Why does Ulrich offer friendship to Georg in The Interlopers?

Ulrich von Gradwitz offers to be Georg Znaeym's friend because his own "pain and languor" as well as the sight of Georg's grim fight "against pain and exhaustion," both of them helplessly trapped under the tree, is lessening the "old fierce hatred" Ulrich has long felt for Georg.

Georg has made it clear that if his men find the pair of them first, he will make sure that they roll the tree onto Ulrich and make his death seem like an accident. In response, Ulrich has vowed the same fate for Georg if Ulrich's men arrive on the scene first. However, both men know it is a matter of chance whose men will come first and, so, which of them will die tonight. Ulrich reaches into his pocket for his flask, filled with good wine, and the liquid is "warming and reviving" to him, making it easier to bear the pain he's in. He has a "sudden" impulse, it seems, to be generous to his enemy.

Though Georg refuses the initial overture of peace, Ulrich declares that he has "changed [his] mind" and that he will instruct his men to help Georg even before they help Ulrich himself. He finds it ridiculous that they have "quarrelled like devils all [their] lives" over a small piece of forest where the "trees can't even stand upright in a breath of wind." He thinks that they've been "fools" to engage in this dispute for so long and that "there are better things in life" to do. He offers his friendship to Georg.

What is Georg's reaction to Ulrich's friendship offer in "The Interlopers" by Saki?

Everything that happens in "The Interlopers" by Saki is connected to one significant reality: Georg Znaeym and Ulrich von Gradwitz are the latest members of a three-generation feud and they detest one another. The feud is over a "stupid strip of forest" that was granted to Ulrich's family by the courts, a ruling which Georg's family never accepted. The two men are both armed and in the forest on this stormy night, each ready to kill the other when a tree unexpectedly falls on them both and pins them to the ground.

At first, both men take great delight in threatening, sneering at, and taunting one another; however, when Ulrich has some time to think, he says:

"Lying here to-night thinking I've come to think we've been rather fools; there are better things in life than getting the better of a boundary dispute. Neighbour, if you will help me to bury the old quarrel I--I will ask you to be my friend."

It is a surprising thing (shocking, really) for Ulrich to offer, and it is equally surprising (shocking) that Georg does not respond immediately with an insult or a scornful laugh. Instead he is utterly silent, and he stays that way for so long that Ulrich is convinced Georg has passed out from his injuries. Finally Georg speaks haltingly and kind of jokes around at the idea that the townspeople would be stunned if their feud were over; not only that, the people themselves would be at peace if the feud ended. 

"And if we choose to make peace among our people there is none other to interfere, no interlopers from outside ..You would come and keep the Sylvester night beneath my roof, and I would come and feast on some high day at your castle...I would never fire a shot on your land, save when you invited me as a guest; and you should come and shoot with me down in the marshes where the wildfowl are. In all the countryside there are none that could hinder if we willed to make peace. I never thought to have wanted to do other than hate you all my life, but I think I have changed my mind about things too, this last half-hour. And you offered me your wineflask...Ulrich von Gradwitz, I will be your friend."

In the end, Georg accepts the offer of friendship from his former enemy, and for the rest of the story, both men try to outdo one another in offering to make sure the other is rescued first when their men arrive. What happens after this unexpected conversation is a great irony, but for now the men have settled their centuries-old feud. 

How do Ulrich and Georg become friends in "The Interlopers"?

Ulrich is out patrolling his land, hoping to find Georg and perhaps catch him in the act of poaching. He and Georg meet and confront one another. Each man threatens the other. They seem poised for a deadly confrontation as both men are armed. But they both hesitate. During these moments of mutual hesitation, a storm hits and lightning strikes a tree, bringing it to the ground. Ulrich and Georg are trapped beneath the tree. Ulrich warns Georg that he will be sorry when his (Ulrich's) men arrive. Georg argues the same point, that his men are out on this night as well. They are both still threatening murder at this point. 

Neither man could get free of the downed tree. Ulrich concentrates his energy on opening his flask of wine. The wine is invigorating and Ulrich looks at Georg with pity. He offers him some wine. 

“Could you reach this flask if I threw it over to you?” asked Ulrich suddenly. “There is good wine in it, and one may as well be as comfortable as one can. Let us drink, even if tonight one of us dies.” 

Even though Georg refuses to drink with his enemy, Ulrich continues to lose the hateful feelings he has always had toward Georg. He tells Georg that if his men arrive first, that Georg will be freed first and unharmed. Georg pauses, warmed by this generous gesture, and responds that it would cause quite a stir if word got out that they had become friends. Georg concludes that they should become friends. The feud ends as a result of being in a dire situation together. With the wine, it is something like a "last supper," a time when they bond under extreme circumstances. 

How is Ulrich and Georg's reconciliation brought about and what happened when the men end their feud in "The Interlopers"?

Ulrich and Georg have long been enemies because of a dispute over land stemming from the time of their grandfathers.  Having hated each other even as boys, the two grow up and decide to confront each other in a final battle to the death.  Both men have a group of forresters to support them, but, in a twist of fate, end up facing each other alone before a large tree.  Before they can draw their weapons, lightning strikes the tree, and the two are pinned beneath it, helpless, side-by-side.  Ulrich and Georg exchange threats and counter threats, and both hope that their own men will find them first, and will release the one and kill the other.  Their situation of forced proximity and helplessness, however, soon leads them to realize the pointlessness of their rivalry, and the two resolve to put aside their differences and become friends.

Having made peace, Ulrich and Georg anxiously await the arrival of either of their parties, so that they can be rescued and go on with their lives.  Finally, they see figures approach, but it is not either of their parties.  Ulrich and Georg's long-awaited reconciliation has come too late for either man to enjoy it.  Both men will die, because it is not hunters who approach, but wolves.

How is Ulrich and Georg's reconciliation achieved in "The Interlopers" by Saki?

"The Interlopers" by Saki is set in the forest of the Carpathians on a stormy winter night; the two main characters are Ulrich von Gradwitz and Georg Znaeym and they are feuding. This is not a small-time feud, however, and the stakes prove to be significant. 

Georg and Ulrich are the youngest participants in a three-generation feud, and they do more than just despise one another. The feud is over a "worthless strip of forest," but neither side is about to concede ownership to the other.

The feud might, perhaps, have died down or been compromised if the personal ill-will of the two men had not stood in the way; as boys they had thirsted for one another's blood, as men each prayed that misfortune might fall on the other....

Tonight, both men have come to the forest with a hunting party, and they have only one thing in mind: each intends to hunt and kill the other.

This is the conflict, and the men, without their hunting parties, do come face to face. It is a weighty thing to kill another human being, however, and in their moment of hesitation, nature takes matters into her own hands and drops a large tree on them. The two men are pinned beneath the trunk, and there is no way for them to escape on thier own. They are forced to wait until one of the hunting parties comes to rescue them, and the ugliness of the feud continues even in these conditions.

Each man levels threats against the other, assuring his rival that if his men come first, he will be sure to kill the other. The vitriol is palpable, and there does not seem to be any way to end the enmity between them. Soon the men are silent, however, and Ulrich begins to think.

An idea was slowly forming and growing in his brain, an idea that gained strength every time that he looked across at the man who was fighting so grimly against pain and exhaustion. In the pain and languor that Ulrich himself was feeling the old fierce hatred seemed to be dying down.

Ulrich finally offers his former enemy a drink of wine from his flask and suggests that he does not intend to continue the feud; Georg has to think about this offer for a very long time but eventually accepts it. The men even laugh thinking about the reaction in the town to their newly forged friendship. 

You ask how the two men are reconciled, and the answer is fairly simple: when forced to really stop and think about the feud and the enemy, the men just decide that they will no longer perpetuate the feud. Georg and Ulrich are the only two who could have made this decision, and they could only have made it under some kind of desperate circumstances. 

The irony of the story, of course, is what happens to them as soon as they decide to end their feud and become friends. 

How is Ulrich and Georg's reconciliation achieved in "The Interlopers" by Saki?

Georg and Ulrich are sworn enemies. Their feud has been passed on to them by previous generations. Practically speaking, their feud continues to be a dispute over a piece of land. Ulrich's grandfather won a lawsuit and this narrow strip of land became his. However, Georg's family continued to poach on it and the feud continued.

When they meet in the forest, each man considers murdering the other. But fate intervenes and a storm causes a tree to fall on both men, pinning them to the ground. Both men are now stuck together in a "life or death" situation. At first, they still continue to threaten each other. After accepting that they are trapped for the time being, Ulrich makes the first gesture and offers Georg a drink from his flask. At first, Georg refuses. Then Ulrich adds that even if his men arrive first, he will not have them harm Georg. Ulrich then extends his friendship. Georg replies that it would be quite a story if they ended their feud. He then accepts Ulrich as a friend.

For a space both men were silent, turning over in their minds the wonderful changes that this dramatic reconciliation would bring about.

It took this kind of situation to force the men to consider the logic or validity of their feud. Faced with the possibility of death, together, perhaps they realized that life is too short to spend so much of it on inherited hatred.

Do Georg and Ulrich become friends after the conflict in the woods in "The Interlopers"?

Having held grudges against each other over land ownership through two generations, the Gradwitzes and the Znaeyms have longstanding animosities. But, when a life-and-death crisis holds them hostage one evening in the controversial woods, they reconsider the value of their hatred, and Ulrich von Gradwitz offers his neighbor friendship.

Having come around the trunk of a huge beech tree as he seeks his enemy, Ulrich comes face-to-face with his mortal enemy, Georg Znaeym. However, their civilized natures cause them to hesitate momentarily from firing their rifles, and in that split second, the mammoth tree is struck by lightning and crashes to the ground. Now, the enemies find themselves "pinned beneath the fallen mass."
It is at this point that the two men ponder their existential positions. Faced with the possibility of dying alongside his enemy, Ulrich perceives his hatred in relation to the dire conditions in which he now exists. "...Ulrich was feeling the old fierce hatred...dying down." He speaks to Znaeym, calling him "neighbor." Ulrich explains that he has changed his mind and feels that it has been ridiculous to have had a feud over "this stupid strip of forest." Therefore, he asks Georg to help him bury their feud, and he asks Znaeym, "I--I will ask you to be my friend." 

Silent for a time, Georg Znaeym considers the proposal of friendship from Ulrich von Gradwitz. Then, he agrees, wryly remarking on how the whole region "would stare and gabble" if they ride into the market square together. Finally, he says, "Ulrich von Gradwitz, I will be your friend." 

Clearly, faced with imminent death, the two foes reassess what should be valued and what should not: life being the most important thing, and secondly the value of friendship. Grudges are negative factors and, so are worthless; they should be discarded. These reasons are why the two men end their feud.

Were Georg and Ulrich headed towards reconciliation in "The Interlopers" by Saki?

Georg Znaeym and Ulrich von Gradwitz are sworn enemies when "The Interlopers" by H.H. Munro (Saki) begins. Their feud is long-standing and goes back for several generations; the point of contention between them is a small strip of worthless land--both families think they own it.

Both of these characters are in the forest on this stormy night. They are prepared to hunt, but their prey is human. Each wants to kill the other; however, nature intervenes and instead the men are trapped by a fallen tree during a storm. 

Things are uncomfortable for both of them at first and of course they share a few insults; but before long something changes. Ulrich ponders and then says,"

"We have quarrelled like devils all our lives over this stupid strip of forest, where the trees can't even stand upright in a breath of wind. Lying here to-night thinking I've come to think we've been rather fools; there are better things in life than getting the better of a boundary dispute. Neighbour, if you will help me to bury the old quarrel I--I will ask you to be my friend."

Georg does not answer at first, as of course it is a surprising thing for him to hear and consider. Then he begins to kind of laugh over what the people in town might thinks if the two men were suddenly friends instead of enemies. It is quite an amusing thought, and he finally he responds to Ulrich's offer of friendship this way:

"In all the countryside there are none that could hinder if we willed to make peace. I never thought to have wanted to do other than hate you all my life, but I think I have changed my mind about things too, this last half-hour. And you offered me your wineflask...Ulrich von Gradwitz, I will be your friend."

The key word in your question is "true," and it does seem that the men mean what they say. Neither of them speaks without thinking, and they are deliberate in both the offer and the acceptance. I find their conversion to friendship believable.