Arrival of Ikemefuna

Gome, gome, gome, gome. I remembered the booming of the hollow metal in the silent night. Darkness held the night of today. I am sitting at the outside of my hut and I could see the poor glooming of lamp oil from my senior wife’s hut. I guess she is busying taking care of the poor Ikemefuna.

Two days ago, I went to the market which was full with the men of Umuofia, all talking in low voices. Ogbuefi Ezeudu announced that a man from Mbaino killed a daughter of my clan. The poor fellow was the wife of Ogbuefi Udo. Anger spilled among us. I was the one chosen to travel to Mbaino to reach for an agreement. The Mbaino tribe offered a virgin and a young man to Umuofia as recompense for their crime. The girl is brought to Ogbuefi Udo;s household. On behalf on my clan, I accepted the boy and he will stay at my household until his fate is decided. Through the forest path returning to my clan, I could see through the eyes of the poor boy that he was so terribly afraid.

I told my wife about Ikemefuna. I thundered at my wife as she questioned me. How dare she question me? Since when she became one of the ndichie of the Umuofia? Right after then, she questioned no more. 

Fear reflected from his eyes when he was first brought into my family