Chapter 17 seventeen

For four or five days in a row, the missionaries spent the night in the market and went to the village to preach during the day.They wanted to know who the chief of the village was, and the people replied that they had no chief.We have some people with high titles, and high priests and elders.they said.After the excitement of the first day had passed, it was not easy to bring together the senior titles and elders.But the missionaries repeatedly asked, and the leaders of Nbunta finally received them.The missionaries asked for a piece of land for them to build a church. In every clan and village, there is a fierce forest.Here are buried all those who died of diseases such as leprosy and smallpox.When the great witch doctors died, their magical fetishes were also buried here.So the evil forest is full of ghosts and dark forces.Such a forest was given to the missionaries by the leaders of Nbunta.They didn't want the missionaries to actually stay and live in their clan, so they gave the missionaries a place like this; no madman would ever take it.

Wu Chengdu discussed this matter with his peers.They asked for a piece of land to build them a temple, and he said, we can give them a piece of land.He paused for a moment, when there was a murmur of surprise and disapproval that we should give them a forest.They boast that they can conquer death, let us give them a real battlefield and see how they conquer death.People laughed and agreed to do it.So they sent someone to call the missionaries back. They originally asked the missionaries to leave for a while for their own consultation.They told the missionaries that they could give them as much forest as they wanted.To their surprise, the missionaries expressed their thanks and sang loudly.

They don't understand it now, but several elders said that they will understand it when they get there tomorrow morning.After that, they each went home. The next morning, the group of lunatics went to clear a forest and started to build a house.The residents of Embunta predicted that they would die within four days.But the first day passed, and the second, third, and fourth days passed, but no one died.Everyone doesn't understand.Before long it was said that the white man's fetish possessed unbelievable power.It is said that he wore mirrors over his eyes so that he could see ghosts and talk to them.Before long, he had won three disciples.

Although Nwoye had been drawn to this new religion from day one, he kept it to himself.He was afraid of his father, so he did not dare to get too close to the interpreters.But whenever they came to preach in the empty market place or the village square, Nwoye always went there.He had memorized a few of the simple stories they told. Now we have built a church.Kiaga said.He was the interpreter, temporarily presiding over the fledgling congregation.The white man had gone back to Umm Ofia, where he had his headquarters, and came regularly to Emponta to check on the congregation at Kiaga. Now that we have built a church, Chiaga said, we ask you to come here every seven days and worship the true God.

The following Sunday, Nwoye walked up and down the laterite-walled, palm-roofed building, never able to muster up enough courage to enter.He heard singing, loud and confident even though there were only a few people.The church is located in a newly opened circular clearing, and it looks like the evil forest is opening its mouth.Is it going to bite?Nwoye lingered in front of the church for a long time, and finally returned home. The Embunta know that their gods and ancestors are sometimes patient and willfully allow a person to continue to defy them.But even in this case they fixed a time limit of seven market weeks, or twenty-eight days.After this deadline, they will never allow anyone to continue to defy them.The courageous missionaries built a church in the fierce forest. It was almost the seventh market week, and the excitement of the villagers reached its climax.They were so sure that death awaited them, that one or two believers even felt it best to give up the new religion for a while.

The last day came, and the missionaries should have all died, but they did not, and built a new house for their teacher, Chiaga, with a red clay wall and a palm roof.During that week, they gained a few more believers and, for the first time, a woman.Her name was Enleka, and she was the wife of Amadi, a wealthy farmer.Enleka is about to give birth. Enleka has been pregnant four times before and gave birth to a child.But every time they were twins, they were thrown away as soon as they were born.Her husband and family had long disliked such a woman, and they were not overly disturbed to find out that she had gone to Christianity.It's good to get rid of her.

One morning Okonkwo's cousin Amikawo, passing the church on his way back from a neighboring village, saw Nwoye among a group of Christians.He was startled, and when he got home, he went straight to Okonkwo's main room and told him what he had seen.The women talked excitedly after hearing this, but Okonkwo sat quietly. Nwoye did not return until late in the afternoon.He went into the main room and greeted his father, who ignored him.Nwoye turned to go to the inner courtyard when his father jumped up in a sudden rage and threw him in a stranglehold. where have you been?he stammered.

Nwoye struggled desperately to free himself from the grasp that would have strangled him. Answer me, Okonkwo yelled, don't wait for me to kill you!He picked up a thick stick leaning against the low wall and hit Nwoye hard two or three times. answer me!he growled again.Nwoye stood still, watching him, without saying a word.The women were yelling outside, afraid to go in. Let that kid go!Someone from the outer court was talking.This is Okonkwo's uncle Uchendu, are you crazy? Okonkwo did not answer, but let go.Nwoye walked out and never returned. He returned to the church and told Chiaga that he had decided to go to Umm Ofia.White missionaries ran a school there to teach young Christians to read and write.

Chiajia was overjoyed.Blessed is he who forsakes his parents for me, he sang, he who listens to me.It is my parents. Nwoye didn't quite understand.But he was happy to be away from his father.In the future, he will go back to see his mother and brothers and sisters, and persuade them to convert to Protestantism. That night, Okonkwo sat in the hut, looking at a pile of firewood, thinking about the matter carefully, and his heart was boiling with anger.He felt a strong urge to take up his machete, go to the church, and kill the shameless cultists.But after thinking about it again, he felt that Nwoye was not worth fighting for.He wailed in his heart, why did he, Okonkwo, have such a useless son?He knew very well that this was again the arrangement of his patron saint.How else could explain his doom and exile, and this time the shameful conduct of his son?Now that he had more time to think, he saw clearly that his son's crime was unforgivable.To abandon the gods of my father to cluck like old hens with a bunch of effeminate men was an extremely disgraceful act.What would happen if, after his death, his sons followed Nwoye's example and abandoned their ancestors?Okonkwo shuddered at the thought of this terrible, almost devastating prospect.He seemed to see himself and his ancestors crowding at the altar, waiting for the worship and sacrifice of the descendants, but no one came; nothing but the dust of old days, while his children were praying to the God of the white man.If that should happen, he, Okonkwo, must wipe them off the face of the earth.

People have always called Okonkwo a flame.Staring at the firewood, he remembered the nickname.He is indeed a raging fire.But how could he have produced such a depraved, effeminate son as Nwoye?Maybe Nwoye was not his son.No, it couldn't be his son.His wife cheated on him.He wants to teach her a lesson!But Nwoye resembled his grandfather Unoka, who was Okonkwo's father.So he stopped thinking about it that way.He, Okonkwo, was called a raging fire.How could he give birth to a son like a woman?At Nwoye's age, Okonkwo had already made a name for himself in Umm Ofia for his wrestling and bravery.

He sighed deeply.As if to express sympathy, the smoking firewood also sighed.In an instant, Okonkwo's eyes lit up, and he saw the whole problem clearly.Lively fire produces useless cold ashes.He sighed again, deeply.