Summary & Discussion on Elements of Prose in Chapter 4 

Chapter 4 opens with the revelation that Chief Nchindia never wanted to be Chief.  On the day of the Catching Ceremony, the Chief-catcher’s hands fell on him instead of on Antony Nkoaleck, so he fled.

 Ngobefuo sends Beckongncho and ten strong men to bring him back, saying “Biongong is still waiting to crown him”. By the end of the chapter, Nchindia is being brought back.

 Ngobefuo goes into the chamber with the D.O. and picks up the fragments of desecrated clothing that Antony Nkoaleck had thrown away.

 He tells the D.O.: “Goment, do you see these things which I am holding like nothing?”.

 The D.O. remains “guiltily silent” because “it was his intervention that had sparked off all the confusion”.

 Ngobefuo warns: “This is spittle which we have spat above our heads. One day it will fall back to foul our faces”. He adds, “We shall never wash our hands clean”.

 This shows the elders believe the sale of the sacred god _Akeukeuor to a white man will bring collective guilt and ancestral punishment.

 A distant battle cry is heard. The people echo it back in the traditional manner a sign that the new Chief is being brought back.

Chapter 4 shows Nchindia being dragged back to take the chieftaincy he rejected, while Ngobefuo confronts the D.O. over the desecration of Akeukeuor, warning that the community has committed a sin it can never wash clean.