CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Okonkwo was well received by his mother's kinsmen in Mbanta. The old man who
received him was his mother's younger brother, who was now the eldest surviving
member of that family. His name was Uchendu, and it was he who had received
Okonkwo's mother twenty and ten years before when she had been brought home Irom
Umuofia to be buried with her people. Okonkwo was only a boy then and Uchendu still
remembered him crying the traditional farewell: "Mother, mother, mother is going."
That was many years ago. Today Okonkwo was not bringing his mother home to
be buried with her people. He was taking his family of three wives and their children to
seek refuge in his motherland. As soon as Uchendu saw him with his sad and weary
company he guessed what had happened, and asked no questions. It was not until the
following day that Okonkwo told him the full story. The old man listened silently to the
end and then said with some relief: "It is a female ochu." And he arranged the requisite
rites and sacrifices.
Okonkwo was given a plot of ground on which to build his compound, and two
or three pieces of land on which to farm during the coming planting season. With the
help of his mother's kinsmen he built himself an obi and three huts for his wives. He
then installed his personal god and the symbols of his departed fathers. Each of
Uchendu's five sons contributed three hundred seed-yams to enable their cousin to plant
a farm, for as soon as the first rain came farming would begin.
At last the rain came. It was sudden and tremendous. For two or three moons the
sun had been gathering strength till it seemed to breathe a breath of fire on the earth. All
the grass had long been scorched brown, and the sands felt like live coals to the feet.
Evergreen trees wore a dusty coat of brown. The birds were silenced in the forests, and
the world lay panting under the live, vibrating heat. And then came the clap of thunder.
It was an angry, metallic and thirsty clap, unlike the deep and liquid rumbling of the
rainy season. A mighty wind arose and filled the air with dust.