"Their clan is now completely empty. Even the sacred fish in their mysterious
lake have fled and the lake has turned the colour of blood. A great evil has come upon
their land as the Oracle had warned."
There was a long silence. Uchendu ground his teeth together audibly. Then he
burst out: "Never kill a man who says nothing. Those men of Abame were fools. What
did they know about the man?" He ground his teeth again and told a story to illustrate
his point. "Mother Kite once sent her daughter to bring food. She went, and brought
back a duckling. 'You have done very well,' said Mother Kite to her daughter, 'but tell
me, what did the mother of this duckling say when you swooped and carried its child
away?'
'It said nothing,' replied the young kite. 'It just walked away.'
'You must return the duckling,' said Mother Kite. 'There is something ominous
behind the silence.' And so Daughter Kite returned the duckling and took a chick
instead. 'What did the mother of this chick do?' asked the old kite. 'It cried and raved
and cursed me,' said the young kite. 'Then we can eat the chick,' said her mother. 'There
is nothing to fear from someone who shouts.' Those men of Abame were fools."
"They were fools," said Okonkwo after a pause. "They had been warned that
danger was ahead. They should have armed themselves with their guns and their
machetes even when they went to market."
"They have paid for their foolishness," said Obierika, "But I am greatly afraid.
We have heard stories about white men who made the powerful guns and the strong
drinks and took slaves away across the seas, but no one thought the stories were true."
"There is no story that is not true," said Uchendu. "The world has no end, and
what is good among one people is an abomination with others. We have ?&???2???p?W2?F???R??BF????F?BF?W?6?RF??W"6??'??7F?R?F?BF?W??fR7G&?VBg&??F?V?"v?F???Bv?W&RWfW'?&?G??2??RF?V?? ???