Arrow of God

by Chinua Achebe

‘It is good for a misfortune like this to happen once in a while,’ he said, ‘so that we can know the thoughts of our friends and neighbours. Unless the wind blows we do not see the fowl’s rump.’

my best. It is your father who ill-treats me. And when you talk to him,’ she added seriously, ‘ask him why at his age he must run like an antelope. Last year he could not get up for days after the ceremony.’

The white man is like hot soup and we must take him slowly-slowly from the edges of the bowl. Umuaro was here before the white man came from his own land to seek us out. We did not ask him to visit us; he is neither our kinsman nor our in-law. We did not steal his goat or his fowl; we did not take his land or his wife. In no way whatever have we done him wrong. And yet he has come to make trouble for us.

Wright after deep thought, ‘is that he is too serious to sleep with native women.’ Clarke was startled out of his own thoughts, and for a brief moment he completely forgot about Winterbottom. On more than one occasion during his present tour he had come up in his mind against the question: How widespread was the practice of white men sleeping with native women? ‘He doesn’t seem to realize that even Governors have been known to keep dusky mistresses.’ He licked his lips. ‘I don’t think it’s a

he had been nothing else all his life. It’s the same with Court Clerks and even messengers. They all manage to turn themselves into little tyrants over their own people. It seems to be a trait in the character of the negro.’