“A wolf of a neighbour, and for such the stake is best, or iron.”

Boryna’s remark, “A wolf of a neighbour, and for such the stake is best, or iron,” sharply rejects the Parish Priest of Lipce’s appeal for peaceful agreement with the manor. Its animal metaphor casts the proposed neighborly accord against a vision of threat and force, and the priest’s reaction makes the exchange a moment of unmistakable tension.

Wording and Image

The expression reduces a hostile neighbor to a wolf and answers that image with two instruments: a stake or iron. The compressed proverb-like form offers no route to reconciliation; it frames the neighbor as a danger to be met with force. Its bluntness stands out against the priest’s preceding language of peace, harmony, and good-hearted agreement.

Immediate Context

The Parish Priest of Lipce has warned that plotting against the manor could end badly for the whole village. When Boryna does not wish to discuss the matter, the priest turns to other affairs before urging peace and describing the squire as willing to reach a neighborly arrangement. Boryna’s reply refuses that conciliatory framing. The expression is therefore not an isolated saying: it marks his resistance to the priest’s proposed path toward agreement.

Reaction and Significance

The priest bridles, looks into Boryna’s face, and meets his cold, unrelenting gaze and obstinate mouth. He turns away hurriedly and can only wring his hands; the narration adds that he dislikes quarrels. The physical response gives the saying force beyond its words: Boryna’s refusal to soften his view leaves the priest unable to sustain the appeal for peace. The exchange sets the priest’s hope for accommodation against Boryna’s hard mistrust of the manor and its neighborly overtures.