new religion welcomed twins and such abominations."I am Evil Forest. It was the time for treading red earth with which to build walls.

" said Uchendu to his peers when they consulted among themselves
" said Uchendu to his peers when they consulted among themselves. unlike the deep and liquid rumbling of the rainy season. despite his madness."What are you doing here?" Obierika had asked when after many difficulties the missionaries had allowed him to speak to the boy. They said she was coming." he began. Ezinma shook every tree violently with a long stick before she bent down to cut the stem and dig out the tuber. she returned to her mother's hut to help with the cooking. The hearing then began." said Nwoye's mother." said Okonkwo's voice. he would use his fists."Leave that boy at once!" said a voice in the outer compound. a machete for cutting down the soft cassava stem. and men dashed about in frenzy. boomed the hollow metal. who was laid on a mat." Ezinma began. It was the fear of himself." said Mr. Those men of Abame were fools.

Drums beat violently and men leaped up and down in frenzy. Okonkwo. 'Ogbuefi Ndulue. Maduka. He raised it carefully with the hoe and threw it to the surface. male and female.' But my wife's brothers said they had nothing to tell me.""It is the result of a great medicine. But she had grown so bitter about her own chi that she could not rejoice with others over their good fortune. And so when the priestess with Ezinma on her back disappeared through a hole hardly big enough to pass a hen. The egwugwu house into which they emerged faced the forest. The Ibo evangelists consulted among themselves and decided that the man probably meant bicycle. and the sun seemed hidden behind a thick cloud.- they merely set the scene. and then he continued: "Each group there represents a debt to someone. Ogbuefi Ezeugo was a powerful orator and was always chosen to speak on such occasions."Your half-sister. A baby on its mother's back does not know that the way is long. His first two wives ran out in great alarm pleading with him that it was the sacred week.""I was only speaking in jest. He knew that Nwakibie would not refuse him.

let him follow Nwoye now while I am alive so that I can curse him."You are a big man now. and two days later he returned home with a lad of fifteen and a young virgin.His anger thus satisfied. Ezinma was always surprised that her mother could lift a pot from the fire with her bare hands." Okonkwo thundered.' Those men of Abame were fools. that was how it looked to his father. The yams put on luxuriant green leaves. He warmed himself in the fire and ate the entrails. "I warned Nwankwo to keep a sharp eye and a sharp ear. At such times she seemed beyond danger. At last Vulture was sent to plead with Sky. The suitor just goes on bringing bags of cowries until his in-laws tell him to stop. and then turning to his brother and his son he said: "Let us go out and whisper together. Two judges walked around the wrestlers and when they thought they were equally matched. and he was grateful. It was unheard of to beat somebody during the sacred week.The moon was now up and she could see Chielo and Ezinma clearly. and during this time Okonkwo's fame had grown like a bush-fire in the harmattan."Go and burn your mothers' genitals.

The rains had come and yams had been sown. Ekwefi broke into a run as though to stop them. It was the poetry of the new religion. lest he strike you in his anger. Okonkwo had slaughtered a goat for her. Their children carried pots of water. I shall do that every year until you return. And he found that Okonkwo did not wish to speak about Nwoye. all strong and healthy. He did not understand it. Ekwefi's mind went back to the days when they were young. It was also the dumping ground for highly potent fetishes of great medicine men when they died. She went on fanning it until it burst into flames. but he went to the birds and asked to be allowed to go with them.But it was really not true that Okonkwo's palm-kernels had been cracked for him by a benevolent spirit. The neighbors and Okonkwo's wives were now talking. He said he was one of them. had entered his eye."What happened?" her mother asked. but they looked on from the fringe like outsiders. afraid to go in.

The men were seized and beaten until they streamed with blood." He got up painfully. Trees were uprooted and deep gorges appeared everywhere. she was dead. He was called the Cat because his back would never touch the earth. Ezinma rushed out of the hut. "and a thick mat. He looked at each yam carefully to see whether it was good for sowing.""That is true. The heathen say you will die if you do this or that. Once he got up from bed and walked about his compound. or watched him as he tapped his palm tree for the evening wine. "and don't allow it to boil over. Has he thrown a hundred Cats?He has thrown four hundred Cats. He had five other sons and he would bring them up in the way of the clan." replied Uzowulu."When nearly two years later Obierika paid another visit to his friend in exile the circumstances were less happy. It ended on the right. "Are you afraid you may dissolve?"The harvesting was easy. and before they began to speak in low tones Nwoye and Ikemefuna were sent out. It might happen again this year.

The priestess had now reached Okonkwo's compound and was talking with him outside his hut. He then invited the birds to eat. Nwoye's mother was very kind to him and treated him as one of her own children. But his whole life was dominated by fear. Work no longer had for him the pleasure it used to have. occasionally feeling with her palm the wet. And not only his chi but his clan too. as when she first set out. Okonkwo's second wife had merely cut a few leaves off it to wrap some food. decorating them with a colorful and plaintive tune.Okonkwo planted what was left of his seed-yams when the rains finally returned. and his children after him. I am worried about Nwoye. But he was not the man to go about telling his neighbors that he was in error. One mind said to her: "Woman. Some of them will even ride the iron horse themselves.The crowd set out with Ezinma leading the way and Okagbue following closely behind her." said the priestess.""Some people say the Oracle warned him that he would fall off a palm tree and kill himself. At one stage Ekwefi was so afraid that she nearly called out to Chielo for companionship and human sympathy. But it was as silly as all women's stories.

" he said. Okonkwo came after her.Ekwefi ladled her husband's share of the pottage into a bowl and covered it. All the other dancers made way for her. Nwoye. In front of them was a row of stools on which nobody sat. I want you to be there. "do you not grow yams where you come from?"Inwardly Okonkwo knew that the boys were still too young to understand fully the difficult art of preparing seed-yams. Chielo. And so he feigned that he no longer cared for women's stories." But before they went he whispered something to his first wife. he." he said to Okonkwo. He had discerned a clear overtone of tragedy in the crier's voice.""I don't know how we got that law.The priestess had now reached Okonkwo's compound and was talking with him outside his hut. Okonkwo decided to go out hunting. and stake them when the young tendrils appear. An animal rubs its itching flank against a tree." He got up painfully. he thought over the matter.

Then the missionaries burst into song. The crowd then shouted with ainger and thirst for blood. If we allow you to come with us you will soon begin your mischief.Share-cropping was a very slow way of building up a barn of one's own.The young suitor. They also drank water from small pots and ate kola nuts. Now that she walked slowly she had time to think. It was such a forest that.""It is like the story of white men who. Unlike his father he could stand the look of blood. Ekwefi picked her way carefully and quietly. white dregs and said. On the last night before the festival." Ekwefi said to the woman who had stood shoulder to shoulder with her since the beginning of the matches. Ezinma rushed out of the hut. She cut the yams into small pieces and began to prepare a pottage. their hoes and machetes. And when he did this he saw that his father was pleased. won a handful of converts and were already sending evangelists to the surrounding towns and villages. But I can tell you." he swore.

A woman fled as soon as an egwugwu came in sight. Cooking pots went up and down the tripods and foo-foo was pounded in a hundred wooden mortars Some of the women cooked the yams and the cassava.- it was either too early or too late. It was a warrior's funeral. they say. She felt cold. It might happen again this year. and the children who sang songs of welcome to them. But after a while this custom was stopped because it spoiled the peace which it was meant to preserve. said that until the abominable gang was chased out of the village with whips there would be no peace. Anyone who knew his grim struggle against poverty and misfortune could not say he had been lucky. younger men gave way and the tumult subsided. the tumult increased tenfold." said her mother. which was rubbed with red earth so that it shone. The dark top soil soon gave way to the bright red earth with which women scrubbed the floors and walls of huts. He thought of his mother and his three-year-old sister and wept bitterly. But a few years later she ran away from her husband and came to live with Okonkwo. Nwoye knew that Ikemefuna had been killed. and its priests and medicine men were feared in all the surrounding country. Unoka would play with them.

But almost immediately a shout of joy broke out in all directions."Your half-sister. and the solid mass was now broken by tiny eyes of light like shining star dust." said Ezinma.Ezinma brought them a bowl of water with which to wash their hands. They did not stay very long. "Life to all of us. Okonkwo would take care of meat and yams. She sometimes broke into a run and stopped again suddenly. It was evening and the sun was settingUchendu's eldest daughter." He rose and left the hut. And he was already beginning to know some of the simple stories they told. The fowl Ekwefi had just killed was in the wooden mortar." the others replied. and in the end Okonkwo overcame his sorrow.The sun rose slowly to the center of the sky.Okonkwo did not taste any food for two days after the death of Ikemefuna. who was the oldest man in the village." Okonkwo said between mouthfuls. who was laid on a mat." came her voice.

I shall give you some fish to eat. But for a young man whose father had no yams. In her hand was the cloth pad on which the pot should have rested on her head. and passed the disc over to his guest. but they never brought them into the village. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat. He then roused Ezinma and placed her on the stool. usually before the age of three. as was the custom.- then silence descended from the sky and swallowed the noise. The law of the clan is that you should return her bride-price.And now the rains had really come. When Unoka died he had taken no title at all and he was heavily in debt. And what is the result? Their clan is full of the evil spirits of these unburied dead." he said. Such was Unoka's fate.He sent for the five sons and they came and sat in his obi. She cut the yams into small pieces and began to prepare a pottage."Don't you know what kind of man Uzowulu is? He will not listen to any other decision." replied Okonkwo. For two or three moons the sun had been gathering strength till it seemed to breathe a breath of fire on the earth.

In this way Akuke's bride-price was finally settled at twenty bags of cowries.""I did not know that. "and yet he is full of sorrow because he has come to live in his motherland for a few years. He felt like a drunken giant walking with the limbs of a mosquito." said Ogbuefi Ezeudu. They saluted one another and then reappeared on the ilo. and when he recovered he seemed to have overcome his great fear and sadness. And she went into her hut to warm the vegetable soup she had cooked last night. He was merely led into greater complexities. Uchendu's eldest daughter had come from Obodo. His mother and sisters worked hard enough."And why did you not say so."That is not the end of the story. Your mother is there to protect you. It was a different woman??the priestess of Agbala." said Obierika. Unoka loved the good hire and the good fellowship. Then there was perfect silence. "But you can explain to her."Then kill yourself. Even the enemy clan knew that.

Obierika."Who is that?" he growled. "that was why the snake-lizard killed his mother. Is it true that Okonkwo nearly killed you with his gun?""It is true indeed. For many market weeks nothing else happened." She stood up and pulled out the fan which was fastened into one of the rafters."I was coming over to see you as soon as I finished that thatch." replied her mother. It was not done earlier because the rains were too heavy and would have washed away the heap of trodden earth. he is telling a lie. But let us ostracize these men. And he did pounce on people quite often. Perhaps she has come to stay. At last the man was named and people sighed "E-u-u. The young men who kept order flew around."We have heard both sides of the case. We have tried to settle their quarrels time without number and on each occasion Uzowulu was guilty??""It is a lie!" Uzowulu shouted. Dazed with fear. And the other boy was flat on his back. That was the way the clan at first looked at it. Even the enemy clan knew that.

and everyone filled his bags and pots with locusts. and although it had not yet appeared on the sky its light had already melted down the darkness. She had got ready her basket of coco-yams and fish. Ezinma. and girls came from the inner compound to dance."You have not eaten for two days. She must have heard a noise behind her and turned round sharply. As for Ikemefuna. He would remember his own childhood. His greatest friend. but never heard its voice. who said he should die. There were six of them and one was a white man. for his father's relatives to see. That was the way the clan at first looked at it.The night was very quiet. My in-law. he made sacrifices of atonement and performed an expensive burial ceremony such as was done for a great man. The daughters of Uehuiona were also there. What you have done will not please the Earth. He was called the Cat because his back would never touch the earth.

As the evening drew near. "When I think that it is only eighteen months since the Seed was first sown among you. "I shall carry you on my back. Ezeudu was to be buried after dark with only a glowing brand to light the sacred ceremony. Some women ran away in fear when it was thrown. It was also the dumping ground for highly potent fetishes of great medicine men when they died."The two men sat in silence for a long while afterwards." said another man." said Okonkwo. They came when misfortune dogged their steps or when they had a dispute with their neighbors.""Why?" asked Obierika and Okonkwo together.Qkonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand.On a moonlight night it would be different. neither early nor late. That was the way the clan at first looked at it. She had borne ten children and nine of them had died in infancy. This was a womanly clan."On what market-day was it born?" he asked."That woman standing there is my wife."Come. He had finished it on the very day the locusts came.

His name was Maduka. The first rains were late."Okonkwo tried to explain to him what his wife had done. which was shaved in beautiful patterns. When they did." said Okonkwo's voice."When this was interpreted to the men of Mbanta they broke into derisive laughter." He filled the first horn and gave to his father. It throbbed in the air. and there was too much saltpeter in it. Umuofia has decided to kill him. Ikeocha. hung his goatskin bag on his shoulder and went to visit his friend." he said to Okonkwo." But before they went he whispered something to his first wife. The story was told in Umuofia. as usual. Nwoye turned round to walk into the inner compound when his father. The rain became lighter and lighter until it fell in slanting showers.The elders. But he had long learned how to lay that ghost.

"before i learned how to tap. Kiaga. Obierika's relatives counted the pots as they came. his children and their mothers in the new year. He had a large compound enclosed by a thick wall of red earth. A baby on its mother's back does not know that the way is long. living in a special area of the village. for that was his father's name. and went back to her hut." This was interpreted to them but very few of them heard. My sister lived with him for nine years. eating the peelings. and he loved the first kites that returned with the dry season." said Okonkwo as he rose to go. silence returned to the world. Of all his children she alone understood his every mood. just as he would not attempt to start it in the heart of the dry season."Is it well?" Okonkwo asked. and it seemed now as if it was happening all over again.After the wine had been drunk Okonkwo laid his difficulties before Nwakibie. became for Ekwefi mere physical agony devoid of promise.

"that Okonkwo and I were talking about Abame and Aninta. I sow the yams when the first rain has fallen."No. Perhaps she has come to stay.Yam.""There is no song in the story. It was for this man that Okonkwo worked to earn his first seed yams. and his bushy eyebrows and wide nose gave him a very severe look. which was shaved in beautiful patterns.' replied the man. And so the stranger had brought him. not even for fear of a goddess. 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. in fact.' But my wife's brothers said they had nothing to tell me.Okonkwo called his three wives and told them to get things together for a great feast. They only saw the red earth he threw up mounting higher and higher."The next day. Okonkwo made a present of two cocks to them. He was a good eater and he could drink one or two fairly big gourds of palm-wine. Some of these prisoners were men of title who should be above such mean occupation.

and was about to say something when the old man continued:"Yes. her voice terrible as it echoed through the dark void. The soup was brought out hot from the fire and in the very pot in which it had been cooked. Then the metal gong sounded and the flute was blown. Within a short time the first two bouts were over."Uzowulu's body.""It is a lie. We all know him. An evil forest was. vibrating heat.At last they took a turning and began to head for the caves. egusi soup and bitter-leaf soup and pots and pots of palm-wine. because it would hear. feeling with her palm the wet.The women had gone to the bush to collect firewood. Then there was perfect silence. Once she tripped up and fell. He searched his bag and brought out his snuff-bottle. and was not given the first or the second burial. Okagbue was a very striking figure. Nwoye knew that Ikemefuna had been killed.

You have many wives and many children??more children than I have. He would return later to his mother and his brothers and sisters and convert them to the new faith. I have done my best to make Nwoye grow into a man. Ezinma turned left as if she was going to the stream. "that Okonkwo and I were talking about Abame and Aninta.Okoye was also a musician."1 have told you to let her alone. But it was useless. It was a sad miscalculation. All that is true. that I am not afraid of blood and if anyone tells you that I am. 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. Earth's emissary. he was not afraid now. He put them in the pot and Ekwefi poured in some water. She slowed down her pace so as to increase the distance between them." she began.She walked up to her husband and accepted the horn from him. Go and see if your father has brought out yams for the afternoon. Ezinma went deeper and deeper and the crowd went with her. and then.

But she had got worse and worse. Ekwefi quickly took her to their bedroom and placed her on their high bamboo bed. It was a day old. whom he had thrown away.Okonkwo sprang from his bed. where they were guarded by a race of stunted men. I have waited in vain for my wife to return." she replied and disappeared in the darkness. Nothing wouldhappen to Ezinma.The wrestlers were not there yet and the drummers held the field. feeling with her palm the wet. mother is going. close to the Great Shrine. Nobody knew how old. On Obierika's side were his two elder brothers and Maduka. They sat in a half-moon. 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." he answered. seeing that the new religion welcomed twins and such abominations."I am Evil Forest. It was the time for treading red earth with which to build walls.