had been killed in Abame and his iron horse tied to the sacred silk-cotton tree. And so
everybody came to see the white man. It was the time of the year when everybody was
at home. The harvest was over.
When they had all gathered, the white man began to speak to them. He spoke
through an interpreter who was an Ibo man, though his dialect was different and harsh
to the enrs of Mbanta. Many people laughed at his dialect and the way he used words
strangely. Instead of saying "myself" he always said "my buttocks." But he was a man
of commanding presence and the clansmen listened to him. He said he was one of them,
they could see from his colour and his language. The other four black men were also
their brothers, although one of them did not speak Ibo. The white man was also their
brother because they were all sons of God. And he told them about this new God, the
Creator of all the world and all the men and women. He told them that they worshipped
false gods, gods of wood and stone. A deep murmur went through the crowd when he
said this. He told them that the true God lived on high and that all men when they died
went before Him for judgment. Evil men and all the heathen who in their blindness
bowed to wood and stone were thrown into a fire that burned like palm-oil. But good
men who worshipped the true God lived forever in His happy kingdom.
"We have been sent by this great God to ask you to leave your wicked ways and
false gods and turn to Him so that you may be saved when you die," he said.
"Your buttocks understand our language," said someone light-heartedly and the
crowd laughed.
"What did he say?" the white man asked his interpreter. But before he could
answer, another man asked a question: "Where is the white man's horse?" he asked. The
Ibo evangelists consulted among themselves and decided that the man probably meant
bicycle. They told the white man and he smiled benevolently.
"Tell them," he said, "that I shall bring many iron horses whe