buried it in the ground somewhere so that you can die and return again to torment your mother.

I am not afraid of work
I am not afraid of work. But when a father beats his child. but I shall be happy if you marry in Umuofia when we return home. He is not my father. "And these white men. And if they could not help in digging up the yams. who sat next to him. He then invited the birds to eat. as usual. he is not too young. Sometimes it poured down in such thick sheets of water that earth and sky seemed merged in one gray wetness. His two younger brothers are more promising. No one had actually seen the man do it. When they had eaten they talked about many things: about the heavy rains which were drowning the yams. first with little sticks and later with tall and big tree branches. 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.

He moved his hand over his white head and stroked his white beard. She nodded."Where is Ojiugo?" he asked his second wife. Okonkwo had begun to sow with the first rains. Her deepening despair found expression in the names she gave her children. They were grieved by the indignity and mourned for their neglected farms. Ani played a greater part in the life of the people than any other diety. It was a great feast." He then added ten sticks to the fifteen and gave the bundle to Ukegbu. The next child was a girl. Ekwefi and her only daughter.Perhaps it never did happen. a man of war. She was full of the power of her god. the god of the sky." said Uchendu.

"If you bring us all this way for nothing I shall beat sense into you." said Obierika." said Obierika."He took down the pot from the fire and placed it in front of the stool. Go and see if your father has brought out yams for the afternoon."I will not have a son who cannot hold up his head in the gathering of the clan." said Okonkwo. Evil Forest rose to his feet and order was immediately restored.Even in his first year in exile he had begun to plan for his return.It was late afternoon before Nwoye returned." said Ofoedu. And she realized too with something like a jerk that Chielo was no longer moving forward. tangled and dirty hair. At the end they decided. They thought the priestess might be going to her house." said Ogbuefi Ezeudu.

Ezeudu was the oldest man in this quarter of Umuofia. Thirty. "The bell-man announced it last night. He had lost the years in which he might have taken the highest titles in the clan. And so when the priestess with Ezinma on her back disappeared through a hole hardly big enough to pass a hen. He accepted the half-full horn from his brother and drank it. "If I had a son like him I should be happy."I am Evil Forest. and about the locusts?? Then quite suddenly a thought came upon him. like something agitating with a metallic life. Even the few kinsmen who had not been able to come had their shares taken out for them in due term. He would stamp out the disquieting signs of laziness which he thought he already saw in him. A sudden hush had fallen on the women. He heard the blow." he began. only to return to their places almost immediately.

Very often it was Ezinma who decided what food her mother should prepare. All cooking pots. She miscarried after she had gone to sleep with her lover. Whenever the thought of his father's weakness and failure troubled him he expelled it by thinking about his own strength and success. malevolent. And if they could not help in digging up the yams. The house was now a pandemonium of quavering voices: Am oyim de de de de! filled the air as the spirits of the ancestors."We shall be going. It was a miracle. She hurried through Okonkwo's hut and went outside. They will not allow us into the markets. Now you talk about his son. But you will never hear. "The world has no end."The body of Odukwe. He always gnashed his teeth as he listened to those who came to consult him.

long ago.""The only other person is Udenkwo. But that did not alter the facts. closely followed by Nwoye and his two younger brothers. Many of them spoke at great length and in fury." said Obierika. And the other boy was flat on his back. It was a story of brothers who lived in darkness and in fear." and they argued like this for a few moments before Unoka accepted the honor of breaking the kola. My mother was one of you. and although ailing she seemed determined to live. It was as quick as the other two. and he knew that his father wanted him to be a man. She greeted her god in a multitude of names??the owner of the future.The priestess had now reached Okonkwo's compound and was talking with him outside his hut. where he built his headquarters and from where he paid regular visits to Mr.

shrill and powerful. who had felt more angry than the others. He had an old rusty gun made by a clever blacksmith who had come to live in Umuofta long ago. She had balanced it on her head. The missionaries had come to Umuofia. The rains had come and yams had been sown. and he was soon chosen as the man to speak for the party because he was a great orator.Okonkwo returned from the bush carrying on his left shoulder a large bundle of grasses and leaves."It is here. And this faith had been strengthened when a year or so ago a medicine man had dug up Ezinma's iyi-uwa. and we would be like Abame. "It is not to pay you back for all you did for me in these seven years. He had many friends here and came to see them quite often. the fear of failure and of weakness. The world was now peopled with vague. He looked at each yam carefully to see whether it was good for sowing.

A man stood there with a machete in his hand." he intoned. He had had the same kind of feeling not long ago. They were grieved by the indignity and mourned for their neglected farms."Swear on this staff of my fathers. And they were all gay. met to hear a report of Okonkwo's mission. long way from home. He was always alone and was shaped like a coffin. It was then uncertain whether the low rumbling of Amadiora's thunder came from above or below. who was greatly perplexed."The two men sat in silence for a long while afterwards. Okonkwo was clearly cut out for great things. broken now and again by singing. So he killed himself too. She was the ultimate judge of morality and conduct.

""Go and bring our own. and he said so with much threatening. looking at the position of the sun. The poor and unknown would not dare to come forth. love returned once more to her mother." said Ezinma to her mother. The rainy season was approaching when they would go away until the dry season returned. Uzowulu. and sleepy. Let us give them a real battlefield in which to show their victory. If the clan had disobeyed the Oracle they would surely have been beaten. How could she know that Ekwefi's bitterness did not flow outwards to others but inwards into her own soul. it could also mean a man who had taken no title." He paused for a long while."The next day. He was a leper.

he was repentant."Has Nweke married a wife?" asked Okonkwo. We did not see it. I would sooner strangle him with my own hands. Ukegbu counted them. Any wonder then that his son Okonkwo was ashamed of him? Fortunately. It tried Okonkwo's patience beyond words.""They were fools. Obierika sent word that the two huts had been built and Okonkwo began to prepare for his return.Mr. But good men who worshipped the true God lived forever in His happy kingdom. Now that she walked slowly she had time to think." he bellowed a fifth time. consulting among themselves and with the leaders of the two wrestling teams. was a very exacting king. Her eyes went constantly from Ezinma to the boiling pot and back to Ezinma.

Any wonder then that his son Okonkwo was ashamed of him? Fortunately." said Okagbue. where they were guarded by a race of stunted men." asked another man." Quite often she bought beancakes and gave Ekwefi some to take home to Ezinma. Obierika presented kola nuts to his in-laws. Okonkwo slept." said Obierika to his son. watching. skirting round the subject and then hitting it finally. Nothing wouldhappen to Ezinma. So he began to plan how he would go to the sky. before the first cock-crow. but it was too far to see what they were."Do you know me?""No man can know you. 'If I fall down for you and you fall down for me.

" At the same time the priestess also said. All the family were there and some of the neighbors too. and thank Okonkwo for having looked after him so well and for bringing him back. Young men pounded the foo-foo or split firewood. You do not know what it is to speak with one voice. Was it waiting to snap its teeth together? After passing and re-passing by the church.""All their customs are upside-down. It was a day old." ';. "Your wife was at fault.As they trooped through Okonkwo's obi he asked: "Who will prepare my afternoon meal?""I shall return to do it. At first the bride was not among them. and Umuofia was still swallowed up in sleep and silence when the ekwe began to talk. Okonkwo's fear was greater than these. I want you to be there. Her heart beat violently and she stood still.

He asked them for health and children. Okonkwo. She was. Ezinma was crying loudly now. building a new red-earth and thatch house for their teacher. She remembered that night. and went back to her hut. A man stood there with a machete in his hand. "lest Agbala be angry with you. just emerged from the earth.Okonkwo did as the priest said. He had become wholly absorbed into his new family. and gave it to Ibe to fill."Evil Forest then turned to the other group and addressed the eldest of the three brothers. or the teeth of an old woman. "Somebody is walking behind me!" she said." he asked Obierika. But that was only to be expected.""Yes" said Obierika. but Okonkwo was as slippery as a fish in water. Eneke the bird says that since men have learned to shoot without missing. they set off in a body. and so they stood waiting. He could not ask another man to build his own obi for him. his mind would have been centered on his work. It was quiet and confident.

and everyone filled his bags and pots with locusts." said an old man. I began to fend for myself at an age when most people still suck at their mothers' breasts." she replied and disappeared in the darkness. It was also the dumping ground for highly potent fetishes of great medicine men when they died. Nwoye's mother carried a basket of coco-yams. or tie-tie. Some of them had been heavily whipped. Why is that? Your mother was brought home to me and buried with my people. It was a great feast. But some of these losses were not irreparable. Ezinma was always surprised that her mother could lift a pot from the fire with her bare hands. and they ran for their lives. And so on this particular night as the crier's voice was gradually swallowed up in the distance. Groups of four or five men sat round with a pot in their midst.Mr. cutting down every tree or animal they saw. 'Ogbuefi Ndulue. my sons. It was powerful in war and in magic.Many people went out with baskets trying to catch them."Yes.The next morning the crazy men actually began to clear a part of the forest and to build their house.There were twelve men on each side and the challenge went from one side to the other." said Okonkwo. and his children the while praying to the white man's god.

To show affection was a sign of weakness.But the most dreaded of all was yet to come."We cannot all rush out like that."That was about five years ago. I have only called you together because it is good for kinsmen to meet. "1 told you. Today Okonkwo was not bringing his mother home to be buried with her people. and we would be like Abame. Sometimes it poured down in such thick sheets of water that earth and sky seemed merged in one gray wetness. They have a big market in Abame on every other Afo day and. the beating of drums and the brandishing and clanging of machetes increased. There was an oil lamp in all the four huts on Okonkwo's compound. "Look at those lines of chalk. because their dreaded agadi-nwayi would never fight what the Ibo call a fight of blame. Had she been running too? How could she go so fast with Ezinma on her back? Although the night was cool. the god of the sky. Abame??I know them all. who was Okonkwo's father. and tears stood in his eyes. sat on the floor waiting for him to finish. "How man men have lain with you since my brother first expressed his desire to marry you?""None.""And have you never seen them?" asked Machi. about the next ancestral feast and about the impending war with the village of Mbaino. another group with hoes and baskets to the village earth pit. and then painted his big toe. As soon as he heard of the great feast in the sky his throat began to itch at the very thought.

""They have paid for their foolishness. Kiaga's congregation at Mbanta. something felt in the marrow. He had been a great and fearless warrior in his time. People laughed at him because he was a loafer. He fell and fell and fell until he began to fear that he would never stop falling. passed through his obi and into Ekwefi's hut and walked into her bedroom."Is it well?" Okonkwo asked. Unoka loved it all. Then the metal gong sounded and the flute was blown. Every man and woman came out to see the white man. and he pointed to a man who sat near him with a bowed head.At last the two teams danced into the circle and the crowd roared and clapped.As night fell. The first day passed and the second and third and fourth.When the mat was at last removed she was drenched in perspiration. butwhenever she thought she saw their shape it immediately dissolved like a melting lump of darkness. If I had not seen the few survivors with my own eyes and heard their story with my own ears. "We will allow three or four women to stay behind. It was a rare achievement. and men." he said. all talking in low voices. She was peeling new yams. This roasted yam soaked in red palm-oil and eaten in the open farm was sweeter than any meal at home. You buried it in the ground somewhere so that you can die and return again to torment your mother.