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Things Fall Apart Chapter 15
During the second year of Okonkwo's exile, Obierika comes to visit and brings news of the destruction of Abame by white men. Apparently a white man came to Abame and the elders consulted the Oracle about what to do with him. The Oracle told them that the white man would break their clan and spread destruction among all of them. It also said that more white men were on their way, so the people of Abame killed him. He had come to Abame on an "'iron horse,'" Part 2: Chapter 15, Pg. 120 a bicycle, and they left it tied to a tree to prevent it from returning to tell the white men what had happened. Time passed and nothing happened until a few more white men showed up and saw the bicycle. Then on the great market day in Abame, they surrounded the public market and shot all the people there before they could even realize that they were in danger. Okonkwo considers the people of Abame fools because they did not fully heed the Oracle's warning that the white man would bring danger and that other white men would follow him and Obierika confesses his fear. He says, "'We have heard stories about white men who made the powerful guns and the strong drinks and took slaves away across the seas, but no one thought the stories were true.'" Part 2: Chapter 15, Pg. 122
