Things Fall Apart

The nine villages of Umuofia had grown out of the nine sons of the first father of the clan. Evil Forest represented the village of Umueru, or the children of Eru, who was the eldest of the nine sons.

"We cannot leave the matter in his hands because he does not understand our customs, just as we do not understand his. We say he is foolish because he does not know our ways, and perhaps he says we are foolish because we do not know his. Let him go away."

His life had been ruled by a great passion--to become one of the lords of the clan. That had been his life-spring. And he had all but achieved it.

'When mother-cow is chewing grass its young ones watch its mouth.'

"When the moon is shining the cripple becomes hungry for a walk."

Eneke the bird says that since men have learned to shoot without missing, he has learned to fly without perching.

. As the elders said, if a child washed his hands he could eat with kings

Men have learned to shoot without missing their mark and I have learned to fly without perching on a twig

He was not a fighter, but his voice turned every man into a lion

Umuofia was like a startled animal with ears erect, sniffing the silent, ominous air and not knowing which way to run