Mr. Smith said to his interpreter: "Tell them to go away from here. This is the
house of God and I will not live to see it desecrated."
Okeke interpreted wisely to the spirits and leaders of Umuofia: "The white man
says he is happy you have come to him with your grievances, like friends. He will be
happy if you leave the matter in his hands."
"We cannot leave the matter in his hands because he does not understand our
customs, just as we do not understand his. We say he is foolish because he does not
know our ways, and perhaps he says we are foolish because we do not know his. Let
him go away."
Mr. Smith stood his ground. But he could not save his church. When the
egwugwu went away the red-earth church which Mr. Brown had built was a pile of
earth and ashes. And for the moment the spirit of the clan was pacified.