In chapter 9 you learn that Ekwefi's only daughter Ezinma is dying. You also find out that her nine other children have died in infancy. She developed the habit of naming them symbolic things such as “Onwumbiko,” which means, “Death, I implore you,” and “Ozoemena,” which means, “May it not happen again.” Okonkwo learns that an ogbanje is what is tormenting them. An ogbanje is a wicked child that reenters the mother's womb just to die over and over again to cause the parent grief. The medicine man messed up body of the third child to discourage the ogbanje's return. Ezinma was an ogbanje child as well, like others she suffered many illnesses but recovered all of them. Ezinma's iyi-uwa is found which is the small, buried pebble that is the ogbanje's link to the spirit world.
Chapter 10: The village holds a ceremonial gathering to administer justice. The clan's ancestral spirits known as egwugwus emerge from a secret house where no woman is allwoed to set foot. They take the masked form of men and everyone thinks Okonkwo is with them. The first disputes that comes involves a man and his wife. The man claims that her three brother beat him and took her away from him. The egwugwu decide in the favor of her brothers.