Chapter Nine
Okonkwo finally sleeps through the night. At dawn Ekwefi bangs on his door, crying “Ezinma is dying.” Okonkwo rushes to his wife’s hut to find the little girl shivering over a fire. He diagnoses her with iba and leaves to collect medicinal bark, roots and leaves. While he is away, the narrative expands on Ekwefi’s past: she has borne ten children, nine of whom died in infancy (Onwumbiko, Ozoemena, Onwuma, etc.). The deaths are explained by the belief that the children were ogbanje—evil spirits that return to the mother’s womb. A previous medicine man, Okagbue Uyanwa, had once declared one of Ekwefi’s dead children an ogbanje and instructed her to stay away from her hut during pregnancy.
When Ezinma’s illness worsens, Ekwefi summons Okagbue again. He arrives, tall, bearded, bald, with red eyes, and questions Okonkwo about the child’s birth and death day, noting the coincidence that the child died on the same market day it was born. He asks where Ekwefi sleeps and advises that in future the wife should sleep in the husband’s obi. He orders that the dead child receive no mourning and proceeds to mutilate the corpse before burying it in the Evil Forest, believing this will trap the ogbanje.
Okonkwo, Ekwefi and the neighbors gather as Okagbue interrogates Ezinma about the location of her iyi‑uwa. She leads the party through the village, into a bush, and finally to an orange tree where she points to the ground. Okagbue, now in his underwear and a strip of cloth, begins digging with a hoe while the crowd watches. The pit deepens, and after several throws of earth the medicine man strikes the object. He pulls out a smooth pebble wrapped in a dirty rag—the iyi‑uwa. He shows it to Ezinma, who claims it, and the women shout with joy, believing the ogbanje’s hold on Ekwefi is broken.
Soon after, Ezinma again becomes feverish. Ekwefi again tends her, while Okonkwo returns with a large bundle of medicinal herbs. He prepares a potent pot, scolds Ekwefi for being slow, and warns her not to let it boil over. He carries the steaming pot on a low stool, covers Ezinma with a thick mat, and after the steam subsides Ezinma collapses, drenched in sweat. Ekwefi mops her with a cloth and the child soon falls asleep, recovered.