Again and again
One of the things every man learned was the language ofthe hollowedout wooden instrument. Dum! Dum! Dum! boomedthe cannon at intervals.The first cock had not crowed, and Umuofia was still swallowedup in sleep and silence when the ekwe began to talk, and thecannon shattered the silence. Men stirred on their bamboo beds andlistened anxiously. Somebody was dead. The cannon seemed torend the sky. links of london friendship
Digogodigodidigogo floated in the messageladen night air. The faint and distant wailing of women settled likea sediment of sorrow on the earth. Now and again a fullchestedlamentation rose above the wailing whenever a man came into theplace of death. He raised his voice once or twice in manly sorrowand then sat down with the other men listening to the endlesswailing of the women and the esoteric language of the ekwe. Nowand again the cannon boomed. The wailing of the women wouldnot be heard beyond the village, but the ekwe carried the news toall the nine villages and even beyond. links of london rings It began by naming the clan:Umuofia obodo dike! "the land of the brave." Umuofia obodo dike!Umuofia obodo dike! It said this over and over again, and as it dwelt on it, anxiety mounted in every heart that heaved on abamboo bed that night. Then it went nearer and named the village:" Iguedo of the yellow grindingstone !" It was Okonkwo's village.Again and again Iguedo was called and men waited breathlessly inall the nine villages. At last the man was named and people sighed"Euu, Ezeudu is dead." A cold shiver ran down Okonkwo's backas he remembered the last time the old man had visited him. links of london bracelet
"Thatboy calls you father," he had said. "Bear no hand in his death."Ezeudu was a great man, and so all the clan was at his funeral. Theancient drums of death beat, guns and cannon were fired, and mendashed about in frenzy, cutting down every tree or animal they saw,jumping over walls and dancing on the roof. It was a warrior'sfuneral, and from morning till night warriors came and went intheir age groups. They all wore smoked raffia skirts and theirbodies were painted with chalk and charcoal.