"They came in hordes, and squatted on the land. It only took an hour or two, and the village returned to normal."
The Beggar says this to Makuri and Alu. His statement is about the locusts that came and consumed the freshly grown crops of his land after he and the other beggars have worked to grow them. This matters greatly because the land he speaks of had been in drought for many years, and the fact that rain came to make the soil fertile created great hope in him and his people, which was stolen by the locusts.
"And when the Kadiye blessed my marriage, and tied the heaven-made knot, did he not promise a long life? Did he not promise children? Did he not promise happiness?"
Igwezu is shaving Kadiye's beard and has a razor to his neck as he asks this question of him. Kadiye has answered multiple questions from Igwezu, but this one he remains silent upon. His silence becomes an admittance that he has not blessed Igwezu in full as he is meant to, and is complicit in Igwezu's wife leaving him for his brother, and for his loss of all his money.
"Only the children and the old stay here, bondsman. Only the innocent and the dotards."
These are Igwezu's final words in the play. He knows he must leave the swamp, his village, his home and not return. It is a place that is not for him, a place he must leave in order to find himself, his life in the world. He no longer belongs to the swamp.
