Chi Ewere Ehihe Jie

J. U. Tagbo Nzeako
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Night Has Fallen In the Afternoon

Edited by F. C. Ogbalu, B.Sc., Econ. (Lond.) Translated From the Igbo by Frances W. Pritchett University Publishing Company Printed at Varsity Industrial Press, 11 Central School Road, Onitsha

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When the World Was Blind

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Families were afflicted by evil spirits. Fear was everywhere. People were being sold every week. Children born to widows were vulnerable, because the fruit in the forest is free for anyone to pluck and take for himself. [Implies survival of the fittest.] That made the children of widows refrain from joining the others in going out to play games in the compound. This affected all villages, because a man cannot deny his own dwarfishness when he sees someone using a long stick to pick peppers. [Peppers grow low to the ground, so normally you do not need a stick to pick them. If you are at that eye level, you must be very short yourself!] All widows tried, like it or not, to give themselves and their children to wealthy people and their spirits and their kith and kin, because one who wants to fully harvest the topmost fruits of his oil bean tree cannot climb down at the same place where he climbed up.
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Those people oversaw them the way a chicken guards its chicks so that hawks might not carry them off, and they were barely able to breathe [worked to death like slaves], and the elders said that one who performed in-law duties in the lizard's house must surely hear running, because see-it-and-hold-it-for-me is a spear aimed at the stomach. Life-threatening conditions were everywhere. There was not much thievery, because a thief would be grabbed as soon as he was spotted. Christianity had not yet reached Igboland, and school was something that people did not even dream about. Traditional practices and spirit-worship were everywhere. People threw away any child who came out of his mother's womb feet first. Akakpo people used to take away any children who sprouted upper teeth first. Twins were killed, and their mother banished to a house that would be built for her in the forest. Burial of those who died of swollen stomach [ascites] consisted of laying them down in the forest to be eaten by vultures, but the bodies of leprosy and smallpox victims were just thrown into the bush. Human beings were used in burials. All these bad things held people back, because one who is owned by others has nothing. There was no clothing, except the loincloth that adult men wore, and the short cloth that women wrapped around their waists. Those who had ogo-enwe-ute cloth were the rich people. At that time, all young girls went naked. When the girl matured, she wore brass spiral leg rings, necklaces, and waist beads; drew body-markings; rubbed on camwood; marked her body with indigo juice designs; wore a cotton cloth around her waist;
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shaved her head completely; then went everywhere naked. The men who did not have loincloths made them from aji [locally woven coarse cloth]. None of these things made them ashamed, because an ignorant person is like a blind person who is being led. They did not know that there were other ways to enjoy life, besides meeting at the sacred tree in the village square telling folktales, trading insults, telling stories, and wrestling. There was no court, because a powerful man would rule; and he alone was respected, because the elders say that the young cock does not display its strength where a stronger cock is concerned, because one who surpasses another person surpasses his personal god. The way to tell those who had become wealthy was that they had many large palm trees, breadfruit trees, yam farms, and raffia palm lands in abundance. Everyone built houses of mud and akanya [thatching from raffia palm leaves]. Many of these houses were round, and had one opening for entrance. There were not many chairs inside the houses. Planks, boards, branches of coconut trees, and earthen beds were customarily used for sitting. People's occupations were fishing, farming, raising pigs, goats, and sheep, and being specialists in divining, in offering sacrifices, and in herbal medicine. A young man thought only about how to get the money to take a title, build a mud house, carry a masquerade, and get married,

because if a man did not conform to societal expectations, he was as good as dead. The money used for trading at that time was cowries, that and bartering for market goods, like when someone who wanted to buy yams saw someone who wanted to buy snuff and they would exchange their market items. Market exchanges did not always go well, because sometimes a person would take his sale items and not find anyone to trade with. Sometimes greedy people tried to cheat their fellows, who would then say that rather than a pot of wine cause in-laws to quarrel let the pot of wine break in the road. [A bad bargain accepted for the sake of peace.] Women wore certain undergarments, hip ornaments, waist beads, wrist ornaments, necklaces, camwood, indigo dye, and ivory bracelets for dressing up. Adult men slung on their cowhide bags, marked their eyebrows with chalk, carried walking-sticks made of iroko or bamboo, and traveled on foot both far and near. There were no coffins. Woven mats were used for burying corpses. The midribs of oil palm leaves were peeled off into string and used to weave the mat. It was like an Igbo mat. [As opposed to a Hausa mat of other materials.] If someone died, they put his corpse in the mat and tied it firmly. If he was someone they hated when he was alive, or an evildoer, they would have no sympathy for him and would tie him very tightly [presumably to keep his evil spirit from escaping], because if they searched thoroughly for a way to treat a sick person and could not find it, he would be burnt to cinders.
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Kidnapping and selling people, indentured servitude and slavery, were the order of the day, and caused confusion in all the towns. Servants and slaves did not have the same privileges as did those who were not servants and slaves. They did not intermarry, the slaves did not farm, nor did they take titles. These things really hampered them, because there is no knowing which vehicleriders are lame until the vehicle has stopped. Life was like this in the old days, when there was no church. These things will be like folktales to our children today, because one who is not there when a corpse is buried digs it up from the foot. Now, the sacrifice has been made, let the blame be on the children of the spirits, and now let me crack nuts and let the corn go "tom tom" in the fire. [Let me get down to brass tacks.]

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Where the Water Entered the Pumpkin Stem

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If only a palm wine-tapper could sum up all the hardships he underwent to tap wine, so he could give someone a pot of wine to put to his lips. But one does not stop eating just because money is scarce. The famine in the town of Alooke did not give parents a chance to breathe. Whether man or woman, rich or wretchedly poor, no one was unaffected. Ezeonyekwelu was a chief of Alooke. He was also the ku Dunu [one in power]. He had only one son, because his wife was greatly afflicted by the loss of babies in childbirth. That made him put great care into training his son, because if a child roasts a yam in the fire and it burns, he then roasts another yam and chews it without fully cooking it. [Learn from experience.] The boy, whose name was Nonyerem, regretted not having many sisters and brothers, because if an animal itches, it goes and scratches against a tree trunk, but if a human being itches, his
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fellow-man scratches for him. Ikepuru [the father] also was unhappy, because you don't get rich by amassing wealth and throwing it away. Nonyerem was indeed a child, but he ran errands for his mother like an adult. But it made Ikepuru Ezeonyekwelu very unhappy when he saw Nonyerem's mother, Ugonwa, sending him on errands beyond his ability, because a person should not sell his father's land just because he has a beautiful girlfriend. Ugonwa tried to train Nonyerem as though one child were better than seven, because you don't ask the herbalist what he ate in another town, but rather what he brought back with him to his own town. One Eke day, Ezeonyekwelu called Ugonwa and told her that four people were coming to work to plant yams for them in the Onyemarakaodiya farmland. Ugonwa hemmed and hawed, but didn't know what to say, because she didn't want to go and work with them. So she told Ezeonyekwelu that she had a fever, because she wanted to use that morning to collect some things to fill up her bag. She then took her large leather bag and went at daybreak to do some grinding at Onyeanisi. When she returned, she cooked some ntucha and elele [bean meal dish], took them to market to sell them, then returned quickly before Ezeonyekwelu got back from the farm. She then called Nonyerem, gave him plantain and elele to eat and added some fish, then begged him please not to tell Ezeonyekwelu that

she had gone to the market. Nonyerem nodded, took the food from her and ate. Ugonwa knew very well that Nonyerem was like the small bird who told tales. So she watched him carefully so he wouldn't blurt out what she had told him not to say. When Ezeonyekwelu and those who had gone to work for him entered the house, Nonyere went running to welcome them. They greeted him. He then gave a little smile, but he remembered that his smile was always giving him away. Ugonwa then called him very loudly because the fart that gets a person into trouble stays around his buttocks and when the person turns around it cries ''tuum.'' Nonyerem answered and went running to her. When he arrived, he asked his mother if she heard him tell his father that she had gone to Orie. Ezeonyekwelu then entered the obi [father's private house], gnashing his teeth. Ugonwa told him [Nonyerem] to come inside. He then shouted, ''Mother, I didn't tell my father that you went to Orie.'' Ugonwa went and warned him and told him to hold his tongue. He then went and sat down. While he was watching, he saw his father and said, ''Father, did I tell you that my mother went to Orie?'' Ezeonyekwelu then asked him if his mother had gone to Orie. He replied that he wouldn't say that his mother had gone to Orie. Ugonwa got scared and told Ezeonyekwelu to go and take his bath, because she knew very well that if you were cooking food and kept increasing the fire, the food would burn.
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Ezeonyekwelu then said that you did not beat a child on the day he spilled the oil, but rather on the day he spilled the dregs, and one who used the cloth to wash his body knew himself. [Spilling the oil the first time would have been an accident, but the second spilling called for punishment.] One day, Nonyerem came out, called his father, and told him that he wanted to be initiated into a masquerade, that his friend Ejike had been initiated into his. His father Ezeonyekwelu agreed, and said that since those he had gone with to shoot rats were now shooting lizards, he should shoot lizards and leave rats alone. They all laughed. His father then told him to go and sweep the obi for him so he could go and warm himself by the fire. Nonyerem ran to get a broom and swept the house, then returned to his father. Ezeonyekwelu then got a new slingshot he had bought and gave it to him. He laughed, jumped up, thanked his father and ran to show his mother. His mother shouted for joy, and told him that he should use it to shoot birds that they could use to make soup. Nonyerem agreed. Ugonwa asked him if he had thanked his father and he nodded to her. His mother promised him that she would buy him some shorts when she went to market. He nodded, then picked up the slingshot and went out, filled with happiness because they had done what parents were supposed to do for their children, and if

okpoti [large lizards] did not behave like lizards, children would
roast and eat them in both the dry season and the rainy season.
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Nonyerem was slowly acting like an adult -- hearing but not agreeing [negativity] was gradually entering his head. One day, he invited his friends Obiekwe, Opolo, and Okoro, and they went into the bush to hunt for bushrats. They dragged along a pot with palm fruit fiber and fire in it, which made it smoke a lot, because when vulture-eaters meet together, the basket [of vulture meat] is brought down. [Vultureeating is not to be taken literally here. Refers to really getting down to business.] When they reached Owereoji forest, they tied up their pants well, then decided that Opolo and Okoro would beat the bushrats in the bush and Nonyerem and Obiekwe would wait in a certain place so that if one bushrat ran out fast, they would beat it to death. They all agreed, and entered the bush, because the elders say that if you plan together to go hunting you will kill a wellknown animal, but if you just stand and shoot you will misfire. Opolo and Okoro took short sticks and shouted "rat, rat," then beat the sticks in the bush as they went along. Nonyerem and Obiekwe held on to their own sticks, thinking that if an animal runs badly, the hunter shoots it badly. They then beat their sticks "gbam, gbam," and one bush-rat dashed out without looking back. They chased it immediately, because when a bird learns how to avoid perching on a tree, the hunter learns to shoot without aiming. Opolo ran speedily to beat the bushrat on the head, and its body fell to the ground. They all then rejoiced, jumped up and shook hands, saying that they had caught it with their own hands.
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The place where a child has found something good to eat is where he goes to fetch firewood every day, so they turned back to see if they could kill another bushrat there. Before long, Obiekwe discovered a rabbit-hole, called the others, and told them that a bat had jumped in the land of the blacks. They gathered round and tried to dig into the rabbit-hole, but Nonyerem told them that they should look for the exit of the burrow. So they looked for it and found it. Obiekwe took a hoe and dug a clear space at the burrow so he could set down the smokepot and start to dig into the burrow. But he saw a small palm kernel and a shell in the burrow. He then inserted one finger so he could get them out and a nasty scorpion stung him. He shouted, ''Ewo!'' They asked him what had happened to cause his shout, and he deceived them by telling them that he had barely touched the rabbit's tail but his fingers could not reach it, for a humpback had come upon the tortoise. [Describes a feeling of embarrassment.] Nonyerem came quickly and inserted his hand to grab the rabbit's tail; the scorpion then stung him and he let out a cry of alarm. Obiekwe fell down laughing, grasped his finger and said he didn't want to be the only one stung by the scorpion. Nonyerem then ran off yelling. The others took the bushrat they had killed and went home to roast and share it. But they blamed Obiekwe because one should not, just because the apple said that it was not the only one who gave birth to a child whose mouth was broken open, use that as an excuse to go and do what the elders call an abomination.

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The Igbo say that if you offer a sacrifice and don't see vultures, you know that something big has happened in the land of the spirits. So, Obiekwe had exposed the smell of the ogiri [castor seed spice] and then told the blue-bottle flies to come around. [He had asked for trouble.] Ugonwa then took her sister Ogugua, and Nonyerem, who was the eyeball that owed a debt to blindness [description of an only child], and went to Obiekwe's house. Obiekwe's mother, Oduenyi, was not at home, but his father, Ogbuefi Ezennaya, was there, grinding snuff. Ugonwa entered and called his name. He cleared his throat, ground his teeth ''takurum takurum,'' and came out, greeted them, and gave them seats. They sat down on a plank. He went to bring them kola nut, but they told him that they would not eat it because their errand was not a pleasant one. He went and sat down on his leather mat and asked them why their errand was not pleasant. Ugonwa told him that a person whose house is on fire should not go chasing after rats. Ezennaya told her to talk to him, that his ears were itching, because why the dog refused a bone was something difficult to understand. Ugonwa then told him that one need not tell the nose that it and the mouth were brothers, but that what Obiekwe did dried up the pot of tears [had gone too far]. She then began to relate to him how Obiekwe had caused a scorpion to sting her only child. She also said that the one who punched a child on the head with his fist told him to go home and tell his mother.

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Ezennaya shouted that Obiekwe had done something wicked, and that one who is being treated for hydrocele and develops a swollen stomach will be carried into the forest and left there, with the falling rain and the darkness. Ugonwa addressed Ezennaya directly and he replied. She told him that she would not ask a young woman where she had sprouted breasts, but rather would tell her that the soup in the pot should not become sour. Let him look at her only son, Nonyerem, to know what he would do about it, so there would be no telling of false stories. But if death should take him, what the eye saw that caused it to bleed [describes the unthinkable] would happen, because one does not become rich with only small bits of feces in the buttocks. This baffled Ezennaya, because something unexpected can be too much for a strong man. Ugonwa then left Nonyerem with him [Ezennaya] and went home, saying that they had planted yams expecting results, because the avoidance of murder can look like cowardice. Obiekwe had already gone to Ekwuofu's house, but he did not tell his mother or his father. Ezennaya then took Nonyerem and started out for Ekwuofu's house, saying that rather than someone else's dog killing his [Ezennaya's] own dog, let his dog kill the other person's dog and he [Ezennaya] will pay the cost; that he did not know that it is bad soup that draws [too soon] while it is cooking. Ezennaya carried a large yam that he had tied up to take to Ekwuofu, because it had been a long time since fish and water had been together, because one who has many children has a lot

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of illnesses. [Ezennaya had not seen Ekwuofu in a long time, since he had a lot of family responsibilities.] He then entered Ekwuofu's house and called out his praise name. Ekwuofu greeted him. Then he told Ekwuofu that Ihekora, a mad person, said that the reason people said that she talked too much was that when she wanted to say one thing, another entered her mouth. Ekwuofu took a look at Nonyere, shouted, and said that the wine-tapper had almost broken his wine-pot. [Indicates that this was something serious.]

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3
********************** What the Diviner Said **********************
Ekwuofu nodded and said he would prepare effective medicine for him, that he was not in such bad condition as some who had been in great pain, yet he had completely cured them. Ezennaya laughed and told him to proceed, but was uneasy because it was only a dead person that a diviner would admit that he couldn't cure. A diviner doesn't admit that his medicine is powerless until he sees the corpse. Ekwuofu went to a corner of his house, gathered medicinal grass, and dug up a root. He pounded the root and rubbed it all over his [Nonyerem's] body, mashed up a tree leaf he had plucked, fed it to him and he drank. He took a knife, cut into the place where the scorpion had stung him, and black, sticky blood ran out. Nonyerem gasped. Ekwuofu said that he was back to normal, that 'the chicken said that except only for a nice egg, life would have been perfect'. He took an antidote and rubbed it on that place,
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and then told him to sit quietly because he was perspiring and exhausted. Ekwuofu scooped up water, washed his hands; he gave some to Ezennaya, and he washed his. They sat down, Ekwuofu put his hand into the kola nut bowl, took chalk and threw it to the floor [part of hospitality ritual], also rubbed it on both of his eyebrows before giving some to Ezennaya, who threw it down. He put his hand in his leather bag and pulled out two white kola nuts, put them in the kola nut bowl, took some alligator pepper and sprinkled it on, then gave it to Ezennaya. Ezennaya took it, thanked him, and returned it to him, telling him that the chief's kola was in the chief's hands. Ekwuofu told him to take one and put it in his bag, because when kola nut reaches home it tells who presented it. Ezennaya thanked him, took one and put it in his bag, then returned the bowl to him and told him that the diviner who did the divination would perform the sacrifice. He then took it, ground it between his molars "crunch crunch," lifted the kola nut and said, "May this morning bring good things." Then he turned back and asked him, "Just because an ant is in the palm wine, does one leave the bottom part of the wine for it to drink?" Ezennaya replied that the beauty of the cup is in the hands of the potter. Ekwuofu then blessed the kola, saying that good things, health, food, and long life were what everyone desired. Let a person who gets married have many children, but the ram says that no one should perform divination for growth, rather everyone should

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perform divination for life, because one who is alive is going to grow. [Cf. While there's life there's hope.] Ezennaya agreed with him, saying "Amen." Ekwuofu said that rain did not fall without the land knowing, therefore what brought kola nut also brought its blessing, because you can't bypass the thumb and still snap your little finger. Ezennaya agreed, saying that whatever brought on a sore on the leg can make it return, that the thing whose proper time has come is not considered stealing. [e.g., climbing trees to pluck fruit prematurely is labeled greed, whereas gathering ripe fruit that has fallen to the ground in abundance is not pilfering.] Ekwuofu said, "Creator of the sky, the earth, the moon and the sun, see the kola and bless it for us, because we are children who sit and wait for food to be brought and eaten, and if someone says he will not eat, let him gather palm kernels to eat and let him go and see what the mouth of a dead person is like." Ezennaya said, "That's how things happen." Ekwuofu said, "Lord God, don't allow evil spirits and evil men to bring disaster on us. We say that if one prepares bad medicine, let him be the one to feel its effect. One who brought the large basket should carry it, one who brought the smaller basket should carry it, and what a person does not know will not know him. We swear innocence against evil spirits and evil men." Ezennaya said, "Amen." Ekwuofu said that his father,

Iheonyemetara, said that his friend, Okoye Ugokwe, on the day

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the pig was at the base of the breadfruit tree, blessed the kola during the year of the grasshopper and said, "What he said he would not do to someone else, let that thing not happen to him." They both laughed heartily. [This puzzling reference to the pig might possibly describe a nickname or some inside joke about Okoye.] Ezennaya wiped his tears and told Ekwuofu that he had a good memory. Ekwuofu told him that he well knew that the poor person always took his father to market, because when the poor person saw something he wanted to buy but didn't have the money, he shouted very loudly, bit his finger and said, "O-ofather!" They both broke out laughing again, and the tears on their noses ran streaming down their faces. Ekwuofu then said, "Ancestors great and small, come to the meeting, kola has come. Our father Atii come and chew kola. God the Creator, come and chew kola. Oyara, come and take kola and chew it. Ikedioji, come and chew kola. Dunu, who sired many children, come and bless kola for your children. Nwokoro Arinze, come and chew kola. Iheoma and Mba and Enuaku, come to the meeting. Spirits both named and nameless, come and chew kola." Ezennaya told him that if a son of the soil was selected [from a group] for scarification, the others would be rubbed with charcoal. Ekwuofu laughed and told him that if a child were not treated the same as his peers, he would be jealous, because all the vultures
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were nearby, and all people are human. And if you stand up to dig yams, you still have to squat down to look for its tongue. [The small protrusion at the bottom of a yam is called its "tongue."] Ezennaya answered that he had spoken truly, but that if you started to scratch an itch as much as it took to feel good, your body would be bruised, because his ancestor said that if you started to eat as much as you liked, you would harden your stomach [through constipation]. Ekwuofu told him that one should not stay in the forest too long, because when one had accomplished the purpose for which he came, he should take his basket and go home. He then broke open the kola nut, took the tongue of the kola, threw it out into the compound, and told the spirits and the ancestors great and small to come and eat their share. He took a lobe of kola nut and ate, took alligator pepper and ate, then gave some to Ezennaya who then ate also, took alligator pepper and ate, cleared his throat, and thanked Ekwuofu, "Thanks for the kola." He acknowledged his thanks, took the parts of the kola that remained on the platter, and set it on a ledge of the wall of the house. Ezennaya put his hand into his waistcloth, brought out his snuff box, and tapped it with his fingertip seven times. Ekwuofu looked at him and told him to wait, that he would give him some snuff, that it was said that a fool did not know that his brother was a guest.
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He then put his hand into his leather bag and brought out his snuff box which was covered with smoke residue, opened it, took some snuff out, put it into his left hand, and gave it [the box] to Ezennaya. Ezennaya took it, removed some snuff, returned the box to him, and thanked him. Then they both sat down, taking snuff and telling stories of the elders, because when vulture-eaters meet together, the basket is brought down. Afterward, Ezennaya told him that he had not asked him how water entered the pumpkin stem, because the toad does not run out in the afternoon for nothing. Ekwuofu cleared his throat and told him that sleep did not spoil the eyes, that divination does not come to an end, that Ichekoku, the spirit, does not run away. Truly, when a child eats what he is staying awake for, he goes to sleep. Therefore, Ekwuofu asked him why the cocoyam became lumpy. Ezennaya then told him how he had been in his house when Nonyerem's mother, Ugonwa, brought him in and related all the details that were on her mind, then left Nonyerem with him and told him that the pot should not be broken. [Warning that he should do his duty by the child.] Ekwuofu replied that a short time ago Obiekwe had come and told him that a scorpion had stung him, that he had then applied some medicine to the spot and that he [Obiekwe] had gathered his strength and had gone home crying. The whole time they were saying all these things, Nonyerem was defecating and urinating and crying in the compound under an

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orange tree, and he felt as though he wanted to chew palm nut and drink water. After he cried out three times strangely and then stopped, they looked at him and felt their hot urine [out of fear], and their hearts pounding "kpum kpum." They went over and looked at him and he slumped over like a sack. They lifted him up, his arms hanging limp and his eyes changing in appearance. Ekwuofu then told him that he should take him home, or else take him to the house of Enweani. [First mention of Enweani-perhaps a very strong diviner.] He began to tremble, because if you do not actually confront a diviner with a child's corpse, he does not agree that his medicine is exhausted. Ezennaya then put his hands together on his head, staring out fixedly, perspiring freely. He took seven deep breaths and then said that the matter had broken down [gotten out of hand]. Tears came to Ezennaya's eyes like 'Nwole [a bird] that perched and kept on crying. They thought about what to do, but could not think of anything. Ezennaya then took his cloth and put it on, put his straw hat on his head, took his staff, and waddled off for the house of Okafor Ojionweya so he could perform divination to find out why the child was fainting and what he should do so that the child could avoid the hand of death. While he was going along the road, he greeted no one, man or woman. There was not one single person he encountered on the road whom he looked at directly, because the thing that killed the female goat did not allow her child to open its eyes.
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Okafor was tapping wine in the compound when Ezennaya entered his house, but Ezennaya whistled to him and told him to hurry because a person was about to die. Okafor agreed, but told him to take a seat in the house while he climbed down, because no one else was at home and the elders said that what a pregnant woman craved was also craved by the one who impregnated her. Soon Okafo came down, said that if the small pot was neglected it would extinguish the fire, then, causing laughter, he entered and called Ezennaya by his praise name. He answered him like someone who answers from a deep hole. Okafor asked him how the head was carrying the basket. [Idiomatic expression meaning "how are things going?"] Ezennaya told him that the thing that ate the food was seeking to eat up the soup. Okafor put down the climbing-rope, the knife that he used for tapping wine and the wine ladder, and then asked him why his trip was not for a good purpose. Ezennaya then started to tell him what happened, and how his son had drawn out the tunnel demon so he could shoot it, but the worst of all was that Nonyerem was dying from it. Okafor shouted and said that the devil had hung himself from the fireplace shelf. He asked if he wanted him to do divination for him or if he wanted him to give him medicine. Ezennaya told him to do divination for him first, because one who doesn't know where the rain began to beat down on him will not know where his body gets dry. He told him to do a divination for him and tell him why the misfortune had occurred and what he should do so that Nonyerem would not yield to death.
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Okafor Ojionweya then cleared his throat, ground his teeth and went and brought down his divination bag and set it on the ground, brought out his Ikenga [image of a household god] and set it down, took his leather mat and spread it out, brought down his wine-gourd and kola nut platter and set them down, then sat down on his leather mat. He then poured out a cup of wine and scattered some around for his deity to drink, broke kola, took the tongue of the kola and placed it on hisIkenga and told them that he had come, that they knew what they had tied up and they should release it, because when wine saw someone it recognized, it was an honor. Okafor then gathered up his divination objects and cast them out, took some chalk and threw it out, and rubbed some on his eyebrows. He took his ofo [staff of authority] and struck it on the ground, picked up his bells and scattered them, then picked up his string of divination items and cast it on the ground, shouting, "okalatulo, Otulo mgbakwu'' [like abracadabra?], picked up the string and cast it out, picked it up again and cast it out three times, took the ofo and struck it on the ground, and then said something not understood by the people who were there. Everyone stared, watching like sheep. After he had finished divining, he told Ezennaya the place the children had gone when the scorpion stung Nonyerem. He also told him what happened, and how Nonyerem's mother had gone to his house. Ezennaya was nodding his head. He told him that the cause of the scorpion's stinging Nonyerem was the ancestor Oriudele, because Nonyerem's grandfather had gone and kidnapped Oriudele's eldest son and sold him out. So he
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continued to be humiliated, as his descendants did not want to perform the cleansing rites to completely clear all the abominations they had committed together and brought upon on the children's children who had been affected. Okafor told him that he who had eaten the food was wanting to completely lick up the pot of soup. [The bad spirit was still unsatisfied.] Ezennaya then told him that he did not know the one who died and whose funeral was causing an uproar, but that all he wanted to know was what he should do so that the pot that was coming apart should not break in his hands. [He did not want to be responsible for the boy's death.] Okafor then resumed his divination. After he had finished he told Ezennaya that the agwu spirit was very angry, but that he had pleaded mightily with him, and the agwu had then agreed that Ezennaya should bring him one white ram, a white cock, a small hen, a piece of abada [printed cloth], three dried fish, a pot of ngu [palm oil sauce], peeled cassava, three pots of wine, and six yams. Ezennaya asked him if that was all, and he said yes. He then told Okafor that he would go and gather all those things, because when a diviner who performs a divination is going to offer a sacrifice, he knows how the divination and the sacrifice should be done. Ezennaya then went and assembled all the things that had been divined for him, because if a snake falls kparakpataa [onomatopoeic sound], he is killed kparakpataa. He then called
26

his relatives and neighbors and took the things to the obi of the Ogwugwu priest, because the snake that one person kills changes into a python. [Exaggeration results when there are no witnesses.] When Ezeonyekwelu heard how night wanted to fall in the afternoon [disaster], he wasted no time, because his child was an only child. He himself felt pain like hot pepper, because if you shoot once and strike a tree trunk, shoot a second time and strike a tree trunk, it is as though the arrow had been carved for that very tree trunk. The Ogwugwu chief had already struck the gong of the Ogwugwu and the elders were coming. When one of them came out he would shout out to the next one and tell him that he should get started. As each one came out, he put on his goatskin bag, gathered up his shoulder cloth and folded it over his shoulder, took his staff in hand and came along grinding his teeth. Several of them, being very poor, went on the errand to Ogwugwu wearing only a loincloth. And those who had no wealth, not even dog meat, just came out and watched and their mouths would water, because when there is a feast with plenty of meat in the shrine of a spirit, even the free-born citizen becomes a slave. [Shrine slaves are in a superior position in such a situation because they are in charge of all the meat offerings to the spirits.] Onwuana, the Ogwugwu priest, then went and took down the Ikenga and okpesi [household gods] that were in Ogwugwu's house, before he carried out Ogwugwu and his daughter, and started to hang them in the spirit's shrine, then took his shoulder cloth and went all around the spirit's shrine.
27

Nwaoka

then

picked

up

the used

drumsticks to

and

struck

the ufie [musical

instrument

announce

meetings].

Chinweuba, like the fly that saw a pile of feces and then went unbidden to do an errand, picked up the rattle and started to shake it. The young men there came out and started to dance to the drumbeat. The musicians were playing music that sounded like "ugbogulu so nsi, ugbogulu so nsi." Onwuana then took kola and went to bless it in the spirit's shrine, took chalk and rubbed it on his eyebrows, then came out and brought wine, poured one cup and sprinkled it out for the spirit, and told him that Ezennaya had brought these things to thank him, and ask what he could do for him because a bad rat had entered the palm tree and began to change to a brown color. When Onwuana came out, he told Ezennaya that Ogwugwu had accepted the things. Ogwugwu's messenger then dragged out the ram, and the priest took a knife and spread its blood around the spirit's shrine. They took a knife and began to peel yams, others cut dry palm branches and led out a goat, but the ram was the one they skinned. They then began to cook food in the spirit's house. Some women brought a mortar and began to prepare dried cassava flakes, and took two dried fish, so that people could take it and eat cassava with sauce. Onwuana went and took down a keg of wine, splashed it around a couple of places, "yakwuru, yakwuru, yakwuru," then poured a
28

cup of wine and splashed it on top of the shrine, poured his own and drank it, before telling each person to bring out his cup so that some could be poured out for him. They all quickly put their hands [into their bags] and brought out cups, poured wine and drank, then waited for the items on the fire to be cooked, because hunger that expects to be satisfied does not starve a person to death. Agummadu ["leopard man," a praise name] Ogbayaka put his flute to his mouth and blew it loudly so the vultures would descend. Not long afterward, more than thirty vultures came fluttering down. Soon there were vultures swarming everywhere, because if you make an animal sacrifice and you don't see vultures, you know that something big has happened in spirit land. Ezennaya then had completed everything that Okafor had divined for him, and he was pleased. He then left, because he said that there was nothing preventing the dog's death, that he had done his part, that one who uses his eyes to kill also uses his eyes to share [the results of the kill].

29

4
********************************
What the Flute Has Blown Has Broken

********************************
If someone is told a secret and is greatly excited about it, what about the thief [the subject of the secret]--has he agreed [to the accusation]? Ezennaya had not yet reached Onyeanisi when a man called out his name and told him to wait. Ezennaya waited. Kuja approached him and told him that Nonyerem had been taken to Okanu's house so Okanu could provide treatment for his head. Ezennaya thrust out his tongue, raised the palms of his hands and said, "God witness for me." They then started off for Okanu's house. But Ezennaya stubbed his left foot on a rock and pulled off the nail on his little toe. Ezennaya shouted that something bad was in store for him, that things had gone bad, because when a lump appears in a young woman's breast it is not a trifling matter. Okeke Mmoro told him that the Lord would not allow that to happen, because you don't poke your nose with the same thing you use to poke your ear.
30

Ezennaya replied that if he [Okeke] told him to come and look at an elephant, he would say look at the elephant's footprints on the ground. If his friend scratched a bump, he would scratch it into scabies. [There was no time to waste.] Okeke then entered the bush, gathered leaves of the ulanjina [a kind of shrub], rubbed them between his hands, and pressed the liquid on the place where Ezennaya had stubbed his foot. That hurt him, he cried out, and Okeke expressed sympathy. He thanked him. Ezennaya went to a sand hill, gathered some sand, and spread it on the place where he had stubbed his foot, then began his journey. Okeke told him that it was all right for the mouth to touch the ground but it need not be closed forever. Ezennaya gnashed his teeth and said that an unlucky person should not strike his wife on the head, that would cause a swollen foot. [Bad luck would double.] And the elders say that when the wind blows you can see the chicken's bottom, and because of it we can differentiate between sweat and tears. Ekwuigbo stood by the road, took a stick, and was cleaning his teeth while watching his three sheep enter the bush chewing iroko tree bark. He called to Ezennaya and asked if everything was all right, since they were proceeding in such a hurry. Ezennaya told him that if a person is fat only in his legs it is not good fat, because the toad does not run in the afternoon for nothing. [refers to impossibility--something must be going on.] Ekwuigbo asked him what happened. He replied that he should go with him to see, because if a woman relates every little thing
31

to her husband about her daily activities, when her husband goes out, too much salt has been added to the stew pot on the hearth fire. [No time to go into detail.] Ekwuigbo then told him that he would follow behind him, because if you stare at the face of a corpse you will not eat anything. And he would not because of "hurry hurry'' [sudden event] unwrap his cloth and throw it into the bush. When Ezennaya and Okeke Mmoro and Kuja reached Okanu's house, Okanu rubbed his [Ezennaya's] leg and drew out a clot of blood that was black as dirt. But the gourd cup he used for the rubbing was on his head. Ezennaya took Okeke Mmoro and they went to Akueche's house so he could tell them what else the divination had said, but Ekwuofu and Kuja and others in the group stayed in Okanu's house. Akueche was twisting the rope [made from stalks of palm leaves] he was going to use to tie up the new obi in his compound. They knocked, he told them to enter and they did; he gave them seats and they sat down. He went to his leather bag and brought out kola and examined it, found the kola infested with insects, split it open and threw the lobes to the ground. He put his hand in and brought out another one, it too was infested; he hissed in disgust and threw it out. He then went to the shelf above the fireplace and brought down a head of kola nuts, took a knife and split it open and took out one nut and put it on a platter, got three pieces of pepper, placed

32

them around it, took chalk and made chalk marks, then called them and presented them with kola. They accepted the chalk, thanked him, and returned the kola to him, telling him that the chief's kola was in the chief's hands, and also told him to recognize that the head pad was uncomfortable on the head of the spirits and the toad did not run in the afternoon for nothing. [indicating that something was brewing.] He responded and said that "lead me out'' was wonderful, that anyone who headed home would surely arrive there, and it was good if a person gave his child the same thing he gave his brother. They agreed. He then began to bless the kola, although Ezennaya felt uneasy because a person whose house is on fire does not go hunting for rats. [He was anxious to get on with the matter.] After he had blessed it, he split it and spread it on the kola dish, so the spirits could chew the tongue of the kola. Akueche took his own and ate it, gave some to Ezennaya and Okeke Mmoro and they took it, ate and thanked him saying, "Thank you for the kola." He thanked them and told them to eat what was keeping them awake so that they could sleep. Ezennaya told him that they had come for divination, so he went and brought out his divination equipment and began to do the divining. After he had finished, he told them that they should go and dig up Nonyerem's talisman at the base of the silk-cotton tree in the Ichekoku village square. They thanked him and asked him if there was anything else. He replied that that was all, and that if they did what he told them, the thing that was gripping
33

the child so hard would leave him. They then thanked him and gave him some money, some cowrie shells, and a head of kola nuts. He took them and thanked them, they thanked him and left. Ezennaya said that the one who carries the load is the one who bears the burden. They then started off for the house of Okafor Ndakubu so he could come and dig up Nonyere's talisman. By then the chickens were going to sleep [it was early evening]. Ndakubu was grinding snuff when they reached his house. They waited until he finished grinding the snuff; he took a pinch of it himself, gave it to them, and they took some. Ezennaya told him that a certain mad man said that the way people knew he was mad was that he wanted to say one thing and another thing came out of his mouth. Ndakubu told him that human beings go through a lot [of troubles]. They all then went to Okanu's house and picked up Nonyerem and went to Ichekoku. Ezennaya went to Osota's house and bought a white cock, killed it, and went to the place where they were going to dig up the talisman. Ndakubu looked for the place he had buried the talisman, took the chicken and spread its blood there, then took the chicken's body and set it down on an oil bean tree that had been cut down. Ndakubu then mumbled some secret words, but the people did not understand what he said. He took something he had tied up in antelope skin, threw it out on the ground and picked it up three times. He then put his hand into his bag and gathered some dried leaves he had put inside of it and chewed them, coughed and rubbed his eyes, took chalk and rubbed it on his eyes, then began to dig up the talisman.
34

He had dug to about the height of a man's knees, but the palm kernel had not struck the swallow [he had no success]. And night had fallen, the moon was shining but the moonlight was not sufficient. Ezennaya then went and lit up an urimmu [local lantern similar to a candle]. At times, as Ndakubu dug, he took the thing he had removed from the antelope skin and rubbed it on the hole he was digging, so he could find out where the talisman was. Soon, they heard something like the sound of a bell; they stood still and listened and it seemed to them like a gong sounding. Then, Nduru came out and struck the gong and said that everyone, great and small, should go to work in the Dunu village square early the next morning, and anyone who did not come would have to give the people of the town one gallon of wine. Not long afterward, Ndakubu dug out something that had been tied up. He took it and opened it up. Then everyone shouted, and they saw something that shone like silver, and a ring, and necklaces, and waistbeads woven out of cotton. Ndakubu grasped another chicken and spread its blood on the opening, placed the chicken near it and then closed up the opening. Everyone thanked him, and called him "a man of his word." He then took the body of one chicken, gave Ezennaya what he had dug up as the talisman, and told him to take the other chicken and go home and cook it and that only Nonyerem should eat it.

35

Ezennaya took the thing that he dug up, took three cowry shells and gave them to Ndakubu, then took Nonyerem and gathered up his hoe and his knife, and they all went home. When they returned to Ezennaya's house, no one was able to sleep because Nonyere's fever went high and low, and he was babbling. Crowds of people then filled his house. His mother and father could not even sit down. They were rubbing him with pomade, palm kernel ointment, and oil from palm nuts. At the first cockcrow, Nonyerem was gasping for breath. Everyone was concerned, because Ezennaya had not relaxed his efforts for a minute, yet Nonyerem was hanging on to life to the point that death would have been better. Before the second cockcrow, Nonyerem's mother cradled him, wiping away the foam that was coming out of his mouth, but his eyes were closing. Everyone was crying. Nonyerem then called to his mother and father and they came to him. He bade them goodbye. And when he had finished speaking, his hands drooped down and he died. Commotion broke out everywhere. At that time, it was slowly getting dark; all the people came together and threw themselves to the ground. What bothered them was not only that a person had died, but that something ongoing had come to an end, and night had fallen in the afternoon.

36

Now, whatever had eaten the food had also licked up the soup. Nonyerem's mother was crying and she did not want people to comfort her. She said that a poor person lives a long time but he is beset by a lot of trouble.

37

5
*************************************
The Basket has Overturned on the Trickster

*************************************
As crowds were entering Ezennaya's house, people were also crowding into the house of Ezeonyekwelu Ikepuru, Nonyerem's father. Many people were comforting him and told him to be patient, that Ezennaya would surely marry another wife for him. [Remember that Ugonwa suffered from loss of babies at birth.] Others were telling him that Ezennaya and his son had done something that could make a person disappear so that no one would ever see him again. But some tricksters went and told him to take revenge, because the chicken does not look for food in the goat's stomach. [That being an impossibility, they were implying that there was something "fishy" in the situation -- perhaps Obiekwe had done something to Nonyerem on purpose.] Others told him not to carry his son's corpse.

38

These things bewildered Ikepuru. He then sighed, shrugged his shoulders and said that he would not live to let his eyes see his ears [to endure any more catastrophes]. And he would not be huge like an elephant, yet eating only an ant's portion, because the Agbaja person says that if a tribe is dying out and giving birth only to females, and its residents keep on dying violent deaths, that is what the elders call a dried-up land. He then entered the house, picked up a rope and tied it inside his loincloth, opened the back door and went out. No one paid attention to where he was going. While he was going along the road, the people he met beat their chests in grief for him, expressed their condolences, and he thanked them. But his demeanor gave no clue as to his intentions. Ikepuru then followed the road as far as Umudiani, crossed the Ozowata River, and came out into the Mgbugbo grassland, but he didn't see what he was looking for. He then went to the Ozowata forest and entered it, and climbed a stout tree. His mind was not clear because his heart was too burdened. His body was trembling and shaking. When he saw that the tree would not hold his weight, he climbed down, looked around, and went to another tree with ripe fruit hanging from it. All the earth of the forest was soft because the leaves of the tree had fallen all around there. He dragged himself over to it, climbed the tree immediately, tied the rope around a branch of the tree, and tied a noose where he would put in his head.
39

Now he was confused, he bit his lips and tried to put his head into the rope and then hang from it. Then a loud cry sounded. Ezeonyekwelu looked but couldn't see what was making the noise. He decided that the spirits were shouting, so he tried again to put his head into the rope, but the cry sounded again. Ezeonyekwelu looked all around, but saw no one. He then snapped his fingers [to ward off bad luck]. He did not know that a person with swollen stomach had been placed under that tree. That person's stomach was as large as a big water pot, and his relatives had carried him out into the forest so he could die there and his corpse would be taken by vultures. When the person with the swollen stomach saw that

Ezeonyekwelu was trying to hang himself, and if the rope should snap he would fall on top of him, he shouted, "Look at me alive here, please don't fall on me and kill me." Also, he saw that if Ezeonyekwelu hung himself and then died, his weight would fall on his body. Again, if the vultures smelled the hanging body and came close, they would start to fight over him and then pierce his stomach. As Ezeonyekwelu looked around at the base of the tree and saw the person who had been placed on the ground, his stomach shiny with distension, something dawned on him. He then beat his chest and realized that it was through ignorance that he had tried to throw his life away, when people with swollen stomachs were longing to live. His body trembled, his fear left him, and he leaped to the ground and ran without looking back.
40

The story of what he saw and heard is unbelievable. But the person with the swollen stomach laughed at him and called him crazy, because he quoted the proverb saying that if the day is not going well, a he-goat chases his mother. [Chasing the mother will not help the situation.] Ezeonyekwelu returned to his house, and sent a message telling Ezennaya to bring him Nonyerem's body. Ezennaya did as he was told. Ezeonyekwelu lifted his face to the sky and cried out that the Lord in heaven had abandoned him. Tears were dripping from his eyes. Everyone cried out as much as he could, then went and sat down, looking around in the compound. Ezeonyekwelu said that gunpowder should be bought for him at Ejemnu's house. Some people went and collected four bottles of gunpowder, a land gun, and a poker [to set off the firing of the gun]. He told the young men to pound the land gun seventeen times with the poker, so Agumadu Ogbayaka could set them off, because on the day a person mourned for his peer he mourned for himself. But his own problem was that water coming from the head of the stream had gone bad. [Refers to loss of his only child.] The land gun and poker then were sounding ''tawuum, tawuum, tawuu gbiim-m.'' Nonyerem was ''fat and blood'' [like an immature fetus] -- he had not grown up enough to buckle on a warrior's shield. Those in his group were not yet old enough to have an age-group in the town of Alaoke.

41

When the sun had reached midday and the shadows were long, the young men went and cut down the things they needed to weave a mat of raffia. When they finished weaving it they placed it beside the house, and sent out six people to go and dig the grave in the place where the Alaoke people buried their dead. Jideofo then got up, rubbed the sand from his bottom, and called together their friends and family and told them that the time had come for them to go and bury the body, because someone had definitely died. They all agreed, and called Ezeonyekwelu and informed him, and he told them to do what they had to do. They then brought the raffia mat, shooed away all the women who were sitting by the body, took the body and put it in the raffia mat. Nonyerem's mother, Ugonwa, went and collected waist beads, necklaces, leg rings, Igala beads, finger rings, and ivory beads, and cast them on Nonyerem on the raffia mat, telling him to take them away with him, because night had fallen in the afternoon [disaster had struck] and everything beautiful in her life was gone. His father, Ezeonyekwelu, beat his chest, cried manly tears, went into the house, brought out some cowries that he had put in a pot and covered its opening with a torn cloth. Everyone sat there watching him. He lifted the pot and put it on the raffia mat. Some people then tied up the corpse and carried it to the grave they had dug and buried it there. The story of what happened then is unbelievable. Nonyerem's parents comforted each other and said that a person whom the
42

world had denied does not deny himself. [We must carry on even when life has dealt us a heavy blow.] That night, Ezeonyekwelu went and cut down a sacred tree which was in the center of his compound, and carried the images and the sacred staff and the Ikenga [carved ritual figure] and all the things he used to invoke the deities, and burned them in the fire. After burning them, he went out, saying that if the images and the Ikenga had cared about him, they would not have allowed what had happened to him to take place.

43

6
******************************* When Night Conspires, Afternoon Provokes a Quarrel *******************************
The elders said that Anamagbaraokwuoso [a name meaning "I don't want trouble] buried his deceased mother at night, but when day dawned the married daughters of the place asked him where his mother was. Ezeonyekwelu and Ugonwa had done the best they could, just as parents who loved their only child would do. But the elders say that the thing that killed the dog's mother does not allow its children to open their eyes. [A murderer eliminates any possible accusers.] And they had offered sacrifices so that the blame would be on the spirits. Night had fallen quickly and darkness fell like a lump over all the compounds. The insects of the night had finished chirping and were silent. Toads and frogs kept on crying "woo, woo, woo."

44

Bats were also crying "chi chi chi chi chi" from the tops of the iroko trees, while looking for the iroko fruit to eat. Those who work in darkness [thieves] then came out and conferred about how they were going to dig up Nonyerem's body so they could collect the money and the jewelry that Ezeonyekwelu and Ugonwa had put in with it. They all agreed, took a hoe and a knife and a fire gourd which they put into a snail shell and spread palm fiber in it. [The fiber burns and provides candle light.] They met no man or woman on the road until they arrived at the gravesite. The cemetery was fenced in like a farm where white yam has been planted. They then cut some young fronds of oil palm and cut some spear-grass and placed them there, gathered up two small kola nuts and put them nearby, then went and started to exhume the body. Four people were digging up the body, three people were patrolling in order to spot anyone coming, and they did not care that the sun was shining and the thing the cricket killed was seen. [Their heinous behavior was becoming visible.] No one spoke; rather, they just murmured among themselves, because the bat says that it knew how bad the world was, so it made the night into day. They dug open the grave, lifted out the corpse, and placed it on the ground. Then they all conferred, both those that had dug open the grave and those who had stood watch to check for passersby along the road.
45

One of them took a sharp knife and cut open the rope that was tied around the corpse, then loosened the cloth in which it had been wrapped. They worked fast, gathering up the money, the waistbeads, the Igala beads, and all the rest. Then a commotion broke out, and they all turned from the money and all those things, developed dog's legs and ran away. Their hearts all pounded gbim, gbim, gbim. Many of them did not know what had happened, but they knew that there had been too much salt in the soup pot [something had gone awry] and they ran for their lives, like the palm nut joining its peers in producing oil. Those who knew what had happened were running so they could not be identified, and they could not open their mouths to tell the others what caused the cocoyam (ede uri) to go to seed. But they used their tongues to count their teeth, and knew that they had seen something bigger than the strongest man. Just as they were opening the woven mat and were gathering up the money and other things, Nonyerem had turned his body around, raised his head and looked at them, then got up; they all ran away so their faces could not be recognized, so that there would be plenty of mercy on the day of judgment. Nonyerem looked around, feeling dizzy, so he sat down to rest. But when he recognized the place where he was, he looked around and saw all the graves surrounding him. When human thoughts entered his body, his heart pounded "kpum kpum," his body trembled and he was frightened. He rose up quickly and went out to look for their compound and return home, abandoning the money and the other things in his grave.
46

Then he wondered what could have caused him to go there and sit down in the darkness of night. Yet something told him that he had died. But he did not fully realize all these things. They all seemed like a dream to him. Nonyerem did not meet man or woman on the road. But when he reached their house, the door was open, the fire was burning inside, and people filled the house and compound, talking in whispers. Several of them lay on the ground on the mats they had spread out everywhere. Both his parents sat staring vacantly like sheep, exhausted by sorrow. They had wept so much, their brows were swollen, their eyeballs very red. Nonyerem peeked in, and saw that palm fronds and bamboo had been used to make a bench in the compound where people were sitting. He went and stood at the edge of the path to their compound, puzzling over what had happened, but he did not want to call to the people entering the house to question them, because one should not sit on the floor and try to pull something from the ground. One spirit-possessed woman burst into their house, cried aloud and fell to the floor. Some people went to hold on to her, and told her not to mourn, because they did not want Ugonwa to break out in tears. Nonyerem shrugged and said there was no end to sickness for people, so that one who developed hernia would then develop a swollen stomach. Then he thought that his father must have died and went running into the house.
47

Many people stared at him and their hearts turned to water, panic broke out, everyone ran without looking back because they thought it was his spirit that had entered the house. Some people jumped over the wall of the compound and ran away. Others cried out loudly without knowing where they were going. But his parents ran and embraced him and held him tightly, to see if it was really he. After some time, they looked squarely at him and called him by name and he answered. They put their heads together and decided that they could not believe that it was he, because the mango does not sprout oranges. After a while, they called him by name and he answered them. They led him into the house, trembling because their eyes saw what their ears wide open had not heard. Those who had run away then slowly began to return, looking to see if it was Nonyerem risen from the dead or if it was his shadow. His parents then asked him how it was that he rose from the dead. Joy filled their hearts, but he didn't know what to tell them. Ezeonyekwelu then sent out eight people to go and look to see if they could find anything in the grave. They went back and gathered up everything the thieves had run off and abandoned, and told him that the grave was open, and that they had seen a hoe and two knives there. Also that they had seen several human footprints, both small and large. They also said they had seen a piece of snail shell with palm fruit fiber inside, and that the woven mat had been dug up and scattered around the grave. Everyone who heard the story shouted, looked to the sky and said, "God the Creator I thank you!"
48

The story then spread all over the surrounding towns. People went to and fro to Ezeonyekwelu's house, so they could see what their ears had heard. And Ezeonyekwelu and Ugonwa and their kith and kin were very happy, because when the nighttime conspires, the afternoon provokes a quarrel, and they did not ask how the coconut scooped up water and sucked it up. But they said, let the young woman grow breasts wherever she wants, what they knew was that their son had died and was alive again.

49

7
*************************** The Feast of Reincarnation ***************************
After all these things were over, Ezeonyekwelu and Ugonwa doted on Nonyerem and loved the ground he walked on. They took the best care of him, not even allowing his head-pad to fall to the ground. The feast of Reincarnation was approaching. Everyone was rushing around to buy things needed for Reincarnation. Men who were getting married got ready to carry the Reincarnation gifts to their in-laws. Reincarnation was two weeks away. Young men and women went to the forest to gather firewood. When there was one week left, young women went to the stream to collect clay for use in painting the walls of the houses and the compounds, and to fetch water. The young women pulled up cocoyams, decorated themselves with uri [juice of the indigo plant], and bought camwood dye to
50

rub and put it aside, waiting for feast time to arrive, because feasting is no time for skimping. The womenfolk were chattering ''bim bim bim'' in places where fish, shrimp, watermelon seeds, European pepper, fermented oil bean seeds, etc. were sold. The menfolk were going around to places where chickens were sold, to buy cocks to use at Reincarnation. The day had arrived, but there was still one day for a child to eat what was keeping him awake, so he could go to sleep. Ugonwa had scrubbed their whole place to look beautiful, had gathered firewood, fetched water, and bought various items in preparation for the feast, because a war that has already been planned does not engulf the lame person, because the grasshopper that was killed by the hornbill had refused to listen. She then prepared some oil-bean sauce, boiled cassava, and fish, and put it on the fire. They all ate, poured a cup of wine and drank one by one. Ezeonyekwelu then caught the fat cock that he had bought in the market and gave it to Ugonwa. She thanked him and called him "good husband." He then went and spread the chicken's blood on the shrine of his god that stood in front of the kitchen. Nonyerem then took the chicken and stuck its feathers into the path leading to their compound. Then they cooked the chicken whole and placed it on the hearth, waiting for the break of dawn which never seemed to come. There was commotion everywhere because of those who carried the Reincarnation masquerade and those to whom it was carried.
51

But truly, Ezeonyekwelu and Ugonwa did not care a fig for anything, even death and mourning, because the joy over their only child who rose from the grave exceeded that of those who celebrated Reincarnation. It was the women who reincarnated the gods, and the men who reincarnated the spirits. There was no difference between the two, because they said that they were created to kill chickens, goats, rams and cows. But the women killed chickens for the shrines of their gods, and the men spread the blood of the things they bought on the idols and household gods and staffs of justice, because the women did not have household gods and idols. Another thing that was different was that the men carried the masquerades during Reincarnation because the feast belonged to them. Ajikwu of the night and leopard masquerade and the masked one who carried it came out at night, and only male children carried the children's masquerade when the villagers celebrated reincarnation. Ikepuru Ezeonyekwelu had already agreed to give Nonyerem the money he would use for learning masquerading. But not only money is needed to learn masquerading. A person who wants to learn masquerading brings a calabash of fried breadfruit, and cracks hard or soft oil palm kernels that are not very dried out. If the person does not crack the kernels, he brings two or three heads of coconut, like those coconuts that are very large.

52

If someone does not bring a large calabash of breadfruit, or if the breadfruit he brings is not sweet, they take the pod of a certain kind of fruit and mold it so its head is twisted, like someone with a lumpy head. [This is done to tease or shame the person.] A person who wants to learn masquerading also brings three pieces of money, a string of cowries, and a cloth to be used to tie over his eyes when he is learning about the masquerade. Ezeonyekwelu then gave Nonyerem three pieces of money; his mother Ugonwa fried a calabash of breadfruit, cracked a white palm kernel and spread it on the calabash of breadfruit and brought it to him, and got a length of George cloth and gave it to him. [George cloth was printed with images of King George.] Nonyerem thanked them, and that night he went to Ichekoku's compound, where those who wanted to learn about masquerades were going. But he had not yet reached Osisingwere's compound when he met Nnabuife and Chukwuemeka on the road. He told them that he was ready to learn about masquerades, and they invited him to join them in showing their masquerade. Nonyerem followed behind them, but he was apprehensive, because a person who has been stung on the leg by a bee is afraid when he sees a big fly. When they reached Ejiofo's compound, Chukwuemeka left them and went ahead of them so he could pick up the others. Nnabuife and Nonyerem then went to the village square where a large number of people had gathered. A leopard masquerade was growling "wum, wum, wum, wuuu, wuum."

53

Nnabuife then shouted, "Novices are coming, o." The leopard masquerade roared out, "wum, wum, wum, wuum, wuuu." Nnabuife told Nonyerem that those leopard masquerades could bite people to death. Nonyerem was scared, but Nnabuife told him that there was no danger. When Nnabuife shouted again that novices were coming, silence fell everywhere. After Chukwuemeka returned to the village square, the people there accepted from all of those who wanted to learn masquerading the breadfruit they had brought, and took it from them, then also took their money and shared it with everyone, and took their own portions and put them into their bags. They then summoned people who roasted the breadfruit, took their cloths and blindfolded them, then told them to stand in the middle. They all did as they were told. Then they struck them on the head with their fists, one by one, and told them not to make any noise because the leopard masquerade would come and bite them to death. They kept quiet and were patient, because the palm nut that the child longs for does not disagree with his stomach, because it is the one who carries the load on his head who feels the pain. Then the leopard masquerade roared and everyone was terrified. Cold fear filled their bodies, but the masquerade teachers told them not to run away. More than ten masquerades then came out and beat them with switches and they all ran in every direction. Anyone who fell down got right up because he was blindfolded. But they were patient because it was with great patience that the porcupine gave birth to the thorny child in its stomach. They then gathered the novices together and told them to tell all their girlfriends
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8
***************************** Training the Young is a Duty *****************************
When the vulture-eaters gather together, the basket is lowered. [Reference to vulture is idiomatic. The Igbo do not really eat vultures. Lowering the basket means the meal is served. Probably this means that when like-minded people are assembled, critical matters can be introduced.] So what Nonyerem and his agemates discussed when they met in the Dunu village square following the masquerade the previous day was how they should round up their age-group and give them titles, because something done at the proper time is not labeled as greed. There were several age-groups in Alaoke, some with only three people left and some with many hundreds. But the age-group that was the most influential in that town was Ajaba. The leaders were Amaka-ekwu and Otiokpo.

55

Other age-groups in Alaoke were Udele, Omumu-oku, Ichele, Abiaka-asi, Otiokpo. They then decided that they would assemble their age group on Orie day, to tell their group members that the year-old hen was no longer a baby chick. [It was time for them to assert their manhood.] Nonyerem joined in their decision and then went home, but when he arrived and told his mother and father they were not pleased, because Nonyerem's association with the members of his group had made them afraid. But when they scolded Nonyerem, like the yam-stealer he made up his mind to sharpen his digging-stick to go and steal yams again. But the elders say that a stick does not poke a man in the eye twice, because if the old woman falls down twice, people count the things she is carrying in her basket. On Orie day, they warned him and told him to be careful when he and the others were together, because what had happened to him when they had gone hunting could easily happen again. They told him that one who did not know his mother should not go to meet her at the market, because of the heartless Amaka-ekwu people, and any sensible person would run away. He agreed, but told them that he understood that a person who ate with the spirits should be careful, because one should use common sense to drop food to the dog. They agreed, but doubtfully. He then went out. But he told himself that he would do no harm to man or woman, but if anyone tried to quarrel with
56

Ekwueme,

Ocholu,

Ochoku,

Amaka-ekwu,

and

him for no reason, that person's two hands would be cut to the ground because one who chases chickens is destined to fall down. [Looks for trouble.] When Nonyerem and Chukwuemeka and Nnabuife reached the Dunu village square, the crowd there was numerous as sands on the beach. Their leader then told those who were chattering like market women to stop, and it became quiet everywhere. He then addressed them, "Our people, listen!'' They answered him, "Yaa.'' He said that three times and they replied, "Yaa.'' He said that when a bachelor got up early in the morning and went out, when he returned, the ashes from the morning fire would surely be waiting for him, because the water in the broken pot is always left for the dog. They replied that he spoke the truth. He then told them that as the bat that flew to the top of the iroko tree was no longer a baby, so they would not be children every year, and that when the bachelor gets married, he has paid the spirit the debt that he owes him. They all clapped and said that they were like the pot that is underrated but it boils over and extinguishes the fire. [They felt small but mighty.] Onwuasoanya, who was their chief speaker, then spoke to the very few people who were in the Amakaekwu age group, telling them that they should come back when they would have a new age group, as was their custom. They told him that there was no dance that was bad. [Indicates graceful acceptance.]

57

They then selected their leaders, and a treasurer, and someone who would make the announcement any time they had a meeting. They also also decided on how much money each one must pay before he could enter the age group, and how much they must pay every year, as well as naming the fine that anyone breaking any rules must pay to them. [I am told that only a pittance is involved, so as not to exclude the poorest boys.] Before dispersing, they said they should kill one cow for the agegroup above them, cook food for them, and buy them wine, and then tell them that they had matured, because Emecheta's son said that if a lizard climbed down and could not speak English, he was like the person who jumped to the ground from the top of a mud brick wall. The name they agreed to give to their age-group was Odozi Obodo [peacemaker of the town], because they said that they were the ones who would atone for the abominations of the elders. When the elders heard this, they said that the chief who was told that his mother was returning from market replied that he was just watching and waitng. [Seeing is believing.] Others said that when the small bird grew up, it seemed that he would be superior to his mother, but before long the same thing that happened to his mother happened to him. At daybreak, the sun shone its beams of light everywhere and the people of Alaoke, both men and women, got up and staggered around sluggishly, because many had completely consumed what they had gathered for the feast of reincarnation of their gods.

58

The children had dragged out the goat head and the dog they had killed. It seemed to them that every day had become a day of eating and drinking, because they thought that one goat or animal their fathers had killed would not be used up, because the child who gathers twenty yams thinks that he will be eating it forever. Nonyerem took a broom and swept their compound and their house, then collected some things he wore around his neck [catapult equipment] and some smooth pebbles, and put them into his pocket, then went out. His parents called him seven times, but the arrow did not pierce the swallow, and they said that wherever the girl sees, there she sprouts breasts. [Possible meaning: he will return in his own good time.] His father was just in the midst of saying something when someone called his praise name. Ezeonyekwelu answered and told him to enter. The person entered, Ezeonyekwelu called him by name, Ekwuofu, and he responded. They asked each other about their families. Ekwuofu took up his leather bag, laid it in a corner, put his walking-stick there, ground his teeth, brought a titled person's chair and sat down, gathering up his cloth and putting it between his legs. They then proceeded to converse with each other as adults will do. Ezeonyekwelu cleared his throat, ground his teeth noisily, and asked him if he had washed his hands that morning. He told him that he had not.

59

Ezeonyekwelu summoned Ugonwa and told her to get a calabash bowl and bring them some water for the morning hand-washing before they chewed kola. Ugonwa brought them water and they washed their hands. She greeted Ekwuofu, and they inquired about each other's children. Ugonwa told him that she would go and make some soup. Ekwuofu told her to go and cook because the morning's journey had been long, so he would eat some bitterleaf soup before going home. Ugonwa smiled and waddled off happily into her kitchen. Ezeonyekwelu brought out a chalk bowl and marked a chalk line [sign of hospitality], picked out some for Ekwuofu, and he did the same. Ezeonyekwelu went to the pocket of his leather bag, brought out some kola nuts that were split, examined them, and laid them out on a saucer. Ekwuofu observed him carefully as he went to one side of the house, selected a container, and put it on the fireplace shelf. The container was sooty. He then opened it, selected a woven cloth that was folded over, uncovered it, took out a white kola nut that was inside and put it on the kola platter, picked up four small pieces of alligator pepper and put them on it, then presented it to Ekwuofu and told him that kola had arrived. Ekwuofu nodded and responded, telling him that the chief's kola was in the chief's hand. Ezeonyekwelu smiled and replied that one did not see the head of the yam and continue to poke around with the digger. [Implying that he knew his duty and went straight to the point.]

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Ekwuofu assented, took the kola from him and blessed it, but while he was opening it, Nonyerem opened the door and entered. Ekwuofu smiled surreptitiously and said that Nonyerem had returned to the world from the house of the spirits. Ezeonyekwelu told him that he was just watching to see what might happen. Ekwuofu took a piece of kola and ate it, then a piece of pepper and ate it, and offered some to Ezeonyekwelu. He took kola and pepper and ate, then set the kola dish on top of the earthen bench. The two of them sat down cross-legged. Ezeonyekwelu took a small broom straw and rubbed it between his teeth. Nonyerem entered the house and greeted Ekwuofu. He thanked him and asked if he had been well. He replied that he had. The elders say that when the child eats the thing that has been keeping him awake, he is then overcome by sleep. Nonyerem had been going regularly to see if the head of coconuts he had planted had borne fruit and had become dry. When he went to check it that morning, he was delighted because it was starting to dry, and he went to tell Ezeonyekwelu. He then shouted and told Ekwuofu that he thought that they should pick that coconut, because one does not kill a tortoise and set it aside for tomorrow, because it is not the titled people who will cut it up for you. [Do things promptly.] Ekwuofo agreed with him, and they went to pick it. Ezeonyekwelu took a bamboo stick and knocked down twelve coconuts plus two others, so that if one of the passersby came out and stood

61

waiting until the coconut was cut open, he could scoop out and eat some for himself. Ezeonyekwelu then cut open six coconuts, scooped them out, and everyone ate, but the only ones who could eat the coconut were married men who had children and married women who had children. According to Igbo custom, only a person's parents could eat the first fruit of the trees that person had planted. Therefore, Nonyerem could not even taste it. He hissed in disgust, nodded his head and said that what the husband refuses to give his wife can always be found in the marketplace. Ezeonyekwelu then asked Ekwuofu to castrate his he-goat for him. Ekwuofu agreed. Ezeonyekwelu went and put red palm oil inside a coconut shell, put water in a bowl, got a razor blade and set it down, then went and grabbed the he-goat. Ekwuofu gathered up his cloth and folded it between his legs, brought a chair that women sit on for conversing, sat down, and placed his legs on top of the goat's two legs. Ezeonyekwelu grabbed the goat, lifted it upward, Ekwuofu took the knife and cut off the goat's testicles. The goat cried out in pain, "baa, baa, baa.'' He then rubbed oil on the wound, put oil on its mouth, and it licked it. He let it go with a pat on its bottom and it ran limping to a corner of the house and stood there.

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Ezeonyekwelu thanked Ekwuofu, then gave Nonyerem the goat's testicles to give to Ugonwa so Ugonwa could cook them for the two of them to eat. Nonyerem did as he was told. The elders say that the palm-wine tapper should not discuss everything he sees from atop the palm tree, so the young woman should sip hot soup very slowly. And Nonyerem remained at home, growing in body and mind and wisdom. Let it be the day of the hunter that we hunt the bush-rat behind the house. One by one that if they did not act a certain way the masquerade would beat them until they were bloody. Fear came into their eyes and they then told all of their girlfriends. Laughter then broke out everywhere. After that the masquerades beat them with switches and told them to thank them when they finished beating them. They were scared and did as they were told. The masquerades then went and grabbed them one by one and untied their blindfolds, before they uncovered their faces. They looked around and discovered that those who had worn the masquerade were their peers, people they knew very well, and they all laughed. But those people warned them strongly and told them never to reveal what they had seen, because if they did, all the masquerades in town would descend en masse on their houses. They would make such a person give them a long, wooden-bottomed basket of tiny ants, a round basket of soldier ants, a calabash of live flies, a wooden-bottomed basket of small, stinging ants and a round basket of lice and bedbugs.

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Those people were novices who did not know masquerading, and they then thanked those who had presented the masquerade, and promised them that they would cook a calabash of breadfruit for them as well. Nonyerem and the others thanked them, and joined them in having fun until midnight, when they were tired and all returned to their various homes. Next day, Ugonwa cooked breadfruit, pounded cassava with vegetables, cooked ora [a vegetable] and yam stew, and put it aside for several people they had invited to a feast that day. Ugonwa also mixed oil bean and stockfish; and Ezeonyekwelu took his share of goat leg and dog flesh, and bought two pots of wine as well. People then crowded into their house, eating everything they cooked and drinking wine until evening, hunting and then carrying off cane rats behind the house. [refers to abundance of food]

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9
************************************ Pounding the Medicine of the World [Isu Nsi Uwa] ************************************
The partridge told her child that if it pecked at a yam it should peck at the root, because one does not know whether, if he started to chew a palm nut, his eye might pop out [unforeseen occurrence], that if the owner of the yam should dig up his yam, they could still stay alive. [Crumbs remaining at the root can still be eaten.] Ezeonyekwelu was a man who cultivated a lot of yams, so he had constructed a very large yam barn. He planted many types of yams: ayobe, ito[dry yam], ukom [white guinea yam], abana [water yam], adaka, ji oku, and ji abii. The elders say that when the snail starts to move, it drags along its shell, so Nonyerem did not look back when he followed along to work on their farm. Ezeonyekwelu then wanted to cut some yams for Nonyerem to plant, so he could find out whether he was truly a mature adult. It
65

is true that the bachelor, in cooking breadfruit, scrapes it hard against the bottom of the pot [makes mistakes] because he has no one living with him, but Ezeonyekwelu wanted him to see that the chicken doesn't hatch a rat out of the shell, so that his efforts would not be followed by hand-biting. [Biting the hand describes a gesture of regret.] He then split some yams for Nonyerem and gave them to him. Nonyerem took them and begged three young men to come and plant the yams for him. His mother, Ugonwa, then brought seeds there and planted corn, melon seeds, bananas, garden egg seeds, cowpeas, eli emi onu [a sour vegetable], and ogili [oil bean seeds], and put in some cassava stems as well. Nonyerem cooked food for those people, they filled their stomachs and returned to their various homes. When an Igbo week had gone by, Nonyerem and Okeohia Ogbuehi sharpened their knives and axes, took atikpa [protective substance], put it in water and rubbed it on their bodies, cut palm fronds and put them between their teeth, then went to clear the Ogwugwu forest. The Ogwugwu forest was a place where people threw twin babies and those whose upper teeth came in first, then they squashed them to death. Because of this, the place was filled with nothing but broken pots and shards. Shreds of sleeping-mats and woven mats filled the place. Mats were used to tie up packets of ashes worn by widows when they sat in mourning under the kitchen shelf, and the heads of the widows and mourners of the dead persons were shaved.
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Ogbuehi then gathered some pieces of oil palm nuts, chewed them, and spit them out in the forest, and Nonyerem did the same. They took the protective substance, mixed it with water and rubbed it on, then took their well-sharpened knives and entered the bush, clearing it as they went. The elders say that if the cow climbs the hill and tells the hill that it is stamping on it, the hill replies that it is dragging down the cow's leg, because when the chicken dances on top of the fence, the fence dances as well. Even though they were clearing the bush, things that were harmful to people were as numerous as sand on the ocean's shore. There were scorpions, snakes, leeches, akubara [creeping plant that causes skin irritation], agbaroko, and pieces of glass, pot shards and thorns that had been thrown together in the forest. [Obviously this was what was known as "bad bush.''] They were clearing the bush when a woman came along and saw them and asked them what they were doing. Okeohia replied that if the rat does not run, its tail catches fire. The woman then shouted and ran off, saying, "Ogwugwu [a deity] save us, our Ogwugwu save us o.'' Tears were falling from her eyes, because if you tell a child to clean up feces that are not of his own making, he glares in anger. People then gathered around and asked her what happened to cause the toad to run out in the afternoon. She then told them that a man had stayed in her house and broken his testicles, and thus her eyes had not seen her ears [indicates that something unheard of had happened]. But when several people were upset because she did not tell them exactly what made the woman flee from her husband's house, she told
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them to go to the Ogwugwu forest to see for themselves what was happening there. A group of people then went. But before they arrived, Okeohia and Nonyerem had realized that a bad bat had entered the big iroko tree, and had taken their knives and returned to their respective homes. Then the town was in a state of great commotion and people did not know how to tell the chief that he had a hernia. [How to break the news.] Neither did they know how how to talk to someone who had gone to the land of the spirits. The elders say that if you keep on averting your eyes before the chief [out of fear or awe], you put a basket on your head to speak to him. The townspeople then held a meeting in the Dunu town square and decided that they would send Ajaoku to go and give a message to Ogbuehi, that the bird that cried alarmingly would not cry again, because if one does not struggle to keep the footpath clear, the compound will be inaccessible. The townspeople also sent Ezeonyekwelu a message telling him that a stick does not poke a man's eye twice, and thus he should warn his son, that the mother cow is too big to be roasted. [Some things are too big for a young boy to handle.] Ezeonyekwelu had seen that Nonyerem was not the kind of nut that could be spit out after you started to chew it. He then cut Nonyerem some bamboo canes, stakes, stripped raffia palm fronds, and thatching so he could build his own house. Nonyerem then asked his friends to come and work for him, so they could knead the red earth and put it aside. The next day they laid the foundation for the walls, took a rammer, and laid
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down the floor of the house. Ugonwa then painted the house for him. Then Nonyerem fastened the roof of the house and wove in the thatching. He also fashioned a bed where he would be sleeping, and built a shelf designed to keep rats from eating the fish, and a wicker drying-tray on top of the hearth. Nonyerem did all that was necessary to be called an exceptional fellow. Ezeonyekwelu then wanted to do the ritual of Isu Nsi Uwa for his son, which was the first ceremony a person performed before it was recognized that he had entered full manhood. He then invited Ekwuigbo to come on Orie day and bring the necessary things for Nsi Uwa. Ezeonyekwelu then told all his kith and kin to come, because Nonyerem was going to do the Nsi

Uwa ritual, which was the first ritual a man undergoes.

There are three kinds of nsi a person undergoes. The first is the nsi of the world, the second one he undergoes if he completes this is the nsi of the devil. The third year, he begins to undergo the real nsi. While they are undergoing these rituals, the women do not eat any of the items used to undergo them, but neither does a man who has not undergone the ritual touch his tongue to anything used in undergoing it. Men who are undergoing the ritual try hard to pursue it every year.

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Ezeonyekwelu brought together the necessary items to use in undergoing the ritual, then waited for the appointed day to arrive. On that day, Ekwuigbo assembled a bundle of roots,

including akanta and elianwa, as well as human bones, and also brought a bundle of palm fronds. The bundle of tree roots was black because he had hung it under the shelf, over the hearth. Ekwuigbo then greeted Ezeonyekwelu, they shook hands,

inquired about each other's households, and then Ekwuigbo went and set down in one corner of the compound all the various items that he had brought with him. Many people then gathered round, with their leather bags, the dried twigs and bells that some of them had put into their bags jingling when they walked. Many men filled the place as the feast was warming up, because a person does not leave a place where a title is being taken and go to a place where there is idol worship. Ekwuigbo then set the human bones on the ground and they gave Nonyerem a knife and told him to go and strike them. Nonyerem gave them three knife strokes, and then went out. It was then considered that he had killed a man, because someone who has not killed a man cannot undergo the manhood ritual. Nonyerem was very happy because the son of Emecheta said that if he fell without holding a rope, he should climb to the top of

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the ogbu[ancestral tree] that stood in front of their house to find out if he had gone to ogbu. Ezeonyekwelu went to his yam barn and picked out two water yams. Nonyerem took them from him and rubbed them on his eyes, cut and ate them piece by piece, then put them into a pot shard and set it on top of three tree branches used to form an earthen pot-stand, and lit a fire underneath. Then they carried both the sticks and the yams and the shard and threw them into the bad bush. Those cooked items were called ''spit out poison,'' because people do not put it into their mouths. Ezeonyekwelu then gathered up some white yams; some people took them and peeled them, cut them in pieces, and put them in a pot so they could cook some pepper soup. Ekwuigbo gathered some roots, and they scraped them all into the yam pot. Nonyerem went and grabbed a cock, touched it to his eyes, swung it around four times toward the sun and then killed it and threw its blood into the yam pot. They then ground some pepper and put it in, with salt and oil and ogili [spice made from castor seed], periwinkle, onion, and water. Ezeonyekwelu then told Ekwuigbo that the dibia [native doctor] had blown his flute and wiped his nose [accomplished his work so it was time for repayment]. Then he gave him one leg of the chicken, and they cooked other kinds of meat to share among all the other people. Ekwuigbo then scraped out three pieces of igbegulu [stump of palm frond closest to its base] and spread them on the ground

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and made a pot-stand, and then set the pot of yams on it, took roots and made a spoon for stirring the yams. After the yams had cooked, they lifted them to the ground and everyone then ate them all up, but Nonyerem did not taste any of them, according to Igbo tradition. Afterward, Ekwuigbo cut a palm frond sapling, tied it around Nonyerem's arm, then placed those roots on his head four times. Ekwuigbo poured a bit of the wine brought by Ezeonyekwelu, drank as much as he could, then thanked them, took his medicine and the human bones, and went home and put them back under the shelf for someone else who might call on him another time. Everyone who had gathered at Ezeonyekwelu's house then drank as much wine as they could. Many of them went home without thanking him, but others thanked Ezeonyekwelu and Nonyerem and then left, because the stroke of a knife is like kola mark on the body. They also praised them greatly because they cooked food for everyone, because the elders say that if many people cook for one person, he will not eat it all, but if one person cooks for a crowd, they eat it all up. But no one will greatly praise someone who buries his mother before dawn.

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10
*************** A Man's Ikenga ***************
Like the dog that saw someone with a fat stomach and then followed behind him, thinking that if that person did not defecate he would vomit, in that way I want everyone to be following these traditions, because one who did not go to school does not go and teach. Anyone who did not perform the nsi

uwa and

the nsi

ekwensu [medicine of evil] in Igboland does not own an Ikenga

because the elders say that if the first child does not walk, the second one is not able to run. After a person finishes these two stages of nsi, he goes and tells a carver to carve an Ikenga for him to use in doing the real nsi. Anyone who has not built his own house does not own an Ikenga because a person does not take his Ikenga and put it in someone else's house.
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When the person obtains his Ikenga he puts palm fronds around it, and rubs chalk on his eyes. He buys wine, pours some out, then drinks the rest. He kills a chicken and spreads the chicken's blood on it. Nonyerem had finished the nsi uwa and the nsi ekwensu. He then went and told the carver to carve an Ikenga for him. Then he called together his kith and kin and friends and told them that he wanted them to come to his house on Nkwo day, because he would celebrate his Ikenga on that day. He told them that it was good for a person to remember work time, but he should also remember feasting time, because the dog said that if each person falls down for the other, it makes the game be respected and it proceeds smoothly. They then agreed and told him one by one that they would come, because a great famine was breaking out, and not everyone could find even an oil palm nut to eat. Nonyerem then got up early in the morning and went to the homes of Nweke Zelobo and Anakulunwoji, and took raffia palm wine. But he took oil palm wine to Ifeadike's house. After that, he went to Nkwo Agu market and bought two young cocks. His mother, Ugonwa, had already gone to market on Eke day and bought peeled and dried cassava for them to prepare for those they had invited to come and eat and drink. After dawn broke and the sun was high in the sky, people started coming one by one, both invited and uninvited, because one who
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gathers firewood full of ants is telling the lizards to come and stay a while. Ugonwa and those she had told to come and help her in preparing the food then gathered in the kitchen, cooking and laying aside food. Some of the invitees had arrived lugging along one keg of wine each. Nonyerem then draped palm fronds around the neck of his Ikenga sprinkled the blood of the two chickens on it, broke a kola nut and threw it on, and also sprinkled wine on it. He then took four yams and peeled them, took them and all the chickens and cooked yam soup. When they had finished cooking it, they all partook of it and drank the wine. Nonyerem's mother then brought out a large tray of cassava she had prepared with sardines in it, and everyone ate and drank wine. They then thanked Nonyerem and his father Ezeonyekwelu and his mother Ugonwa, and told them that whoever had done the pounding had pounded well, and whoever had done the cooking had cooked well. Those people then departed. Starting from that day, Nonyerem celebrated his Ikenga any time he could or any time it brought him good luck.

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11
*********************** Nonyerem's Spirit Tree ***********************
The elders say that if a child uncovers his father's legs, what his father used to become a man [genitals] comes and hits him in the eye, because if an immature child wears a cloth that drags on the ground, the breeze carries away both him and his cloth. But Ezeonyekwelu had done everything for Nonyerem that the [other] members of his age group did not even dream of. Nonyerem then stood out as a strong man because he knew that he had backing, because the fire that an elder puts into a child does not consume him. He [Ezeonyekwelu] then looked carefully, seeking a good woman to marry his only child, Nonyerem, because one who is stung by a bee along the stream becomes fearful any time he sees a big fly.
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Ezeonyekwelu also knew very well that the stick does not poke the man in the eye twice, because the grasshopper killed by the hornbill must have been deaf. Nonyerem then named the day he would plant the tree of his personal god by his own hand, because the chicken does not forget to hold its god in its hand. That is why he said that if he needed his god and held its hand, when he wanted to act on his own, night would fall. It is true that Ezeonyekwelu wanted to get a wife for Nonyerem, but Nonyerem's heart beat fast, because he was only a boy. Ezeonyekwelu then called him and said, ''My son, come and sit down so I can talk to you, because if you remove a flea from a dog and do not show it to him, he thinks that he has been pinched.'' [The dog must be convinced that something was done for his own good.] He then sat down, put his arms up to his ears, and placed his elbows on his knees, gazing at him like a sheep. His father then called his name, he replied, and he told him that when a householder is not killed by someone in his house, he grows gray hair; therefore, he tries as hard as he can to see that their lineage continues, because a person with one eye owes a debt to blindness, and if an animal runs badly, the hunter shoots it badly. Ezeonyekwelu took out his snuff-box, lifted it up, looked at it, struck it on his knee four times, opened it and took a pinch, then closed it and gave it to Nonyerem; he took it, took a pinch and returned it. They both then started to inhale the snuff.

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His father took a pinch of snuff and inhaled, and cleared his throat, tears then fell from his eyes. He used the back of his right hand to wipe them, then said, ''A person's wealth makes him cry.'' He then told Nonyerem that the firewood a man gathers in the dry season is what he burns in the rainy season, because it is how the bird flies without perching that makes one shoot without aiming. Nonyerem then told him that he knew very well that the doctor who his curing diarrhea does not hide his own buttocks in the mpio [escape hole in wall of house, used by dogs]. Ezeonyekwelu told him that he knew that was true, but that one who quarrels with his brothers should not fight in the market, because on judgment day mercy abounds. Nonyerem then burst out in laughter. Ezeonyekwelu told him that they should make a sacrifice, so that any blame would thereafter be on the spirits. Nonyerem agreed, and told him that truth always stands upright, and a person should not abandon the igba drum and then beat on his stomach. Nonyerem then went and told his age-group members that he and they should perform the tree-planting ceremony at his house the next afternoon. The next day he went and cut an ogbu tree [shade tree with edible figs], dug a hole in the earth, and planted it. Onwuasoanya [perhaps a local specialist] then went and cut a frond, placed it near the tree, and brought igbegbiri and dug them in around the tree.

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Then he went and gathered up some new yams and placed them around; others took knives and peeled them, then gathered all the peelings and spread them around the base of the ogbu. Nonyerem then took one young cock, killed it and spread some blood on his idol, and then scattered it all around. They then cut it into small pieces, took them, and started to cook yam stew. They then picked some hot pepper, pounded ogiri [oil bean seed], crawfish, and various other items that would make a person smack his lips while eating all those things that were put in. After they cooked it, everyone breathed sighs of contentment and they all took their chairs and went all around the yam stew, eating it like big dogs. After they had finished eating, they licked their fingers, rubbed them on their legs and heads, then went to drink palm wine. The whole place was very noisy because of the commotion made by those who had drunk too much. Afterward, they all went home; the tree Nonyerem had planted was growing, and he was waiting for the day the fire would be extinguished so he could carry the torch, because when the snail travels along, it leaves a shell behind it. [Perhaps refers to his eventually inheriting his father's mantle.] And when anyone who has a spirit tree surrenders to the hand of death, it is the members of his age-group who go and dig up his tree and burn it in the fire.

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***************************** Obujulukpa Passes Through *****************************
The bell is ringing ''dong, dong, dong,'' and everyone is looking around to find out why it is ringing. The baby chicks are crying ''pio pio pio.'' Nonyerem's mother Ugonwa then thought that it was a hawk trying to carry off a chick, so she started to shout, ''Hoa! Hoa!! Hoa!!!'' But it was not a hawk carrying off chicks, but a chicken that was crying loudly in Ogbuehi Obujulukpa's bag. Obujulukpa went along pounding the ground with his walkingstick and groaning. He scared the children when they met him on the road, because he was very old. Also, his beard and the hairs of his head were pure white. If he had been a goat entering the barn and eating yams one time, he would have been pushed out of the compound, but he had barely eight teeth remaining in his mouth, and his face looked very old and his body was wrinkled. Many people said that he could fly like the hawk and the vulture, any time he wanted to go to a far-off place.
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While Obujulukpa went along groaning, many children ran out into the paths to their compounds, laughing at the way he was walking and trailing behind him. Then he looked at them, ground his teeth ''kpakwuru kpakwuru,'' and said to them, ''My children, are you laughing at me? Go ahead and laugh, it is said that if you all were chicks the hawk would have carried you off.'' He then left them and went away. Those children continued to laugh until they were tired, but kept on laughing. Some of them defecated and urinated but continued to laugh. Tears fell from their eyes like rainfall on a thatched house, saliva dribbling down like a snail's trail, but they kept on laughing. When they were out of breath, they all lay down on the ground but did not stop laughing. This surprised some onlookers, because they said that it was not real laughter. But there is no place where the rain falls that the earth does not know about. Their kith and kin then gathered together, but they did not know how they were going to carry someone whose waist is broken, because one who is not there to observe where a body is being buried starts at the leg when exhuming it. That whole crowd of people stood asking the children questions, but they said nothing, rather they kept on expelling wind ''puum puum,'' and kept up their laughter.

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Only a certain widow, who was gathering banana leaves on her yam farm while those children were laughing at Obujulukpa, knew what had happened. The parents of the children then proceeded to go to Obujulukpa's house to beg him to have mercy on the children who did not know what they were doing, because the knife makes a slash mark on the kola nut. When they reached the Ichekoku village square, they saw him sitting at the base of a stump, grinding his teeth. They then begged him to leave the children alone, because they were innocent. He then looked up and down and told them that he had done nothing to them; rather, they were just laughing. They then went and brought him a basket of yams and a young cock. He took them, but told them to keep a strong watch over their children, because you do not clean your nose with the same thing you use to clean your ears. They agreed with him. He then told them that they should go and tell those children that they should stop that laughing. They agreed with him, thanked him, then went and did as he had told them. Those children then stopped the loud laughter and no one spoke a word. All of their parents then scolded them firmly and told them that they should not make trouble, thinking that they had parents to rely on. But the condemnation did not affect them at all, because the woman who sees the place where her husband is counting his

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money does not permit her friend to go through the compound. [Feeling rich, she becomes arrogant.] Early in the morning of the following day, Nonyerem went to Obujulukpa's house, greeted him, and asked if he had slept well. Obujulukpa told him that he had, and that it was only toothache and throbbing knee pain that was bothering him. Nonyerem wished him well, he thanked him and told him to enter the house to partake of the morning kola nut. Nonyerem entered the obi[special house for head of household], took a piece of coconut, sat down, and carefully looked around so he could take note of all the medicines, both those that were tied up, and those that were made of leather, and those that were in pots, and those that were tied around with palm fronds and hung from the ceiling. What frightened him the most was the numerous cows' heads, goats' heads, rams' heads, and those of he-goats, that were suspended from the ceiling. Obujulukpa ground his teeth and entered the house, put his hand into his leather bag and took out a kola nut, blessed it, split it, chewed his own, and then gave Nonyerem his and he chewed it. Nonyerem then told him that he had come to ask him to teach him about some medicinal herbs and roots. Obujulukpa told him that he should go and talk to his father Ezeonyekwelu so he could say what he thought about it, because a girl should not consider herself a woman just because she has a sore on her genitals.

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Nonyerem agreed, thanked him, and left, because it is the first day's argument that the judge uses to ponder about.

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13
*********************************** Ezeonyekwelu Takes Charge of the Ancestral Land ***********************************
The people who were in Ezeonyekwelu's age group among his relatives had all died off one by one. It was then up to him to take over the ancestral land of Igboemesini. He then called together all his relatives and told them that when something's time had come it was not labeled as greed, and that the young woman who sprouts breasts is no longer a baby. They then thanked him and told him that when you easily see the face of the yam you don't keep on digging around with the shovel, and that you can tell by looking that the corn is ripe. To go and poke around it is only a waste of time. They all then agreed on a time when he would kill an Ikenga goat for them and appease the land. They said that it would be in two weeks, on Afo day. They all then went home.
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When the day came, Ezeonyekwelu went to Zelobo's house with seven pots of wine, and also went to the houses of Mbusu and Agbazi with pots of wine. Every place then filled up. Pots of wine were as numerous as small bits of yam that had been planted in the forest. People then held meetings in their homes. Ezeonyekwelu dragged out their Ikenga goat and went and killed it at the shrine of the ancestral land, killed a hen, and cooked yam stew. And they shared the goat the way it was traditionally shared when goats were killed in the ancestral land. Ezeonyekwelu took the thigh and one leg of the goat, three people followed him into the shrine and gathered twigs, while those remaining gathered up the meat that was left so they could share it. One person followed Ezeonyekwelu so the goat's jaw could be divided; they then shared two goat heads, Ezeonyekwelu carrying one and the others carrying the remaining one. Two other people followed the three people who had taken the lower leg, so they could be given the goat's kidney. They all then pulled off plantain leaves and heated them over the fire, then carved the meat, tied the pieces up with string, and placed them in a corner. When the pot of yam stew had cooked, they lifted it to the ground, put it on a platter, and then ate, drank wine, and as each one stood up he rubbed the sand from his bottom, took his package of meat, and went home.

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Ezeonyekwelu then from that day on began to be responsible for the ancestral land. The elders say that the sheep that gives birth only to rams has no offspring. And the foolish person can say that he did not know that the pumpkin was sprouting a head of fruit. But the wise person will say that something that cries fails to come his way, because ''if it is not today, it will be tomorrow'' [procrastination] does not allow a man to take the grasshopper from the chicken's mouth. Ezeonyekwelu told Nonyerem that he should rub his eyes [be careful], because if he licked all the oil with the chicken's intestines, when the chicken was finished cooking he would not have any oil to eat it with. He had done his duty, because the elders say that seeing and not speaking is what adults do, but speaking and not hearing causes deafness. One day, Azukoyi caught a coucal [small bird] with his hands and went to Ezeonyekwelu's house at a time when the weather was cold. When he arrived, he knocked on the door of their compound, and the bell they had hung on the door rang. Ezeonyekwelu cleared his throat, rose from his bed, ground his teeth, came outside, opened the door, and they greeted each other. They both entered the house. Ezeonyekwelu gave him a piece of kola, and he sat down. He brought water for him and he did the morning hand-washing.

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He then lit a candle, stuck it into a broom and set it down. Ezeonyekwelu went to his leather bag and took out one huge white kola nut, and put it on the kola nut platter that had pepper and chalk on it. He then called Azukoyi by his praise name, which was Ikenwoke; he responded, then called him by his, which was Ikepuru. Ezeonyekwelu told him that he had kola nut, gave it to him, took chalk and scattered it out, gave some to him, and he scattered some. Azukoyi then gave him the kola nut and told him to split it because the chief's kola belongs to the chief. Ezeonyekwelu then took the kola nut from him, looked upward, and asked the creator of the world to bless it for them. He then called on the sun and the deity to come and see the kola nut so they could bless it. Azukoyi said, ''ofo.'' Ezeonyekwelu then said that good things had come to them early in the morning, that they should see something good on that day, that when one starts a journey, let his feet not trip him on the road. Let bad spirits and bad people shave their heads and then be destroyed, because the snail uses a smooth tongue to travel on thorns. And they should not seek to quarrel with men or with women. And whoever says that they are not supposed to live, let his palm tree not produce fruit. Azukoyi replied, ''ofo.'' Ezeonyekwelu said, ''Rather than a person's dog bite mine to death, let my dog bite to death that person's dog, so I pay him the debt.'' [I pay the debt but I have not lost my dog.]
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Azukoyi replied, ''ofo.'' Ezeonyekwelu then said, ''Our ancestor Dunu who fathered many children, chew kola nut; Eziegbo chew kola nut; Ichekoku come take kola nut and chew; Ezeajana, Chukukere and Emecheta come and chew kola nut. Ancestors great and small have a conference, because when like-minded people have gathered together, the basket is brought down.'' Azukoyi replied, ''ofo''. He said, ''My life, Azukoyi, your life, the lives of my family and your family. The lives of all people.'' Azukoyi agreed, saying, ''Life for all of us, o.'' Ezeonyekwelu then said that he had finished the blessing, because when the diviner starts his divining and then starts chattering about the dog's teeth, you know that what he has to say is finished. Azukoyi then burst out laughing. Ezeonyekwelu split the kola nut, took the tongue of the kola and threw it outside, took one piece of the kola nut and broke it into two pieces with his fingernail, took one and put it on his Ikenga platter. They then ate the remaining ones. Ezeonyekwelu then called Azukoyi's name and he answered; he told him that the elders said that if you are careful, a good child will be born, but if you do things hurriedly, a prodigal will be born.

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Azukoyi told him that what he said was true, then thanked Ezeonyekwelu for the kola nut he had given him. Ezeonyekwelu responded. He then told him that he had come to let him know that he was going to gather food for their ancestor Dunu on the following day, after the morning wine-tappers had finished. Ezeonyekwelu nodded, and told him that he would start informing the others who would join in going to the Dunu shrine, because a matter that has already been discussed needs only a nod of the head for agreement. Azukoyi then thanked him and got up and told him that he was leaving, that he would go and tap the morning wine, and he thanked him. He then went waddling out and left for home. That afternoon, Ezeonyekwelu went to tell Osuinyi, Osugwo, Anene, Eseluenuaku, Oragunye, Mmoro, Chiekebe, Akueche, Obujulukpa, Igbobuchi, and Agba to meet at the Dunu shrine after those who tapped the morning wine had finished it the next day. On the next day when the sun had risen and those who had gone to tap wine at the stream had returned, Ezeonyekwelu went and carried out the Dunu deity to a place where he set it down in the shrine. Nwoyeiyi then carried the deity and went to the Arodunu village square, and also carried other images and set them down there. Azukoyi then brought out a he-goat, a pot of wine, a basket of yams and ten small kola nuts, and a bag of shredded cassava and a pot of sauce and fish.
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The bag of cassava and the pot of sauce and nko fish and the pepper then were taken to the Arodunu shrine. Ezeonyekwelu then approached Osuinyi and told him that one did not kill a tortoise and store it the next day because it is not the titled people who will cut it up. Osuinyi then called Anene and Mmoro and Oragunye, and they all invited some others to meet in the village square. As each one came out he had his leather bag slung over his shoulder, wore his shoulder-cloth, and used his walking-stick. They all then spread out their leather mats and sat down. Several of them ground their teeth, and others told stories. Azukoyi then got up, called them each by name, they responded and called his name in return. He then called Ezeonyekwelu and told him all the things he collected in order to thank their ancestor Dunu, because a certain person was said to have been caught by thieves and beaten badly, robbed of everything he had and left naked. The man hastily climbed a tree, called to the thieves and struck his hand on his head, telling them that he owned more than they had snatched from him. They all then thanked him and told him that he had done something like a good person. Ezeonyekwelu then rose and went to the shrine of the deity and told it to look at what Azukoyi had brought in gratitude to him, but a rock does not sprout mushrooms. [No response from the deity.] He took a kola nut and went to the shrine of the deity and prayed, then cast some pieces on the shrine, came out and split the others, and they all chewed it with the alligator pepper. He took a pot of wine and went and poured one cup onto the shrine. Everyone drank all those pots of wine.
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Ezeonyekwelu went and untied the goat that had been tethered to the shade tree, took a knife, and dragged out the goat so he could kill it at the shrine of the deity. Chiekebe and Anene and Osugwo then went and took hold of the goat and killed it. They burned off the hair completely and cut it up, peeled yams, and cooked them together in the same pot. When the food was cooked, they took it off the fire; they all went and surrounded the platter of stew and ate it all. Ezeonyekwelu then dished out some yam for each person and gave him his piece of meat, those who wanted to eat abacha [boiled and sliced cassava] ate it, and they then packed up the leftovers and went home. Each one left rejoicing. Eseluenuaku then took his pot of yam stew and left. He tripped as he approached Ichekoku, and the pot fell and broke to pieces. He looked around but could not figure out what to do. He then entered the cocoyam farm that was on his right, pulled off a plantain leaf, and picked out the meat and fish that was there, but left the cassava and yam stew and went home. Upon his return, he called his daughter, Ekwutosi, and told her that she should take a light and go to Ichekoku and gather up the cassava and yam stew that was spread around there. Ekwutosi did as she was told. When Eseluenuaku went to the cocoyam farm and defecated, he saw Nonyerem using a long stick to pluck three heads of kola nuts from the Icheoku kola nut tree. He then went home and told Icheoku what he had seen, because it was against the law.
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14
********************************* When the Fire Was Extinguished *********************************
One day in the evening, Ezeonyekwelu called his wife, Ugonwa, and her only child, Nonyerem, and told them that time did not wait for people, but rather it was people who waited for time. They then were apprehensive, because no one knew what a pregnant woman was going to deliver. [They wondered what he was going to tell them.] Ezeonyekwelu told them that people should use common sense in feeding a dog, because people did not feed on its leftovers. They then laughed. Then he announced that he was going to take some wine to Maduka so that he could take Nonyerem to his daughter, Arude, so he could marry her. Ugonwa agreed and said that Maduka and his wife, Mgboye, were good people.

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Nonyerem laughed and asked if it was he going to marry the girl or the girl going to marry him, because he was only a boy. This angered Ezeonyekwelu, because when someone who is being treated for hydrocele then develops a swollen stomach, he has something that he left in the bad bush. Ezeonyekwelu told him that he was shocked, and he should know well that the mother cow was too big to roast in the fire. Nonyerem said that he would marry and take a title after three years had passed. Ezeonyekwelu did not want to listen. He then went and said that he would marry Arude if Nonyerem refused to marry her, that he would allow her to bear children for him. Therefore Ezeonyekwelu watched Nonyerem carefully and said that the time when a boy realizes that his father is not going to break off and give him a piece of the corn that he roasted in the fire is the moment he [the father] starts chewing at the tail. Ezeonyekwelu had finished tapping the morning wine when a certain person told him that there were some people who were secretly conspiring against him, so he watched out very carefully, because the grasshopper that is eaten by the hornbill must have been deaf. Ezeonyekwelu then went to the home of his friend, Maduka, and told him that he wanted to marry his daughter, Arude, for his son, Nonyerem. Maduka poured some wine for him and he drank. He then told him that his journey had two purposes, because the snake that one person kills turns into a python. They then said that Ezeonyekwelu should come again after two Igbo weeks had passed, that Arude then would have returned from a feast at the home of her grandmother in Uru-okpara.
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Ezeonyekwelu then went home, hoping that Maduka would not fail to let him marry his daughter, because there was an abundant supply of young women who were begging for men to marry them. Three days later, Nonyerem went out in the evening and said that he was going to buy some snuff at Omekaokwuru's house. It was completely dark but Nonyerem did not return.

Ezeonyekwelu and Ugonwa ate supper, but they could not sleep; they waited for Nonyerem to return so they could go to bed. It was midnight but they did not see him or hear a word about him. They had not slept until dawn, when they then began to look for him by retracing his steps. They went to Omekaokwuru's house and asked him if he had come to their house in the evening to buy snuff; he told them that he had not seen him. They then sent messages to their kith and kin and their friends, but no one had seen him. They all then searched for him in the river. My people, you all know well that when the diviner is divining and starts babbling about dogs' teeth, you know that he has reached the end of his knowledge. Ezeonyekwelu then took Arude and married her. She bore him three sons and two daughters, but there was no sign of Nonyerem. But there was information that Nonyerem had been captured and sold out. The thing that ate the food had then licked up the soup.

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However, eventually we will hear something about Nonyerem, because when the cow has no tail its god chases away the flies for him. The elders say that the palm wine-tapper does not reveal what he sees from the top of the palm tree, and that is why when the pot is covered it appears that no food has been eaten. When it is a good day for hunting, we hunt the bush-rat behind the house.

The End

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