[Music] in part one chapter 10 of Chinua Achebe's things fall apart crowds have assembled at the ehlo a gathering space in the village to watch a public trial nine masked a googled act as judges the egg Gugu our revered village elders the most powerful and most secret of the clan and in their role as mass judges they represent the ancestral spirits of ammonia at this trial a man claims that his wife's relatives kidnapped his wife and children he married by purchasing her with his money in his yams he says he went to his in-laws and asked them to return his bride price as called for by the law of the clan the wife's family admits that all of this is true but they say the man is in haste who beat his wife every day during the nine years they were married one beating nearly killed her and another caused her to miscarry they say she should not have to pay back the bride price because she fled to save her life the eglee who instruct the man to go back to his in-laws and beg for his wife's return and they advised the wife's family to accept this request many of the villagers realize that the egregore village elders but if they thought these things the narrator says they kept them within themselves the clan believes that their tribes ancient spirits are the only ones permitted to judge them and a select group of clan leaders impersonate them so the clan members can see hear and believe in the adjudication process the nine men portraying the egg even take care to costume themselves and alter their voices to further their impersonations through this role-playing the egg woohoo fill an important function for the clan embodying ancestral knowledge and the law they take these rules seriously and the people obey their verdicts this belies the view of the ebo as people who believe that might means right while Okonkwo certainly believes in physical strength and power he's also an egg Gugu and by extension he recognizes and respects religious law the patriarchal nature of the clan is consistent as the narrator puts it it was clear that the ceremony was for men though the wife does not speak for herself at the trial and her return seems assured so long as her husband begs her forgiveness it's clear that a man is not free to treat his wife any way he chooses the husband here is shamed and must beg forgiveness [Music]