“Defend what’s yours! Don’t give up, men!”

“Defend what’s yours! Don’t give up, men!” is Maciej Boryna’s urgent appeal to hold on to what belongs to them. Spoken first as he tries to rally the men for work in the fields, the sentence returns in a more intimate form during his illness: a demand that Hanka the Farmstead Keeper defend Antek Boryna and keep the farm from being given up. Its recurrence connects a public call to action with a family’s struggle over land and survival.

The cry among the men

As the men prepare to go to the fields, Maciej Boryna urges them to defend what is theirs. The command breaks off almost as soon as it is spoken: his words falter, he shakes and buckles against Hanka the Farmstead Keeper, and Antek’s Brother-in-law and The Blacksmith’s Wife move to help. Hanka refuses their assistance and strains to support him herself. Maciej Boryna then shouts that the barley must be sown first and calls for the men’s help, before tensing, falling back, and losing consciousness. The cry is therefore not a confident speech from a secure leader; its force is sharpened by the failing body that can barely deliver it.

A plea redirected to the household

Later, speaking clearly but pausing after each word, Maciej Boryna tells Hanka the Farmstead Keeper where to look: “In the grain …” He then gives her a last instruction: “Defend Antek … Sell half the farm if you have to, but don’t give up … don’t … yours …” He cannot finish. His face turns blue as he falls back on the bed, and the efforts to revive him do not bring him around. The appeal to defend what is theirs has moved from the men gathered for fieldwork to Hanka’s responsibility for Antek Boryna and the farm.

Meaning and limits

The repeated command binds labor, land, and family defense without making them identical. In the first scene, the men are called to act together; in the second, Hanka receives a specific charge to protect Antek Boryna and resist surrendering the farm, even at the cost of selling half of it. The wording thus changes in scale—from a collective exhortation to a personal instruction—while retaining its insistence on not yielding. Its broken delivery also matters: Maciej Boryna’s urgency survives when his strength and speech fail, but the unfinished final words leave the exact reach of his injunction unresolved.