Antek and Jagna’s public dance and confrontation with Boryna

Antek and Jagna’s public dance and confrontation with Boryna turns concealed desire into a village spectacle and brings the father–son conflict into the open. At Jankiel’s inn, a dance that begins amid crowded festivity becomes an unmistakable display of intimacy: Antek leads Jagna into the circle, holds her close, and dances on while people watch and whisper. Boryna first dismisses the warning that they are dancing together, but later breaks into the circle, takes Jagna away, and faces Antek in the snow. Antek’s challenge ends not in a fight but in fear, shock, and a collapse into isolation.

Before the dance

The evening begins with Jagna determined to go out for the music and Boryna refusing to leave home. She does not ask him again after his sharp refusal; instead, she sulks, shuts doors, stands outside in the frost, and pulls woollen skirts from a chest to try them on. At supper she will not eat. Her persistence eventually forces Boryna to relent: cursing and jabbing at her, he apologizes and goes to the inn, though he had insisted he would not take a step outside.

They arrive late, after supper. Boryna enters proudly, barely greeting those present, and looks keenly through the crowd for his son. Antek, who had been about to answer Grzela, falls silent when his eyes find Jagna. She stands by the bar as young men ask her to dance; she declines, talks with them, and furtively scans the room. The narrative singles her out among the other attractive young women there, describing her orange skirt striped with green and white, low-cut blue velvet waistcoat, white blouse, amber and pearl beads, and blue silk scarf patterned in pink. Women gossip about her finery, but she is unconcerned. When she sees Antek, she blushes with pleasure and turns away from Boryna, who has gone into the snug with Jankiel.

The dance becomes public

Pressed against the wall by the dancers, Antek and Jagna stand side by side without speaking. Their breathing quickens; they look furtively into one another’s eyes, and when their hands meet and their bodies draw together, Jagna reminds him that people are watching. Antek answers her hesitation not with distance but by taking her firmly by the waist, pushing through the crowd, and leading her into the dance circle. He calls for an obertas, and the musicians respond energetically.

Antek takes the lead and outdances the other couples. Jagna, pressed close to him, urges him to continue. They pause only to catch their breath and drink beer, then return to the dance, heedless of the watching crowd, its whispers, and its frowns. Their physical closeness, their quickened breathing, and their absorbed attention to one another make the affair visible without requiring an announcement. Antek’s joy grows into a proud, headstrong exhilaration; Jagna, too, is carried into the dance’s rapture. Around them, the revel becomes nearly collective: about fifty couples whirl and sing, flagons tumble, lamps go out, and the crowd spills through the doorway into the snowy winter night.

Antek remains the most boisterous dancer. Even after others tire and the musicians’ hands falter, he tosses them money and urges them to continue until few couples remain. The women complain about the revelry and commiserate with Boryna. Józka, angry with Antek and especially with her stepmother, tells her father that people are fussing because Antek is dancing with Jagna. Boryna dismisses the concern, saying, “Let ’em dance; what’s an inn for!” He returns to clinking glasses with a gendarme and the blacksmith. His first response therefore makes the later intervention more abrupt: he does not act at the warning, but when he comes out of the snug and sees the couple leading the company’s dance, he understands what is happening.

Boryna intervenes

The women have fetched Boryna, scandalized. He is pale, his eyes shining wildly, as he fastens the loops of his capote, puts on his cap, and pushes through the crowd. When Antek and Jagna sweep past, he orders them home and reaches for Jagna’s hand. Antek spins with her, carrying her out of Boryna’s grasp; Boryna then breaks into the circle, pulls Jagna from his son’s arms, and leads her out without looking at Antek.

The music stops. The assembled villagers fall silent, standing motionless as Antek thrusts his way after his father and Jagna. Outside, the frost catches him off guard: he trips over a tree trunk lying in front of the inn and falls into the snow, but quickly gets up and catches them near the turn by the pond. Boryna tells him to take his own road and stop harassing people. Jagna gives a cry and escapes to the cottage; Józka puts a picket into her father’s fist and urges him to strike Antek.

Antek advances with raised fists, spluttering for Boryna to let Jagna go. Boryna threatens to kill him like a dog if he does not leave. At the threat, Antek instinctively backs away and drops his hands. The scene thus stops short of the blows that seem imminent: public defiance gives way to the old man’s command and Antek’s fearful retreat. Boryna walks slowly home, while Antek remains behind, shaken and only half conscious of what has happened.

Aftermath and significance

Under the moon, with snow shining around him, Antek stands alone and looks about vacantly. He does not understand the scene clearly enough to continue after Boryna; his companions rush to help and bring him back into the inn after word spreads that he has fought with his father. By then the festivities are over. The inn has emptied, and occasional songs and hoots sound from the lanes. The Rzepki people remain for the night while Pan Jacek plays mournful tunes; the guests lean over the tables, sighing. Antek sits by himself in a corner, lifeless and unresponsive even when Jankiel reminds him that the inn is closing.

Only Hanka’s voice rouses him. People have told her that Antek has come to blows with his father, and she reaches him in the aftermath; the passage ends with her asking what he wants. The public dance has therefore set private relationships against village scrutiny, but it does not resolve any of them. The crowd witnesses Antek and Jagna’s intimacy, Boryna forcibly separates them, and Antek’s attempted resistance collapses into stunned silence. The contrast between the dance’s exuberant motion and his final stillness gives the episode its decisive turn: for a few hours he disregards the community’s gaze, but the confrontation restores the force of his father’s authority and leaves the consequences hanging over the household.