stood in his eyes. His visitor was amazed, and sat speechless. At the end, Unoka was
able to give an answer between fresh outbursts of mirth.
"Look at that wall," he said, pointing at the far wall of his hut, which was rubbed
with red earth so that it shone. "Look at those lines of chalk," and Okoye saw groups of
short perpendicular lines drawn in chalk. There were five groups, and the smallest group
had ten lines. Unoka had a sense of the dramatic and so he allowed a pause, in which he
took a pinch of snuff and sneezed noisily, and then he continued: "Each group there
represents a debt to someone, and each stroke is one hundred cowries. You see, I owe
that man a thousand cowries. But he has not come to wake me up in the morning for it. I
shall pay you, but not today. Our elders say that the sun will shine on those who stand
before it shines on those who kneel under them. I shall pay my big debts first." And he
took another pinch of snuff, as if that was paying the big debts first. Okoye rolled his
goatskin and departed.
When Unoka died he had taken no title at all and he was heavily in debt. Any
wonder then that his son Okonkwo was ashamed of him? Fortunately, among these
people a man was judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his
father. Okonkwo was clearly cut out for great things. He was still young but he had won
fame as the greatest wrestler in the nine villages. He was a wealthy farmer and had two
barns full of yams, and had just married his third wife. To crown it all he had taken two
titles and had shown incredible prowess in two inter-tribal wars. And so although
Okonkwo was still young, he was already one of the greatest men of his time. Age was
respected among his people, but achievement was revered. As the elders said, if a child
washed his hands he could eat with kings. Okonkwo had clearly washed his hands and
so he ate with kings and elders. And that was how he came to look after the doomed lad
who was sacrificed to the village of Umuofia by their neighbours to avoid war and
bloodshed. The ill-fated lad was called Ikemefuna.