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When the women retired, Obierika presented kola nuts to his in-laws. His eldest brother broke the first one. "Life to all of us," he said as he broke it. "And let there be friendship between your family and ours."
The crowd answered-. "Ee-e-el"
"We are giving you our daughter today. She will be a good wife to you. She will bear you nine sons like the mother of our town."
"Ee-e-et"
The oldest man in the camp of the visitors replied: "It will be good for you and it will be good for us."
"Ee-e-a"
"This is not the first time my people have come to marry your daughter. My mother was one of you."
"Ee-e-el"
"And this will not be the last, because you understand us and we understand you. You are a great family."
"Ee-e-a"
"Prosperous men and great warriors." He looked in the direction of Okonkwo. "Your daughter will bear us sons like
;; you.
"Ee-e-ei"
The kola was eaten and the drinking of palm-wine began. Groups of four or five men sat round with a pot in their
midst. As the evening wore on, food was presented to the guests. There were huge bowls of foo-foo and steaming pots of soup. There were also pots of yam pottage. It was a great feast.
As night fell, burning torches were set on wooden tripods and the young men raised a song. The elders sat in a big circle and the singers went round singing each man's praise as they came before him. They had something to say for every man. Some were great farmers, some were orators who spoke for the clan/ Okonkwo was the greatest wrestler and warrior alive. When they had gone round the circle they settled down in the center, and girls came from the i
"I/ I bold her band
Sbe says, 'Don't toucbl' If J bold her foot
Sbe says, 'Don't toucbi'
But when I hold her waist-beads She pretends not to know."
The night was already far spent when the guests rose to go, taking their bride home to spend seven market weeks with her suitor's family. They sang songs as they went, and on their way they paid short courtesy visits to prominent men like Okonkwo, before they finally left for their village. Okonkwo made a present of two cocks to them.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Go-di-di-go-go-di-go. Di-go-go-di-go. It was the ekwe talking to the clan. One of the things every man learned was the language of the hollowed-out wooden instrument. Dьm! Dьm! Dьm! boomed the ca
The first cock had not crowed, and Umuofia was still swallowed up in sleep and silence when the ekwe began to talk, and the ca
Ezeudu was a great man, and so all the clan was at his funeral. The ancient drums of death beat, guns and ca
But the most dreaded of all was yet to come. He was always alone and was shaped like a coffin. A sickly odor hung in the air wherever he went, and flies went with him. Even the greatest medicine men took shelter when he was near. Many years ago another ecjwugwu had dared to stand his ground before him and had been transfixed to the spot for two days. This one had only one hand and it carried a basket full of water.
But some of the egwugwu were quite harmless. One of them was so old and infirm that he leaned heavily on a stick. He walked unsteadily to the place where the corpse was laid, gazed at it a while and went away again—to the underworld.
The land of the living was not far removed from the domain of the ancestors. There was coming and going between them, especially at festivals and also when an old man died, because an old man was very close to the ancestors. A man's life from birth to death was a series of transition rites which brought him nearer and nearer to his ancestors.
Ezeudu had been the oldest man in his village, and at his death there were only three men in the whole clan who wen-older, and four or five others in his own age group. Whenever one of these ancient men appeared in the crowd to danu unsteadily the funeral steps of the tribe, younger men gave way and the tumult subsided.
It was a great funeral, such as befitted a noble warrior. As the evening drew near, the shouting and the firing of guns, the beating of drums and the brandishing and clanging of machetes increased.
Ezeudu had taken three titles in his life. It was a rare achievement. There were only four titles in the clan, and only one or two men in any generation ever achieved the fourth and highest. When they did, they became the lords of the land. Because he had taken titles, Ezeudu was to be buried after dark with only a glowing brand to light the sacred ceremony.
But before this quiet and final rite, the tumult increased tenfold. Drums beat violently and men leaped up and down in frenzy. Guns were fired on all sides and sparks flew out as machetes clanged together in warriors' salutes. The air was full of dust and the smell of gunpowder. It was then that the one-handed spirit came, carrying a basket full of water. People made way for him on all sides and the noise subsided. Even the smell of gunpowder was swallowed in the sickly smell that now filled the air. He danced a few steps to the funeral drums and then went to see the corpse.