Arvid’s attempted attack on the old mistress

Arvid’s attempted attack on the old mistress is a sudden eruption of despair that Robert prevents from becoming violence. The episode begins with the two farmhands alone in the stable after a lesson about the hierarchy of authority; as Robert goes to sleep and Arvid continues drinking, Arvid leaves for the woodshed and returns with an ax. He declares that the old mistress has ruined his life, but Robert intervenes, wrests the weapon away, and brings his friend back from rage to distress.

Background and Immediate Circumstances

Before the confrontation, Robert has been teaching Arvid to recite the seven masters who, according to their lesson, hold fatherly authority over them by God’s ordinance. Robert explains that the chain of authority begins with King Oskar I of Sweden and Norway. Arvid eventually learns the list, but Robert tires of the exercise after drinking several mugs of brännvin and goes to bed beneath a horse blanket.

Arvid remains alone with the keg and continues drinking; the narration notes that he has been drinking more often of late. The contrast between their positions is immediate: Robert has withdrawn to sleep, while Arvid stays awake, increasingly intoxicated. When Robert wakes to the stable door banging in the wind, the keg is empty and Arvid is gone. His absence turns the drinking episode into a search, as Robert becomes anxious for his friend.

The Threat and Robert’s Intervention

Robert finds Arvid outside, coming from the woodshed with a heavy wedge ax. Arvid says that someone is going to die that night, then identifies the old mistress as his intended victim. He insists that she has ruined his life and must die. The stated grievance links the immediate threat to a broader sense of injury, though the episode does not detail what the old mistress has done to him.

Robert first orders Arvid to put the ax back, then pleads with him and warns that he will ruin his whole life. Arvid staggers toward the house, and Robert follows, grabbing his arm and the ax handle. The two farmhands struggle over the weapon. Robert fears being cut by its edge; Arvid is larger and stronger, and briefly takes it away from him. But Arvid’s unsteady footing gives Robert an opening: when Arvid falls and drops the ax, Robert retrieves it unseen and throws it into the gooseberry bushes near the barn.

De-escalation and Aftermath

With the weapon beyond reach, Arvid searches among the debris but soon stops. Robert tells him that they are friends and that he wants to help. Arvid’s repeated words change the scene’s register: instead of threatening the old mistress, he says again and again that he is unhappy. The violent intention does not resolve into an attack; it gives way to an expression of misery.

Robert is frightened by the sudden rage in his usually good-natured comrade. He is also cold, and asks that they return to bed. The episode ends without an assault on the old mistress, but not with the underlying grievance explained or settled. Its immediate consequence is narrower and crucial: Robert has removed the ax and stayed beside Arvid until the danger has passed.

Significance in the Plot

The scene places the abstract lesson about masters and authority beside the farmhands’ lived vulnerability. Earlier, Robert has taught Arvid to name those above them in the hierarchy; later that night, Arvid’s anger turns toward the woman who, in his view, has ruined his life. The narrative does not spell out a political argument, but the juxtaposition makes the lesson’s ordered chain of authority resonate against Arvid’s sense of personal ruin.

Robert’s role is not merely to discover the threat but to accept immediate responsibility for his friend’s safety and for the safety of the intended victim. His intervention depends on friendship and practical action: he follows Arvid, risks injury while trying to take the ax, and finally gets it out of reach. The attempted attack therefore marks both the destructive force of Arvid’s despair and the bond that restrains it. The ending leaves the cause of that despair open, while making clear that, in this moment, Robert’s presence prevents it from becoming an irreversible act.