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Chapter One

This was the third nightfall since he began to look for signs of the new an his watch three days early because he must not take a risk In this season of the year his task was not too difficult; he did not have to peer and search the sky as he ht do when the rains came Then the new moon sometimes hid itself for days behind rain clouds so that when it finally caa

His obi was built differently fro threshold in front but also a shorter one on the right as you entered The eaves on this additional entrance were cut back so that sitting on the floor Ezeulu could watch that part of the sky where thedarker and he constantly blinked to clear his eyes of the water that for so intently

Ezeulu did not like to think that his sight was no longer as good as it used to be and that sorandfather had done when his sight failed Of course he had lived to such a great age that his blindness became like an ornament on him If Ezeulu lived to be so old he too would accept such a loss But for the present he was as good as any young er what they used to be There was one ga on them Whenever they shook hands with hirip, and being unprepared for it they winced and recoiled with pain

The ly by a cruel foster-mother He peered more closely to make sure he was not deceived by a feather of cloud At the saene It was the same at every new moon He was now an old man but the fear of the new moon which he felt as a little boy still hovered round him It was true that when he became Chief Priest of Ulu the fear was often overpowered by the joy of his high office; but it was not killed It lay on the ground in the grip of the joy

He beat his ogene GOME GOME GOME GOME… and immediately children’s voices took up the news on all sides Onwa atuo!… onwa atuo!… onwa atuo!… He put the stick back into the iron gong and leaned it on the wall

The little children in his coeli’s tiny voice stood out like a s druest son, Nwafo The wo

‘Moon,’ said the senior wife, Matefi, ‘ood fortune’

‘Where is it?’ asked Ugoye,

the younger wife ‘I don’t see it Or am I blind?’

‘Don’t you see beyond the top of the ukwa tree? Not there Follow er’

‘Oho, I see it Moon, ood fortune But how is it sitting? I don’t like its posture’

‘Why?’ asked Matefi

‘I think it sits aardly – like an evil moon’

‘No,’ said Matefi ‘A bad moon does not leave anyone in doubt Like the one under which Okuata died Its legs were up in the air’

‘Does theat her mother’s cloth

‘What have I done to this child? Do you want to strip me naked?’

‘I said does the moon kill people?’

‘It kills little girls,’ said Nwafo, her brother

‘I did not ask you, ant-hill nose’

‘You will soon cry, long throat’

The moon kills little boys

The moon kills ant-hill nose

The

Ezeulu went into his barn and took down one yam from the bamboo platforht left He knew there would be eight; nevertheless he counted them carefully He had already eaten three and had the fourth in his hand He checked the re the door of the barn carefully after him