foo-foo was pounded in a hundred wooden mortars Some of the women cooked the yams and the cassava.

" Uzowulu replied
" Uzowulu replied. Unlike his father he could stand the look of blood. Was it not on an Eke day that they fled into Umuofia?" he asked his two companions. So he killed himself too. When i say no to them they think i am hard hearted."Unoka was an ill-fated man. If there is any one among you who thinks he knows more let him speak up. which were passed round for all to see and then returned to him. As the rain began to fall more soberly and in smaller liquid drops." he said."Who is that?" he growled. But the second time did not count. She prepared it the way he liked??with slices of oil-bean and fish. Is it right that you. He still thought about his mother and his three-year-old sister. the feasting and fellowship of the first day or the wrestling Contest of the second.

not knowing what else to say. But he now knew that they were for foolish women and children." said another man." He paused for a long time and then said: "I told you on my last visit to Mbanta how they hanged Aneto. returning. An osu could not attend an assembly of the free-born. It tried Okonkwo's patience beyond words. "His shell broke into pieces."For the first time in three nights. "Kill one of your sons for me. one of these women went to Ozoemena's hut and told her. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay."As soon as he entered his last year in exile Okonkwo sent money to Obierika to build him two huts in his old compound where he and his family would live until he built more huts and the outside wall of his compound. he had begun even in his father's lifetime to lay the foundations of a prosperous future. the suitor. There was pounded yam and also yam pottage cooked with palm-oil and fresh fish.

Okonkwo called his three wives and told them to get things together for a great feast. He was like the man in the song who had ten and one wives and not enough soup for his foo-foo.'to bring out all the soft things in my house and cover the compound with them so that I can jump down from the sky without very great danger. She wore the anklet of her husband's titles. He was tall and huge. and two or three pieces of land on which tofarm during the coming planting season. There were only three such boys in each team. The rainbow began to appear. One of these days your jigida will catch fire on your waist." said Ekwefi with a heavy sigh. And at last the locusts did descend. She was.He was by nature a very lively boy and he gradually became popular in Okonkwo's household. "Three or four of us should stay behind. Near the barn was a small house."Ekwefi!" a voice called from one of the other huts.

and when there was no work to do he sat in a silent half-sleep. Anyone who knew his grim struggle against poverty and misfortune could not say he had been lucky.He was tall but very thin and had a slight stoop. The fire did not burn with a flame. So I have brought the matter to the fathers of the clan. said Ezeugo. The lizard that jumped from the high iroko tree to the ground said he would praise himself if no one else did. and the crowd yelled in answer. for although nobody else knew it. And they might also have noticed that Okonkwo was not among the titled men and elders who sat behind the row of egwugwu. But whenever they came to preach in the open marketplace or the village playground.Of his three wives Ekwefi was the only one who would have the audacity to bang on his door. 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." said her mother. So he waited impatiently for the dry season to come. It ended on the right.

- the only thing worth demonstrating was strength. when his father had not been dead very long. Some women ran away in fear when it was thrown. Okagbue emerged and without saying a word or even looking at the spectators he went to his goatskin bag. Now he has won our brothers. like the prospect of annihilation. "my eyelid is twitching."Uzowulu's body. He stretched himself and scratched his thigh where a mosquito had bitten him as he slept. When she came to the main road. The first people who saw him ran away. his mother was alive. "I am an old man and I like to talk. In fact. also had a basket of plantains and coco-yams and a small pot of palm-oil. Her mother consoled her and promised to buy her her another pot.

The rain became lighter and lighter until it fell in slanting showers." he announced when he sat down. Nwoye's mother is already cooking. Okonkwo was only a boy then and Uchendu still remembered him crying the traditional farewell: "Mother. And what was more. and Umuofia." he said as he broke it. There was coming and going between them. He sang. just as he would not attempt to start it in the heart of the dry season." said Okonkwo. He did not inherit a barn from his father. How could she know that Ekwefi's bitterness did not flow outwards to others but inwards into her own soul. Nwoye's mind had gone immediately to Nwayieke. years ago. The folk stories stopped.

which had been dutifully eating yam peelings. But he was not the man to go about telling his neighbors that he was in error. who came out of her hut to draw water from a gigantic pot in the shade of a small tree in the middle of the compound. Okonkwo cleared his throat. The drums beat the unmistakable wrestling dance - quick. He is an exile. Why. who was the priest of the earth goddess. She was the ultimate judge of morality and conduct.""They have indeed soiled the name of ozo. as on that day. "Will you go?""Yes." her mother warned as she moved near the fireplace to bring the pestle resting against the wall. She would want to hear everything that had happened to him in all these years." replied Uzowulu.The priestess' voice came at longer intervals now.

They sang his praise and the young women clapped their hands:"Who will wrestle for our village?Okafo will wrestle for our village. He was still young but he had won fame as the greatest wrestler in the nine villages. And immediately Okonkwo's eyes were opened and he saw the whole matter clearly. If your in-law brings wine to you. "Our own men and our sons have joined the ranks of the stranger. It is not bravery when a man fights with a woman. breakfast was hastily eaten and women and children began to gather at Obierika's compound to help the bride's mother in her difficult but happy task of cooking for a whole village. a machete for cutting down the soft cassava stem. 'Then we can eat the chick. Di-go-go-di-go. But it only lasted till the end of the service. "You will find a pot of wine there. "on an Eke market day a little band of fugitives came into our town.Obierika was sitting outside under the shade of an orange tree making thatches from leaves of the raffia-palm. and the burial was near. She determined to nurse her child to health.

Even the enemy clan knew that. They had then drawn patterns on them in white. Only a week ago a man had contradicted him at a kindred meeting which they held to discuss the next ancestral feast." At the same time the priestess also said. "I planted the farm nearly two years ago." roared Okonkwo." He waved his arm where most of the young men sat."Don't be afraid. Okonkwo came next and Ekwefi followed him."Go into that room.But the most dreaded of all was yet to come." asked Obierika. egusi soup and bitter-leaf soup and pots and pots of palm-wine. you sow your yams on exhausted farms that take no labor to clear. If we should try to drive out the white men in Umuofia we should find it easy. and the sun seemed hidden behind a thick cloud.

""The only other person is Udenkwo. Okonkwo always asked his wives' relations." said Ezinma."We have now built a church. Would he recognize her now? She must have grown quite big." he had said. Once she tripped up and fell. They surged forward as the two young men danced into the circle. whose frantic rhythm was no longer a mere disembodied sound but the very heartbeat of the people. She placed Ezinma carefully on the bed and went away without saying a word to anybody. thus completing a circle with their hosts. "before 1 put any crop in the earth. It was clear that the bags were full of cowries. A proud heart can survive a general failure because such failure does not prick its pride. From then on. Every woman immediately abandoned whatever she was doing and rushed out in the direction of the cry.

and at the end of it beat his instrument again. welcoming it back from its long.""There is no song in the story. My case is finished. They will serve you when I have eaten. Three men beat them with sticks. when his father had not been dead very long. the beating of drums and the brandishing and clanging of machetes increased. Okonkwo had gone to a medicine man. You think you are still a child.As the palm-wine was drunk one of the oldest members of the umunna rose to thank Okonkwo:"If I say that we did not expect such a big feast I will be suggesting that we did not know how openhanded our son. went down quickly on one knee in an attempt to fling his man backwards over his head. and the man growled at him to go on and not stand looking back."That will not be enough." said the joker. "You look very tired.

decorating them with a colorful and plaintive tune. Nwoye's callow mind was greatly puzzled. asked her""Remember that if you do not answer truthfully you will suffer or even die at childbirth. Okonkwo." The three rose and went outside. "Okonkwo! Agbala ekme gio-o-o-o! Agbala cholu ifu ada ya Ezinmao-o-o-oi"At the mention of Ezinma's name Ekwefi jerked her head sharply like an animal that had sniffed death in the air." said one of the converts. Every child loved the harvest season. passed through his obi and into Ekwefi's hut and walked into her bedroom. Obiageli took the first dish and returned to her mother's hut. "I warned Nwankwo to keep a sharp eye and a sharp ear. empty men. as when she first set out. who said he should die. this feeling.""Is he well?" asked Nwoye.

and then turning to his brother and his son he said: "Let us go out and whisper together. and then passed two shares to Nwoye and Ikemefuna. 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. You are a great man in your clan. Every child loved the harvest season." said the woman.And then quite suddenly a shadow fell on the world. and washed away the yam heaps. Many of these messengers came from Umuru on the bank of the Great River. and Umuofia. In fact he had not killed a rat with his gun. She saw the other children with their water-pots and remembered that they were going to fetch water for Obierika's wife.""That is very strange. Kiaga restrained them. He could hear in his mind's ear the blood-stirring and intricate rhythms of the ekwe and the udu and the ogene. the fear of failure and of weakness.

" said the bride. and in its place a sort of smile hovered. and he knew that his father wanted him to be a man. The old man bore no ill will towards Okonkwo."You do not know the answer? So you see that you are a child. Some of them will even ride the iron horse themselves. But tonight she was addressing her prophecy and greetings to Okonkwo."Will you give Ezinma some fire to bring to me?" Her own children and Ikemefuna had gone to the stream. She is buried there. Nwoye would feign annoyance and grumble aloud about women and their troubles. who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo. "Life to all of us."When did you become a shivering old woman. and the women had formed themselves into three groups for this purpose. Ekwefi broke into a run as though to stop them. all talking in low voices.

Yam stood for manliness. He turned it on to his left palm. A woman fled as soon as an egwugwu came in sight. It was a very expensive ceremony and he was gathering all his resources together.""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."Odukwe's body. and washed away the yam heaps." Obierika said to his son. And when he got there he found it was a man making a sacrifice. He told them that they worshipped false gods."We have now built a church. long journey. After the pot-bearers came Ibe." said Okonkwo. The spell of sunshine which always came in the middle of the wet season did not appear.'"None of the birds had heard of this custom but they knew that Tortoise.

"Their clan is now completely empty. She put back the empty pot on the circular pad in the corner. Again and again Iguedo was called and men waited breathlessly in all the nine villages. slit its throat with a sharp knife and allowed some of the blood to fall on the ancestral staff. You stay at home. At last Vulture was sent to plead with Sky. The crowd burst into a thunderous roar. and earth rose. "She has iba. "I thought he was a strong man in his youth. One of the things every man learned was the language of the hollowed-out wooden instrument. The earth goddess whom you have insulted may refuse to give us her increase. And she enjoyed above all the secrecy in which she now ate them." And so they all went to help Obierika's wife??Nwoye's mother with her four children and Ojiugo with her two." said Obierika. 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.