Chapter 12 twelve

The next morning, Okonkwo's friend Obierika held a wedding ceremony for his daughter, and the neighborhood was in a festive atmosphere.On this day, the suitors who have already paid most of the bride's value will bring palm wine, not only for the bride's parents and close relatives, but also for other folks called Umm Enna to drink.All men, women and children are invited.But, seriously, it's a woman's ritual.The main characters are the bride and her mother. At dawn, after a hurried breakfast, the women and children gathered at Obierika's house to help the bride's mother with the difficult but enjoyable task of cooking for the whole village.

The Okonkwo family is as busy as any other family in the neighbourhood.Nwoye's mother and Okonkwo's youngest wife were ready to take all their children to Obierika's house.Nwoye's mother brought a basket of cacao cacao, a salt cake and some smoked fish to give to Obierika's wife.Okonkwo's youngest wife, Ogiugo, also brought a basket of bananas and cacao cacao, as well as a small jar of palm oil.Their children brought several water jugs. Ekawifi was very tired from the previous night's travels and drowsy.It had not been long since they had come home.The priestess crawled out of the temple like a snake, carrying the sleeping Ekinma on her back, and met Okonkwo and Ekwifi at the entrance of the cave. She didn't even look at them, let alone expressed surprise .She kept her eyes on the front and walked back to the village.Okonkwo and his wife followed at a distance.They thought the priestess might be going back to her house, but instead she went straight into Okonkwo's courtyard, through his hut, to Ekwefi's hut, and into her bedroom.She put Ekinma carefully on the bed and left without saying a word to anyone.

Ekinma was still sound asleep when everyone else was getting busy, and Ekwifi asked Nwoye's mother and Ogiugo to apologize to Obierika's wife on her behalf, saying that she would be late.She had a basket of cacao and fish ready, but she had to wait for Ekinma to wake up. You need a break yourself, says Nwoye's mother, you look tired. While they were talking, Ekinma rubbed her eyes, stretched her thin arms, and came out of the hut.She saw the other children carrying pitchers and remembered that they had all gone to fetch water for Obierika's wife.So she went back into the house and came out with her pitcher.

Did you get enough sleep?her mother asked. Well, she replied, let's go. Go after breakfast.As Ekawifi said, she went into the house to warm up the vegetable soup she cooked last night. Let's go, said Nwoye's mother, and I'll tell Obierika's wife that you'll be over later.So they all went to help Obierika's wife Nwoye's mother with four children, and Ogiougo with her two children. As the group of them passed by Okonkwo's main house, he asked, who will prepare dinner for me? I'll come back and make it for you.Ogiugo said. Okonkwo was also tired and drowsy.No one knew, he didn't sleep all night.It turned out that he was extremely worried, but he didn't show it.After Ekawifi followed the priestesses out, in order to maintain the dignity of a man, he took a machete to the temple after a while, thinking that they would definitely be there.When he got there, it occurred to him that the priestess might have to go around the villages first.So he went home again, sat down and waited.When he felt that he had waited long enough, he went to the temple again.But the hills and caves were dead silent.He came and went until the fourth time, when he saw Ekwifi, and he was already very anxious.

Obierika's yard is bustling like an ant's nest.In every available place, tripods for makeshift cooking were erected by placing three mounds of dried earth together with a fire built between them.The cooking pots are placed on the tripod for a while, and taken off the tripod for a while, and the paste is being pounded in hundreds of wooden mortars at the same time.Some of the women were cooking cassava and cassava, and some were making vegetable soup.Some young men were pounding mush, while others were chopping firewood.The children went to the small river in an endless stream. Three young men were helping Obierika slaughter two goats for soup.

They were all very fat goats, and to a stake near the wall there was a goat even fatter than the two, almost like a calf, which was sent by Obierica to a relative far away. Bought from Umm Iki.He wants to give this live sheep to his in-laws. The market in Umuyki is such an amazing place, the young man sent by Obierika to buy the big goat said that there are so many people in the market, if you throw a handful of sand in the air, there will be no sand The grains fell to the ground. This was the result of a very nasty witchcraft, Obierika said, and the people of Umuyki wanted to develop their own market and annex the neighboring ones, so they made a very powerful witchcraft.On market days, before the rooster crows, the witch medicine turns into an old woman and stands in the middle of the market with a fan.With this enchanted fan she beckoned all the neighboring clans to come to the marketplace.She waved left, waved right, waved forward, waved back.

So all came, honest men and thieves, and another said that in that market they could take your clothes off your waist and steal them. Yes, said Obierika, I warned Nwakwo to keep his ears open and his eyes open.Once a man went to sell a goat. He used a thick rope to loop the goat at one end and tie the other end around his wrist, leading the goat along.But when he passed the market, he found people pointing at him as if he was crazy.He didn't understand what was going on, but when he looked back, he saw that what was being pulled by the rope was not a goat, but a big piece of wood. Do you think a thief alone can do such a thing?Nwakawo asked.

No, said Obierika, they used witchcraft. They cut the goat's throat, pooled the blood in a basin, and then hung the goat over an open stove to burn the wool, and the smell of burning wool mingled with cooking.Finally they washed the goat and cut it up and gave it to the women who made the soup. When all the activities in this ant nest were going on smoothly, they were suddenly interrupted.A cry came from a distance: Oki Udua Chu Yi Kiki ah ah! (The guy chasing flies with his tail!) Immediately, the women put down what they were doing and ran towards the direction of the shout. We can't all run out together like this, and let the dishes we cooked burn in the fire.Priestess Chiero yelled that we should keep three or four of us.

That's right, another woman said, we're going to keep three or four women. Five women were left to tend the cooking pots, while the rest ran off to see the escaped cow.When they saw the cow, they drove it back and returned it to its owner.The village stipulated that whoever whose cattle ran into the neighbor's crop fields would have to pay a heavy fine.So the owner of the cow paid the fine immediately.The women took the fine and checked the number of people to see if anyone had heard the shout and hadn't come out. Where is Ngbogo?a woman asked. She was sick and lying in bed, and Ngebogo's neighbors said she had a fever.

Only Udenkwo did not come, and another woman said that her child was not yet twenty-eight days old. The women who were not invited by Obierika's wife to help with the cooking went home, and the rest of the women went back to Obierika's yard together. Whose cow is it?asked the few women who stayed behind. It's my husband's cow, Eziragpo said, and a kid opened the gate to the stall. In the afternoon, Obierika's in-laws brought the first two cans of palm wine.According to etiquette, the wine was first given to the women who came to help cook, and they each drank a glass or two.A little was also given to the bride and her companions who were razoring the bride's hair one last time and painting mahogany dye on her smooth skin.

As the heat of the sun waned, Obierika's son, Maduka, took a long broom and swept the ground in front of his father's main house.Obierika's relatives and friends seemed to have been waiting for him to finish sweeping the floor, and then began to arrive one after another.Each had a sheepskin bag on his shoulder, and a roll of sheepskin mat under his arm.Some even brought their own children, and carried carved wooden stools for them.Okonkwo is one of them.They sat in a semicircle and talked about many things.The suitors will arrive shortly. Okonkwo took out his snuff bottle and offered it to Ogbu Effie who was sitting beside him.Esaiwa.Esaiba took it and knocked on his knee before pouring a pinch of cigarettes onto the palm of his left hand which had been wiped dry.His movements were unhurried, and while pouring out his cigarette, he said: I hope our in-laws will bring many jugs of wine.Although they came from a village known for their stinginess, they should have understood that Akueki was a bride worthy of an emperor. They were always embarrassed to bring too little wine, Okonkwo said, and if they brought less than thirty jugs, I would speak to them. At that moment Maduka, Obierika's son, brought the goat out of the inner courtyard and showed it to his father's relatives.They all praised and said that things should be done like this.So the big goat was led back to the inner courtyard again. Soon, the in-laws arrived one after another.First of all, a group of young people and children, each holding a jug of wine, filed in.As they walked, Obierika's relatives counted the wine they had brought.Twenty, twenty-five.Then there was a long time when no one came.The masters look at me and I look at you, as if they are saying, I said so.Then the jug came again.Thirty, thirty-five, forty, forty-five.The hosts nodded in praise, as if to say again, they look like men.There are fifty jugs of wine in total.The suitor, Ibby, and his parents follow behind the drinkers.They sat in a semicircle so that together with their masters they formed a circle.The wine jug is placed in the middle.At this time, the bride, her mother, and six or seven other women and girls came out of the inner courtyard and shook hands with everyone in the circle.The mother of the bride leads the way, followed by the bride and other women.The married women wore their best clothes, and the girls wore red and black waist beads and brass anklets. After the women withdrew, Obierica presented the kola fruit to his in-laws.His eldest brother cut open the first kola fruit.While dissecting, he said, I wish everyone a long life, and I wish you and my family love each other. Everyone answered together: Ai Ai Ai! Today we give you our daughter.She will be a good wife.She will bear you nine sons, like the mother of our clan. Hey hey! The oldest elder among the guests replied: This is good for you and good for us. Hey hey! This is not the first time our people have married your daughters.My mother is from your family. Hey hey! And it won't be the last time, because you know us and we know you.You are an amazing family. Hey hey! Rich men and great warriors!He looked in the direction of Okonkwo, your daughters will give us sons like you. Hey hey! After eating kola fruit, I started drinking.Groups of four or five people sit around a jug of wine.As dusk approaches, people serve dishes and rice to the guests.There are big pots of mush and steaming hot soup.There are also many plates of cassava porridge.What a grand feast. As the night fell, the blazing torches were placed on the wooden tripods, and the young people sang loudly.The elders formed a big circle, and the singer walked around the circle, and when he got to the front of each person, he had to sing a few words of praise to him.They have something to say about everyone.Some were great farmers, others were orators on behalf of the clan; they hailed Okonkwo as the greatest wrestler and warrior of his time.After they had circled around, they sat down in the middle of the circle, while the girls came out of the inner courtyard to dance.The bride, who was not at first among them, came out a moment later, holding a rooster in her right hand; the crowd cheered loudly. The other dancing girls made room for her.The bride presented the rooster to the musicians, and began to dance, her brass anklets clattering as she danced, and her rosewood powdered body gleaming in the yellowish light.Musicians played instruments made of wood, clay and metal and sang song after song.They were all in high spirits.They sang the latest song in the village: I hold her hand, She said, don't touch it! I pinched her feet, She said, don't touch it! I touched her waist beads, She pretended not to know. Playing until late at night, the guests get up and go home, taking the bride home with her for seven market weeks with the suitor's family.They sang along as they walked, making brief and courteous visits to eminent persons like Okonkwo before heading back to their villages.Okonkwo gave them two roosters.