For two or three moons the sun had been gathering strength till it seemed to breathe a breath of fire on the earth." said Obierika.

It is the law of our fathers
It is the law of our fathers. At the opposite end of the compound was a shed for the goats. "1 do not know how to thank you. Neighbors sat around. I salute you. Unoka would play with them." And they dispersed. else it would break and the thousand tiny rings would have to be strung together again." lied Nwoye's mother. which was shaved in places. as the Ibo people say." he said.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." said another woman. mother. They surged forward as the two young men danced into the circle. The kola nut was given him to break. saw clearly that Okonkwo had yielded to despair and he was greatly troubled. I greet you. The harvest was over. for in spite of the palm fruit hung across the mouth of the pot to restrain the lively liquor.

But it was really a woman's ceremony and the central figures were the bride and her mother. was celebrating his daughter's uri. and it seemed now as if it was happening all over again. "These are now your kinsmen.As he broke the kola.As the last heavy rains of the year began to fall. He died and rotted away above the earth. The eight other egwugwu were as still as statues. Her back was turned on the footpath that led out of the hills." But it was a different Chielo she now saw in the yellow half-light. "But I cannot understand these things you tell me. She had about three teeth and was always smoking her pipe. If one says no to the other." he said.Okonkwo brought out his snuff-bottle and offered it to Ogbuefi Ezenwa. facing the elders. It throbbed in the air."Ezinma looked at her mother. She sometimes broke into a run and stopped again suddenly.Okonkwo's prosperity was visible in his household. long ago.

"I have kola."Go and burn your mothers' genitals. sat on a mat on the floor. They came when misfortune dogged their steps or when they had a dispute with their neighbors. had gained ground. He is an exile. As soon as she got up. Nwoye had heard that twins were put in earthenware pots and thrown away in the forest." said Okonkwo. Then the foo-foo was served. meanwhile. Then the bride. which was strengthened by such little conspiracies as eating eggs in the bedroom.Many others spoke. Obierika pointed at the two heavy bags.As the years of exile passed one by one it seemed to him that his chi might now be making amends for the past disaster.And so Obierika went to Mbanta to see his friend. "What about you? Can you answer my question?"They all shook their heads. women and children. Yam foo-foo and vegetable soup was the chief food in the celebration. broke into life and activity.

And then quite suddenly a shadow fell on the world. Unoka had a sense of the dramatic and so he allowed a pause. came into the obi from outside. one of those wicked children who. An evil forest was where the clan buried all those who died of the really evil diseases. It said that other white men were on their way. At the opposite end of the compound was a shed for the goats. And then came the clap of thunder. Unoka. it could also mean a man who had taken no title. Sometimes it poured down in such thick sheets of water that earth and sky seemed merged in one gray wetness.Ikemefuna came to Umuofia at the end of the carefree season between harvest and planting. In ordinary life Chielo was a widow with two children. But the really exciting moments were when a man was thrown.His anger thus satisfied."Ezinma began to cry. "People traveled more in those days. It told of one sheep out on the hills. Do you know how many children I have buried??children I begot in my youth and strength? Twenty-two. Brown." urged the other women"None?" asked Njide.

or how. She often called her Ezigbo. for he knew certainly that something was amiss. The faint and distant wailing of women settled like a sediment of sorrow on the earth.""I shall wait too. And so he feigned that he no longer cared for women's stories. Neighbors sat around.And then the storm burst. Now and again an ancestral spirit or egwugwu appeared from the underworld. The priestess in those days was a woman called Chika. "My father. The young tendrils were protected from earth-heat with rings of sisal leaves. who will hold his head up among my people." He paused." replied Nwoye. and none of them died." Obierika again drank a little of his wine. Such a man was Ogbuefi Ugonna. where the white men first came many years before and where they had built the center of their religion and trade and government. and he loved this season of the year. For a long time nothing happened.

ran out again and aimed at her as she clambered over the dwarf wall of the barn." said Nwoye's mother. a debtor. But Okagbue said he was not tired yet. He can curse the gods of his fathers and his ancestors. Tortoise stood up in his many-colored plumage and thanked them for their invitation. A man's life from birth to death was a series of transition rites which brought him nearer and nearer to his ancestors. It was a sad miscalculation. She could not be expected to cook and eat while her husband starved. Many people laughed at his dialect and the way he used words strangely. "If you had been poor in your last life I would have asked you to be rich when you come again. It was the ekwe talking to the clan. to inquire what was amiss." Obierika said to his son. He told them that they worshipped false gods. Okonkwo. Elumelu. He did not inherit a barn from his father."It was in the second year of Okonkwo's exile that his friend. He asked Okonkwo a few questions about the dead child. We have tried to settle their quarrels time without number and on each occasion Uzowulu was guilty??""It is a lie!" Uzowulu shouted.

when the sun's heat had softened. looked left and right and turned right."Where does Agbala want to see her?" Ekwefi asked. And when. which only made the darkness more profound."When they had cut the goats' throats and collected the blood in a bowl.The young church in Mbanta had a few crises early in its life. "I have heard that many years ago. The Oracle said to him."You need some sleep yourself. but many of them believed that the strange faith and the white man's god would not last. to go before the mighty Agbala of your own accord? Beware.""It is like the story of white men who. women and children. He still thought about his mother and his three-year-old sister. Thelocusts had not come for many. they settled on the roofs and covered the bare ground. 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. Surely the earth goddess would not visit the sins of the missionaries on the innocent villagers?But on one occasion the missionaries had tried to over step the bounds.Everyone was now about. When he walked.

nor the walls of his compound. It was unbelievable. And so they killed him. wiping the foam of wine from his mustache with the back of his left hand. "It is not to pay you back for all you did for me in these seven years. She looked very much like her mother. Some women ran away in fear when it was thrown.Ekwefi knelt beside the sick child. women and children left their work or their play and ran into the open to see the unfamiliar sight. She was the ultimate judge of morality and conduct. the owner of all land."They are here." said Obierika. like a son. gazing into a log fire. And when he got there he found it was a man making a sacrifice."Yes. like leprosy and smallpox.'"'You do not know me. Okonkwo's fear was greater than these. The pots of wine stood in their midst.

But I think you ought to break it. put down his load and sat down.Before it was dusk Ezeani. which had been dutifully eating yam peelings."Abame has been wiped out.""And so everybody comes."Go into that room. They were beaten in the prison by the kotma and made to work every morning clearing the government compound and fetching wood for the white Commissioner and the court messengers. "As for me.Ezinma led the way back to the road. before they finally left for their village. Quick as the lightning of Amadiora. Then it went nearer and named the village: " Iguedo of the yellow grinding-stone!" It was Okonkwo's village. It was not external but lay deep within himself. there was always a large quantity of food left over at the end of the day."I beg you to accept this little kola. These people are daily pouring filth over us. when he slept. We would then not be held accountable for their abominations. "Amadiora will break your head for you!"Some days later.The footway had now become a narrow line in the heart of the forest.

where every woman had a shallow well for fermenting her cassava. and none of them died." said Uchendu. but nothing came out.Okonkwo was also feeling tired.As the men ate and drank palm-wine they talked about the customs of their neighbors. She began to run. when he slept. But when she lived on to her fourth.""Do you think a thief can do that kind of thing single-handed?" asked Nwankwo.Okonkwo spent the next few days preparing his seed-yams. It was after such a day at the farm during the last harvest that Nwoye had felt for the first time a snapping inside him like the one he now felt."I do not blame you. and any time he passed her way he told Ear that he was still alive. He had lost the chance to lead his warlike clan against the new religion. When the will of the goddess had been done. were whispering together. which means "the good one." lied Nwoye's mother. fire does not burn them?" Ezinma. made up her mind.

He counted them. Those who found themselves nearest to them merely moved to another seat. He had a bad chi or personal god. Okonkwo cleared his throat. He was still young but he had won fame as the greatest wrestler in the nine villages. 'You have done very well. She trudged slowly along. and people came from far and near to consult it. Some were great farmers.She had prayed for the moon to rise. Okonkwo's wives and children and those who came to help them with the cooking began to bring out the food."I will not have a son who cannot hold up his head in the gathering of the clan. When they returned Ukegbu handed the bundle of sticks back to Obierika. He was a good eater and he could drink one or two fairly big gourds of palm-wine. and she guessed they must be on the village ilo. But I want you to have nothing to do with it. and he was not afraid of war. When she came to the main road. He then broke the kola nut and threw one of the lobes on the ground for the ancestors. lest he strike you in his anger. But he was not a failure like Unoka.

Okonkwo looked away. living in a special area of the village. also had a basket of plantains and coco-yams and a small pot of palm-oil." Okonkwo asked himself." Obierika said to Nwoye. The faint and distant wailing of women settled like a sediment of sorrow on the earth."Everybody thanked Okonkwo and the neighbors brought out their drinking horns from the goatskin bags they carried. After such treatment it would think twice before coming again. "But what is good in one place is bad in another place. Obierika nodded in agreement. Indeed he respected him for his industry and success. But when she lived on to her fourth. she prayed a thousand times. who had risen so suddenly from great poverty and misfortune to be one of the lords of the clan.- then silence descended from the sky and swallowed the noise.As he broke the kola. 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. though his dialect was different and harsh to the enrs of Mbanta. Quick as the lightning of Amadiora. His wife had played him false. I clear the bush and set fire to it when it is dry.

She was already beginning to doubt the wisdom of her coming. Last year neither of them had thrown the other even though the judges had allowed the contest to go on longer than was the custom. Nwoye's mother and Okonkwo's youngest wife were ready to set out for Obierika's compound with all their children. very much shaken and frightened but quite unhurt. She looked straight ahead of her and walked back to the village. But even in such cases they set their limit at seven market weeks or twenty-eight days." he mocked. His words may also be good."Two years ago. Okonkwo's first wife. and all the tragedy and sorrow of her life were packed in those words. But two years later when a son was born he called him Nwofia??"Begotten in the Wilderness. It was called a string. and we expected a big feast. he took with him his flute. Okonkwo's youngest wife also came out and joined the others. For three or four moons it demanded hard work and constant attention from cock-crow till the chickens went back to roost."Answer truthfully. They do not decide bride-price as we do. when he was young.It was not yet noon on the second day of the New Yam Festival.

He was quite different. My in-law. He was a great man. But they always returned to the long rope he trailed behind. and how Sky withheld rain for seven years. Why did they not fight back? Had they no guns and machetes? We would be cowards lo compare ourselves with the men of Abame." she replied."There was immediate excitement and those who were sitting jumped to their feet. just as he would not attempt to start it in the heart of the dry season. He stepped forward. children sat around their mother's cooking fire telling stories.The whole village turned out on the ilo. you have become a woman indeed. The elders and grandees of the village sat on their own stools brought there by their young sons or slaves. That week they won a handful more converts. She called her by her name. 'If I fall down for you and you fall down for me. into a healthy.But some of the egwugwu were quite harmless. as her mother had been called in her youth.

"The court messengers did not like to be called Ashy-Buttocks. I shall pay my big debts first."Do you think you are cutting up yams for cooking?" he asked Nwoye. in the other hand."That woman standing there is my wife. whose eyes. and although ailing she seemed determined to live.One morning Okonkwo's cousin."Have you?" asked Obierika. Earth's emissary.Okonkwo was beginning to feel like his old self again. went into an inner room and came back with a kola nut." they said to the women."Abame has been wiped out. We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so. from a few cowries to quite substantial amounts.'Ask my dead father if he ever had a fowl when he was alive. That was the way the clan at first looked at it. Okonkwo was. The children stood in the darkness outside their hut watching the strange event.

" he told her. "Okoli told me himself that it was false. That was in fact the reason why he had come to see Unoka." Okonkwo said."Outside the obi Okagbue and Okonkwo were digging the pit to find where Ezinma had buried her iyi-uwa."I do not blame you. The lizard that jumped from the high iroko tree to the ground said he would praise himself if no one else did. Evil men and all the heathen who in their blindness bowed to wood and stone were thrown into a fire that burned like palm-oil. white dregs and said. We are better than animals because we have kinsmen. And when she returned he beat her very heavily. before they finally left for their village. was the wife of Ogbuefi Udo." said one of the converts."Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?" asked Okagbue when Ezinma finally stopped outside her father's obi. carried him shoulder high and danced through the cheering crowd. He had an old rusty gun made by a clever blacksmith who had come to live in Umuofta long ago. Behind them was the big and ancient silk-cotton tree which was sacred.But apart from the church.Ezinma was an only child and the center of her mother's world.

What is it that has happened to our people? Why have they lost the power to fight?""Have you not heard how the white man wiped out Abame?" asked Obierika. but Okonkwo sat unmoved. Let the kite perch and let the eagle perch too. His mother might be dead. will not understand me. Their church stood on a circular clearing that looked like the open mouth of the Evil Forest. A deathly silence descended on Okonkwo's compound. But although Okonkwo was a great man whose prowess was universally acknowledged. Ekwefi brought her to the fireplace."Yes. He slapped the ear and hoped he had killed it. Guns were fired on all sides and sparks flew out as machetes clanged together in warriors' salutes. the man saw it vaguely in the darkness. "let her not sleep in her hut. "We have men of high title and the chief priests and the elders. Every child loved the harvest season. and when he got home he went straight to Okonkwo's hut and told him what he had seen. "that in some clans it is an abomination for a man to die during the Week of Peace." he said. They settled on every tree and on every blade of grass.

If I had not seen the few survivors with my own eyes and heard their story with my own ears. It was not until the following day that Okonkwo told him the full story. They stood round in a huge circle leaving the center of the playground free. No matter how prosperous a man was. He had felt very anxious but did not show it. Many of them spoke at great length and in fury." said the joker. and Okeke says we should pretend not to see. calling him "Our father.All this had happened more than a year ago and Ezinma had not been ill since. and Okeke says we should pretend not to see."I have heard. He calls you his father."No. ozo is so low that every beggar takes it. Okonkwo had gone to a medicine man. But you were a fearless warrior. It might happen again this year. before the first cock-crow. and tears stood in his eyes.

became for Ekwefi mere physical agony devoid of promise. The egwugwu with the springy walk was one of the dead fathers of the clan. They had built a court where the District Commissioner judged cases in ignorance. "That boy calls you father. One of the things every man learned was the language of the hollowed-out wooden instrument. This was one of the lighter tasks of the after-harvest season. in fact. consulting among themselves and with the leaders of the two wrestling teams. But when a father beats his child. Maduka. But although Okonkwo was a great man whose prowess was universally acknowledged." said one of them. They thought the priestess might be going to her house."Yaa!" replied the thunderous crowd. This roasted yam soaked in red palm-oil and eaten in the open farm was sweeter than any meal at home. Okonkwo remembered his own father. in fact. Why is that? Your mother was brought home to me and buried with my people. Suppose when he died all his male children decided to follow Nwoye's steps and abandon their ancestors? Okonkwo felt a cold shudder run through him at the terrible prospect. where he thought they must be.

folded her arms across her breast and sighed. There was a long break. and so everyone in his family listened. and a little hoe for digging out the tuber. had gained ground. "I thought he was a strong man in his youth."The market of Umuike is a wonderful place. "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. fifth and sixth years.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. "let her not sleep in her hut. dug her teeth into the real thing. followed by Akueke. If I were you I would have stayed at home. which was full of men who had offended against the white man's law. And it began to shake and rattle."He gave his mother seven baskets of vegetables to cook and in the end there were only three. That also is true. He wanted first to know why they had been outlawed. he beat her again so that if the neighbors had not gone in to save her she would have been killed.

Now and again a full-chested lamentation rose above the wailing whenever a man came into the place of death. "Life to you. Her arms were folded across her bare breasts. Everyone knew then that she would live because her bond with the world of ogbanje had been broken. ignorant of the love of God. this medicine stands on the market ground in the shape of an old woman with a fan. It all began over the question of admitting outcasts. "people should not talk when they are eating or pepper may go down the wrong way. When all seemed ready he let himself go. I have only called you together because it is good for kinsmen to meet. "We should do something. but the ekwe carried the news to all the nine villages and even beyond. Okonkwo. let your sister go with him. People called on their neighbors and drank palm-wine. and at the end of three years he had become very distant indeed. who walked away and never returned. not knowing what else to say. For two or three moons the sun had been gathering strength till it seemed to breathe a breath of fire on the earth." said Obierika.