Antek and the blacksmith

Antek and the blacksmith, his brother-in-law, move between family intimacy and suspicion as they contend over Boryna’s land. Their relationship is tested first by a bitter dispute over the blacksmith’s advice, then by a quick, practical reconciliation, and finally by Antek’s discovery that the proposed alliance is meant to advance the blacksmith’s own claim. Kinship makes cooperation possible, but it does not overcome the conflict of interest at the center of their dealings.

Kinship and the Household

The episode places the relationship within Antek’s family life. After leaving the others, Antek goes into the house across the road, where his sister is lighting the fire and his eldest boy is learning from a primer. Antek and the boy acknowledge one another silently; Antek notices the child reading aloud and following the letters with a sharpened stick. The brief domestic scene gives the later quarrel a family setting: the dispute is not between strangers, but between men connected through marriage and the household around Antek.

Their bond is nevertheless shaped by unequal positions in the contest over Boryna’s property. The blacksmith has already received goods from Boryna, while Antek is struggling against his father’s decisions and the prospect of being forced out. As the argument develops, gifts become evidence each man uses against the other. Antek lists clothes, linen, a cow, geese, piglets, and a bullock that the blacksmith has obtained from Boryna. What might have appeared as ordinary assistance within a family is recast as accumulated advantage, sharpening Antek’s sense that his brother-in-law is speaking from a position he does not share.

Advice Becomes an Accusation

The blacksmith enters as Antek insists that he will not give up his claim and will take the matter to court rather than let Boryna drive him out. He answers that anger will achieve nothing and that Antek cannot break through resistance by sheer force. Antek initially asks him for advice, but the blacksmith’s attempt to explain and soften the situation soon makes Antek suspect that he is taking Boryna’s side. The conversation turns from the father’s authority to the question of who has already benefited from it.

The blacksmith denies having received more than Antek. Antek counters with a detailed inventory of what Boryna has given him, including the recently bestowed bullock. The blacksmith replies that Antek could have accepted similar gifts, while Antek rejects the idea that he should have done so. Their disagreement is therefore not simply about the quantity of property transferred: it exposes different judgments about taking gifts from Boryna and about what those gifts mean for a future claim to land.

The confrontation escalates when the Voyt’s arrival becomes part of the exchange. Antek swears at both men, slams the door, and leaves. Once away, he feels relieved, but recognizes that he has quarrelled needlessly with his brother-in-law. The anger has produced an immediate rupture without resolving the underlying land dispute. By the next morning, Antek fears that everyone will be against him, a concern that makes the blacksmith’s unexpected return especially consequential.

A Handshake and a Land Scheme

The blacksmith comes to Antek while he is going to the barn to chop chaff. He proposes that they set aside the quarrel as a matter of foolish words and offers his hand first. Antek accepts, though he regards the offer suspiciously; he says that he had not been angry with the blacksmith himself and blames the Voyt for provoking him. For a moment, reconciliation appears to restore their family cooperation.

The blacksmith immediately gives that cooperation a practical purpose. He suggests that his wife visit that afternoon and that she and Antek speak directly with Boryna, rather than complain privately or rely on anger. He also argues that, although Boryna has signed land over to Jagna, he might withdraw the arrangement while still alive. In his account, the best course is to avoid antagonizing Boryna, attend the wedding, and maintain goodwill while seeking something definite from him before witnesses.

The proposed claim reaches back to land Boryna received from Antek’s mother. The blacksmith points to that history as a possible basis for a legal argument and speaks of four morgs for himself and his wife. He also proposes that Jagna might help persuade Boryna. Thus his advice combines caution, family negotiation, a possible court claim, and an attempt to enlist Jagna’s influence. The handshake has not settled who stands to gain: it has opened a conversation in which the blacksmith’s own interest becomes increasingly visible.

Recognition and Renewed Hostility

Antek initially agrees, but his answer does not hold. As the blacksmith continues describing how the land might ultimately come to them, Antek realizes that the proposed partnership serves his brother-in-law’s interest as well as, or more than, his own. He calls him a traitor and thief. The blacksmith jumps up and flees, abruptly ending the reconciliation that had begun with a handshake.

Outside, the blacksmith interprets Antek’s reaction as proof that Antek wants the whole inheritance for himself. He is angry that Antek has seen through his scheme and fears that Antek may expose it to Boryna. Rather than withdraw, he decides to act at once and turns back toward Boryna’s home, asking Witek whether the master is there. The episode ends with the two brothers-in-law once more divided, and with the blacksmith moving directly toward the man whose land they have been discussing.

Their relationship is consequently neither simple hostility nor dependable solidarity. They can exchange a handshake and plan a joint approach to Boryna, but their cooperation rests on a shared opportunity that each understands differently. The scene’s decisive change is Antek’s recognition: what first seemed like advice from a relative becomes a strategy for securing property, and the moment of apparent repair gives way to renewed distrust.