Mazi Okagu spoke beautifully. He greeted the Elders and powerfully presented his case, interspersing his speech with lots of proverbs. “Elders of this land” he finally said in conclusion, “ours is a small land and no one here, in this ancient building built by our ancestors, can ever dare swear before our gods that he has never noticed the relationship between Emeka, sitting over there, and my daughter Obiageli.” Many of the Elders nodded and looked at each other, in obvious agreement with Mazi Okagu. “Initially, I had regarded this relationship as nothing...nothing to arouse my suspicion, because it was never different from what was going on among our children of the same age group. But our fathers say that when the hen quickly runs for cover with her chicks, lift your eyes up to the heav
