding country. But the arrivees persevered." He then added ten sticks to the fifteen and gave the bundle to Ukegbu. my hand has touched the ground. with which they sat on the floor. as when she first set out. They were very fat goats." This was interpreted to them but very few of them heard. It was true they were rescuing twins from the bush. "and don't allow it to boil over. ran out again and aimed at her as she clambered over the dwarf wall of the barn. "Our duty is not to blame this man or to praise that. whose sad story is still told in Umuofia unto this day. The blazing sun returned. She went. Kiaga stood firm.""Yes. There were six of them and one was a white man. A sudden hush had fallen on the women. He had cracked them himself.

floated on the chaos. A steady cloud of smoke rose from his head."Ezinma looked at her mother. The people surged forward. 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. The woman was Mgbafo and the three men with her were her brothers. Ekwefi was reassured." shouted Chielo. "They are pieces of wood and stone. They then set about painting themselves with cam wood and drawing beautiful black patterns on their stomachs and on their backs. He began to wonder why he had felt uneasy at all. Go ahead and prepare your farm. Those men of Abame were fools."My hand is on the ground.""It is already too late. "You look very tired. But he was happy to leave his father. only more holy than the village variety."Obiageli called her "Salt" because she said that she disliked water. an old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb. burning forehead. But they soon returned and everyone was gazing at the rag from a reasonable distance. I say it because I fear for the younger generation.During the planting season Okonkwo worked daily on his farms from cock-crow until the chickens went to roost. you can tell a ripe corn by its look. He put them in the pot and Ekwefi poured in some water.

" continued Odukwe. Her fear had vanished. which was passed under his right arm-pit and tied above his left shoulder."Ekwefi went into her hut and came out again with Ezinma. They also drank water from small pots and ate kola nuts. Okonkwo!" she warned. I shall give you some fish to eat. They are gods of deceit who tell you to kill your fellows and destroy innocent children." said another. But it was useless. It was as quick as the other two. in a body. and allowed a murmur of suppressed anger to sweep the crowd. Cam wood was rubbed lightly into her skin. should bring to your mother a heavy face and refuse to be comforted? Be careful or you may displease the dead. some alligator pepper and a lump of white chalk. and the sands felt like live coals to the feet. My case is finished. unearthly voice and completely covered in raffia. Her name was Nneka. when Ogbuefi Ezeudu came in. and I am happy you have come to see us."Come along then and show me the spot. about the next ancestral feast and about the impending war with the village of Mbaino.And then the storm burst. looking up from the yams she was peeling.

That is a wise action. blew into it to remove any dust that might be there. The daughters of the clan did not return to their homes immediately but spent two more days with their kinsmen. should he. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace. 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. 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. "I planted the farm nearly two years ago."That was all he had said. And so for three years Ikemefuna lived in Okonkwo's household. He calls you his father."The village has outlawed us." said Obierika.' said the young kite. His own hut. Nothing wouldhappen to Ezinma. The three white men and a very large number of other men surrounded the market. they became the lords of the land. women and children left their work or their play and ran into the open to see the unfamiliar sight. she could not ignore the fact that some really evil children sometimes misled people into digging up a specious one. "When I think that it is only eighteen months since the Seed was first sown among you. Nwoye passed and repassed the little red-earth and thatch building without summoning enough courage to enter." His tone now changed from anger to command. In his day he was lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow. Later on I sold some of the seed-yams and gave out others to sharecroppers."At last the great day came and Tortoise was the first to arrive at the meeting place.

They did not really want them near to the clan. children sought for shelter."Where does Agbala want to see her?" Ekwefi asked. whom she called her daughter. But I fear for you young people because you do not understand how strong is the bond of kinship. "They want to ruin us. because an old man was very close to the ancestors." said another woman. You are a great family." He paused for a long while. Quick as the lightning of Amadiora. He had one consolation. 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. "Thank you for calling us together." said Uchendu"I swear. But somehow he knew he was not going to see them. You have a manly and a proud heart. my daughter. They were the harbingers sent to survey the land. Okonkwo came after her. Let us give them a real battlefield in which to show their victory. followed by Akueke. It was a smooth pebble wrapped in a dirty rag. All the neighbors and relations who had come to mourn gathered round them. "All the gods you have named are not gods at all. Ikemefuna came first with the biggest pot.

"I did not know it was you. and his happiest moments were the two or three moons after the harvest when the village musicians brought down their instruments. She was full of the power of her god." said Okonkwo. younger men gave way and the tumult subsided."Remove your jigida first. it seeks sympathy in its mother's hut. Okonkwo. "She must have broken her waterpot. Okonkwo."Ezinma is dying. trembling. He was in fact an outcast."Ekwefi turned the hen over in the mortar and began to pluck the feathers. Amikwu. He looked it over and said it was done."After the Week of Peace every man and his family began to clear the bush to make new farms. Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. "I have never seen such a large crowd of people. his mother was alive. and Umuofia. Before the day was over he was dead. He played on the ogene.A strange and sudden weakness descended on Ekwefi as she stood gazing in the direction of the voices like a hen whose only chick has been carried away by a kite. Ekwefi quickly took her to their bedroom and placed her on their high bamboo bed. Another one was wailing near his right ear.

" he said. trying to minimize Ojiugo's thoughtlessness."The white man's court has decided that it should belong to Nnama's family. and his happiest moments were the two or three moons after the harvest when the village musicians brought down their instruments.After the death of Ekwefi's second child."Obiageli called her "Salt" because she said that she disliked water. Okagbue emerged and without saying a word or even looking at the spectators he went to his goatskin bag. And in all the nine villages of Umuofia a town crier with his ogene asked every man to be present tomorrow morning."The market of Umuike is a wonderful place."I sometimes think he is too sharp. He wanted first to know why they had been outlawed. he had allowed what he regarded as a reasonable and manly interval to pass and then gone with his machete to the shrine.Okonkwo's wives. For how else could he explain his great misfortune and exile and now his despicable son's behavior? Now that he had time to think of it. nine of the greatest masked spirits in the clan came out together it was a terrifying spectacle. Then all Umuofia turned out in spite of the cold harmattan. Marriage should be a play and not a fight so we are falling down again. Sometimes he turned round and chased after those men. Even the smell of gunpowder was swallowed in the sickly smell that now filled the air. when Mr. They thought the priestess might be going to her house. Okonkwo!" she warned. Tortoise looked down from the sky and saw his wife bringing things out." said Okonkwo."Because I did not want to. or Evil Spirit.

The inhabitants of Mbanta expected them all to be dead within four days. I shall give you twice four hundred yams. led out the giant goat from the inner compound. Why had Okonkwo withdrawn to the rear? Ikemefuna felt his legs melting under him. nearly half a day's journey away. "And he was riding an iron horse. making music and feasting. The first people who saw him ran away. Chielo's voice now came after long intervals. What you have done will not please the Earth. some of whom now stood enthralled." They laughed and agreed. but there is too much of his mother in him. and each stroke is one hundred cowries. Some of them were not at home and only four came in.Umuofia was feared by all its neighbors. And what do you think the Oracle would do then?""You know very well. But there was no doubt that he liked the boy. There are only two of them. An oil lamp was lit and Okonkwo tasted from each bowl." she said. These court messengers were greatly hated in Umuofia because they were foreigners and also arrogant and high-handed."Tortoise turned to the birds and said: 'You remember that my name is All of you. but not overmuch. was the wife of Ogbuefi Udo. Umuofia has decided to kill him.

and only the old people had seen them before. "And you know how leaves become smaller after cooking." He was talking about Okonkwo. His eldest son. The world was now peopled with vague. whom he nearly shot." And he arranged the requisite rites and sacrifices.The whole village turned out on the ilo. If you think you are the greatest sufferer in the world ask my daughter. He asked Okonkwo a few questions about the dead child. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat. A man belongs to his fatherland and not to his motherland." said Okonkwo.Okonkwo was very happy to receive his friend. But as he walked through the market he realized that people were pointing at him as they do to a madman."Obiako has always been a strange one." he said as he broke it. The eight other egwugwu were as still as statues. sprang to his feet and gripped him by the neck." replied Odukwe. They had thrown down their water-pots and lain by the roadside expecting the sinister light to descend on them and kill them. It ate rats in the house and sometimes swallowed hens' eggs. But it was the season of rest between the harvest and the next planting season. he had not slept at all last night. She broke a piece in two and gave it to Ezinma.Okonkwo was very happy to receive his friend.