Shadow dove

three nights, Okonkwo

ight and his mind went

him feel uneasy. He

ll. It was like a ma

had appeared so terri

d scratched his thig

. Another one was wail

d hoped he had killed

en he was a child his

was as silly as all wom

ed Ear to marry him,

ollable laughter. "H

" she asked. "You ar

umiliated, and any t

that he was

is side and went ba

ning by someone b

must be Ekwefi.Of his three wives Ekwe

to bang o

me her voice, and all

ere packed in

his bed, pushed back

into Ekw

on a mat beside a hug

burning a

kwo as he took his mac

aves and grasses and b

the medici

he sick child, occasi

et, burnin

hild and the center

zinma who decided w

fi even gave her suc

rarely allowed to

al. One day as Ezin

unexpectedly from hi

beat Ekwefi if she da

impossible to refuse

e developed an even ke

all the secrecy in w

k her into their bedr

r mother Nne like all

as her father and oth

ween them was not on

ompanionship of equals,which was strengthen

e bed

a good deal in her l

them had died in infa

uried one child after

hen to grim resignat

ld be a woman's crow

al agony devoid of

market weeks became

und expression in th

m was a pathetic cry

ath took no notice,-

next child was a girl

ied in her eleventh

n became defiant and

ay please himse

wefi's second child,

also a diviner of the

man told him that the

hildren who, when the

ombs to be

mes pregnant again,"

her go and stay with h

cked tormentor and br

and

asked. As soon as sh

old mother in anothe

was born and circumci

Okonkwo's compound u

alled OnwumbikoOnwumbiko was not giv

r medicine man who w

dge about ogbanje ch

ue was a very strikin

d head. He was light

y. He always gnashed h

to consult him. He

ad child. All the neig

mourn gather

t-day was it b

replied

ied this

only then realized for

e same market-day as

ns also saw the coinc

at it was ver

with your wife, in y

ed the me

her

call her in

n ordered that there

brought out a sharp r

ft shoulder and began

o bury in the Evil For

it on the ground be

ink twice before comi

rying the stamp of theirmutilation-a missi

n's razor h

ko died Ekwefi had

first wife had alread

en she had borne her t

ered a goat for her

t good wishes for her

hi that she could not

And so, on the day

of her three sons wit

person in the happy

brow. Her husband'

bands' wives were w

tterness did not flow

oul,- that she did not

her own evil chi

born, and althoug

At first Ekwefi acce

listless resignation.

nd sixth years, love r

, anxiety. She determi

t all her being into

health during which

lm-wine. At such tim

sudden she would go

anje. These sudden

f her kind. But she h

ed to stay. Some of t

irth and death, or too

lieved deep inside he

because it was that fa

eaning. And this faith

dug up Ezinma's iyiuwa. Everyone knew t

anje had been broken.

ety for her daughter

her fear. And although

n dug up was genuine,

ally evil children so

ng up a sp

had looked real eno

dirty rag. The man w

famous in all the c

nma had not wanted to

ly to be expected. No

ost of them never did

they could be a

your iyi-uwa?" Okagb

was just recovering

uwa?" she ask

. You buried it in t

d return again to t

mother, whose eyes, s

d on

at once," roared Okon

were there and some

the medicine man to

urned again to Ezinma

iyi

dren," she replied, a

along then and show me the

ith Ezinma leading

ehind her. Okonkwo

e came to the main ro

as going to

s where they bury c

cine

hose feeling of impo

She sometimes broke

crowd followed her

rom the stream with

was happening until

e something to do with

nd her daught

g udala tree Ezinma tu

d her. Because of her

epers more quickly th

e tread of feet on dry

ree branches. Ezinma

th her. Then she sudd

the road. Everybody

filed a

this way for nothing

onkwo th

et her alone. 1 know

Oka

ack to the road, loo

ome again."Where did you bury your

ide her father's obi

t was quiet

at orange tree

say so, you wicked da

ously. The medicin

e exact spot," he sa

e said when they

t with your finge

zinma touching the g

mbling like thunder

a hoe," sa

t the hoe, he had a

big cloth and was in

h wound round the wais

egs to be fastened t

rk digging a pit wher

ound watching the pi

soil soon gave way to

bbed the floors and w

n silence, his back shi

pit. He asked Okagb

. But Okagbue said h

hut to cook yams. H

ual because the medic

and helped in prepa

she said."Don't you see the pot is

become smaller

"that was why the sn

th

ue," sai

ven baskets of vegetab

three. And so he kil

t the end o

"I remember now. He

em himself. And there

lled him

gbue and Okonkwo we

buried her iyi-uwa.

s now so deep that t

the red earth he thr

son, Nwoye, stood ne

ed to take in a

aken over the diggi

silence. The neighbor

children had lost inte

ang to the surface w

op

now," he said.

excitement and tho

your wife and child," he sa

e noise and run out

nto the pit, which

more hoe-fuls of earth

y with the hoe and th

in fear when it was

e was gazing at the

merged and without

ors he went to his goa

chew them. When he h

is left hand and began

pebble fell out.

urs?" he as

All the women shou

ubles were a

d more than a year a

hen suddenly she had

her to the fireplace

e. But she had got wo

with her palm the wet,

imes. Although her

thing more than iba,

m the bush carrying

es and leaves, roots

ent into Ekwefi's hut,

do

e child alone."Ekwefi went to bring th

ue proportions, and cu

Ekwefi poured

asked when she had p

er in t

id a little. Are you d

e

he fire and Okonkwo

to hi

t carefully," he said

If it does its power

kwefi began to tend t

sick child. Her eyes

oiling pot and

en he felt the medi

ed it over and

l for Ezinma," he sa

from the fire and pla

Ezinma and placed he

e thick mat was thro

rom the choking and o

down. She s

at last removed s

mopped her with a pie

y mat and wa