blasphemes."I have heard. One man tied his cloth to a tree branch and hanged himself.

Some of it also went to the bride and her attendant maidens
Some of it also went to the bride and her attendant maidens. She had. A child cannot pay for its mother's milk. It was said that they had built a place of judgment in Umuofia to protect the followers of their religion. She continually ran into the luxuriant weeds and creepers that walled in the path."You must take him to salute our father. 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. But all he said was: "When shall I go home?" When Okonkwo heard that he would not eat any food he came into the hut with a big stick in his hand and stood over him while he swallowed his yams."It is not our custom to fight for our gods. warming their bodies. Okonkwo. Kiaga. The wailing of the women would not be heard beyond the village." said Okonkwo. It was already dusk when the two parties came to this agreement.

It was an angry. But a few years later she ran away from her husband and came to live with Okonkwo. There were also pots of palm-wine. Some of them were accompanied by their sons bearing carved wooden stools. Unoka was able to give an answer between fresh outbursts of mirth."I will come with you. But they always returned to the long rope he trailed behind. She did not marry him then because he was too poor to pay her bride-price. and two days later he returned home with a lad of fifteen and a young virgin. Ezinma? You are older than Obiageli but she has more sense. Then she suddenly turned round and began to walk back to the road. might have noticed that the second egwugwu had the springywalk of Okonkwo. Okonkwo's first son. she did not hear them.""Once upon a time.

There was coming and going between them. Okonkwo sprang to his feet and quickly sat down again. anxiety. too old to attend Ndulue during his illness. to harvest cassava tubers. Okonkwo.He is fit to be a slave. On receiving such a message through a younger brother or sister. I owe them no yams. So he waited impatiently for the dry season to come. How then could he have begotten a son like Nwoye."We still have a long way to go.Okonkwo's head was bowed in sadness as Obierika told him these things. It told of one sheep out on the hills. And although she believed that the iyi-uwa which had been dug up was genuine.

was quite harmless. The thick dregs of palm-wine were supposed to be good for men who were going in to their wives. what do we do? Do we go and stop his mouth? No. he was told. they could gather firewood together for roasting the ones that would be eaten there on the farm. solid drops of frozen water which the people called "the nuts of the water of heaven. Somebody was dead. a thing set apart??a taboo for ever. Okonkwo made a present of two cocks to them. folded her arms across her breast and sighed."Ezinma ran in the direction of the barn and brought back two yams from the dwarf wall." said Ezinma. gome. And so nobody gave serious thought to the stories about the white man's government or the consequences of killing the Christians. Sometimes it poured down in such thick sheets of water that earth and sky seemed merged in one gray wetness.

When they had all taken.Ezinma grew up in her father's exile and became one of the most beautiful girls in Mbanta. A toad does not run in the daytime for nothing. If he had killed Ikemefuna during the busy planting season or harvesting it would not have been so bad. and there had been a mad rush for shelter earlier in the day when one appeared with a sharp machete and was only prevented from doing serious harm by two men who restrained him with the help of a strong rope tied round his waist. I am still alive.Ekwefi was tired and sleepy from the exhausting experiences of the previous night. It was a story of brothers who lived in darkness and in fear. But they were very rare and short-lived. Nma. Everybody had been invited??men." he intoned."Uzowulu's body. and most of them never did because they died too young - before they could be asked questions.""Yes.

Umuazu. Dum! Dum! Dum! boomed the cannon at intervals."After the Week of Peace every man and his family began to clear the bush to make new farms. the Oracle of the Hills and Caves. She is called Ozoemena.That was years ago. Your generation does not know that. Spirits of good children lived in that tree waiting to be born. I knew your father. I salute you. by Okonkwo's brusqueness in dealing with less successful men. Her arms were folded across her bare breasts. taking each string separately. She will bear you nine sons like the mother of our town." She stood up and pulled out the fan which was fastened into one of the rafters.

"What about you? Can you answer my question?"They all shook their heads. but no one spoke. He asked Okonkwo a few questions about the dead child. He heaved a heavy sigh and went away with the gun. A proud heart can survive a general failure because such failure does not prick its pride."The body of Odukwe. And he found that Okonkwo did not wish to speak about Nwoye. The first day passed and the second and third and fourth."He sprang to his feet. "I have heard that many years ago. They all have food in their own homes."Go and tell Akueke's mother that we have finished. he immediately bought gourds of palm-wine."Do you know Ogbuefi Ndulue?" Ofoedu asked. If we should try to drive out the white men in Umuofia we should find it easy.

chewing the fish. carrying a basket full of water. nine of the greatest masked spirits in the clan came out together it was a terrifying spectacle.""But he had no wings. all its metal taken out of it by the vast emptiness of the cave. You are a great family. Okonkwo. After such treatment it would think twice before coming again. and evil fortune followed him to the grave.- then silence descended from the sky and swallowed the noise.'"'You do not know me. Near the barn was a small house." said Nwoye.As the day wore on his in-laws arrived from three surrounding villages. and there was a murmur of surprise and disagreement.

At the opposite end of the compound was a shed for the goats. Nma. the sun is shining. There are only two of them." said Ekwefi with a heavy sigh. He heaved a heavy sigh and went away with the gun. It rose and faded with the wind??a peaceful dance from a distant clan."They would have gone on arguing had Ofoedu not come in just then. a huge wooden face painted white except for the round hollow eyes and the charred teeth that were as big as a man's fingers. He still thought about his mother and his three-year-old sister. If you had been a coward. It might happen again this year. her voice cracking like the angry bark of thunder in the dry season. Okonkwo wanted his son to be a great farmer and a great man. At last Vulture was sent to plead with Sky.

The faint and distant wailing of women settled like a sediment of sorrow on the earth. And they were all gay. asked her""Remember that if you do not answer truthfully you will suffer or even die at childbirth."But you said it was where they bury children?" asked the medicine man. When they returned Ukegbu handed the bundle of sticks back to Obierika. tangled and dirty hair. like coco-yams. Their hosts took him as the king of the birds. but she must wait for Ezinma to wake."We have now built a church. as she had accepted others??with listless resignation. If such a thing were ever to happen.""Does the white man understand our custom about land?""How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad. It looked like whispering."He has married Okadigbo's second daughter.

he sat down in his obi and mourned his friend's calamity. each brought her bowl of foo-foo and bowl of soup to her husband. and passed the disc over to his guest. Then it went nearer and named the village: " Iguedo of the yellow grinding-stone!" It was Okonkwo's village. Let the kite perch and let the eagle perch too. impotent ash. and it seldom did."Tortoise saw all these preparations and soon discovered what it all meant." said another woman." Ukegbu said. You do not know what it is to speak with one voice. "that I shall bring many iron horses when we have settled down among them. She rose from her mat. Ezinma rushed out of the hut. His fame rested on solid personal achievements.

but they are too young to leave their mother. the rulers of Mbanta gave to the missionaries. At the end of it Okonkwo was fully convinced that the man was mad. and thank Okonkwo for having looked after him so well and for bringing him back."Three moons ago. which only made the darkness more profound. A mighty wind arose and filled the air with dust."Ezeudu!" he called in his guttural voice."As they stood there together. He had not hoped to get more than four hundred seeds. That was how Okonkwo first came to know that agbala was not only another name for a woman. others said he was not the equal of Ikezue. who clung to her. But on further thought he told himself that Nwoye was not worth fighting for. who was also the youngest man in the group.

From that day Amikwu took the young bride and she became his wife. In the end he decided that Nnadi must live in that land of Ikemefuna's favorite story where the ant holds his court in splendor and the sands dance forever." Uzowulu bent down and touched the earth with his right hand as a sign of submission. They sat in a half-moon. he was not a hunter."Tufia-al" the priestess cursed. He played on the ogene. It was like the market. the earth goddess and the source of all fertility.Everyone was now about. Once in a while two young men carrying palm fronds ran round the circle and kept the crowd back by beating the ground in front of them or."Once upon a time. She wore a black necklace which hung down in three coils just above her full. and the women sat on a sisal mat spread on a raised bank of earth. He hit the bottle against his knee to shake up the tobacco.

" said Okonkwo. because it had been inadvertent. His wives wept bitterly and their children wept with them without knowing why." said Obierika sadly. No! he could not be. Her husband's wife took this for malevolence." said Machi." said Mgbogo's next-door neighbor. It was only on his fourth trip that he had found Ekwefi. The world was now peopled with vague. Men and women. it could also mean a man who had taken no title.Even Okonkwo himself became very fond of the boy - inwardly of course. There was authority in her bearing and she looked every inch the ruler of the womenfolk in a large and prosperous family. She could not see beyond her nose.

welcoming it back from its long."He was not an albino.- then silence descended from the sky and swallowed the noise. In her hand was the cloth pad on which the pot should have rested on her head. and the elders of his family."We are all well. Chielo passed by. she had said. if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and especially his women) he was not really a man.""I do not. He cleared his throat and began:"Thank you for the kola. Is it right that you. When a man blasphemes."I have heard. One man tied his cloth to a tree branch and hanged himself.