Matt and Borka’s Robber-Band Leadership Settlement

Matt and Borka’s Robber-Band Leadership Settlement is the agreement reached after the two rival chiefs contest leadership of a united band. It preserves Borka’s chieftain’s title and lets him continue with his own men, while giving Matt final authority. The compromise ends their dispute over who commands, but not Ronia’s challenge to the robbery on which both bands’ livelihood depends.

Origins of the Dispute

The leadership question grows out of a larger clash between family tradition and moral choice. Matt presents robbery as an inherited calling: his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were robber chiefs, and he expects Ronia to become one as well. Ronia rejects the expectation, especially after understanding that the goods brought home by the robbers were taken from other people and hearing that those people cried and protested. Matt tries to defend his conduct by claiming that he takes only from the rich, but his inherited authority does not persuade his daughter.

The conflict is not resolved by a single shared system of justice. The sheriff’s men pursue the robbers, while the bands conduct their own affairs according to their leaders’ authority and their customs. The sheriff’s men find Borka’s former den deserted and leave Borka’s Wood; meanwhile, Matt scouts the North Fort, where Borka’s men have settled. Matt’s attempted rush up their rope ladder is driven back by arrows, and Little-Snip is wounded in the thigh. These circumstances make the eventual settlement an internal decision between rival bands, not a judgment imposed by the sheriff.

The Contest and Its Rules

Noddle-Pete proposes a single combat between Matt and Borka as a way to make Borka accept a united band. His plan treats a contest between chiefs as a practical alternative to continued hostility: Matt can establish his precedence, after which the robbers can act together. Ronia objects at the level of principle, arguing that the most cunning solution would be to stop robbing. The settlement answers the leadership problem, not her ethical objection.

The contest takes the form of a wild beasts’ match, whose rules permit an unusually broad range of violence. The fighters may break, tear, bite, scratch, and kick; only a kick between the legs is forbidden, and using it means immediate defeat. The fight therefore operates under a local code rather than ordinary restraint: almost any hold is allowed, but one specified violation invalidates the result. Matt and Borka rush at each other when Fooloks gives the signal, and the terms of the match make physical victory the accepted basis for deciding their rank.

Terms and Immediate Outcome

Matt wins the contest and stands as chief, bloodied and wearing the remains of his shirt in rags. The robbers accept his victory, though the result is painful for Borka and his supporters. Matt then frames the outcome as a settlement between men who are now brothers: Borka may keep a chieftain’s name and reputation for the rest of his life and continue with his own men, but Matt is the mightiest chief in the woods and mountains, and his word now counts for more than Borka’s.

These terms combine recognition with subordination. Borka is not stripped of his title or separated from his followers, but the final say belongs to Matt. Borka nods without speaking; the arrangement is accepted in the aftermath of defeat, not presented as an equal division of authority. That evening, Matt holds a feast in the stone hall for both his own robbers and Borka’s, turning the newly combined band into a public gathering while the hierarchy established in the match remains clear.

Consequences and Limits

The agreement changes the relationship between the bands from rivalry to a shared organization under Matt’s supremacy. Its practical promise is cooperation: Noddle-Pete imagines them working together to mislead the sheriff’s men and make their pursuit wearisome. The settlement thus addresses how the robbers will act together and who has the authority to lead them, while preserving Borka’s status and the cohesion of his men.

It does not resolve the deeper disagreement exposed by Ronia’s refusal to inherit Matt’s life. She objects not merely to a poor arrangement between chiefs but to taking people’s property at all, and later again says that stopping robbery would be the wisest course. The settlement’s compromise is therefore deliberately bounded: it unites the robbers and settles precedence, but leaves their occupation—and Ronia’s opposition to it—intact.