Chapter 16 sixteen

When Obierica came to visit his friend in exile some two years later, things were not so happy.Missionaries have come to Umm Ofiah.There they built churches, won a small following, and even sent out missionaries to the surrounding towns and villages.This is what the clan leaders feel most sad about.But most of them believed that such eccentric beliefs and the white man's God would not last.Those believers are people who have no one to listen to them in the assembly of the tribe.None are titled.Most of them are the kind of people who are called Evlov, that is, incompetent and looked down upon.In the language of the clan, Evlov represents a man who has sold his machete and gone to war with its scabbard.Chiero, the priestess of Agbara, called the followers the dung of the clan, and the new religion was a mad dog eating dung.

The reason Obierika came to visit Okonkwo again was because one day he suddenly saw Okonkwo's son Nwoye among the missionaries in Umm Ofia. After much trouble, the missionaries allowed him to speak to Nwoye.what are you doing hereObierika asked him. I am one of them.Nwoye replied. How is your father?Obierika asked, not knowing what to say. I have no idea.He is not my father.said Nwoye unhappily. So, Obierica came to Embunta to see his friend.He found Okonkwo reluctant to mention Nwoye.He heard only bits and pieces from Nwoye's mother. The arrival of the missionaries caused considerable commotion in the village of Nbunta.A total of six people came, including a white man.All men and women ran out to see the white man.Ever since a white man had been slain in Abam and his iron horse tied to the sacred kapok tree, rumors of these eccentrics had grown.So, everybody wants to see this white guy.It just so happens that it's that time of the year when people stay at home.The harvest season has just passed.

As the people gathered, the white man began to speak to them.An Igbo interpreted for him, but he spoke a vernacular different from the local dialect, which sounded harsh to the Embunta.People often laughed at his voice and his strange choice of words.He doesn't talk about me, he always talks about my ass.But his appearance was very dignified, so the people of the clan continued to listen.He said to them: He is their own, this, they can see from his skin color and speech, the other four blacks, although one of them does not speak the Igbo language, are also their brothers, and so is the white man their brothers, for they are all sons of God.He then explained this God to them as the Creator of the universe and of all men and women.He told them that the gods of wood and stone they worshiped were false gods, and there was a murmur of discussion at this point.He also said to them that the true God is in heaven, and that all people will go before him to be judged after death.Wicked people and pagans who blindly worship wood and stone will be thrown into the fire that burns like palm oil.Good people who worship the true God can live forever in the kingdom of joy, the great God has sent us to ask you to leave your evil ways and false gods so that you can be saved after death.He said.

Your ass knows our word.Someone joked.People roared with laughter. what did he say?The white man asked the interpreter.Before he could answer, someone asked again, where is the white man's horse?A couple of Igbo missionaries conferred and thought he might be referring to bicycles.They told the white man, and the white man smiled kindly. Tell them, he said, that I will bring many iron horses when we live with them.Some of them can even ride iron horses.These two sentences were translated into Igbo, but only a few people heard them.When they heard that white people were coming to live with them, they all talked excitedly.It did not occur to them that he would come to live with them.

At this time, an old man said that he wanted to ask a question: What is your god?Was it, he asked, the Mother Earth, the god of the sky, Amadeora, the god of thunder, or some other god? The interpreter told the white man, and the white man immediately replied: None of the gods you speak of are gods.They are deceitful gods who want you to kill your own people and innocent children.There is only one true God, and heaven, earth, you and me, and all people belong to Him. If we leave our gods and believe in your gods, another person asks, our gods and ancestors are left alone and lose our temper, who will protect us?

Your gods are not alive and cannot hurt you, replied the white man, they are but chips and stones. After these words were translated to the Nbunta people, they couldn't help but sneer.These people must be crazy, they thought to themselves.How can they say that Arnie and Amadeola do no harm?Didn't Idmiri and Egwugwu hurt anyone?Some people started walking away. Suddenly the missionaries began to sing.It was a cheerful and lively preaching song, and it had a power that could touch the quiet and melancholy heartstrings of the Igbo people.The translator explained the meaning of each line to the listeners, and some were mesmerized.The lyrics tell the story of brothers who lived in darkness and fear and did not know God's love.It also speaks of a sheep on the mountain that left God's fold and the care of a loving Shepherd.

After the song was sung, the interpreter spoke of the Son of God, whose name was Jesus Christ.At this moment, Okonkwo, who stayed there only because he wanted to see these people beaten and driven out of the village, said: You just told us with your own mouth that there is only one God.Now you talk about His son, then He must have a wife.Everyone agreed with him. I didn't say he had a wife.The translator faltered. Your ass says he has a son, said the guy who was just joking, so he must have a wife, and they must both have asses. The preacher ignored him and went on to talk about the Holy Trinity.By the end, Okonkwo was absolutely sure the man was crazy.He shrugged and went home to harvest the afternoon toddy.However, there was one young man who was fascinated.His name was Nwoye, Okonkwo's eldest son.It wasn't some madness about the Trinity that fascinated him, which he didn't understand, but the poetry of this new religion, which somehow seemed to touch the depths of his soul.A vague question had been tormenting his childish heart, and the hymn about the brothers sitting in darkness and fear seemed to answer it. Why were the twins crying in the forest?Why was Ikemefna killed?Psalms poured over his parched soul and lifted the burden from his heart.The words of the hymn fell like hailstones one by one in the thirsty mouth of the panting earth and melted.Nwoye's young mind was completely bewildered.