initial commit of ebook 6788HEADmain

1 files changed, 6834 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/6788.txt b/6788.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..173825f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/6788.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,6834 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Wilhelm Tell, by Frederich Schiller
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Wilhelm Tell
+       A Play
+
+Author: Frederich Schiller
+
+Release Date: October 26, 2006 [EBook #6788]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILHELM TELL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Tapio Riikonen and David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+               WILHELM TELL.
+
+           By Frederich Schiller
+
+
+       Translated by Theodore Martin
+
+
+
+
+DRAMATIS PERSONAE.
+
+HERMANN GESSLER, Governor of Schwytz and Uri.
+WERNER, Baron of Attinghausen, free noble of Switzerland.
+ULRICH VON RUDENZ, his Nephew.
+
+WERNER STAUFFACHER, |
+CONRAD HUNN,        |
+HANS AUF DER MAUER, |
+JORG IM HOFE,       | People of Schwytz.
+ULRICH DER SCHMIDT, |
+JOST VON WEILER,    |
+ITEL REDING,        |
+
+WALTER FURST,           |
+WILHELM TELL,           |
+ROSSELMANN, the Priest, |
+PETERMANN, Sacristan,   | People of Uri.
+KUONI, Herdsman,        |
+WERNI, Huntsman,        |
+RUODI, Fisherman,       |
+
+ARNOLD OF MELCHTHAL,   |
+CONRAD BAUMGARTEN,     |
+MEYER VON SARNEN,      |
+STRUTH VON WINKELRIED, | People of Unterwald.
+KLAUS VON DER FLUE,    |
+BURKHART AM BUHEL,     |
+ARNOLD VON SEWA,       |
+
+PFEIFFER OF LUCERNE.
+KUNZ OF GERSAU.
+JENNI, Fisherman's Son.
+SEPPI, Herdsman's Son.
+GERTRUDE, Stauffacher's Wife.
+HEDWIG, Wife of Tell, daughter of Furst.
+BERTHA OF BRUNECK, a rich heiress.
+
+ARMGART,   |
+MECHTHILD, | Peasant women.
+ELSBETH,   |
+HILDEGARD, |
+
+WALTER,  | Tell's sons.
+WILHELM, |
+
+FRIESSHARDT, | Soldiers.
+LEUTHOLD,    |
+
+RUDOLPH DER HARRAS, Gessler's master of the horse.
+JOHANNES PARRICIDA, Duke of Suabia.
+STUSSI, Overseer.
+THE MAYOR OF URI.
+A COURIER.
+MASTER STONEMASON, COMPANIONS, AND WORKMEN.
+TASKMASTER.
+A CRIER.
+MONKS OF THE ORDER OF CHARITY.
+HORSEMEN OF GESSLER AND LANDENBERG.
+MANY PEASANTS; MEN AND WOMEN FROM THE WALDSTETTEN.
+
+
+
+
+
+WILHELM TELL.
+
+
+
+
+ACT I.
+
+SCENE I.
+
+   A high, rocky shore of the lake of Lucerne opposite Schwytz.
+   The lake makes a bend into the land; a hut stands at a short
+   distance from the shore; the fisher boy is rowing about in his
+   boat. Beyond the lake are seen the green meadows, the hamlets,
+   and arms of Schwytz, lying in the clear sunshine. On the left
+   are observed the peaks of the Hacken, surrounded with clouds; to
+   the right, and in the remote distance, appear the Glaciers. The
+   Ranz des Vaches, and the tinkling of cattle-bells, continue for
+   some time after the rising of the curtain.
+
+FISHER BOY (sings in his boat).
+Melody of the Ranz des Vaches.
+
+   The clear, smiling lake wooed to bathe in its deep,
+   A boy on its green shore had laid him to sleep;
+        Then heard he a melody
+         Flowing and soft,
+        And sweet, as when angels
+         Are singing aloft.
+   And as thrilling with pleasure he wakes from his rest,
+   The waters are murmuring over his breast;
+        And a voice from the deep cries,
+         "With me thou must go,
+        I charm the young shepherd,
+         I lure him below."
+
+HERDSMAN (on the mountains).
+Air.--Variation of the Ranz des Vaches.
+
+        Farewell, ye green meadows,
+         Farewell, sunny shore,
+        The herdsman must leave you,
+         The summer is o'er.
+   We go to the hills, but you'll see us again,
+    When the cuckoo is calling, and wood-notes are gay,
+   When flowerets are blooming in dingle and plain,
+    And the brooks sparkle up in the sunshine of May.
+        Farewell, ye green meadows,
+         Farewell, sunny shore,
+        The herdsman must leave you,
+         The summer is o'er.
+
+CHAMOIS HUNTER (appearing on the top of a cliff).
+Second Variation of the Ranz des Vaches.
+
+   On the heights peals the thunder, and trembles the bridge,
+   The huntsman bounds on by the dizzying ridge,
+        Undaunted he hies him
+         O'er ice-covered wild,
+        Where leaf never budded,
+         Nor spring ever smiled;
+   And beneath him an ocean of mist, where his eye
+   No longer the dwellings of man can espy;
+        Through the parting clouds only
+         The earth can be seen,
+        Far down 'neath the vapor
+         The meadows of green.
+
+   [A change comes over the landscape. A rumbling, cracking
+   noise is heard among the mountains. Shadows of clouds sweep
+   across the scene.
+
+   [RUODI, the fisherman, comes out of his cottage. WERNI, the
+   huntsman, descends from the rocks. KUONI, the shepherd, enters,
+   with a milk pail on his shoulders, followed by SERPI, his assistant.
+
+RUODI.
+Bestir thee, Jenni, haul the boat on shore.
+The grizzly Vale-king [1] comes, the glaciers moan,
+The lofty Mytenstein [2] draws on his hood,
+And from the Stormcleft chilly blows the wind;
+The storm will burst before we are prepared.
+
+KUONI.
+'Twill rain ere long; my sheep browse eagerly,
+And Watcher there is scraping up the earth.
+
+WERNI.
+The fish are leaping, and the water-hen
+Dives up and down. A storm is coming on.
+
+KUONI (to his boy).
+Look, Seppi, if the cattle are not straying.
+
+SEPPI. There goes brown Liesel, I can hear her bells.
+
+KUONI.
+Then all are safe; she ever ranges farthest.
+
+RUODI.
+You've a fine yoke of bells there, master herdsman.
+
+WERNI.
+And likely cattle, too. Are they your own?
+
+KUONI.
+I'm not so rich. They are the noble lord's
+Of Attinghaus, and trusted to my care.
+
+RUODI.
+How gracefully yon heifer bears her ribbon!
+
+KUONI.
+Ay, well she knows she's leader of the herd,
+And, take it from her, she'd refuse to feed.
+
+RUODI.
+You're joking now. A beast devoid of reason.
+
+WERNI.
+That's easy said. But beasts have reason too--
+And that we know, we men that hunt the chamois.
+They never turn to feed--sagacious creatures!
+Till they have placed a sentinel ahead,
+Who pricks his ears whenever we approach,
+And gives alarm with clear and piercing pipe.
+
+RUODI (to the shepherd).
+Are you for home?
+
+KUONI.
+          The Alp is grazed quite bare.
+
+WERNI.
+A safe return, my friend!
+
+KUONI.
+              The same to you?
+Men come not always back from tracks like yours.
+
+RUODI.
+But who comes here, running at topmost speed?
+
+WERNI.
+I know the man; 'tis Baumgart of Alzellen.
+
+CONRAD BAUMGARTEN (rushing in breathless).
+For God's sake, ferryman, your boat!
+
+RUODI.
+                   How now?
+Why all this haste?
+
+BAUMGARTEN.
+           Cast off! My life's at stake!
+Set me across!
+
+KUONI.
+        Why, what's the matter, friend?
+
+WERNI.
+Who are pursuing you? First tell us that.
+
+BAUMGARTEN (to the fisherman).
+Quick, quick, even now they're close upon my heels!
+The viceroy's horsemen are in hot pursuit!
+I'm a lost man should they lay hands upon me.
+
+RUODI.
+Why are the troopers in pursuit of you?
+
+BAUMGARTEN.
+First save my life and then I'll tell you all.
+
+WERNI.
+There's blood upon your garments--how is this?
+
+BAUMGARTEN.
+The imperial seneschal, who dwelt at Rossberg.
+
+KUONI.
+How! What! The Wolfshot? [3] Is it he pursues you?
+
+BAUMGARTEN.
+He'll ne'er hunt man again; I've settled him.
+
+ALL (starting back).
+Now, God forgive you, what is this you've done!
+
+BAUMGARTEN.
+What every free man in my place had done.
+I have but used mine own good household right
+'Gainst him that would have wronged my wife--my honor.
+
+KUONI.
+And has he wronged you in your honor, then?
+
+BAUMGARTEN.
+That he did not fulfil his foul desire
+Is due to God and to my trusty axe.
+
+WERNI.
+You've cleft his skull, then, have you, with your axe?
+
+KUONI.
+Oh, tell us all! You've time enough, before
+The boat can be unfastened from its moorings.
+
+BAUMGARTEN.
+When I was in the forest, felling timber,
+My wife came running out in mortal fear:
+"The seneschal," she said, "was in my house,
+Had ordered her to get a bath prepared,
+And thereupon had taken unseemly freedoms,
+From which she rid herself and flew to me."
+Armed as I was I sought him, and my axe
+Has given his bath a bloody benediction.
+
+WERNI.
+And you did well; no man can blame the deed.
+
+KUONI.
+The tyrant! Now he has his just reward!
+We men of Unterwald have owed it long.
+
+BAUMGARTEN.
+The deed got wind, and now they're in pursuit.
+Heavens! whilst we speak, the time is flying fast.
+
+   [It begins to thunder.
+
+KUONI.
+Quick, ferrymen, and set the good man over.
+
+RUODI.
+Impossible! a storm is close at hand,
+Wait till it pass! You must.
+
+BAUMGARTEN.
+                Almighty heavens!
+I cannot wait; the least delay is death.
+
+KUONI (to the fisherman).
+Push out. God with you! We should help our neighbors;
+The like misfortune may betide us all.
+
+   [Thunder and the roaring of the wind.
+
+RUODI.
+The south wind's up! [4] See how the lake is rising!
+I cannot steer against both storm and wave.
+
+BAUMGARTEN (clasping him by the knees).
+God so help you, as now you pity me!
+
+WERNI.
+His life's at stake. Have pity on him, man!
+
+KUONI.
+He is a father: has a wife and children.
+
+   [Repeated peals of thunder.
+
+RUODI.
+What! and have I not, then, a life to lose,
+A wife and child at home as well as he?
+See, how the breakers foam, and toss, and whirl,
+And the lake eddies up from all its depths!
+Right gladly would I save the worthy man,
+But 'tis impossible, as you must see.
+
+BAUMGARTEN (still kneeling).
+Then must I fall into the tyrant's hands,
+And with the port of safety close in sight!
+Yonder it lies! My eyes can measure it,
+My very voice can echo to its shores.
+There is the boat to carry me across,
+Yet must I lie here helpless and forlorn.
+
+KUONI.
+Look! who comes here?
+
+RUODI.
+            'Tis Tell, brave Tell, of Buerglen. [5]
+
+   [Enter TELL, with a crossbow.
+
+TELL.
+Who is the man that here implores for aid?
+
+KUONI.
+He is from Alzellen, and to guard his honor
+From touch of foulest shame, has slain the Wolfshot!
+The imperial seneschal, who dwelt at Rossberg.
+The viceroy's troopers are upon his heels;
+He begs the boatman here to take him over,
+But he, in terror of the storm, refuses.
+
+RUODI.
+Well, there is Tell can steer as well as I.
+He'll be my judge, if it be possible.
+
+   [Violent peals of thunder--the lake becomes more tempestuous.
+
+Am I to plunge into the jaws of hell?
+I should be mad to dare the desperate act.
+
+TELL.
+The brave man thinks upon himself the last.
+Put trust in God, and help him in his need!
+
+RUODI.
+Safe in the port, 'tis easy to advise.
+There is the boat, and there the lake! Try you!
+
+TELL.
+The lake may pity, but the viceroy will not.
+Come, venture, man!
+
+SHEPHERD and HUNTSMAN.
+           Oh, save him! save him! save him!
+
+RUODI.
+Though 'twere my brother, or my darling child,
+I would not go. It is St. Simon's day,
+The lake is up, and calling for its victim.
+
+TELL.
+Naught's to be done with idle talking here.
+Time presses on--the man must be assisted.
+Say, boatman, will you venture?
+
+RUODI.
+                 No; not I.
+
+TELL.
+In God's name, then, give me the boat! I will
+With my poor strength, see what is to be done!
+
+KUONI.
+Ha, noble Tell!
+
+WERNI.
+         That's like a gallant huntsman!
+
+BAUMGARTEN.
+You are my angel, my preserver, Tell.
+
+TELL.
+I may preserve you from the viceroy's power
+But from the tempest's rage another must.
+Yet you had better fall into God's hands,
+Than into those of men.
+   [To the herdsman.
+             Herdsman, do thou
+Console my wife, should aught of ill befall me.
+I do but what I may not leave undone.
+
+   [He leaps into the boat.
+
+KUONI (to the fisherman).
+A pretty man to be a boatman, truly!
+What Tell could risk you dared not venture on.
+
+RUODI.
+Far better men than I would not ape Tell.
+There does not live his fellow 'mong the mountains.
+
+WERNI (who has ascended a rock).
+He pushes off. God help thee now, brave sailor!
+Look how his bark is reeling on the waves!
+
+KUONI (on the shore).
+The surge has swept clean over it. And now
+'Tis out of sight. Yet stay, there 'tis again
+Stoutly he stems the breakers, noble fellow!
+
+SEPPI.
+Here come the troopers hard as they can ride!
+
+KUONI.
+Heavens! so they do! Why, that was help, indeed.
+
+   [Enter a troop of horsemen.
+
+FIRST HORSEMAN.
+Give up the murderer! You have him here!
+
+SECOND HORSEMAN.
+This way he came! 'Tis useless to conceal him!
+
+RUODI and KUONI.
+Whom do you mean?
+
+FIRST HORSEMAN (discovering the boat).
+          The devil! What do I see?
+
+WERNI (from above).
+Is't he in yonder boat ye seek? Ride on,
+If you lay to, you may o'ertake him yet.
+
+SECOND HORSEMAN.
+Curse on you, he's escaped!
+
+FIRST HORSEMAN (to the shepherd and fisherman).
+               You helped him off,
+And you shall pay for it. Fall on their herds!
+Down with the cottage! burn it! beat it down!
+
+                 [They rush off.
+
+SEPPI (hurrying after them).
+Oh, my poor lambs!
+
+KUONI (following him).
+          Unhappy me, my herds!
+
+WERNI.
+The tyrants!
+
+RUODI (wringing his hands).
+       Righteous Heaven! Oh, when will come
+Deliverance to this devoted land?
+
+                  [Exeunt severally.
+
+
+
+SCENE II.
+
+   A lime-tree in front of STAUFFACHER'S house at Steinen,
+   in Schwytz, upon the public road, near a bridge.
+
+   WERNER STAUFFACHER and PFEIFFER, of Lucerne, enter into
+   conversation.
+
+PFEIFFER.
+Ay, ay, friend Stauffacher, as I have said,
+Swear not to Austria, if you can help it.
+Hold by the empire stoutly as of yore,
+And God preserve you in your ancient freedom!
+
+   [Presses his hand warmly and is going.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Wait till my mistress comes. Now do! You are
+My guest in Schwytz--I in Lucerne am yours.
+
+PFEIFFER.
+Thanks! thanks! But I must reach Gersau to-day.
+Whatever grievances your rulers' pride
+And grasping avarice may yet inflict,
+Bear them in patience--soon a change may come.
+Another emperor may mount the throne.
+But Austria's once, and you are hers forever.
+
+                  [Exit.
+
+   [STAUFEACHER sits down sorrowfully upon a bench
+   under the lime tree. Gertrude, his wife, enters,
+   and finds him in this posture. She places herself
+   near him, and looks at him for some time in silence.
+
+GERTRUDE.
+So sad, my love! I scarcely know thee now.
+For many a day in silence I have marked
+A moody sorrow furrowing thy brow.
+Some silent grief is weighing on thy heart;
+Trust it to me. I am thy faithful wife,
+And I demand my half of all thy cares.
+
+   [STAUFFACHER gives her his hand and is silent.
+
+Tell me what can oppress thy spirits thus?
+Thy toil is blest--the world goes well with thee--
+Our barns are full--our cattle many a score;
+Our handsome team of sleek and well-fed steeds,
+Brought from the mountain pastures safely home,
+To winter in their comfortable stalls.
+There stands thy house--no nobleman's more fair!
+'Tis newly built with timber of the best,
+All grooved and fitted with the nicest skill;
+Its many glistening windows tell of comfort!
+'Tis quartered o'er with scutcheons of all hues,
+And proverbs sage, which passing travellers
+Linger to read, and ponder o'er their meaning.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+The house is strongly built, and handsomely,
+But, ah! the ground on which we built it totters.
+
+GERTRUDE.
+Tell me, dear Werner, what you mean by that?
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+No later since than yesterday, I sat
+Beneath this linden, thinking with delight,
+How fairly all was finished, when from Kuessnacht
+The viceroy and his men came riding by.
+Before this house he halted in surprise:
+At once I rose, and, as beseemed his rank,
+Advanced respectfully to greet the lord,
+To whom the emperor delegates his power,
+As judge supreme within our Canton here.
+"Who is the owner of this house?" he asked,
+With mischief in his thoughts, for well he knew.
+With prompt decision, thus I answered him:
+"The emperor, your grace--my lord and yours,
+And held by one in fief." On this he answered,
+"I am the emperor's viceregent here,
+And will not that each peasant churl should build
+At his own pleasure, bearing him as freely
+As though he were the master in the land.
+I shall make bold to put a stop to this!"
+So saying he, with menaces, rode off,
+And left me musing, with a heavy heart,
+On the fell purpose that his words betrayed.
+
+GERTRUDE.
+Mine own dear lord and husband! Wilt thou take
+A word of honest counsel from thy wife?
+I boast to be the noble Iberg's child,
+A man of wide experience. Many a time,
+As we sat spinning in the winter nights,
+My sisters and myself, the people's chiefs
+Were wont to gather round our father's hearth,
+To read the old imperial charters, and
+To hold sage converse on the country's weal.
+Then heedfully I listened, marking well
+What or the wise men thought, or good man wished,
+And garnered up their wisdom in my heart.
+Hear then, and mark me well; for thou wilt see,
+I long have known the grief that weighs thee down.
+The viceroy hates thee, fain would injure thee,
+For thou hast crossed his wish to bend the Swiss
+In homage to this upstart house of princes,
+And kept them stanch, like their good sires of old,
+In true allegiance to the empire. Say.
+Is't not so, Werner? Tell nee, am I wrong?
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+'Tis even so. For this doth Gessler hate me.
+
+GERTRUDE.
+He burns with envy, too, to see thee living
+Happy and free on thy inheritance,
+For he has none. From the emperor himself
+Thou holdest in fief the lands thy fathers left thee.
+There's not a prince in the empire that can show
+A better title to his heritage;
+For thou hast over thee no lord but one,
+And he the mightiest of all Christian kings.
+Gessler, we know, is but a younger son,
+His only wealth the knightly cloak he wears;
+He therefore views an honest man's good fortune
+With a malignant and a jealous eye.
+Long has he sworn to compass thy destruction
+As yet thou art uninjured. Wilt thou wait
+Till he may safely give his malice scope?
+A wise man would anticipate the blow.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+What's to be done?
+
+GERTRUDE.
+          Now hear what I advise.
+Thou knowest well, how here with us in Schwytz,
+All worthy men are groaning underneath
+This Gessler's grasping, grinding tyranny.
+Doubt not the men of Unterwald as well,
+And Uri, too, are chafing like ourselves,
+At this oppressive and heart-wearying yoke.
+For there, across the lake, the Landenberg
+Wields the same iron rule as Gessler here--
+No fishing-boat comes over to our side
+But brings the tidings of some new encroachment,
+Some outrage fresh, more grievous than the last.
+Then it were well that some of you--true men--
+Men sound at heart, should secretly devise
+How best to shake this hateful thraldom off.
+Well do I know that God would not desert you,
+But lend his favor to the righteous cause.
+Hast thou no friend in Uri, say, to whom
+Thou frankly may'st unbosom all thy thoughts?
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+I know full many a gallant fellow there,
+And nobles, too,--great men, of high repute,
+In whom I can repose unbounded trust.
+
+                 [Rising.
+
+Wife! What a storm of wild and perilous thoughts
+Hast thou stirred up within my tranquil breast?
+The darkest musings of my bosom thou
+Hast dragged to light, and placed them full before me,
+And what I scarce dared harbor e'en in thought,
+Thou speakest plainly out, with fearless tongue.
+But hast thou weighed well what thou urgest thus?
+Discord will come, and the fierce clang of arms,
+To scare this valley's long unbroken peace,
+If we, a feeble shepherd race, shall dare
+Him to the fight that lords it o'er the world.
+Even now they only wait some fair pretext
+For setting loose their savage warrior hordes,
+To scourge and ravage this devoted land,
+To lord it o'er us with the victor's rights,
+And 'neath the show of lawful chastisement,
+Despoil us of our chartered liberties.
+
+GERTRUDE.
+You, too, are men; can wield a battle-axe
+As well as they. God ne'er deserts the brave.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Oh wife! a horrid, ruthless fiend is war,
+That strikes at once the shepherd and his flock.
+
+GERTRUDE.
+Whate'er great heaven inflicts we must endure;
+No heart of noble temper brooks injustice.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+This house--thy pride--war, unrelenting war,
+Will burn it down.
+
+GERTRUDE.
+          And did I think this heart
+Enslaved and fettered to the things of earth,
+With my own hand I'd hurl the kindling torch.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Thou hast faith in human kindness, wife; but war
+Spares not the tender infant in its cradle.
+
+GERTRUDE.
+There is a friend to innocence in heaven
+Look forward, Werner--not behind you, now!
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+We men may perish bravely, sword in hand;
+But oh, what fate, my Gertrude, may be thine?
+
+GERTRUDE.
+None are so weak, but one last choice is left.
+A spring from yonder bridge, and I am free!
+
+STAUFFACHER (embracing her).
+Well may he fight for hearth and home that clasps
+A heart so rare as thine against his own!
+What are the hosts of emperors to him!
+Gertrude, farewell! I will to Uri straight.
+There lives my worthy comrade, Walter Furst,
+His thoughts and mine upon these times are one.
+There, too, resides the noble Banneret
+Of Attinghaus. High though of blood he be,
+He loves the people, honors their old customs.
+With both of these I will take counsel how
+To rid us bravely of our country's foe.
+Farewell! and while I am away, bear thou
+A watchful eye in management at home.
+The pilgrim journeying to the house of God,
+And pious monk, collecting for his cloister,
+To these give liberally from purse and garner.
+Stauffacher's house would not be hid. Right out
+Upon the public way it stands, and offers
+To all that pass an hospitable roof.
+
+   [While they are retiring, TELL enters with BAUMGARTEN.
+
+TELL.
+Now, then, you have no further need of me.
+Enter yon house. 'Tis Werner Stauffacher's,
+A man that is a father to distress.
+See, there he is himself! Come, follow me.
+
+   [They retire up. Scene changes.
+
+
+
+SCENE III.
+
+   A common near Altdorf. On an eminence in the background a castle
+   in progress of erection, and so far advanced that the outline of the
+   whole may be distinguished. The back part is finished; men are
+   working at the front. Scaffolding, on which the workmen are going
+   up and down. A slater is seen upon the highest part of the roof.--
+   All is bustle and activity.
+
+   TASKMASTER, MASON, WORKMEN, and LABORERS.
+
+TASKMASTER (with a stick, urging on the workmen).
+Up, up! You've rested long enough. To work!
+The stones here, now the mortar, and the lime!
+And let his lordship see the work advanced
+When next he comes. These fellows crawl like snails!
+
+   [To two laborers with loads.
+
+What! call ye that a load? Go, double it.
+Is this the way ye earn your wages, laggards?
+
+FIRST WORKMAN.
+'Tis very hard that we must bear the stones,
+To make a keep and dungeon for ourselves!
+
+TASKMASTER.
+What's that you mutter? 'Tis a worthless race,
+And fit for nothing but to milk their cows,
+And saunter idly up and down the mountains.
+
+OLD MAN (sinks down exhausted).
+I can no more.
+
+TASKMASTER (shaking him).
+        Up, up, old man, to work!
+
+FIRST WORKMAN.
+Have you no bowels of compassion, thus
+To press so hard upon a poor old man,
+That scarce can drag his feeble limbs along?
+
+MASTER MASON and WORKMEN.
+Shame, shame upon you--shame! It cries to heaven!
+
+TASKMASTER.
+Mind your own business. I but do my duty.
+
+FIRST WORKMAN.
+Pray, master, what's to be the name of this
+Same castle when 'tis built?
+
+TASKMASTER.
+               The keep of Uri;
+For by it we shall keep you in subjection.
+
+WORKMEN.
+The keep of Uri.
+
+TASKMASTER.
+         Well, why laugh at that?
+
+SECOND WORKMAN.
+So you'll keep Uri with this paltry place!
+
+FIRST WORKMAN.
+How many molehills such as that must first
+Be piled above each other ere you make
+A mountain equal to the least in Uri?
+
+   [TASKMASTER retires up the stage.
+
+MASTER MASON.
+I'll drown the mallet in the deepest lake,
+That served my hand on this accursed pile.
+
+   [Enter TELL and STAUFFACHER.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Oh, that I had not lived to see this sight!
+
+TELL.
+Here 'tis not good to be. Let us proceed.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Am I in Uri, in the land of freedom?
+
+MASTER MASON.
+Oh, sir, if you could only see the vaults
+Beneath these towers. The man that tenants them
+Will never hear the cock crow more.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+                   O God!
+
+MASTER MASON.
+Look at these ramparts and these buttresses,
+That seem as they were built to last forever.
+
+TELL.
+Hands can destroy whatever hands have reared.
+
+   [Pointing to the mountains.
+
+That house of freedom God hath built for us.
+
+   [A drum is heard. People enter bearing a cap upon a
+   pole, followed by a crier. Women and children thronging
+   tumultuously after them.
+
+FIRST WORKMAN.
+What means the drum? Give heed!
+
+MASTER MASON.
+                 Why here's a mumming!
+And look, the cap,--what can they mean by that?
+
+CRIER.
+In the emperor's name, give ear!
+
+WORKMEN.
+                 Hush! silence! hush!
+
+CRIER.
+Ye men of Uri, ye do see this cap!
+It will be set upon a lofty pole
+In Altdorf, in the market-place: and this
+Is the lord governor's good will and pleasure,
+The cap shall have like honor as himself,
+And all shall reverence it with bended knee,
+And head uncovered; thus the king will know
+Who are his true and loyal subjects here:
+His life and goods are forfeit to the crown,
+That shall refuse obedience to the order.
+
+   [The people burst out into laughter. The drum beats,
+   and the procession passes on.
+
+FIRST WORKMAN.
+A strange device to fall upon, indeed!
+Do reverence to a cap! a pretty farce!
+Heard ever mortal anything like this?
+
+MASTER MASON.
+Down to a cap on bended knee, forsooth!
+Rare jesting this with men of sober sense!
+
+FIRST WORKMAN.
+Nay, were it but the imperial crown, indeed!
+But 'tis the cap of Austria! I've seen it
+Hanging above the throne in Gessler's hall.
+
+MASTER MASON.
+The cap of Austria! Mark that! A snare
+To get us into Austria's power, by heaven!
+
+WORKMEN.
+No freeborn man will stoop to such disgrace.
+
+MASTER MASON.
+Come--to our comrades, and advise with them!
+
+   [They retire up.
+
+TELL (to STAUFFACHER).
+You see how matters stand: Farewell, my friend!
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Whither away? Oh, leave us not so soon.
+
+TELL.
+They look for me at home. So fare ye well.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+My heart's so full, and has so much to tell you.
+
+TELL.
+Words will not make a heart that's heavy light.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Yet words may possibly conduct to deeds.
+
+TELL.
+All we can do is to endure in silence.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+But shall we bear what is not to be borne?
+
+TELL.
+Impetuous rulers have the shortest reigns.
+When the fierce south wind rises from his chasms,
+Men cover up their fires, the ships in haste
+Make for the harbor, and the mighty spirit
+Sweeps o'er the earth, and leaves no trace behind.
+Let every man live quietly at home;
+Peace to the peaceful rarely is denied.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+And is it thus you view our grievances?
+
+TELL.
+The serpent stings not till it is provoked.
+Let them alone; they'll weary of themselves,
+Whene'er they see we are not to be roused.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Much might be done--did we stand fast together.
+
+TELL.
+When the ship founders, he will best escape
+Who seeks no other's safety but his own.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+And you desert the common cause so coldly?
+
+TELL.
+A man can safely count but on himself!
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Nay, even the weak grow strong by union.
+
+TELL.
+But the strong man is the strongest when alone.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Your country, then, cannot rely on you
+If in despair she rise against her foes.
+
+TELL.
+Tell rescues the lost sheep from yawning gulfs:
+Is he a man, then, to desert his friends?
+Yet, whatsoe'er you do, spare me from council!
+I was not born to ponder and select;
+But when your course of action is resolved,
+Then call on Tell; you shall not find him fail.
+
+  [Exeunt severally. A sudden tumult is heard around the scaffolding.
+
+MASTER MASON (running in).
+What's wrong?
+
+FIRST WORKMAN (running forward).
+        The slater's fallen from the roof.
+
+BERTHA (rushing in).
+Is he dashed to pieces? Run--save him, help!
+If help be possible, save him! Here is gold.
+
+   [Throws her trinkets among the people.
+
+MASTER MASON.
+Hence with your gold,--your universal charm,
+And remedy for ill! When you have torn
+Fathers from children, husbands from their wives,
+And scattered woe and wail throughout the land,
+You think with gold to compensate for all.
+Hence! Till we saw you we were happy men;
+With you came misery and dark despair.
+
+BERTHA (to the TASKMASTER, who has returned).
+Lives he?
+   [TASKMASTER shakes his head.
+      Ill-fated towers, with curses built,
+And doomed with curses to be tenanted!
+
+                    [Exit.
+
+
+
+SCENE IV.
+
+   The House of WALTER FURST.
+WALTER FURST and ARNOLD
+   VON MELCHTHAL enter simultaneously at different sides.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+Good Walter Furst.
+
+FURST.
+          If we should be surprised!
+Stay where you are. We are beset with spies.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+Have you no news for me from Unterwald?
+What of my father? 'Tis not to be borne,
+Thus to be pent up like a felon here!
+What have I done of such a heinous stamp,
+To skulk and hide me like a murderer?
+I only laid my staff across the fingers
+Of the pert varlet, when before my eyes,
+By order of the governor, he tried
+To drive away my handsome team of oxen.
+
+FURST.
+You are too rash by far. He did no more
+Than what the governor had ordered him.
+You had transgressed, and therefore should have paid
+The penalty, however hard, in silence.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+Was I to brook the fellow's saucy words?
+"That if the peasant must have bread to eat;
+Why, let him go and draw the plough himself!"
+It cut me to the very soul to see
+My oxen, noble creatures, when the knave
+Unyoked them from the plough. As though they felt
+The wrong, they lowed and butted with their horns.
+On this I could contain myself no longer,
+And, overcome by passion, struck him down.
+
+FURST.
+Oh, we old men can scarce command ourselves!
+And can we wonder youth shall break its bounds?
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+I'm only sorry for my father's sake!
+To be away from him, that needs so much
+My fostering care! The governor detests him,
+Because he hath, whene'er occasion served,
+Stood stoutly up for right and liberty.
+Therefore they'll bear him hard--the poor old man!
+And there is none to shield him from their gripe.
+Come what come may, I must go home again.
+
+FURST.
+Compose yourself, and wait in patience till
+We get some tidings o'er from Unterwald.
+Away! away! I hear a knock! Perhaps
+A message from the viceroy! Get thee in!
+You are not safe from Landenberger's [6] arm
+In Uri, for these tyrants pull together.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+They teach us Switzers what we ought to do.
+
+FURST.
+Away! I'll call you when the coast is clear.
+
+   [MELCHTHAL retires.
+
+Unhappy youth! I dare not tell him all
+The evil that my boding heart predicts!
+Who's there? The door ne'er opens but I look
+For tidings of mishap. Suspicion lurks
+With darkling treachery in every nook.
+Even to our inmost rooms they force their way,
+These myrmidons of power; and soon we'll need
+To fasten bolts and bars upon our doors.
+
+   [He opens the door and steps back in surprise as
+   WERNER STAUFFACHER enters.
+
+What do I see? You, Werner? Now, by Heaven!
+A valued guest, indeed. No man e'er set
+His foot across this threshold more esteemed.
+Welcome! thrice welcome, Werner, to my roof!
+What brings you here? What seek you here in Uri?
+
+STAUFFACHER (shakes FURST by the hand).
+The olden times and olden Switzerland.
+
+FURST.
+You bring them with you. See how I'm rejoiced,
+My heart leaps at the very sight of you.
+Sit down--sit down, and tell me how you left
+Your charming wife, fair Gertrude? Iberg's child,
+And clever as her father. Not a man,
+That wends from Germany, by Meinrad's Cell, [7]
+To Italy, but praises far and wide
+Your house's hospitality. But say,
+Have you come here direct from Flueelen,
+And have you noticed nothing on your way,
+Before you halted at my door?
+
+STAUFFACHER (sits down).
+                I saw
+A work in progress, as I came along,
+I little thought to see--that likes me ill.
+
+FURST.
+O friend! you've lighted on my thought at once.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Such things in Uri ne'er were known before.
+Never was prison here in man's remembrance,
+Nor ever any stronghold but the grave.
+
+FURST.
+You name it well. It is the grave of freedom.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Friend, Walter Furst, I will be plain with you.
+No idle curiosity it is
+That brings me here, but heavy cares. I left
+Thraldom at home, and thraldom meets me here.
+Our wrongs, e'en now, are more than we can bear.
+And who shall tell us where they are to end?
+From eldest time the Switzer has been free,
+Accustomed only to the mildest rule.
+Such things as now we suffer ne'er were known
+Since herdsmen first drove cattle to the hills.
+
+FURST.
+Yes, our oppressions are unparalleled!
+Why, even our own good lord of Attinghaus,
+Who lived in olden times, himself declares
+They are no longer to be tamely borne.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+In Unterwalden yonder 'tis the same;
+And bloody has the retribution been.
+The imperial seneschal, the Wolfshot, who
+At Rossberg dwelt, longed for forbidden fruits--
+Baumgarten's wife, that lives at Alzellen,
+He wished to overcome in shameful sort,
+On which the husband slew him with his axe.
+
+FURST.
+Oh, Heaven is just in all its judgments still!
+Baumgarten, say you? A most worthy man.
+Has he escaped, and is he safely hid?
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Your son-in-law conveyed him o'er the lake,
+And he lies hidden in my house at Steinen.
+He brought the tidings with him of a thing
+That has been done at Sarnen, worse than all,
+A thing to make the very heart run blood!
+
+FURST (attentively).
+Say on. What is it?
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+           There dwells in Melchthal, then,
+Just as you enter by the road from Kearns,
+An upright man, named Henry of the Halden,
+A man of weight and influence in the Diet.
+
+FURST.
+Who knows him not? But what of him? Proceed.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+The Landenberg, to punish some offence,
+Committed by the old man's son, it seems,
+Had given command to take the youth's best pair
+Of oxen from his plough: on which the lad
+Struck down the messenger and took to flight.
+
+FURST.
+But the old father--tell me, what of him?
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+The Landenberg sent for him, and required
+He should produce his son upon the spot;
+And when the old man protested, and with truth,
+That he knew nothing of the fugitive,
+The tyrant called his torturers.
+
+FURST (springs up and tries to lead him to the other side).
+                 Hush, no more!
+
+STAUFFACHER (with increasing warmth).
+"And though thy son," he cried, "Has escaped me now,
+I have thee fast, and thou shalt feel my vengeance."
+With that they flung the old man to the earth,
+And plunged the pointed steel into his eyes.
+
+FURST.
+Merciful heavens!
+
+MELCHTHAL (rushing out).
+          Into his eyes, his eyes?
+
+STAUFFACHER (addresses himself in astonishment to WALTER FURST).
+Who is this youth?
+
+MELCHTHAL (grasping him convulsively).
+          Into his eyes? Speak, speak!
+
+FURST.
+Oh, miserable hour!
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+           Who is it, tell me?
+
+   [STAUFFACHER makes a sign to him.
+
+It is his son! All righteous heaven!
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+                    And I
+Must be from thence! What! into both his eyes?
+
+FURST.
+Be calm, be calm; and bear it like a man!
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+And all for me--for my mad wilful folly!
+Blind, did you say? Quite blind--and both his eyes?
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Even so. The fountain of his sight's dried up.
+He ne'er will see the blessed sunshine more.
+
+FURST.
+Oh, spare his anguish!
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+            Never, never more!
+
+   [Presses his hands upon his eyes and is silent for some
+   moments; then turning from one to the other, speaks in a
+   subdued tone, broken by sobs.
+
+O the eye's light, of all the gifts of heaven,
+The dearest, best! From light all beings live--
+Each fair created thing--the very plants
+Turn with a joyful transport to the light,
+And he--he must drag on through all his days
+In endless darkness! Never more for him
+The sunny meads shall glow, the flowerets bloom;
+Nor shall he more behold the roseate tints
+Of the iced mountain top! To die is nothing,
+But to have life, and not have sight--oh, that
+Is misery indeed! Why do you look
+So piteously at me? I have two eyes,
+Yet to my poor blind father can give neither!
+No, not one gleam of that great sea of light,
+That with its dazzling splendor floods my gaze.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Ah, I must swell the measure of your grief,
+Instead of soothing it. The worst, alas!
+Remains to tell. They've stripped him of his all;
+Naught have they left him, save his staff, on which,
+Blind and in rags, he moves from door to door.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+Naught but his staff to the old eyeless man!
+Stripped of his all--even of the light of day,
+The common blessing of the meanest wretch.
+Tell me no more of patience, of concealment!
+Oh, what a base and coward thing am I,
+That on mine own security I thought
+And took no care of thine! Thy precious head
+Left as a pledge within the tyrant's grasp!
+Hence, craven-hearted prudence, hence! And all
+My thoughts be vengeance, and the despot's blood!
+I'll seek him straight--no power shall stay me now--
+And at his hands demand my father's eyes.
+I'll beard him 'mid a thousand myrmidons!
+What's life to me, if in his heart's best blood
+I cool the fever of this mighty anguish.
+
+                [He is going.
+
+FURST.
+Stay, this is madness, Melchthal! What avails
+Your single arm against his power? He sits
+At Sarnen high within his lordly keep,
+And, safe within its battlemented walls,
+May laugh to scorn your unavailing rage.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+And though he sat within the icy domes
+Of yon far Schreckhorn--ay, or higher, where
+Veiled since eternity, the Jungfrau soars,
+Still to the tyrant would I make my way;
+With twenty comrades minded like myself,
+I'd lay his fastness level with the earth!
+And if none follow me, and if you all,
+In terror for your homesteads and your herds,
+Bow in submission to the tyrant's yoke,
+I'll call the herdsmen on the hills around me,
+And there beneath heaven's free and boundless roof,
+Where men still feel as men, and hearts are true
+Proclaim aloud this foul enormity!
+
+STAUFFACHER (to FURST).
+'Tis at its height--and are we then to wait
+Till some extremity----
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+            What extremity
+Remains for apprehension, where men's eyes
+Have ceased to be secure within their sockets?
+Are we defenceless? Wherefore did we learn
+To bend the crossbow--wield the battle-axe?
+What living creature, but in its despair,
+Finds for itself a weapon of defence?
+The baited stag will turn, and with the show
+Of his dread antlers hold the hounds at bay;
+The chamois drags the huntsman down the abyss;
+The very ox, the partner of man's toil,
+The sharer of his roof, that meekly bends
+The strength of his huge neck beneath the yoke,
+Springs up, if he's provoked, whets his strong horn,
+And tosses his tormenter to the clouds.
+
+FURST.
+If the three Cantons thought as we three do,
+Something might, then, be done, with good effect.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+When Uri calls, when Unterwald replies,
+Schwytz will be mindful of her ancient league. [8]
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+I've many friends in Unterwald, and none
+That would not gladly venture life and limb
+If fairly backed and aided by the rest.
+Oh, sage and reverend fathers of this land,
+Here do I stand before your riper years,
+An unskilled youth whose voice must in the Diet
+Still be subdued into respectful silence.
+Do not, because that I am young and want
+Experience, slight my counsel and my words.
+'Tis not the wantonness of youthful blood
+That fires my spirit; but a pang so deep
+That even the flinty rocks must pity me.
+You, too, are fathers, heads of families,
+And you must wish to have a virtuous son
+To reverence your gray hairs and shield your eyes
+With pious and affectionate regard.
+Do not, I pray, because in limb and fortune
+You still are unassailed, and still your eyes
+Revolve undimmed and sparkling in their spheres;
+Oh, do not, therefore, disregard our wrongs!
+Above you, too, doth hang the tyrant's sword.
+You, too, have striven to alienate the land
+From Austria. This was all my father's crime:
+You share his guilt and may his punishment.
+
+STAUFFACHER (to FURST).
+Do then resolve! I am prepared to follow.
+
+FURST.
+First let us learn what steps the noble lords
+Von Sillinen and Attinghaus propose.
+Their names would rally thousands in the cause.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+Is there a name within the Forest Mountains
+That carries more respect than thine--and thine?
+To names like these the people cling for help
+With confidence--such names are household words.
+Rich was your heritage of manly virtue,
+And richly have you added to its stores.
+What need of nobles? Let us do the work
+Ourselves. Although we stood alone, methinks
+We should be able to maintain our rights.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+The nobles' wrongs are not so great as ours.
+The torrent that lays waste the lower grounds
+Hath not ascended to the uplands yet.
+But let them see the country once in arms
+They'll not refuse to lend a helping hand.
+
+FURST.
+Were there an umpire 'twixt ourselves and Austria,
+Justice and law might then decide our quarrel.
+But our oppressor is our emperor, too,
+And judge supreme. 'Tis God must help us, then,
+And our own arm! Be yours the task to rouse
+The men of Schwytz; I'll rally friends in Uri.
+But whom are we to send to Unterwald?
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+Thither send me. Whom should it more concern?
+
+FURST.
+No, Melchthal, no; thou art my guest, and I
+Must answer for thy safety.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+               Let me go.
+I know each forest track and mountain pass;
+Friends too I'll find, be sure, on every hand,
+To give me willing shelter from the foe.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Nay, let him go; no traitors harbor there:
+For tyranny is so abhorred in Unterwald
+No minions can be found to work her will.
+In the low valleys, too, the Alzeller
+Will gain confederates and rouse the country.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+But how shall we communicate, and not
+Awaken the suspicion of the tyrants?
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Might we not meet at Brunnen or at Treib,
+Hard by the spot where merchant-vessels land?
+
+FURST.
+We must not go so openly to work.
+Hear my opinion. On the lake's left bank,
+As we sail hence to Brunnen, right against
+The Mytenstein, deep-hidden in the wood
+A meadow lies, by shepherds called the Rootli,
+Because the wood has been uprooted there.
+'Tis where our Canton boundaries verge on yours;--
+
+   [To MELCHTHAL.
+
+Your boat will carry you across from Schwytz.
+
+   [To STAUFFACHER.
+
+Thither by lonely by-paths let us wend
+At midnight and deliberate o'er our plans.
+Let each bring with him there ten trusty men,
+All one at heart with us; and then we may
+Consult together for the general weal,
+And, with God's guidance, fix our onward course.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+So let it be. And now your true right hand!
+Yours, too, young man! and as we now three men
+Among ourselves thus knit our hands together
+In all sincerity and truth, e'en so
+Shall we three Cantons, too, together stand
+In victory and defeat, in life and death.
+
+FURST and MELCHTHAL.
+In life and death.
+
+  [They hold their hands clasped together for some moments in silence.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+          Alas, my old blind father!
+Thou canst no more behold the day of freedom;
+But thou shalt hear it. When from Alp to Alp
+The beacon-fires throw up their flaming signs,
+And the proud castles of the tyrants fall,
+Into thy cottage shall the Switzer burst,
+Bear the glad tidings to thine ear, and o'er
+Thy darkened way shall Freedom's radiance pour.
+
+
+
+
+ACT II.
+
+SCENE I.
+
+   The Mansion of the BARON OF ATTINGHAUSEN. A Gothic hall,
+   decorated with escutcheons and helmets. The BARON, a
+   gray-headed man, eighty-five years old, tall, and of a
+   commanding mien, clad in a furred pelisse, and leaning
+   on a staff tipped with chamois horn. KUONI and six hinds
+   standing round him, with rakes and scythes. ULRICH OF RUDENZ
+   enters in the costume of a knight.
+
+RUDENZ.
+Uncle, I'm here! Your will?
+
+ATTINGHAUSEN.
+               First let me share,
+After the ancient custom of our house,
+The morning-cup with these my faithful servants!
+
+   [He drinks from a cup, which is then passed round.
+
+Time was I stood myself in field and wood,
+With mine own eyes directing all their toil,
+Even as my banner led them in the fight,
+Now I am only fit to play the steward;
+And, if the genial sun come not to me,
+I can no longer seek it on the mountains.
+Thus slowly, in an ever-narrowing sphere,
+I move on to the narrowest and the last,
+Where all life's pulses cease. I now am but
+The shadow of my former self, and that
+Is fading fast--'twill soon be but a name.
+
+KUONI (offering RUDENZ the cup).
+A pledge, young master!
+   [RUDENZ hesitates to take the cup.
+             Nay, sir, drink it off!
+One cup, one heart! You know our proverb, sir!
+
+ATTINGHAUSEN.
+Go, children, and at eve, when work is done,
+We'll meet and talk the country's business over.
+
+                 [Exeunt Servants.
+
+Belted and plumed, and all thy bravery on!
+Thou art for Altdorf--for the castle, boy?
+
+RUDENZ.
+Yes, uncle. Longer may I not delay----
+
+ATTINGHAUSEN (sitting down).
+Why in such haste? Say, are thy youthful hours
+Doled in such niggard measure that thou must
+Be chary of then to thy aged uncle?
+
+RUDENZ.
+I see, my presence is not needed here,
+I am but as a stranger in this house.
+
+ATTINGHAUSEN (gazes fixedly at him for a considerable time).
+Alas, thou art indeed! Alas, that home
+To thee has grown so strange! Oh, Uly! Uly!
+I scarce do know thee now, thus decked in silks,
+The peacock's feather [9] flaunting in thy cap,
+And purple mantle round thy shoulders flung;
+Thou lookest upon the peasant with disdain,
+And takest with a blush his honest greeting.
+
+RUDENZ.
+All honor due to him I gladly pay,
+But must deny the right he would usurp.
+
+ATTINGHAUSEN.
+The sore displeasure of the king is resting
+Upon the land, and every true man's heart
+Is full of sadness for the grievous wrongs
+We suffer from our tyrants. Thou alone
+Art all unmoved amid the general grief.
+Abandoning thy friends, thou takest thy stand
+Beside thy country's foes, and, as in scorn
+Of our distress, pursuest giddy joys,
+Courting the smiles of princes, all the while
+Thy country bleeds beneath their cruel scourge.
+
+RUDENZ.
+The land is sore oppressed; I know it, uncle.
+But why? Who plunged it into this distress?
+A word, one little easy word, might buy
+Instant deliverance from such dire oppression,
+And win the good-will of the emperor.
+Woe unto those who seal the people's eyes,
+And make them adverse to their country's good;
+The men who, for their own vile, selfish ends,
+Are seeking to prevent the Forest States
+From swearing fealty to Austria's house,
+As all the countries round about have done.
+It fits their humor well, to take their seats
+Amid the nobles on the Herrenbank; [10]
+They'll have the Caesar for their lord, forsooth,
+That is to say, they'll have no lord at all.
+
+ATTINGHAUSEN.
+Must I hear this, and from thy lips, rash boy!
+
+RUDENZ.
+You urged me to this answer. Hear me out.
+What, uncle, is the character you've stooped
+To fill contentedly through life? Have you
+No higher pride, than in these lonely wilds
+To be the Landamman or Banneret, [11]
+The petty chieftain of a shepherd race?
+How! Were it not a far more glorious choice
+To bend in homage to our royal lord,
+And swell the princely splendors of his court,
+Than sit at home, the peer of your own vassals,
+And share the judgment-seat with vulgar clowns?
+
+ATTINGHAUSEN.
+Ah, Uly, Uly; all too well I see,
+The tempter's voice has caught thy willing ear,
+And poured its subtle poison in thy heart.
+
+RUDENZ.
+Yes, I conceal it not. It doth offend
+My inmost soul to hear the stranger's gibes,
+That taunt us with the name of "Peasant Nobles."
+Think you the heart that's stirring here can brook,
+While all the young nobility around
+Are reaping honor under Hapsburg's banner,
+That I should loiter, in inglorious ease,
+Here on the heritage my fathers left,
+And, in the dull routine of vulgar toil,
+Lose all life's glorious spring? In other lands
+Deeds are achieved. A world of fair renown
+Beyond these mountains stirs in martial pomp.
+My helm and shield are rusting in the hall;
+The martial trumpet's spirit-stirring blast,
+The herald's call, inviting to the lists,
+Rouse not the echoes of these vales, where naught
+Save cowherd's horn and cattle-bell is heard,
+In one unvarying, dull monotony.
+
+ATTINGHAUSEN.
+Deluded boy, seduced by empty show!
+Despise the land that gave thee birth! Ashamed
+Of the good ancient customs of thy sires!
+The day will come, when thou, with burning tears,
+Wilt long for home, and for thy native hills,
+And that dear melody of tuneful herds,
+Which now, in proud disgust, thou dost despise!
+A day when thou wilt drink its tones in sadness,
+Hearing their music in a foreign land.
+Oh! potent is the spell that binds to home!
+No, no, the cold, false world is not for thee.
+At the proud court, with thy true heart thou wilt
+Forever feel a stranger among strangers.
+The world asks virtues of far other stamp
+Than thou hast learned within these simple vales.
+But go--go thither; barter thy free soul,
+Take land in fief, become a prince's vassal,
+Where thou might'st be lord paramount, and prince
+Of all thine own unburdened heritage!
+O, Uly, Uly, stay among thy people!
+Go not to Altdorf. Oh, abandon not
+The sacred cause of thy wronged native land!
+I am the last of all my race. My name
+Ends with me. Yonder hang my helm and shield;
+They will be buried with me in the grave. [12]
+And must I think, when yielding up my breath,
+That thou but wait'st the closing of mine eyes,
+To stoop thy knee to this new feudal court,
+And take in vassalage from Austria's hands
+The noble lands, which I from God received
+Free and unfettered as the mountain air!
+
+RUDENZ.
+'Tis vain for us to strive against the king.
+The world pertains to him:--shall we alone,
+In mad, presumptuous obstinacy strive
+To break that mighty chain of lands, which he
+Hath drawn around us with his giant grasp.
+His are the markets, his the courts; his too
+The highways; nay, the very carrier's horse,
+That traffics on the Gotthardt, pays him toll.
+By his dominions, as within a net,
+We are enclosed, and girded round about.
+--And will the empire shield us? Say, can it
+Protect itself 'gainst Austria's growing power?
+To God, and not to emperors, must we look!
+What store can on their promises be placed,
+When they, to meet their own necessities,
+Can pawn, and even alienate the towns
+That flee for shelter 'neath the eagle's wings? [13]
+No, uncle. It is wise and wholesome prudence,
+In times like these, when faction's all abroad,
+To own attachment to some mighty chief.
+The imperial crown's transferred from line to line, [14]
+It has no memory for faithful service:
+But to secure the favor of these great
+Hereditary masters, were to sow
+Seed for a future harvest.
+
+ATTINGHAUSEN.
+              Art so wise?
+Wilt thou see clearer than thy noble sires,
+Who battled for fair freedom's costly gem,
+With life, and fortune, and heroic arm?
+Sail down the lake to Lucerne, there inquire,
+How Austria's rule doth weigh the Cantons down.
+Soon she will come to count our sheep, our cattle,
+To portion out the Alps, e'en to their summits,
+And in our own free woods to hinder us
+From striking down the eagle or the stag;
+To set her tolls on every bridge and gate,
+Impoverish us to swell her lust of sway,
+And drain our dearest blood to feed her wars.
+No, if our blood must flow, let it be shed
+In our own cause! We purchase liberty
+More cheaply far than bondage.
+
+RUDENZ.
+                 What can we,
+A shepherd race, against great Albert's hosts?
+
+ATTINGHAUSEN.
+Learn, foolish boy, to know this shepherd race!
+I know them, I have led them on in fight--
+I saw them in the battle at Favenz.
+Austria will try, forsooth, to force on us
+A yoke we are determined not to bear!
+Oh, learn to feel from what a race thou'rt sprung!
+Cast not, for tinsel trash and idle show,
+The precious jewel of thy worth away.
+To be the chieftain of a freeborn race,
+Bound to thee only by their unbought love,
+Ready to stand--to fight--to die with thee,
+Be that thy pride, be that thy noblest boast!
+Knit to thy heart the ties of kindred--home--
+Cling to the land, the dear land of thy sires,
+Grapple to that with thy whole heart and soul!
+Thy power is rooted deep and strongly here,
+But in yon stranger world thou'lt stand alone,
+A trembling reed beat down by every blast.
+Oh come! 'tis long since we have seen thee, Uly!
+Tarry but this one day. Only to-day
+Go not to Altdorf. Wilt thou? Not to-day!
+For this one day bestow thee on thy friends.
+
+   [Takes his hand.
+
+RUDENZ.
+I gave my word. Unhand me! I am bound.
+
+ATTINGHAUSEN (drops his hand and says sternly).
+Bound, didst thou say? Oh yes, unhappy boy,
+Thou art, indeed. But not by word or oath.
+'Tis by the silken mesh of love thou'rt bound.
+
+   [RUDENZ turns away.
+
+Ay, hide thee, as thou wilt. 'Tis she, I know,
+Bertha of Bruneck, draws thee to the court;
+'Tis she that chains thee to the emperor's service.
+Thou think'st to win the noble, knightly maid,
+By thy apostacy. Be not deceived.
+She is held out before thee as a lure;
+But never meant for innocence like thine.
+
+RUDENZ.
+No more; I've heard enough. So fare you well.
+
+                   [Exit.
+
+ATTINGHAUSEN.
+Stay, Uly! Stay! Rash boy, he's gone! I can
+Nor hold him back, nor save him from destruction.
+And so the Wolfshot has deserted us;--
+Others will follow his example soon.
+This foreign witchery, sweeping o'er our hills,
+Tears with its potent spell our youth away:
+O luckless hour, when men and manners strange
+Into these calm and happy valleys came,
+To warp our primitive and guileless ways.
+The new is pressing on with might. The old,
+The good, the simple, fleeteth fast away.
+New times come on. A race is springing up,
+That think not as their fathers thought before!
+What do I here? All, all are in the grave
+With whom ere while I moved and held converse;
+My age has long been laid beneath the sod:
+Happy the man who may not live to see
+What shall be done by those that follow me!
+
+
+
+SCENE II.
+
+   A meadow surrounded by high rocks and wooded ground. On the
+   rocks are tracks, with rails and ladders, by which the peasants
+   are afterwards seen descending. In the background the lake is
+   observed, and over it a moon rainbow in the early part of the scene.
+   The prospect is closed by lofty mountains, with glaciers rising
+   behind them. The stage is dark, but the lake and glaciers glisten
+   in the moonlight.
+
+   MELCHTHAL, BAUMGARTEN, WINKELRIED, MEYER VON SARNEN, BURKHART AM
+   BUHEL, ARNOLD VON SEWA, KLAUS VON DER FLUE, and four other peasants,
+   all armed.
+
+MELCHTHAL (behind the scenes).
+The mountain pass is open. Follow me
+I see the rock, and little cross upon it:
+This is the spot; here is the Rootli.
+
+   [They enter with torches.
+
+WINKELRIED.
+                    Hark!
+
+SEWA.
+The coast is clear.
+
+MEYER.
+           None of our comrades come?
+We are the first, we Unterwaldeners.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+How far is't in the night?
+
+BAUMGARTEN.
+               The beacon watch
+Upon the Selisberg has just called two.
+
+   [A bell is heard at a distance.
+
+MEYER.
+Hush! Hark!
+
+BUHEL.
+       The forest chapel's matin bell
+Chimes clearly o'er the lake from Switzerland.
+
+FLUE.
+The air is clear, and bears the sound so far.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+Go, you and you, and light some broken boughs,
+Let's bid them welcome with a cheerful blaze.
+
+               [Two peasants exeunt.
+
+SEWA.
+The moon shines fair to-night. Beneath its beams
+The lake reposes, bright as burnished steel.
+
+BUHEL.
+They'll have an easy passage.
+
+WINKELRIED (pointing to the lake).
+                  Ha! look there!
+See you nothing?
+
+MEYER.
+         What is it? Ay, indeed!
+A rainbow in the middle of the night.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+Formed by the bright reflection of the moon!
+
+FLUE.
+A sign most strange and wonderful, indeed!
+Many there be who ne'er have seen the like.
+
+SEWA.
+'Tis doubled, see, a paler one above!
+
+BAUMGARTEN.
+A boat is gliding yonder right beneath it.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+That must be Werner Stauffacher! I knew
+The worthy patriot would not tarry long.
+
+   [Goes with BAUMGARTEN towards the shore.
+
+MEYER.
+The Uri men are like to be the last.
+
+BUHEL.
+They're forced to take a winding circuit through
+The mountains; for the viceroy's spies are out.
+
+   [In the meanwhile the two peasants have kindled a fire
+   in the centre of the stage.
+
+MELCHTHAL (on the shore).
+Who's there? The word?
+
+STAUFFACHER (from below).
+             Friends of the country.
+
+   [All retire up the stage, towards the party landing from the boat.
+   Enter STAUFFACHER, ITEL, REDING, HANS AUF DER MAUER, JORG IM HOPE,
+   CONRAD HUNN, ULRICH DER SCHMIDT, JOST VON WEILER, and three other
+   peasants, armed.
+
+ALL.
+                          Welcome!
+
+   [While the rest remain behind exchanging greetings, MELCHTHAL comes
+   forward with STAUFFACHER.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+Oh, worthy Stauffacher, I've looked but now
+On him, who could not look on me again.
+I've laid my hands upon his rayless eyes,
+And on their vacant orbits sworn a vow
+Of vengeance, only to be cooled in blood.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Speak not of vengeance. We are here to meet
+The threatened evil, not to avenge the past.
+Now tell me what you've done, and what secured,
+To aid the common cause in Unterwald.
+How stands the peasantry disposed, and how
+Yourself escaped the wiles of treachery?
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+Through the Surenen's fearful mountain chain,
+Where dreary ice-fields stretch on every side,
+And sound is none, save the hoarse vulture's cry,
+I reached the Alpine pasture, where the herds
+From Uri and from Engelberg resort,
+And turn their cattle forth to graze in common.
+Still as I went along, I slaked my thirst
+With the coarse oozings of the lofty glacier,
+That through the crevices come foaming down,
+And turned to rest me in the herdsman's cots, [15]
+Where I was host and guest, until I gained
+The cheerful homes and social haunts of men.
+Already through these distant vales had spread
+The rumor of this last atrocity;
+And wheresoe'er I went, at every door,
+Kind words and gentle looks were there to greet me.
+I found these simple spirits all in arms
+Against our rulers' tyrannous encroachments.
+For as their Alps through each succeeding year
+Yield the same roots,--their streams flow ever on
+In the same channels,--nay, the clouds and winds
+The selfsame course unalterably pursue,
+So have old customs there, from sire to son,
+Been handed down, unchanging and unchanged;
+Nor will they brook to swerve or turn aside
+From the fixed, even tenor of their life.
+With grasp of their hard hands they welcomed me--
+Took from the walls their rusty falchions down--
+And from their eyes the soul of valor flashed
+With joyful lustre, as I spoke those names,
+Sacred to every peasant in the mountains,
+Your own and Walter Fuerst's. Whate'er your voice
+Should dictate as the right they swore to do;
+And you they swore to follow e'en to death.
+So sped I on from house to house, secure
+In the guest's sacred privilege--and when
+I reached at last the valley of my home,
+Where dwell my kinsmen, scattered far and near--
+And when I found my father stripped and blind,
+Upon the stranger's straw, fed by the alms
+Of charity----
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+       Great heaven!
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+               Yet wept I not!
+No--not in weak and unavailing tears
+Spent I the force of my fierce, burning anguish;
+Deep in my bosom, like some precious treasure,
+I locked it fast, and thought on deeds alone.
+Through every winding of the hills I crept--
+No valley so remote but I explored it;
+Nay, even at the glacier's ice-clad base,
+I sought and found the homes of living men;
+And still, where'er my wandering footsteps turned,
+The self-same hatred of these tyrants met me.
+For even there, at vegetation's verge,
+Where the numbed earth is barren of all fruits,
+There grasping hands had been stretched forth for plunder.
+Into the hearts of all this honest race,
+The story of my wrongs struck deep, and now
+They to a man are ours; both heart and hand.
+Great things, indeed, you've wrought in little time.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+I did still more than this. The fortresses,
+Rossberg and Sarnen, are the country's dread;
+For from behind their rocky walls the foe
+Swoops, as the eagle from his eyrie, down,
+And, safe himself, spreads havoc o'er the land.
+With my own eyes I wished to weigh its strength,
+So went to Sarnen, and explored the castle.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+How! Risk thyself even in the tiger's den?
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+Disguised in pilgrim's weeds I entered it;
+I saw the viceroy feasting at his board--
+Judge if I'm master of myself or no!
+I saw the tyrant, and I slew him not!
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Fortune, indeed, has smiled upon your boldness.
+
+   [Meanwhile the others have arrived and join MELCHTHAL
+   and STAUFFACHER.
+
+Yet tell me now, I pray, who are the friends,
+The worthy men, who came along with you?
+Make me acquainted with them, that we may
+Speak frankly, man to man, and heart to heart.
+
+MEYER.
+In the three Cantons, who, sir, knows not you?
+Meyer of Sarnen is my name; and this
+Is Struth of Winkelried, my sister's son.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+No unknown name. A Winkelried it was
+Who slew the dragoon in the fen at Weiler,
+And lost his life in the encounter, too.
+
+WINKELRIED.
+That, Master Stauffacher, was my grandfather.
+
+MELCHTHAL (pointing to two peasants).
+These two are men belonging to the convent
+Of Engelberg, and live behind the forest.
+You'll not think ill of them, because they're serfs,
+And sit not free upon the soil, like us.
+They love the land, and bear a good repute.
+
+STAUFFACHER (to them).
+Give me your hands. He has good cause for thanks,
+That unto no man owes his body's service.
+But worth is worth, no matter where 'tis found.
+
+HUNN.
+That is Herr Reding, sir, our old Landamman.
+
+MEYER.
+I know him well. There is a suit between us,
+About a piece of ancient heritage.
+Herr Reding, we are enemies in court,
+Here we are one.
+
+   [Shakes his hand.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+         That's well and bravely said.
+
+WINKELRIED.
+Listen! They come. Hark to the horn of Uri!
+
+   [On the right and left armed men are seen descending
+   the rocks with torches.
+
+MAUER.
+Look, is not that God's pious servant there?
+A worthy priest! The terrors of the night,
+And the way's pains and perils scare not him,
+A faithful shepherd caring for his flock.
+
+BAUMGARTEN.
+The Sacrist follows him, and Walter Fuerst.
+But where is Tell? I do not see him there.
+
+   [WALTER FURST, ROSSELMANN the Pastor, PETERMANN the Sacrist,
+   KUONI the Shepherd, WERNI the huntsman, RUODI the Fisherman,
+   and five other countrymen, thirty-three in all, advance and
+   take their places round the fire.
+
+FURST.
+Thus must we, on the soil our fathers left us,
+Creep forth by stealth to meet like murderers,
+And in the night, that should their mantle lend
+Only to crime and black conspiracy,
+Assert our own good rights, which yet are clear
+As is the radiance of the noonday sun.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+So be it. What is woven in gloom of night
+Shall free and boldly meet the morning light.
+
+ROSSELMANN.
+Confederates! listen to the words which God
+Inspires my heart withal. Here we are met
+To represent the general weal. In us
+Are all the people of the land convened.
+Then let us hold the Diet, as of old,
+And as we're wont in peaceful times to do.
+The time's necessity be our excuse
+If there be aught informal in this meeting.
+Still, wheresoe'er men strike for justice, there
+Is God, and now beneath his heaven we stand.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+'Tis well advised. Let us, then, hold the Diet
+According to our ancient usages.
+Though it be night there's sunshine in our cause.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+Few though our numbers be, the hearts are here
+Of the whole people; here the best are met.
+
+HUNN.
+The ancient books may not be near at hand,
+Yet are they graven in our inmost hearts.
+
+ROSSELMANN.
+'Tis well. And now, then, let a ring be formed,
+And plant the swords of power within the ground. [16]
+
+MAUER.
+Let the Landamman step into his place,
+And by his side his secretaries stand.
+
+SACRIST.
+There are three Cantons here. Which hath the right
+To give the head to the united council?
+Schwytz may contest the dignity with Uri,
+We Unterwaldeners enter not the field.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+We stand aside. We are not suppliants here,
+Invoking aid from our more potent friends.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Let Uri have the sword. Her banner takes
+In battle the precedence of our own.
+
+FURST.
+Schwytz, then, must share the honor of the sword;
+For she's the honored ancestor of all.
+
+ROSSELMANN.
+Let me arrange this generous controversy.
+Uri shall lead in battle--Schwytz in council.
+
+FURST (gives STAUFFACHER his hand).
+Then take your place.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+            Not I. Some older man.
+
+HOFE.
+Ulrich, the smith, is the most aged here.
+
+MAUER.
+A worthy man, but he is not a freeman;
+No bondman can be judge in Switzerland.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Is not Herr Reding here, our old Landamman?
+Where can we find a worthier man than he?
+
+FURST.
+Let him be Amman and the Diet's chief?
+You that agree with me hold up your hands!
+
+   [All hold up their right hands.
+
+REDING (stepping into the centre).
+I cannot lay my hands upon the books;
+But by yon everlasting stars I swear
+Never to swerve from justice and the right.
+
+   [The two swords are placed before him, and a circle formed;
+   Schwytz in the centre, Uri on his right, Unterwald on his left.
+
+REDING (resting on his battle-sword).
+Why, at the hour when spirits walk the earth,
+Meet the three Cantons of the mountains here,
+Upon the lake's inhospitable shore?
+And what the purport of the new alliance
+We here contract beneath the starry heaven?
+
+STAUFFACHER (entering the circle).
+No new alliance do we now contract,
+But one our fathers framed, in ancient times,
+We purpose to renew! For know, confederates,
+Though mountain ridge and lake divide our bounds,
+And every Canton's ruled by its own laws,
+Yet are we but one race, born of one blood,
+And all are children of one common home.
+
+WINKELRIED.
+Then is the burden of our legends true,
+That we came hither from a distant land?
+Oh, tell us what you know, that our new league
+May reap fresh vigor from the leagues of old.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Hear, then, what aged herdsmen tell. There dwelt
+A mighty people in the land that lies
+Back to the north. The scourge of famine came;
+And in this strait 'twas publicly resolved,
+That each tenth man, on whom the lot might fall
+Should leave the country. They obeyed--and forth,
+With loud lamentings, men and women went,
+A mighty host; and to the south moved on,
+Cutting their way through Germany by the sword,
+Until they gained that pine-clad hills of ours;
+Nor stopped they ever on their forward course,
+Till at the shaggy dell they halted, where
+The Mueta flows through its luxuriant meads.
+No trace of human creature met their eye,
+Save one poor hut upon the desert shore,
+Where dwelt a lonely man, and kept the ferry.
+A tempest raged--the lake rose mountains high
+And barred their further progress. Thereupon
+They viewed the country; found it rich in wood,
+Discovered goodly springs, and felt as they
+Were in their own dear native land once more.
+Then they resolved to settle on the spot;
+Erected there the ancient town of Schwytz;
+And many a day of toil had they to clear
+The tangled brake and forest's spreading roots.
+Meanwhile their numbers grew, the soil became
+Unequal to sustain them, and they crossed
+To the black mountain, far as Weissland, where,
+Concealed behind eternal walls of ice,
+Another people speak another tongue.
+They built the village Stanz, beside the Kernwald
+The village Altdorf, in the vale of Reuss;
+Yet, ever mindful of their parent stem,
+The men of Schwytz, from all the stranger race,
+That since that time have settled in the land,
+Each other recognize. Their hearts still know,
+And beat fraternally to kindred blood.
+
+   [Extends his hand right and left.
+
+MAUER.
+Ay, we are all one heart, one blood, one race!
+
+ALL (joining hands).
+We are one people, and will act as one.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+The nations round us bear a foreign yoke;
+For they have yielded to the conqueror.
+Nay, even within our frontiers may be found
+Some that owe villein service to a lord,
+A race of bonded serfs from sire to son.
+But we, the genuine race of ancient Swiss,
+Have kept our freedom from the first till now,
+Never to princes have we bowed the knee;
+Freely we sought protection of the empire.
+
+ROSSELMANN.
+Freely we sought it--freely it was given.
+'Tis so set down in Emperor Frederick's charter.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+For the most free have still some feudal lord.
+There must be still a chief, a judge supreme,
+To whom appeal may lie in case of strife.
+And therefore was it that our sires allowed
+For what they had recovered from the waste,
+This honor to the emperor, the lord
+Of all the German and Italian soil;
+And, like the other freemen of his realm,
+Engaged to aid him with their swords in war;
+And this alone should be the freeman's duty,
+To guard the empire that keeps guard for him.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+He's but a slave that would acknowledge more.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+They followed, when the Heribann [17] went forth,
+The imperial standard, and they fought its battles!
+To Italy they marched in arms, to place
+The Caesars' crown upon the emperor's head.
+But still at home they ruled themselves in peace,
+By their own laws and ancient usages.
+The emperor's only right was to adjudge
+The penalty of death; he therefore named
+Some mighty noble as his delegate,
+That had no stake or interest in the land.
+He was called in, when doom was to be passed,
+And, in the face of day, pronounced decree,
+Clear and distinctly, fearing no man's hate.
+What traces here, that we are bondsmen? Speak,
+If there be any can gainsay my words!
+
+HOFE.
+No! You have spoken but the simple truth;
+We never stooped beneath a tyrant's yoke.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Even to the emperor we refused obedience,
+When he gave judgment in the church's favor;
+For when the Abbey of Einsiedlen claimed
+The Alp our fathers and ourselves had grazed,
+And showed an ancient charter, which bestowed
+The land on them as being ownerless--
+For our existence there had been concealed--
+What was our answer? This: "The grant is void,
+No emperor can bestow what is our own:
+And if the empire shall deny us justice,
+We can, within our mountains, right ourselves!"
+Thus spake our fathers! And shall we endure
+The shame and infamy of this new yoke,
+And from the vassal brook what never king
+Dared in the fulness of his power attempt?
+This soil we have created for ourselves,
+By the hard labor of our hands; we've changed
+The giant forest, that was erst the haunt
+Of savage bears, into a home for man;
+Extirpated the dragon's brood, that wont
+To rise, distent with venom, from the swamps;
+Rent the thick misty canopy that hung
+Its blighting vapors on the dreary waste;
+Blasted the solid rock; o'er the abyss
+Thrown the firm bridge for the wayfaring man
+By the possession of a thousand years
+The soil is ours. And shall an alien lord,
+Himself a vassal, dare to venture here,
+On our own hearths insult us,--and attempt
+To forge the chains of bondage for our hands,
+And do us shame on our own proper soil?
+Is there no help against such wrong as this?
+
+   [Great sensation among the people.
+
+Yes! there's a limit to the despot's power!
+When the oppressed looks round in vain for justice,
+When his sore burden may no more be borne,
+With fearless heart he makes appeal to Heaven,
+And thence brings down his everlasting rights,
+Which there abide, inalienably his,
+And indestructible as are the stars.
+Nature's primeval state returns again,
+Where man stands hostile to his fellow-man;
+And if all other means shall fail his need,
+One last resource remains--his own good sword.
+Our dearest treasures call to us for aid
+Against the oppressor's violence; we stand
+For country, home, for wives, for children here!
+
+ALL (clashing their swords).
+Here stand we for our homes, our wives, and children.
+
+ROSSELMANN (stepping into the circle).
+Bethink ye well before ye draw the sword.
+Some peaceful compromise may yet be made;
+Speak but one word, and at your feet you'll see
+The men who now oppress you. Take the terms
+That have been often tendered you; renounce
+The empire, and to Austria swear allegiance!
+
+MAUER.
+What says the priest? To Austria allegiance?
+
+BUHEL.
+Hearken not to him!
+
+WINKELRLED.
+           'Tis a traitor's counsel,
+His country's foe!
+
+REDING.
+          Peace, peace, confederates!
+
+SEWA.
+Homage to Austria, after wrongs like these!
+
+FLUE.
+Shall Austria exert from us by force
+What we denied to kindness and entreaty?
+
+MEYER.
+Then should we all be slaves, deservedly.
+
+MAUER.
+Yes! Let him forfeit all a Switzer's rights
+Who talks of yielding to the yoke of Austria!
+I stand on this, Landamman. Let this be
+The foremost of our laws!
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+              Even so! Whoever
+Shall talk of tamely bearing Austria's yoke,
+Let him be stripped of all his rights and honors;
+And no man hence receive him at his hearth!
+
+ALL (raising their right hands).
+Agreed! Be this the law!
+
+REDING (after a pause).
+              The law it is.
+
+ROSSELMANN.
+Now you are free--by this law you are free.
+Never shall Austria obtain by force
+What she has failed to gain by friendly suit.
+
+WEILER.
+On with the order of the day! Proceed!
+
+REDING.
+Confederates! Have all gentler means been tried?
+Perchance the emperor knows not of our wrongs,
+It may not be his will that thus we suffer:
+Were it not well to make one last attempt,
+And lay our grievances before the throne,
+Ere we unsheath the sword? Force is at best
+A fearful thing even in a righteous cause;
+God only helps when man can help no more.
+
+STAUFFACHER (to CONRAD HUNN).
+Here you can give us information. Speak!
+
+HUNN.
+I was at Rheinfeld, at the emperor's palace,
+Deputed by the Cantons to complain
+Of the oppression of these governors,
+And claim the charter of our ancient freedom,
+Which each new king till now has ratified.
+I found the envoys there of many a town,
+From Suabia and the valley of the Rhine,
+Who all received their parchments as they wished
+And straight went home again with merry heart.
+They sent for me, your envoy, to the council,
+Where I was soon dismissed with empty comfort;
+"The emperor at present was engaged;
+Some other time he would attend to us!"
+I turned away, and passing through the hall,
+With heavy heart in a recess I saw
+The Grand Duke John [18] in tears, and by his side
+The noble lords of Wart and Tegerfeld,
+Who beckoned me, and said, "Redress yourselves.
+Expect not justice from the emperor.
+Does he not plunder his own brother's child,
+And keep from him his just inheritance?"
+The duke claims his maternal property,
+Urging he's now of age, and 'tis full time
+That he should rule his people and dominions;
+What is the answer made to him? The king
+Places a chaplet on his head: "Behold,
+The fitting ornament," he cries, "of youth!"
+
+MAUER.
+You hear. Expect not from the emperor
+Or right, or justice. Then redress yourselves!
+
+REDING.
+No other course is left us. Now, advise
+What plan most likely to insure success.
+
+FURST.
+To shake a thraldom off that we abhor,
+To keep our ancient rights inviolate,
+As we received them from our forefathers--this,
+Not lawless innovation, is our aim.
+Let Caesar still retain what is his due;
+And he that is a vassal let him pay
+The service he is sworn to faithfully.
+
+MEYER.
+I hold my land of Austria in fief.
+
+FURST.
+Continue, then, to pay your feudal service.
+
+WEILER.
+I'm tenant of the lords of Rappersweil.
+
+FURST.
+Continue, then, to pay them rent and tithe.
+
+ROSSELMANN.
+Of Zurich's lady, I'm the humble vassal.
+
+FURST.
+Give to the cloister what the cloister claims.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+The empire only is my feudal lord.
+
+FURST.
+What needs must be, we'll do, but nothing further.
+We'll drive these tyrants and their minions hence,
+And raze their towering strongholds to the ground,
+Yet shed, if possible, no drop of blood.
+Let the emperor see that we were driven to cast
+The sacred duties of respect away;
+And when he finds we keep within our bounds,
+His wrath, belike, may yield to policy;
+For truly is that nation to be feared,
+That, when in arms, is temperate in its wrath.
+
+REDING.
+But, prithee, tell us how may this be done?
+The enemy is armed as well as we,
+And, rest assured, he will not yield in peace.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+He will, whene'er he sees us up in arms;
+We shall surprise him, ere he is prepared.
+
+MEYER.
+'Tis easily said, but not so easily done.
+Two fortresses of strength command the country.
+They shield the foe, and should the king invade us,
+The task would then be dangerous indeed.
+Rossberg and Sarnen both must be secured,
+Before a sword is drawn in either Canton.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Should we delay, the foe will soon be warned;
+We are too numerous for secrecy.
+
+MEYER.
+There is no traitor in the Forest States.
+
+ROSSELMANN.
+But even zeal may heedlessly betray.
+
+FURST.
+Delay it longer, and the keep at Altdorf
+Will be complete,--the governor secure.
+
+MEYER.
+You think but of yourselves.
+
+SACRISTAN.
+                You are unjust!
+
+MEYER.
+Unjust! said you? Dares Uri taunt us so?
+
+REDING.
+Peace, on your oath!
+
+MEYER.
+           If Schwytz be leagued with Uri,
+Why then, indeed, we must perforce be silent.
+
+REDING.
+And let me tell you, in the Diet's name,
+Your hasty spirit much disturbs the peace.
+Stand we not all for the same common cause?
+
+WINKELRIED.
+What, if we delay till Christmas? 'Tis then
+The custom for the serfs to throng the castle,
+Bringing the governor their annual gifts.
+Thus may some ten or twelve selected men
+Assemble unobserved within its walls,
+Bearing about their persons pikes of steel,
+Which may be quickly mounted upon staves,
+For arms are not admitted to the fort.
+The rest can fill the neighboring wood, prepared
+To sally forth upon a trumpet's blast,
+Whene'er their comrades have secured the gate;
+And thus the castle will be ours with ease.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+The Rossberg I will undertake to scale,
+I have a sweetheart in the garrison,
+Whom with some tender words I could persuade
+To lower me at night a hempen ladder.
+Once up, my friends will not be long behind.
+
+REDING.
+Are all resolved in favor of delay?
+
+   [The majority raise their hands.
+
+STAUFFACHER (counting them).
+Twenty to twelve is the majority.
+
+FURST.
+If on the appointed day the castles fall,
+From mountain on to mountain we shall pass
+The fiery signal: in the capital
+Of every Canton quickly rouse the Landsturm. [19]
+Then, when these tyrants see our martial front,
+Believe me, they will never make so bold
+As risk the conflict, but will gladly take
+Safe conduct forth beyond our boundaries.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Not so with Gessler. He will make a stand.
+Surrounded with his dread array of horse,
+Blood will he shed before he quits the field.
+And even expelled he'd still be terrible.
+'Tis hard, indeed 'tis dangerous, to spare him.
+
+BAUMGARTEN.
+Place me where'er a life is to be lost;
+I owe my life to Tell, and cheerfully
+Will pledge it for my country. I have cleared
+My honor, and my heart is now at rest.
+
+REDING.
+Counsel will come with circumstance. Be patient.
+Something must still be trusted to the moment.
+Yet, while by night we hold our Diet here,
+The morning, see, has on the mountain-tops
+Kindled her glowing beacon. Let us part,
+Ere the broad sun surprise us.
+
+FURST.
+                Do not fear.
+The night wanes slowly from these vales of ours.
+
+   [All have involuntarily taken off their caps, and
+   contemplate the breaking of day, absorbed in silence.
+
+ROSSELMANN.
+By this fair light, which greeteth us, before
+Those other nations, that, beneath us far,
+In noisome cities pent, draw painful breath,
+Swear we the oath of our confederacy!
+We swear to be a nation of true brothers,
+Never to part in danger or in death!
+
+   [They repeat his words with three fingers raised.
+
+We swear we will be free, as were our sires,
+And sooner die than live in slavery!
+
+   [All repeat as before.
+
+We swear to put our trust in God Most High,
+And not to quail before the might of man!
+
+   [All repeat as before, and embrace each other.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Now every man pursue his several way
+Back to his friends his kindred, and his home.
+Let the herd winter up his flock and gain
+In silence, friends, for our confederacy!
+What for a time must be endured, endure.
+And let the reckoning of the tyrants grow,
+Till the great day arrive, when they shall pay
+The general and particular debt at once.
+Let every man control his own just rage,
+And nurse his vengeance for the public wrongs;
+For he whom selfish interest now engage
+Defrauds the general weal of what to it belongs.
+
+   [As they are going off in profound silence, in three different
+   directions, the orchestra plays a solemn air. The empty scene
+   remains open for some time, showing the rays of the sun rising
+   over the glaciers.
+
+
+
+
+ACT III.
+
+SCENE I.
+
+   Court before TELL'S house. TELL with an axe. HEDWIG engaged
+   in her domestic duties. WALTER and WILHELM in the background
+   playing with a little cross-bow.
+
+WALTER (sings).
+
+   With his cross-bow and his quiver
+    The huntsman speeds his way,
+   Over mountain, dale, and river
+    At the dawning of the day.
+
+   As the eagle, on wild pinion,
+    Is the king in realms of air;
+   So the hunter claims dominion
+    Over crag and forest lair.
+
+   Far as ever bow can carry
+    Through the trackless, airy space,
+   All he sees he makes his quarry,
+    Soaring bird and beast of chase.
+
+WILHELM (runs forward).
+My string has snapped! Wilt mend it for me, father?
+
+TELL.
+Not I; a true-born archer helps himself.
+
+                   [Boys retire.
+
+HEDWIG.
+The boys begin to use the bow betimes.
+
+TELL.
+'Tis early practice only makes the master.
+
+HEDWIG.
+Ah! Would to heaven they never learnt the art!
+
+TELL.
+But they shall learn it, wife, in all its points.
+Whoe'er would carve an independent way
+Through life must learn to ward or plant a blow.
+
+HEDWIG.
+Alas, alas! and they will never rest
+Contentedly at home.
+
+TELL.
+           No more can I!
+I was not framed by nature for a shepherd.
+Restless I must pursue a changing course;
+I only feel the flush and joy of life
+In starting some fresh quarry every day.
+
+HEDWIG.
+Heedless the while of all your wife's alarms
+As she sits watching through long hours at home.
+For my soul sinks with terror at the tales
+The servants tell about your wild adventures.
+Whene'er we part my trembling heart forebodes
+That you will ne'er come back to me again.
+I see you on the frozen mountain steeps,
+Missing, perchance, your leap from cliff to cliff;
+I see the chamois, with a wild rebound,
+Drag you down with him o'er the precipice.
+I see the avalanche close o'er your head,
+The treacherous ice give way, and you sink down
+Entombed alive within its hideous gulf.
+Ah! in a hundred varying forms does death
+Pursue the Alpine huntsman on his course.
+That way of life can surely ne'er be blessed,
+Where life and limb are perilled every hour.
+
+TELL.
+The man that bears a quick and steady eye,
+And trusts to God and his own lusty sinews,
+Passes, with scarce a scar, through every danger.
+The mountain cannot awe the mountain child.
+
+   [Having finished his work, he lays aside his tools.
+
+And now, methinks, the door will hold awhile.
+The axe at home oft saves the carpenter.
+
+HEDWIG.
+Whither away!
+
+   [Takes his cap.
+
+TELL.
+To Altdorf, to your father.
+
+HEDWIG.
+You have some dangerous enterprise in view? Confess!
+
+TELL.
+Why think you so?
+
+HEDWIG.
+          Some scheme's on foot,
+Against the governors. There was a Diet
+Held on the Rootli--that I know--and you
+Are one of the confederacy I'm sure.
+
+TELL.
+I was not there. Yet will I not hold back
+Whene'er my country calls me to her aid.
+
+HEDWIG.
+Wherever danger is, will you be placed.
+On you, as ever, will the burden fall.
+
+TELL.
+Each man shall have the post that fits his powers.
+
+HEDWIG.
+You took--ay, 'mid the thickest of the storm--
+The man of Unterwald across the lake.
+'Tis a marvel you escaped. Had you no thought
+Of wife and children then?
+
+TELL.
+              Dear wife, I had;
+And therefore saved the father for his children.
+
+HEDWIG.
+To brave the lake in all its wrath; 'Twas not
+To put your trust in God! 'Twas tempting him.
+
+TELL.
+The man that's over-cautious will do little.
+
+HEDWIG.
+Yes, you've a kind and helping hand for all;
+But be in straits and who will lend you aid?
+
+TELL.
+God grant I ne'er may stand in need of it!
+
+   [Takes up his crossbow and arrows.
+
+HEDWIG.
+Why take your crossbow with you? Leave it here.
+
+TELL.
+I want my right hand when I want my bow.
+
+   [The boys return.
+
+WALTER.
+Where, father, are you going?
+
+TELL.
+                To grand-dad, boy--
+To Altdorf. Will you go?
+
+WALTER.
+              Ay, that I will!
+
+HEDWIG.
+The viceroy's there just now. Go not to Altdorf.
+
+TELL.
+He leaves to-day.
+
+HEDWIG.
+          Then let him first be gone,
+Cross not his path. You know he bears us grudge.
+
+TELL.
+His ill-will cannot greatly injure me.
+I do what's right, and care for no man's hate.
+
+HEDWIG.
+'Tis those who do what's right whom he most hates.
+
+TELL.
+Because he cannot reach them. Me, I ween,
+His knightship will be glad to leave in peace.
+
+HEDWIG.
+Ay! Are you sure of that?
+
+TELL.
+              Not long ago,
+As I was hunting through the wild ravines
+Of Shechenthal, untrod by mortal foot,--
+There, as I took my solitary way
+Along a shelving ledge of rocks, where 'twas
+Impossible to step on either side;
+For high above rose, like a giant wall,
+The precipice's side, and far below
+The Shechen thundered o'er its rifted bed;--
+
+   [The boys press towards him, looking upon him
+   with excited curiosity.
+
+There, face to face, I met the viceroy. He
+Alone with me--and I myself alone--
+Mere man to man, and near us the abyss.
+And when his lordship had perused my face,
+And knew the man he had severely fined
+On some most trivial ground not long before;
+And saw me, with my sturdy bow in hand,
+Come striding towards him, then his cheek grew pale,
+His knees refused their office, and I thought
+He would have sunk against the mountain side.
+Then, touched with pity for him, I advanced,
+Respectfully, and said, "'Tis I, my lord."
+But ne'er a sound could he compel his lips
+To frame an answer. Only with his hand
+He beckoned me in silence to proceed.
+So I passed on, and sent his train to seek him.
+
+HEDWIG.
+He trembled then before you? Woe the while
+You saw his weakness; that he'll not forgive.
+
+TELL.
+I shun him, therefore, and he'll not seek me.
+
+HEDWIG.
+But stay away to day. Go hunting rather!
+
+TELL.
+What do you fear?
+
+HEDWIG.
+          I am uneasy. Stay.
+
+TELL.
+Why thus distress yourself without a cause?
+
+HEDWIG.
+Because there is no cause. Tell, Tell! stay here!
+
+TELL.
+Dear wife, I gave my promise I would go.
+
+HEDWIG.
+Must you,--then go. But leave the boys with me.
+
+WALTER.
+No, mother dear, I'm going with my father.
+
+HEDWIG.
+How, Walter! Will you leave your mother then?
+
+WALTER.
+I'll bring you pretty things from grandpapa.
+
+   [Exit with his father.
+
+WILHELM.
+Mother, I'll stay with you!
+
+HEDWIG (embracing him).
+               Yes, yes! thou art
+My own dear child. Thou'rt all that's left to me.
+
+   [She goes to the gate of the court, and looks anxiously
+   after TELL and her son for a considerable time.
+
+
+
+SCENE II.
+
+   A retired part of the Forest. Brooks dashing in spray
+   over the rocks.
+
+   Enter BERTHA in a hunting dress. Immediately afterwards RUDENZ.
+
+BERTHA.
+He follows me. Now to explain myself!
+
+RUDENZ (entering hastily).
+At length, dear lady, we have met alone
+In this wild dell, with rocks on every side,
+No jealous eye can watch our interview.
+Now let my heart throw off this weary silence.
+
+BERTHA.
+But are you sure they will not follow us?
+
+RUDENZ.
+See, yonder goes the chase. Now, then, or never!
+I must avail me of the precious moment,--
+Must hear my doom decided by thy lips,
+Though it should part me from thy side forever.
+Oh, do not arm that gentle face of thine
+With looks so stern and harsh! Who--who am I,
+That dare aspire so high as unto thee?
+Fame hath not stamped me yet; nor may I take
+My place amid the courtly throng of knights,
+That, crowned with glory's lustre, woo thy smiles.
+Nothing have I to offer but a heart
+That overflows with truth and love for thee.
+
+BERTHA (sternly and with severity).
+And dare you speak to me of love--of truth?
+You, that are faithless to your nearest ties!
+You, that are Austria's slave--bartered and sold
+To her--an alien, and your country's tyrant!
+
+RUDENZ.
+How! This reproach from thee! Whom do I seek
+On Austria's side, my own beloved, but thee?
+
+BERTHA.
+Think you to find me in the traitor's ranks?
+Now, as I live, I'd rather give my hand
+To Gessler's self, all despot though he be,
+Than to the Switzer who forgets his birth,
+And stoops to be the minion of a tyrant.
+
+RUDENZ.
+Oh heaven, what must I hear!
+
+BERTHA.
+               Say! what can lie
+Nearer the good man's heart than friends and kindred?
+What dearer duty to a noble soul
+Than to protect weak, suffering innocence,
+And vindicate the rights of the oppressed?
+My very soul bleeds for your countrymen;
+I suffer with them, for I needs must love them;
+They are so gentle, yet so full of power;
+They draw my whole heart to them. Every day
+I look upon them with increased esteem.
+But you, whom nature and your knightly vow,
+Have given them as their natural protector,
+Yet who desert them and abet their foes,
+In forging shackles for your native land,
+You--you it is, that deeply grieve and wound me.
+I must constrain my heart, or I shall hate you.
+
+RUDENZ.
+Is not my country's welfare all my wish?
+What seek I for her but to purchase peace
+'Neath Austria's potent sceptre?
+
+BERTHA.
+                 Bondage, rather!
+You would drive freedom from the last stronghold
+That yet remains for her upon the earth.
+The people know their own true interests better:
+Their simple natures are not warped by show,
+But round your head a tangling net is wound.
+
+RUDENZ.
+Bertha, you hate me--you despise me!
+
+BERTHA.
+Nay! And if I did, 'twere better for my peace.
+But to see him despised and despicable,--
+The man whom one might love.
+
+RUDENZ.
+               Oh, Bertha! You
+Show me the pinnacle of heavenly bliss,
+Then, in a moment, hurl me to despair!
+
+BERTHA.
+No, no! the noble is not all extinct
+Within you. It but slumbers,--I will rouse it.
+It must have cost you many a fiery struggle
+To crush the virtues of your race within you.
+But, heaven be praised, 'tis mightier than yourself,
+And you are noble in your own despite!
+
+RUDENZ.
+You trust me, then? Oh, Bertha, with thy love
+What might I not become?
+
+BERTHA.
+             Be only that
+For which your own high nature destined you.
+Fill the position you were born to fill;--
+Stand by your people and your native land.
+And battle for your sacred rights!
+
+RUDENZ.
+Alas! How can I hope to win you--to possess you,
+If I take arms against the emperor?
+Will not your potent kinsman interpose,
+To dictate the disposal of your hand?
+
+BERTHA.
+All my estates lie in the Forest Cantons;
+And I am free, when Switzerland is free.
+
+RUDENZ.
+Oh! what a prospect, Bertha, hast thou shown me!
+
+BERTHA.
+Hope not to win my hand by Austria's favor;
+Fain would they lay their grasp on my estates,
+To swell the vast domains which now they hold.
+The selfsame lust of conquest that would rob
+You of your liberty endangers mine.
+Oh, friend, I'm marked for sacrifice;--to be
+The guerdon of some parasite, perchance!
+They'll drag me hence to the imperial court
+That hateful haunt of falsehood and intrigue;
+There do detested marriage bonds await me.
+Love, love alone,--your love can rescue me.
+
+RUDENZ.
+And thou could'st be content, love, to live here,
+In my own native land to be my own?
+Oh, Bertha, all the yearnings of my soul
+For this great world and its tumultuous strife,
+What were they, but a yearning after thee?
+In glory's path I sought for thee alone
+And all my thirst of fame was only love.
+But if in this calm vale thou canst abide
+With me, and bid earth's pomps and pride adieu,
+Then is the goal of my ambition won;
+And the rough tide of the tempestuous world
+May dash and rave around these firm-set hills!
+No wandering wishes more have I to send
+Forth to the busy scene that stirs beyond.
+Then may these rocks that girdle us extend
+Their giants walls impenetrably round,
+And this sequestered happy vale alone
+Look up to heaven, and be my paradise!
+
+BERTHA.
+Now art thou all my fancy dreamed of thee.
+My trust has not been given to thee in vain.
+
+RUDENZ.
+Away, ye idle phantoms of my folly!
+In mine own home I'll find my happiness.
+Here where the gladsome boy to manhood grew,
+Where every brook, and tree, and mountain peak,
+Teems with remembrances of happy hours,
+In mine own native land thou wilt be mine.
+Ah, I have ever loved it well, I feel
+How poor without it were all earthly joys.
+
+BERTHA.
+Where should we look for happiness on earth,
+If not in this dear land of innocence?
+Here, where old truth hath its familiar home,
+Where fraud and guile are strangers, envy ne'er
+Shall dim the sparkling fountain of our bliss,
+And ever bright the hours shall o'er us glide.
+There do I see thee, in true manly worth,
+The foremost of the free and of thy peers,
+Revered with homage pure and unconstrained,
+Wielding a power that kings might envy thee.
+
+RUDENZ.
+And thee I see, thy sex's crowning gem,
+With thy sweet woman grace and wakeful love,
+Building a heaven for me within my home,
+And, as the springtime scatters forth her flowers,
+Adorning with thy charms my path of life,
+And spreading joy and sunshine all around.
+
+BERTHA.
+And this it was, dear friend, that caused my grief,
+To see thee blast this life's supremest bliss,
+With thine own hand. Ah! what had been my fate,
+Had I been forced to follow some proud lord,
+Some ruthless despot, to his gloomy castle!
+Here are no castles, here no bastioned walls
+Divide me from a people I can bless.
+
+RUDENZ.
+Yet, how to free myself; to loose the coils
+Which I have madly twined around my head?
+
+BERTHA.
+Tear them asunder with a man's resolve.
+Whatever the event, stand by the people.
+It is thy post by birth.
+
+   [Hunting horns are heard in the distance.
+
+             But hark! The chase!
+Farewell,--'tis needful we should part--away!
+Fight for thy land; thou lightest for thy love.
+One foe fills all our souls with dread; the blow
+That makes one free emancipates us all.
+
+                 [Exeunt severally.
+
+
+
+SCENE III.
+
+   A meadow near Altdorf. Trees in the foreground. At the back
+   of the stage a cap upon a pole. The prospect is bounded by
+   the Bannberg, which is surmounted by a snow-capped mountain.
+
+   FRIESSHARDT and LEUTHOLD on guard.
+
+FRIESSHARDT.
+We keep our watch in vain. There's not a soul
+Will pass and do obeisance to the cap.
+But yesterday the place swarmed like a fair;
+Now the whole green looks like a very desert,
+Since yonder scarecrow hung upon the pole.
+
+LEUTHHOLD.
+Only the vilest rabble show themselves,
+And wave their tattered caps in mockery at us.
+All honest citizens would sooner make
+A tedious circuit over half the town
+Than bend their backs before our master's cap.
+
+FRIESSHARDT.
+They were obliged to pass this way at noon,
+As they were coming from the council house.
+I counted then upon a famous catch,
+For no one thought of bowing to the cap.
+But Rosselmann, the priest, was even with me:
+Coming just then from some sick penitent,
+He stands before the pole--raises the Host--
+The Sacrist, too, must tinkle with his bell--
+When down they dropped on knee--myself and all
+In reverence to the Host, but not the cap.
+
+LEUTHOLD.
+Hark ye, companion, I've a shrewd suspicion,
+Our post's no better than the pillory.
+It is a burning shame, a trooper should
+Stand sentinel before an empty cap,
+And every honest fellow must despise us,
+To do obeisance to a cap, too! Faith,
+I never heard an order so absurd!
+
+FRIESSHARDT.
+Why not, an't please thee, to an empty cap.
+Thou'st ducked, I'm sure, to many an empty sconce.
+
+   [HILDEGARD, MECHTHILD, and ELSBETH enter with their children
+   and station themselves around the pole.
+
+LEUTHOLD.
+And thou art an officious sneaking knave,
+That's fond of bringing honest folks to trouble.
+For my part, he that likes may pass the cap
+I'll shut my eyes and take no note of him.
+
+MECHTHILD.
+There hangs the viceroy! Your obeisance, children!
+
+ELSBETH.
+I would to God he'd go, and leave his cap!
+The country would be none the worse for it.
+
+FRIESSHARDT (driving them away).
+Out of the way! Confounded pack of gossips!
+Who sent for you? Go, send your husbands here,
+If they have courage to defy the order.
+
+   [TELL enters with his crossbow, leading his son WALTER
+   by the hand. They pass the hat without noticing it, and
+   advance to the front of the stage.
+
+WALTER (pointing to the Bannberg).
+Father, is't true, that on the mountain there,
+The trees, if wounded with a hatchet, bleed?
+
+TELL.
+Who says so, boy?
+
+WALTER.
+          The master herdsman, father!
+He tells us there's a charm upon the trees,
+And if a man shall injure them, the hand
+That struck the blow will grow from out the grave.
+
+TELL.
+There is a charm about them, that's the truth.
+Dost see those glaciers yonder, those white horns,
+That seem to melt away into the sky?
+
+WALTER.
+They are the peaks that thunder so at night,
+And send the avalanches down upon us.
+
+TELL.
+They are; and Altdorf long ago had been
+Submerged beneath these avalanches' weight,
+Did not the forest there above the town
+Stand like a bulwark to arrest their fall.
+
+WALTER (after musing a little).
+And are there countries with no mountains, father?
+
+TELL.
+Yes, if we travel downwards from our heights,
+And keep descending in the rivers' courses,
+We reach a wide and level country, where
+Our mountain torrents brawl and foam no more,
+And fair, large rivers glide serenely on.
+All quarters of the heaven may there be scanned
+Without impediment. The corn grows there
+In broad and lovely fields, and all the land
+Is fair as any garden to the view.
+
+WALTER.
+But, father, tell me, wherefore haste we not
+Away to this delightful land, instead
+Of toiling here, and struggling as we do?
+
+TELL.
+The land is fair and bountiful as Heaven;
+But they who till it never may enjoy
+The fruits of what they sow.
+
+WALTER.
+               Live they not free,
+As you do, on the land their fathers left them?
+
+TELL.
+The fields are all the bishop's or the king's.
+
+WALTER.
+But they may freely hunt among the woods?
+
+TELL.
+The game is all the monarch's--bird and beast.
+
+WALTER.
+But they, at least, may surely fish the streams?
+
+TELL.
+Stream, lake, and sea, all to the king belong.
+
+WALTER.
+Who is this king, of whom they're so afraid?
+
+TELL.
+He is the man who fosters and protects them.
+
+WALTER.
+Have they not courage to protect themselves?
+
+TELL.
+The neighbor there dare not his neighbor trust.
+
+WALTER.
+I should want breathing room in such a land,
+I'd rather dwell beneath the avalanches.
+
+TELL.
+'Tis better, child, to have these glacier peaks
+Behind one's back than evil-minded men!
+
+   [They are about to pass on.
+
+WALTER.
+See, father, see the cap on yonder pole!
+
+TELL.
+What is the cap to us? Come, let's be gone.
+
+   [As he is going, FRIESSHARDT, presenting his pike, stops him.
+
+FRIESSHARDT.
+Stand, I command you, in the emperor's name.
+
+TELL (seizing the pike).
+What would ye? Wherefore do ye stop my path?
+
+FRIESSHARDT.
+You've broke the mandate, and must go with us.
+
+LEUTHOLD.
+You have not done obeisance to the cap.
+
+TELL.
+Friend, let me go.
+
+FRIESSHARDT.
+          Away, away to prison!
+
+WALTER.
+Father to prison! Help!
+   [Calling to the side scene.
+             This way, you men!
+Good people, help! They're dragging him to prison!
+
+   [ROSSELMANN, the priest, and the SACRISTAN, with
+   three other men, enter.
+
+SACRISTAN.
+What's here amiss?
+
+ROSSELMANN.
+          Why do you seize this man?
+
+FRIESSHARDT.
+He is an enemy of the king--a traitor!
+
+TELL (seizing him with violence).
+A traitor, I!
+
+ROSSELMANN.
+        Friend, thou art wrong. 'Tis Tell,
+An honest man, and worthy citizen.
+
+WALTER (descries FURST, and runs up to him).
+Grandfather, help! they want to seize my father!
+
+FRIESSHARDT.
+Away to prison!
+
+FURST (running in).
+         Stay! I offer bail.
+For God's sake, Tell, what is the matter here?
+
+   [MELCHTHAL and STAUFFACHER enter.
+
+LEUTHOLD.
+He has contemned the viceroy's sovereign power,
+Refusing flatly to acknowledge it.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Has Tell done this?
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+           Villain, thou knowest 'tis false!
+
+LEUTHOLD.
+He has not made obeisance to the cap.
+
+FURST.
+And shall for this to prison? Come, my friend,
+Take my security, and let him go.
+
+FRIESSHARDT.
+Keep your security for yourself--you'll need it.
+We only do our duty. Hence with him.
+
+MELCHTHAL (to the country people).
+This is too bad--shall we stand by, and see them.
+Drag him away before our very eyes?
+
+SACRISTAN.
+We are the strongest. Don't endure it, friends.
+Our countrymen will back us to a man.
+
+FRIESSHARDT.
+Who dares resist the governor's commands?
+
+OTHER THREE PEASANTS (running in).
+We'll help you. What's the matter? Down with them!
+
+   [HILDEGARD, MECHTHILD, and ELSBETH return.
+
+TELL.
+Go, go, good people, I can help myself.
+Think you, had I a mind to use my strength,
+These pikes of theirs should daunt me?
+
+MELCHTHAL (to FRIESSHARDT).
+                     Only try--
+Try, if you dare, to force him from amongst us.
+
+FURST and STAUFFACHER.
+Peace, peace, friends!
+
+FRIESSHARDT (loudly).
+            Riot! Insurrection, ho!
+
+   [Hunting horns without.
+
+WOMEN.
+The governor!
+
+FRIESSHARDT (raising his voice).
+        Rebellion! Mutiny!
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Roar, till you burst, knave!
+
+ROSSELMANN and MELCHTHAL.
+               Will you hold your tongue?
+
+FRIESSHARDT (calling still louder).
+Help, help, I say, the servants of the law!
+
+FURST.
+The viceroy here! Then we shall smart for this!
+
+   [Enter GESSLER on horseback, with a falcon on his wrist;
+   RUDOLPH DER HARRAS, BERTHA, and RUDENZ, and a numerous
+   train of armed attendants, who form a circle of lances
+   around the whole stage.
+
+HARRAS.
+Room for the viceroy!
+
+GESSLER.
+            Drive the clowns apart.
+Why throng the people thus? Who calls for help?
+
+   [General silence.
+
+Who was it? I will know.
+
+   [FRIESSHARDT steps forward.
+
+              And who art thou?
+And why hast thou this man in custody?
+
+   [Gives his falcon to an attendant.
+
+FRIESSHARDT.
+Dread sir, I am a soldier of your guard,
+And stationed sentinel beside the cap;
+This man I apprehended in the act
+Of passing it without obeisance due,
+So I arrested him, as you gave order,
+Whereon the people tried to rescue him.
+
+GESSLER (after a pause).
+And do you, Tell, so lightly hold your king,
+And me, who act as his vicegerent here,
+That you refuse the greeting to the cap
+I hung aloft to test your loyalty?
+I read in this a disaffected spirit.
+
+TELL.
+Pardon me, good my lord! The action sprung
+From inadvertence,--not from disrespect.
+Were I discreet, I were not William Tell.
+Forgive me now--I'll not offend again.
+
+GESSLER (after a pause).
+I hear, Tell, you're a master with the bow,--
+And bear the palm away from every rival.
+
+WALTER.
+That must be true, sir! At a hundred yards
+He'll shoot an apple for you off the tree.
+
+GESSLER.
+Is that boy thine, Tell?
+
+TELL.
+              Yes, my gracious lord.
+
+GESSLER.
+Hast any more of them?
+
+TELL.
+             Two boys, my lord.
+
+GESSLER.
+And, of the two, which dost thou love the most?
+
+TELL.
+Sir, both the boys are dear to me alike.
+
+GESSLER.
+Then, Tell, since at a hundred yards thou canst
+Bring down the apple from the tree, thou shalt
+Approve thy skill before me. Take thy bow--
+Thou hast it there at hand--and make thee ready
+To shoot an apple from the stripling's head!
+But take this counsel,--look well to thine aim,
+See that thou hittest the apple at the first,
+For, shouldst thou miss, thy head shall pay the forfeit.
+
+   [All give signs of horror.
+
+TELL.
+What monstrous thing, my lord, is this you ask?
+That I, from the head of mine own child!--No, no!
+It cannot be, kind sir, you meant not that--
+God in His grace forbid! You could not ask
+A father seriously to do that thing!
+
+GESSLER.
+Thou art to shoot an apple from his head!
+I do desire--command it so.
+
+TELL.
+               What, I!
+Level my crossbow at the darling head
+Of mine own child? No--rather let me die!
+
+GESSLER.
+Or thou must shoot, or with thee dies the boy.
+
+TELL.
+Shall I become the murderer of my child!
+You have no children, sir--you do not know
+The tender throbbings of a father's heart.
+
+GESSLER.
+How now, Tell, so discreet upon a sudden
+I had been told thou wert a visionary,--
+A wanderer from the paths of common men.
+Thou lovest the marvellous. So have I now
+Culled out for thee a task of special daring.
+Another man might pause and hesitate;
+Thou dashest at it, heart and soul, at once.
+
+BERTHA.
+Oh, do not jest, my lord, with these poor souls!
+See, how they tremble, and how pale they look,
+So little used are they to hear thee jest.
+
+GESSLER.
+Who tells thee that I jest?
+
+   [Grasping a branch above his head.
+
+               Here is the apple.
+Room there, I say! And let him take his distance--
+Just eighty paces-as the custom is
+Not an inch more or less! It was his boast,
+That at a hundred he could hit his man.
+Now, archer, to your task, and look you miss not!
+
+HARRAS:
+Heavens! this grows serious--down, boy, on your knees,
+And beg the governor to spare your life.
+
+FURST (aside to MELCHTHAL, who can scarcely restrain his impatience).
+Command yourself--be calm, I beg of you!
+
+BERTHA (to the governor).
+Let this suffice you, sir! It is inhuman
+To trifle with a father's anguish thus.
+Although this wretched man had forfeited
+Both life and limb for such a slight offence,
+Already has he suffered tenfold death.
+Send him away uninjured to his home;
+He'll know thee well in future; and this hour
+He and his children's children will remember.
+
+GESSLER.
+Open a way there--quick! Why this delay?
+Thy life is forfeited; I might despatch thee,
+And see I graciously repose thy fate
+Upon the skill of thine own practised hand.
+No cause has he to say his doom is harsh,
+Who's made the master of his destiny.
+Thou boastest of thy steady eye. 'Tis well!
+Now is a fitting time to show thy skill.
+The mark is worthy, and the prize is great.
+To hit the bull's-eye in the target; that
+Can many another do as well as thou;
+But he, methinks, is master of his craft
+Who can at all times on his skill rely,
+Nor lets his heart disturb or eye or hand.
+
+FURST.
+My lord, we bow to your authority;
+But, oh, let justice yield to mercy here.
+Take half my property, nay, take it all,
+But spare a father this unnatural doom!
+
+WALTER.
+Grandfather, do not kneel to that bad man!
+Say, where am I to stand? I do not fear;
+My father strikes the bird upon the wing,
+And will not miss now when 'twould harm his boy!
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Does the child's innocence not touch your heart?
+
+ROSSELMANN.
+Bethink you, sir, there is a God in heaven,
+To whom you must account for all your deeds.
+
+GESSLER (pointing to the boy).
+Bind him to yonder lime tree straight!
+
+WALTER.
+Bind me? No, I will not be bound! I will be still,
+Still as a lamb--nor even draw my breath!
+But if you bind me I cannot be still.
+Then I shall writhe and struggle with my bonds.
+
+HARRAS.
+But let your eyes at least be bandaged, boy!
+
+WALTER.
+And why my eyes? No! Do you think I fear
+An arrow from my father's hand? Not I!
+I'll wait it firmly, nor so much as wink!
+Quick, father, show them that thou art an archer!
+He doubts thy skill--he thinks to ruin us.
+Shoot then and hit though but to spite the tyrant!
+
+   [He goes to the lime tree, and an apple is placed on his head.
+
+MELCHTHAL (to the country people).
+What! Is this outrage to be perpetrated
+Before our very eyes? Where is our oath?
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+'Tis all in vain. We have no weapons here;
+And see the wood of lances that surrounds us!
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+Oh! would to heaven that we had struck at once!
+God pardon those who counselled the delay!
+
+GESSLER (to TELL).
+Now, to thy task! Men bear not arms for naught.
+'Tis dangerous to carry deadly weapons,
+And on the archer oft his shaft recoils.
+This right these haughty peasant-churls assume
+Trenches upon their master's privileges.
+None should be armed but those who bear command.
+It pleases you wear the bow and bolt;
+Well, be it so. I will provide the mark.
+
+TELL (bends the bow and fixes the arrow).
+A lane there! Room!
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+           What, Tell? You would--no, no!
+You shake--your hand's unsteady--your knees tremble!
+
+TELL (letting the bow sink down).
+There's something swims before mine eyes!
+
+WOMEN.
+Great Heaven!
+
+TELL.
+        Release me from this shot!
+Here is my heart!
+
+   [Tears open his breast.
+
+Summon your troopers--let them strike me down!
+
+GESSLER.
+I do not want thy life, Tell, but the shot.
+Thy talent's universal! Nothing daunts thee!
+Thou canst direct the rudder like the bow!
+Storms fright not thee when there's a life at stake.
+Now, savior, help thyself, thou savest all!
+
+   [TELL stands fearfully agitated by contending emotions,
+   his hands moving convulsively, and his eyes turning
+   alternately to the governor and heaven. Suddenly he
+   takes a second arrow from his quiver and sticks it in
+   his belt. The governor watches all these motions.
+
+WALTER (beneath the lime tree).
+Come, father, shoot! I'm not afraid!
+
+TELL.
+                    It must be!
+
+   [Collects himself and levels the bow.
+
+RUDENZ (who all the while has been standing in a state of violent
+ excitement, and has with difficulty restrained himself, advances).
+My lord, you will not urge this matter further.
+You will not. It was surely but a test.
+You've gained your object. Rigor pushed too far
+Is sure to miss its aim, however good,
+As snaps the bow that's all too straightly bent.
+
+GESSLER.
+Peace, till your counsel's asked for!
+
+RUDENZ.
+I will speak! Ay, and I dare! I reverence my king;
+But acts like these must make his name abhorred.
+He sanctions not this cruelty. I dare
+Avouch the fact. And you outstep your powers
+In handling thus an unoffending people.
+
+GESSLER.
+Ha! thou growest bold methinks!
+
+RUDENZ.
+                 I have been dumb
+To all the oppressions I was doomed to see.
+I've closed mine eyes that they might not behold them,
+Bade my rebellious, swelling heart be still,
+And pent its struggles down within my breast.
+But to be silent longer were to be
+A traitor to my king and country both.
+
+BERTHA (casting herself between him and the governor).
+Oh, heavens! you but exasperate his rage!
+
+RUDENZ.
+My people I forsook, renounced my kindred--
+Broke all the ties of nature that I might
+Attach myself to you. I madly thought
+That I should best advance the general weal,
+By adding sinews to the emperor's power.
+The scales have fallen from mine eyes--I see
+The fearful precipice on which I stand.
+You've led my youthful judgment far astray,--
+Deceived my honest heart. With best intent,
+I had well nigh achieved my country's ruin.
+
+GESSLER.
+Audacious boy, this language to thy lord?
+
+RUDENZ.
+The emperor is my lord, not you! I'm free
+As you by birth, and I can cope with you
+In every virtue that beseems a knight.
+And if you stood not here in that king's name,
+Which I respect e'en where 'tis most abused,
+I'd throw my gauntlet down, and you should give
+An answer to my gage in knightly fashion.
+Ay, beckon to your troopers! Here I stand;
+But not like these--
+   [Pointing to the people.
+          unarmed. I have a sword,
+And he that stirs one step----
+
+STAUFFACHER (exclaims).
+               The apple's down!
+
+   [While the attention of the crowd has been directed
+   to the spot where BERTHA had cast herself between RUDENZ
+   and GESSLER, TELL has shot.
+
+ROSSELMANN.
+The boy's alive!
+
+MANY VOICES.
+         The apple has been struck!
+
+   [WALTER FURST staggers, and is about to fall. BERTHA supports him.
+
+GESSLER (astonished).
+How? Has he shot? The madman!
+
+BERTHA.
+                 Worthy father!
+Pray you compose yourself. The boy's alive!
+
+WALTER (runs in with the apple).
+Here is the apple, father! Well I knew
+You would not harm your boy.
+
+   [TELL stands with his body bent forwards, as though he would
+   follow the arrow. His bow drops from his hand. When he sees
+   the boy advancing, he hastens to meet him with open arms, and
+   embracing him passionately sinks down with him quite exhausted.
+   All crowd round them deeply affected.
+
+BERTHA.
+Oh, ye kind heavens!
+
+FURST (to father and son).
+            My children, my dear children!
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+God be praised!
+
+LEUTHOLD.
+         Almighty powers! That was a shot indeed!
+It will be talked of to the end of time.
+
+HARRAS.
+This feat of Tell, the archer, will be told
+While yonder mountains stand upon their base.
+
+   [Hands the apple to GESSLER.
+
+GESSLER.
+By heaven! the apple's cleft right through the core.
+It was a master shot I must allow.
+
+ROSSELMANN.
+The shot was good. But woe to him who drove
+The man to tempt his God by such a feat!
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Cheer up, Tell, rise! You've nobly freed yourself,
+And now may go in quiet to your home.
+
+ROSSELMANN.
+Come, to the mother let us bear her son!
+
+GESSLER.
+A word, Tell.
+
+   [They are about to lead him off.
+
+TELL.
+        Sir, your pleasure?
+
+GESSLER.
+                   Thou didst place
+A second arrow in thy belt--nay, nay!
+I saw it well--what was thy purpose with it?
+
+TELL (confused).
+It is the custom with all archers, sir.
+
+GESSLER.
+No, Tell, I cannot let that answer pass.
+There was some other motive, well I know.
+Frankly and cheerfully confess the truth;--
+Whate'er it be I promise thee thy life,
+Wherefore the second arrow?
+
+TELL.
+               Well, my lord,
+Since you have promised not to take my life,
+I will, without reserve, declare the truth.
+
+   [He draws the arrow from his belt, and fixes his eyes
+   sternly upon the governor.
+
+If that my hand had struck my darling child,
+This second arrow I had aimed at you,
+And, be assured, I should not then have missed.
+
+GESSLER.
+Well, Tell, I promised thou shouldst have thy life;
+I gave my knightly word, and I will keep it.
+Yet, as I know the malice of thy thoughts,
+I will remove thee hence to sure confinement,
+Where neither sun nor moon shall reach thine eyes,
+Thus from thy arrows I shall be secure.
+Seize on him, guards, and bind him.
+
+   [They bind him.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+                   How, my lord--
+How can you treat in such a way a man
+On whom God's hand has plainly been revealed?
+
+GESSLER.
+Well, let us see if it will save him twice!
+Remove him to my ship; I'll follow straight.
+In person I will see him lodged at Kuessnacht.
+
+ROSSELMANN.
+You dare not do it. Nor durst the emperor's self,
+So violate our dearest chartered rights.
+
+GESSLER.
+Where are they? Has the emperor confirmed them?
+He never has. And only by obedience
+Need you expect to win that favor from him.
+You are all rebels 'gainst the emperor's power
+And bear a desperate and rebellious spirit.
+I know you all--I see you through and through.
+Him do I single from amongst you now,
+But in his guilt you all participate.
+The wise will study silence and obedience.
+
+   [Exit, followed by BERTHA, RUDENZ, HARRAS, and attendants.
+   FRIESSHARDT and LEUTHOLD remain.
+
+FURST (in violent anguish).
+All's over now! He is resolved to bring
+Destruction on myself and all my house.
+
+STAUFFACHER (to Tell).
+Oh, why did you provoke the tyrant's rage?
+
+TELL.
+Let him be calm who feels the pangs I felt.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Alas! alas! Our every hope is gone.
+With you we all are fettered and enchained.
+
+COUNTRY PEOPLE (surrounding Tell).
+Our last remaining comfort goes with you!
+
+LEUTHOLD (approaching him).
+I'm sorry for you, Tell, but must obey.
+
+TELL.
+Farewell!
+
+WALTER (clinging to him in great agony).
+      Oh, father, father, father dear!
+
+TELL (pointing to Heaven).
+Thy father is on high--appeal to Him!
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Hast thou no message, Tell, to send your wife?
+
+TELL (clasping the boy passionately to his breast).
+The boy's uninjured; God will succor me!
+
+   [Tears himself suddenly away, and follows the soldiers
+   of the guard.
+
+
+
+
+ACT IV.
+
+SCENE I.
+
+   Eastern shore of the Lake of Lucerne; rugged and singularly
+   shaped rocks close the prospect to the west. The lake is
+   agitated, violent roaring and rushing of wind, with thunder
+   and lightning at intervals.
+
+   KUNZ OF GERSAU, FISHERMAN and BOY.
+
+
+KUNZ.
+I saw it with these eyes! Believe me, friend,
+It happen'd all precisely as I've said.
+
+FISHERMAN.
+Tell, made a prisoner, and borne off to Kuessnacht?
+The best man in the land, the bravest arm,
+Had we resolved to strike for liberty!
+
+KUNZ.
+The Viceroy takes him up the lake in person:
+They were about to go on board, as I
+Left Flueelen; but still the gathering storm,
+That drove me here to land so suddenly,
+Perchance has hindered their abrupt departure.
+
+FISHERMAN.
+Our Tell in chains, and in the viceroy's power!
+Oh, trust me, Gessler will entomb him where
+He never more shall see the light of day;
+For, Tell once free, the tyrant well may dread
+The just revenge of one so deep incensed.
+
+KUNZ.
+The old Landamman, too--von Attinghaus--
+They say, is lying at the point of death.
+
+FISHERMAN.
+Then the last anchor of our hopes gives way!
+He was the only man who dared to raise
+His voice in favor of the people's rights.
+
+KUNZ.
+The storm grows worse and worse. So, fare ye well!
+I'll go and seek out quarters in the village.
+There's not a chance of getting off to-day.
+
+                     [Exit.
+
+FISHERMAN.
+Tell dragged to prison, and the baron dead!
+Now, tyranny, exalt thy insolent front--
+Throw shame aside! The voice of truth is silenced,
+The eye that watched for us in darkness closed,
+The arm that should have struck thee down in chains!
+
+BOY.
+'Tis hailing hard--come, let us to the cottage
+This is no weather to be out in, father!
+
+FISHERMAN.
+Rage on, ye winds! Ye lightnings, flash your fires!
+Burst, ye swollen clouds! Ye cataracts of heaven,
+Descend, and drown the country! In the germ,
+Destroy the generations yet unborn!
+Ye savage elements, be lords of all!
+Return, ye bears; ye ancient wolves, return
+To this wide, howling waste! The land is yours.
+Who would live here when liberty is gone?
+
+BOY.
+Hark! How the wind whistles and the whirlpool roars;
+I never saw a storm so fierce as this!
+
+FISHERMAN.
+To level at the head of his own child!
+Never had father such command before.
+And shall not nature, rising in wild wrath,
+Revolt against the deed? I should not marvel,
+Though to the lake these rocks should bow their heads,
+Though yonder pinnacles, yon towers of ice,
+That, since creation's dawn, have known no thaw,
+Should, from their lofty summits, melt away;
+Though yonder mountains, yon primeval cliffs,
+Should topple down, and a new deluge whelm
+Beneath its waves all living men's abodes!
+
+   [Bells heard.
+
+BOY.
+Hark! they are ringing on the mountain yonder!
+They surely see some vessel in distress,
+And toll the bell that we may pray for it.
+
+   [Ascends a rock.
+
+FISHERMAN.
+Woe to the bark that now pursues its course,
+Rocked in the cradle of these storm-tossed waves.
+Nor helm nor steersman here can aught avail;
+The storm is master. Man is like a ball,
+Tossed 'twixt the winds and billows. Far, or near,
+No haven offers him its friendly shelter!
+Without one ledge to grasp, the sheer, smooth rocks
+Look down inhospitably on his despair,
+And only tender him their flinty breasts.
+
+BOY (calling from above).
+Father, a ship; and bearing down from Flueelen.
+
+FISHERMAN.
+Heaven pity the poor wretches! When the storm
+Is once entangled in this strait of ours,
+It rages like some savage beast of prey,
+Struggling against its cage's iron bars.
+Howling, it seeks an outlet--all in vain;
+For the rocks hedge it round on every side,
+Walling the narrow pass as high as heaven.
+
+   [He ascends a cliff.
+
+BOY.
+It is the governor of Uri's ship;
+By its red poop I know it, and the flag.
+
+FISHERMAN.
+Judgments of Heaven! Yes, it is he himself.
+It is the governor! Yonder he sails,
+And with him bears the burden of his crimes!
+Soon has the arm of the avenger found him;
+Now over him he knows a mightier lord.
+These waves yield no obedience to his voice,
+These rocks bow not their heads before his cap.
+Boy, do not pray; stay not the Judge's arm!
+
+BOY.
+I pray not for the governor; I pray
+For Tell, who is on board the ship with him.
+
+FISHERMAN.
+Alas, ye blind, unreasoning elements!
+Must ye, in punishing one guilty head,
+Destroy the vessel and the pilot too?
+
+BOY.
+See, see, they've cleared the Buggisgrat [20]; but now
+The blast, rebounding from the Devil's Minster [21],
+Has driven them back on the Great Axenberg. [22]
+I cannot see them now.
+
+FISHERMAN.
+            The Hakmesser [23]
+Is there, that's foundered many a gallant ship.
+If they should fail to double that with skill,
+Their bark will go to pieces on the rocks
+That hide their jagged peaks below the lake.
+They have on board the very best of pilots;
+If any man can save them, Tell is he;
+But he is manacled, both hand and foot.
+
+   [Enter WILLIAM TELL, with his crossbow. He enters
+   precipitately, looks wildly round, and testifies the
+   most violent agitation. When he reaches the centre
+   of the stage, he throws himself upon his knees, and
+   stretches out his hands, first towards the earth, then
+   towards heaven.
+
+BOY (observing him).
+See, father! Who is that man, kneeling yonder?
+
+FISHERMAN.
+He clutches at the earth with both his hands,
+And looks as though he were beside himself.
+
+BOY (advancing).
+What do I see? Father, come here, and look!
+
+FISHERMAN (approaches).
+Who is it? God in heaven! What! William Tell,
+How came you hither? Speak, Tell!
+
+BOY.
+                  Were you not
+In yonder ship, a prisoner, and in chains?
+
+FISHERMAN.
+Were they not bearing you away to Kuessnacht?
+
+TELL (rising).
+I am released.
+
+FISHERMAN and BOY.
+        Released, oh miracle!
+
+BOY.
+Whence came you here?
+
+TELL.
+            From yonder vessel!
+
+FISHERMAN.
+                      What?
+
+BOY.
+Where is the viceroy?
+
+TELL.
+            Drifting on the waves.
+
+FISHERMAN.
+Is't possible? But you! How are you here?
+How 'scaped you from your fetters and the storm?
+
+TELL.
+By God's most gracious providence. Attend.
+
+FISHERMAN and BOY.
+Say on, say on!
+
+TELL.
+         You know what passed at Altdorf?
+
+FISHERMAN.
+I do--say on!
+
+TELL.
+        How I was seized and bound,
+And ordered by the governor to Kuessnacht.
+
+FISHERMAN.
+And how with you at Flueelen he embarked.
+All this we know. Say, how have you escaped?
+
+TELL.
+I lay on deck, fast bound with cords, disarmed,
+In utter hopelessness. I did not think
+Again to see the gladsome light of day,
+Nor the dear faces of my wife and children;
+And eyed disconsolate the waste of waters----
+
+FISHERMAN.
+Oh, wretched man!
+
+TELL.
+          Then we put forth; the viceroy,
+Rudolph der Harras, and their suite. My bow
+And quiver lay astern beside the helm;
+And just as we had reached the corner, near
+The Little Axen [24], heaven ordained it so,
+That from the Gotthardt's gorge, a hurricane
+Swept down upon us with such headlong force,
+That every rower's heart within him sank,
+And all on board looked for a watery grave.
+Then heard I one of the attendant train,
+Turning to Gessler, in this strain accost him:
+"You see our danger, and your own, my lord
+And that we hover on the verge of death.
+The boatmen there are powerless from fear,
+Nor are they confident what course to take;
+Now, here is Tell, a stout and fearless man,
+And knows to steer with more than common skill.
+How if we should avail ourselves of him
+In this emergency?" The viceroy then
+Addressed me thus: "If thou wilt undertake
+To bring us through this tempest safely, Tell,
+I might consent to free thee from thy bonds."
+I answered, "Yes, my lord, with God's assistance,
+I'll see what can be done, and help us heaven!"
+On this they loosed me from my bonds, and I
+Stood by the helm and fairly steered along;
+Yet ever eyed my shooting-gear askance,
+And kept a watchful eye upon the shore,
+To find some point where I might leap to land
+And when I had descried a shelving crag,
+That jutted, smooth atop, into the lake----
+
+FISHERMAN.
+I know it. 'Tis at foot of the Great Axen;
+But looks so steep, I never could have dreamed
+'Twere possible to leap it from the boat.
+
+TELL.
+I bade the men put forth their utmost might,
+Until we came before the shelving crag.
+For there, I said, the danger will be past!
+Stoutly they pulled, and soon we neared the point;
+One prayer to God for his assisting grace,
+And straining every muscle, I brought round
+The vessel's stern close to the rocky wall;
+Then snatching up my weapons, with a bound
+I swung myself upon the flattened shelf,
+And with my feet thrust off, with all my might,
+The puny bark into the hell of waters.
+There let it drift about, as heaven ordains!
+Thus am I here, delivered from the might
+Of the dread storm, and man, more dreadful still.
+
+FISHERMAN.
+Tell, Tell, the Lord has manifestly wrought
+A miracle in thy behalf! I scarce
+Can credit my own eyes. But tell me, now,
+Whither you purpose to betake yourself?
+For you will be in peril should the viceroy
+Chance to escape this tempest with his life.
+
+TELL.
+I heard him say, as I lay bound on board,
+His purpose was to disembark at Brunnen;
+And, crossing Schwytz, convey me to his castle.
+
+FISHERMAN.
+Means he to go by land?
+
+TELL.
+             So he intends.
+
+FISHERMAN.
+Oh, then, conceal yourself without delay!
+Not twice will heaven release you from his grasp.
+
+TELL.
+Which is the nearest way to Arth and Kuessnacht?
+
+FISHERMAN.
+The public road leads by the way of Steinen,
+But there's a nearer road, and more retired,
+That goes by Lowerz, which my boy can show you.
+
+TELL (gives him his hand).
+May heaven reward your kindness! Fare ye well!
+
+   [As he is going he comes back.
+
+Did not you also take the oath at Rootli?
+I heard your name, methinks.
+
+FISHERMAN.
+               Yes, I was there,
+And took the oath of the confederacy;
+
+TELL.
+Then do me this one favor; speed to Buerglen
+My wife is anxious at my absence--tell her
+That I am free, and in secure concealment.
+
+FISHERMAN.
+But whither shall I tell her you have fled?
+
+TELL.
+You'll find her father with her, and some more,
+Who took the oath with you upon the Rootli;
+Bid them be resolute, and strong of heart,
+For Tell is free and master of his arm;
+They shall hear further news of me ere long.
+
+FISHERMAN.
+What have you, then, in view? Come, tell me frankly!
+
+TELL.
+When once 'tis done 'twill be in every mouth.
+
+                     [Exit.
+
+FISHERMAN.
+Show him the way, boy. Heaven be his support!
+Whate'er he has resolved, he'll execute.
+
+                     [Exit.
+
+
+
+SCENE II.
+
+   Baronial mansion of Attinghausen. The BARON upon a couch dying.
+   WALTER FURST, STAUFFACHER, MELCHTHAL, and BAUMGARTEN attending round
+   him. WALTER TELL kneeling before the dying man.
+
+FURST.
+All now is over with him. He is gone.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+He lies not like one dead. The feather, see,
+Moves on his lips! His sleep is very calm,
+And on his features plays a placid smile.
+
+   [BAUMGARTEN goes to the door and speaks with some one.
+
+FURST.
+Who's there?
+
+BAUGMARTEN (returning).
+       Tell's wife, your daughter; she insists
+That she must speak with you, and see her boy.
+
+   [WALTER TELL rises.
+
+FURST.
+I who need comfort--can I comfort her?
+Does every sorrow centre on my head?
+
+HEDWIG (forcing her way in).
+Where is my child? Unhand me! I must see him.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Be calm! Reflect you're in the house of death!
+
+HEDWIG (falling upon her boy's neck).
+My Walter! Oh, he yet is mine!
+
+WALTER.
+                 Dear mother!
+
+HEDWIG.
+And is it surely so? Art thou unhurt?
+
+   [Gazing at him with anxious tenderness.
+
+And is it possible he aimed at thee?
+How could he do it? Oh, he has no heart--
+And he could wing an arrow at his child!
+
+FURST.
+His soul was racked with anguish when he did it.
+No choice was left him, but to shoot or die!
+
+HEDWIG.
+Oh, if he had a father's heart, he would
+Have sooner perished by a thousand deaths!
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+You should be grateful for God's gracious care,
+That ordered things so well.
+
+HEDWIG.
+                Can I forget
+What might have been the issue. God of heaven!
+Were I to live for centuries, I still
+Should see my boy tied up,--his father's mark,
+And still the shaft would quiver in my heart!
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+You know not how the viceroy taunted him!
+
+HEDWIG.
+Oh, ruthless heart of man! Offend his pride,
+And reason in his breast forsakes her seat;
+In his blind wrath he'll stake upon a cast
+A child's existence, and a mother's heart!
+
+BAUMGARTEN.
+Is then your husband's fate not hard enough,
+That you embitter it by such reproaches?
+Have you no feeling for his sufferings?
+
+HEDWIG (turning to him and gazing full upon him).
+Hast thou tears only for thy friend's distress?
+Say, where were you when he--my noble Tell,
+Was bound in chains? Where was your friendship, then?
+The shameful wrong was done before your eyes;
+Patient you stood, and let your friend be dragged,
+Ay, from your very hands. Did ever Tell
+Act thus to you? Did he stand whining by
+When on your heels the viceroy's horsemen pressed,
+And full before you roared the storm-tossed lake?
+Oh, not with idle tears he showed his pity;
+Into the boat he sprung, forgot his home,
+His wife, his children, and delivered thee!
+
+FURST.
+It had been madness to attempt his rescue,
+Unarmed, and few in numbers as we were.
+
+HEDWIG (casting herself upon his bosom).
+Oh, father, and thou, too, hast lost my Tell!
+The country--all have lost him! All lament
+His loss; and, oh, how he must pine for us!
+Heaven keep his soul from sinking to despair!
+No friend's consoling voice can penetrate
+His dreary dungeon walls. Should befall sick!
+Ah! In the vapors of the murky vault
+He must fall sick. Even as the Alpine rose
+Grows pale and withers in the swampy air,
+There is no life for him, but in the sun,
+And in the balm of heaven's refreshing breeze.
+Imprisoned? Liberty to him is breath;
+He cannot live in the rank dungeon air!
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Pray you be calm! And, hand in hand, we'll all
+Combine to burst his prison doors.
+
+HEDWIG.
+                  Without him,
+What have you power to do? While Tell was free,
+There still, indeed, was hope--weak innocence
+Had still a friend, and the oppressed a stay.
+Tell saved you all! You cannot all combined
+Release him from his cruel prison bonds.
+
+   [The BARON wakes.
+
+BAUMGARTEN.
+Hush, hush! He starts!
+
+ATTINGHAUSEN (sitting up).
+             Where is he?
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+                    Who?
+
+ATTINGHAUSEN.
+                        He leaves me,--
+In my last moments he abandons me.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+He means his nephew. Have they sent for him?
+
+FURST.
+He has been summoned. Cheerily, Sir! Take comfort!
+He has found his heart at last, and is our own.
+
+ATTINGHAUSEN.
+Say, has he spoken for his native land?
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Ay, like a hero!
+
+ATTINGHAUSEN.
+         Wherefore comes he not,
+That he may take my blessing ere I die?
+I feel my life fast ebbing to a close.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Nay, talk not thus, dear Sir! This last short sleep
+Has much refreshed you, and your eye is bright.
+
+ATTINGHAUSEN.
+Life is but pain, and even that has left me;
+My sufferings, like my hopes, have passed away.
+
+   [Observing the boy.
+
+What boy is that?
+
+FURST.
+          Bless him. Oh, good my lord!
+He is my grandson, and is fatherless.
+
+   [HEDWIG kneels with the boy before the dying man.
+
+ATTINGHAUSEN.
+And fatherless I leave you all, ay, all!
+Oh, wretched fate, that these old eyes should see
+My country's ruin, as they close in death.
+Must I attain the utmost verge of life,
+To feel my hopes go with me to the grave.
+
+STAUFFACHER (to FURST).
+Shall he depart 'mid grief and gloom like this?
+Shall not his parting moments be illumed
+By hope's delightful beams? My noble lord,
+Raise up your drooping spirit! We are not
+Forsaken quite--past all deliverance.
+
+ATTINGHAUSEN.
+Who shall deliver you?
+
+FURST.
+            Ourselves. For know
+The Cantons three are to each other pledged
+To hunt the tyrants from the land. The league
+Has been concluded, and a sacred oath
+Confirms our union. Ere another year
+Begins its circling course--the blow shall fall.
+In a free land your ashes shall repose.
+
+ATTINGHAUSEN.
+The league concluded! Is it really so?
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+On one day shall the Cantons rise together.
+All is prepared to strike--and to this hour
+The secret closely kept though hundreds share it;
+The ground is hollow 'neath the tyrant's feet;
+Their days of rule are numbered, and ere long
+No trace of their dominion shall remain.
+
+ATTINGHAUSEN.
+Ay, but their castles, how to master them?
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+On the same day they, too, are doomed to fall.
+
+ATTINGHAUSEN.
+And are the nobles parties to this league?
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+We trust to their assistance should we need it;
+As yet the peasantry alone have sworn.
+
+ATTINGHAUSEN (raising himself up in great astonishment).
+And have the peasantry dared such a deed
+On their own charge without their nobles' aid--
+Relied so much on their own proper strength?
+Nay then, indeed, they want our help no more;
+We may go down to death cheered by the thought
+That after us the majesty of man
+Will live, and be maintained by other hands.
+
+   [He lays his hand upon the head of the child,
+   who is kneeling before him.
+
+From this boy's head, whereon the apple lay,
+Your new and better liberty shall spring;
+The old is crumbling down--the times are changing
+And from the ruins blooms a fairer life.
+
+STAUFFACHER (to FURST).
+See, see, what splendor streams around his eye!
+This is not nature's last expiring flame,
+It is the beam of renovated life.
+
+ATTINGHAUSEN.
+From their old towers the nobles are descending,
+And swearing in the towns the civic oath.
+In Uechtland and Thurgau the work's begun;
+The noble Bern lifts her commanding head,
+And Freyburg is a stronghold of the free;
+The stirring Zurich calls her guilds to arms;
+And now, behold! the ancient might of kings
+Is shivered against her everlasting walls.
+
+   [He speaks what follows with a prophetic tone;
+   his utterance rising into enthusiasm.
+
+I see the princes and their haughty peers,
+Clad all in steel, come striding on to crush
+A harmless shepherd race with mailed hand.
+Desperate the conflict: 'tis for life or death;
+And many a pass will tell to after years
+Of glorious victories sealed in foemen's blood. [25]
+The peasant throws himself with naked breast,
+A willing victim on their serried lances.
+They yield--the flower of chivalry's cut down,
+And freedom waves her conquering banner high!
+
+   [Grasps the hands Of WALTER FURST and STAUFFACHER.
+
+Hold fast together, then--forever fast!
+Let freedom's haunts be one in heart and mind!
+Set watches on your mountain-tops, that league
+May answer league, when comes the hour to strike.
+Be one--be one--be one----
+
+   [He falls back upon the cushion. His lifeless hands continue
+   to grasp those of FURST and STAUFFACHER, who regard him for
+   some moments in silence, and then retire, overcome with sorrow.
+   Meanwhile the servants have quietly pressed into the chamber,
+   testifying different degrees of grief. Some kneel down beside
+   him and weep on his body: while this scene is passing the castle
+   bell tolls.
+
+RUDENZ (entering hurriedly).
+Lives he? Oh, say, can he still hear my voice?
+
+FURST (averting his face).
+You are our seignior and protector now;
+Henceforth this castle bears another name.
+
+RUDENZ (gazing at the body with deep emotion).
+Oh, God! Is my repentance, then, too late?
+Could he not live some few brief moments more,
+To see the change that has come o'er my heart?
+Oh, I was deaf to his true counselling voice
+While yet he walked on earth. Now he is gone;
+Gone and forever,--leaving me the debt,--
+The heavy debt I owe him--undischarged!
+Oh, tell me! did he part in anger with me?
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+When dying he was told what you had done,
+And blessed the valor that inspired your words!
+
+RUDENZ (kneeling downs beside the dead body).
+Yes, sacred relics of a man beloved!
+Thou lifeless corpse! Here, on thy death-cold hand,
+Do I abjure all foreign ties forever!
+And to my country's cause devote myself.
+I am a Switzer, and will act as one
+With my whole heart and soul.
+   [Rises.
+                Mourn for our friend,
+Our common parent, yet be not dismayed!
+'Tis not alone his lands that I inherit,--
+His heart--his spirit have devolved on me;
+And my young arm shall execute the task
+For which his hoary age remained your debtor.
+Give me your hands, ye venerable fathers!
+Thine, Melchthal, too! Nay, do not hesitate,
+Nor from me turn distrustfully away.
+Accept my plighted vow--my knightly oath!
+
+FURST.
+Give him your hands, my friends! A heart like his
+That sees and owns its error claims our trust.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+You ever held the peasantry in scorn;
+What surety have we that you mean us fair?
+
+RUDENZ.
+Oh, think not of the error of my youth!
+
+STAUFFACHER (to MELCHTHAL).
+Be one! They were our father's latest words.
+See they be not forgotten! Take my hand,--
+A peasant's hand,--and with it, noble Sir,
+The gage and the assurance of a man!
+Without us, sir, what would the nobles be?
+Our order is more ancient, too, than yours!
+
+RUDENZ.
+I honor it, and with my sword will shield it!
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+The arm, my lord, that tames the stubborn earth,
+And makes its bosom blossom with increase,
+Can also shield a man's defenceless breast.
+
+RUDENZ.
+Then you shall shield my breast and I will yours;
+Thus each be strengthened by the others' aid!
+Yet wherefore talk we while our native land
+Is still to alien tyranny a prey?
+First let us sweep the foeman from the soil,
+Then reconcile our difference in peace!
+
+   [After a moment's pause.
+
+How! You are silent! Not a word for me?
+And have I yet no title to your trust?
+Then must I force my way, despite your will,
+Into the league you secretly have formed.
+You've held a Diet on the Rootli,--I
+Know this,--know all that was transacted there!
+And though I was not trusted with your secret,
+I still have kept it like a sacred pledge.
+Trust me, I never was my country's foe,
+Nor would I ever have ranged myself against you!
+Yet you did wrong to put your rising off.
+Time presses! We must strike, and swiftly, too!
+Already Tell has fallen a sacrifice
+To your delay.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+        We swore to wait till Christmas.
+
+RUDENZ.
+I was not there,--I did not take the oath.
+If you delay I will not!
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+             What! You would----
+
+RUDENZ.
+I count me now among the country's fathers,
+And to protect you is my foremost duty.
+
+FURST.
+Within the earth to lay these dear remains,
+That is your nearest and most sacred duty.
+
+RUDENZ.
+When we have set the country free, we'll place
+Our fresh, victorious wreaths upon his bier.
+Oh, my dear friends, 'tis not your cause alone!
+I have a cause to battle with the tyrants
+That more concerns myself. Know, that my Bertha
+Has disappeared,--been carried off by stealth,
+Stolen from amongst us by their ruffian bands!
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+And has the tyrant dared so fell an outrage
+Against a lady free and nobly born?
+
+RUDENZ.
+Alas! my friends, I promised help to you,
+And I must first implore it for myself?
+She that I love is stolen--is forced away,
+And who knows where the tyrant has concealed her.
+Or with what outrages his ruffian crew
+May force her into nuptials she detests?
+Forsake me not! Oh help me to her rescue!
+She loves you! Well, oh well, has she deserved
+That all should rush to arms in her behalf.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+What course do you propose?
+
+RUDENZ.
+               Alas! I know not.
+In the dark mystery that shrouds her fate,
+In the dread agony of this suspense,
+Where I can grasp at naught of certainty,
+One single ray of comfort beams upon me.
+From out the ruins of the tyrant's power
+Alone can she be rescued from the grave.
+Their strongholds must be levelled! Everyone,
+Ere we can pierce into her gloomy prison.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+Come, lead us on! We follow! Why defer
+Until to-morrow what to-day may do?
+Tell's arm was free when we at Rootli swore,
+This foul enormity was yet undone.
+And change of circumstance brings change of law.
+Who such a coward as to waver still?
+
+RUDENZ (to WALTER FURST).
+Meanwhile to arms, and wait in readiness
+The fiery signal on the mountain-tops.
+For swifter than a boat can scour the lake
+Shall you have tidings of our victory;
+And when you see the welcome flames ascend,
+Then, like the lightning, swoop upon the foe,
+And lay the despots and their creatures low!
+
+
+
+SCENE III.
+
+   The pass near Kuessnacht, sloping down from behind, with
+   rocks on either side. The travellers are visible upon the
+   heights, before they appear on the stage. Rocks all round
+   the stage. Upon one of the foremost a projecting cliff
+   overgrown with brushwood.
+
+TELL (enters with his crossbow).
+Here through this deep defile he needs must pass;
+There leads no other road to Kuessnacht; here
+I'll do it; the opportunity is good.
+Yon alder tree stands well for my concealment,
+Thence my avenging shaft will surely reach him.
+The straitness of the path forbids pursuit.
+Now, Gessler, balance thine account with Heaven!
+Thou must away from earth, thy sand is run.
+I led a peaceful, inoffensive life;
+My bow was bent on forest game alone,
+And my pure soul was free from thoughts of murder.
+But thou hast scared me from my dream of peace;
+The milk of human kindness thou hast turned
+To rankling poison in my breast, and made
+Appalling deeds familiar to my soul.
+He who could make his own child's head his mark
+Can speed his arrow to his foeman's heart.
+
+My children dear, my loved and faithful wife,
+Must be protected, tyrant, from thy fury!
+When last I drew my bow, with trembling hand,
+And thou, with murderous joy, a father forced
+To level at his child; when, all in vain,
+Writhing before thee, I implored thy mercy,
+Then in the agony of my soul I vowed
+A fearful oath, which met God's ear alone,
+That when my bow next winged an arrow's flight
+Its aim should be thy heart. The vow I made
+Amid the hellish torments of that moment
+I hold a sacred debt, and I will pay it.
+
+Thou art my lord, my emperor's delegate,
+Yet would the emperor not have stretched his power
+So far as thou. He sent thee to these Cantons
+To deal forth law, stern law, for he is angered;
+But not to wanton with unbridled will
+In every cruelty, with fiendlike joy:
+There is a God to punish and avenge.
+
+Come forth, thou bringer once of bitter pangs,
+My precious jewel now, my chiefest treasure;
+A mark I'll set thee, which the cry of grief
+Could never penetrate, but thou shalt pierce it.
+And thou, my trusty bowstring, that so oft
+Has served me faithfully in sportive scenes,
+Desert me not in this most serious hour--
+Only be true this once, my own good cord,
+That has so often winged the biting shaft:--
+For shouldst thou fly successless from my hand,
+I have no second to send after thee.
+
+   [Travellers pass over the stage.
+
+I'll sit me down upon this bench of stone,
+Hewn for the wayworn traveller's brief repose--
+For here there is no home. Each hurries by
+The other, with quick step and careless look,
+Nor stays to question of his grief. Here goes
+The merchant, full of care--the pilgrim next,
+With slender scrip--and then the pious monk,
+The scowling robber, and the jovial player,
+The carrier with his heavy-laden horse,
+That comes to us from the far haunts of men;
+For every road conducts to the world's end.
+They all push onwards--every man intent
+On his own several business--mine is murder.
+
+   [Sits down.
+
+Time was, my dearest children, when with joy
+You hailed your father's safe return to home
+From his long mountain toils; for when he came
+He ever brought some little present with him.
+A lovely Alpine flower--a curious bird--
+Or elf-boat found by wanderers on the hills.
+But now he goes in quest of other game:
+In the wild pass he sits, and broods on murder;
+And watches for the life-blood of his foe,
+But still his thoughts are fixed on you alone,
+Dear children. 'Tis to guard your innocence,
+To shield you from the tyrant's fell revenge,
+He bends his bow to do a deed of blood!
+
+   [Rises.
+
+Well--I am watching for a noble prey--
+Does not the huntsman, with severest toil,
+Roam for whole days amid the winter's cold,
+Leap with a daring bound from rock to rock,--
+And climb the jagged, slippery steeps, to which
+His limbs are glued by his own streaming blood;
+And all this but to gain a wretched chamois.
+A far more precious prize is now my aim--
+The heart of that dire foe who would destroy me.
+
+   [Sprightly music heard in the distance, which
+   comes gradually nearer.
+
+From my first years of boyhood I have used
+The bow--been practised in the archer's feats;
+The bull's-eye many a time my shafts have hit,
+And many a goodly prize have I brought home,
+Won in the games of skill. This day I'll make
+My master-shot, and win the highest prize
+Within the whole circumference of the mountains.
+
+   [A marriage train passes over the stage, and goes up
+   the pass. TELL gazes at it, leaning on his bow. He
+   is joined by STUSSI, the Ranger.
+
+STUSSI.
+There goes the bridal party of the steward
+Of Moerlischachen's cloister. He is rich!
+And has some ten good pastures on the Alps.
+He goes to fetch his bride from Imisee,
+There will be revelry to-night at Kuessnacht.
+Come with us--every honest man's invited.
+
+TELL.
+A gloomy guest fits not a wedding feast.
+
+STUSSI.
+If grief oppress you, dash it from your heart!
+Bear with your lot. The times are heavy now,
+And we must snatch at pleasure while we can.
+Here 'tis a bridal, there a burial.
+
+TELL.
+And oft the one treads close upon the other.
+
+STUSSI.
+So runs the world at present. Everywhere
+We meet with woe and misery enough.
+There's been a slide of earth in Glarus, and
+A whole side of the Glaernisch has fallen in.
+
+TELL.
+Strange! And do even the hills begin to totter?
+There is stability for naught on earth.
+
+STUSSI.
+Strange tidings, too, we hear from other parts.
+I spoke with one but now, that came from Baden,
+Who said a knight was on his way to court,
+And as he rode along a swarm of wasps
+Surrounded him, and settling on his horse,
+So fiercely stung the beast that it fell dead,
+And he proceeded to the court on foot.
+
+TELL.
+Even the weak are furnished with a sting.
+
+   [ARMGART (enters with several children, and places
+   herself at the entrance of the pass).
+
+STUSSI.
+'Tis thought to bode disaster to the country,
+Some horrid deed against the course of nature.
+
+TELL.
+Why, every day brings forth such fearful deeds;
+There needs no miracle to tell their coming.
+
+STUSSI.
+Too true! He's blessed who tills his field in peace,
+And sits untroubled by his own fireside.
+
+TELL.
+The very meekest cannot rest in quiet,
+Unless it suits with his ill neighbor's humor.
+
+   [TELL looks frequently with restless expectation
+   towards the top of the pass.
+
+STUSSI.
+So fare you well! You're waiting some one here?
+
+TELL.
+I am.
+
+STUSSI.
+    A pleasant meeting with your friends!
+You are from Uri, are you not? His grace
+The governor's expected thence to-day.
+
+TRAVELLER (entering).
+Look not to see the governor to-day.
+The streams are flooded by the heavy rains,
+And all the bridges have been swept away.
+
+   [TELL rises.
+
+ARMGART (coming forward).
+The viceroy not arrived?
+
+STUSSI.
+             And do you seek him?
+
+ARMGART.
+Alas, I do!
+
+STUSSI.
+       But why thus place yourself
+Where you obstruct his passage down the pass?
+
+ARMGART.
+Here he cannot escape me. He must hear me.
+
+FRIESSHARDT (coming hastily down the pass, and calls upon the stage).
+Make way, make way! My lord, the governor,
+Is coming down on horseback close behind me.
+
+                    [Exit TELL.
+
+ARMGART (with animation).
+The viceroy comes!
+
+   [She goes towards the pass with her children.
+   GESSLER and RUDOLPH DER HARRAS appear upon the
+   heights on horseback.
+
+STUSSI (to FRIESSHARDT).
+          How got ye through the stream
+When all the bridges have been carried down?
+
+FRIESSHARDT.
+We've battled with the billows; and, my friend,
+An Alpine torrent's nothing after that.
+
+STUSSI.
+How! Were you out, then, in that dreadful storm?
+
+FRIESSHARDT.
+Ay, that we were! I shall not soon forget it.
+
+STUSSI.
+Stay, speak----
+
+FRIESSHARDT.
+        I cannot. I must to the castle,
+And tell them that the governor's at hand.
+
+                    [Exit.
+
+STUSSI.
+If honest men, now, had been in the ship,
+It had gone down with every soul on board:--
+Some folks are proof 'gainst fire and water both.
+
+   [Looking round.
+
+Where has the huntsman gone with whom I spoke?
+
+                     [Exit.
+
+   Enter GESSLER and RUDOLPH DER HARRAS on horseback.
+
+GESSLER.
+Say what you please; I am the emperor's servant,
+And my first care must be to do his pleasure.
+He did not send me here to fawn and cringe
+And coax these boors into good humor. No!
+Obedience he must have. We soon shall see
+If king or peasant is to lord it here?
+
+ARMGART.
+Now is the moment! Now for my petition!
+
+GESSLER.
+'Twas not in sport that I set up the cap
+In Altdorf--or to try the people's hearts--
+All this I knew before. I set it up
+That they might learn to bend those stubborn necks
+They carry far too proudly--and I placed
+What well I knew their eyes could never brook
+Full in the road, which they perforce must pass,
+That, when their eyes fell on it, they might call
+That lord to mind whom they too much forget.
+
+HARRAS.
+But surely, sir, the people have some rights----
+
+GESSLER.
+This is no time to settle what they are.
+Great projects are at work, and hatching now;
+The imperial house seeks to extend its power.
+Those vast designs of conquests, which the sire
+Has gloriously begun, the son will end.
+This petty nation is a stumbling-block--
+One way or other it must be subjected.
+
+   [They are about to pass on. ARMMGART throws herself
+   down before GESSLER.
+
+ARMGART.
+Mercy, lord governor! Oh, pardon, pardon!
+
+GESSLER.
+Why do you cross me on the public road?
+Stand back, I say.
+
+ARMGART.
+          My husband lies in prison;
+My wretched orphans cry for bread. Have pity,
+Pity, my lord, upon our sore distress!
+
+HARRAS.
+Who are you, woman; and who is your husband?
+
+ARMGART.
+A poor wild hay-man of the Rigiberg,
+Kind sir, who on the brow of the abyss,
+Mows down the grass from steep and craggy shelves,
+To which the very cattle dare not climb.
+
+HARRAS (to GESSLER).
+By Heaven! a sad and miserable life!
+I prithee, give the wretched man his freedom.
+How great soever his offence may be,
+His horrid trade is punishment enough.
+
+   [To ARMGART.
+
+You shall have justice. To the castle bring
+Your suit. This is no place to deal with it.
+
+ARMGART.
+No, no, I will not stir from where I stand,
+Until your grace restore my husband to me.
+Six months already has he been in prison,
+And waits the sentence of a judge in vain.
+
+GESSLER.
+How! Would you force me, woman? Hence! Begone!
+
+ARMGART.
+Justice, my lord! Ay, justice! Thou art judge!
+The deputy of the emperor--of Heaven!
+Then do thy duty, as thou hopest for justice
+From Him who rules above, show it to us!
+
+GESSLER.
+Hence! drive this daring rabble from my sight!
+
+ARMGART (seizing his horse's reins).
+No, no, by Heaven, I've nothing more to lose.
+Thou stirrest not, viceroy, from this spot until
+Thou dost me fullest justice. Knit thy brows,
+And roll thy eyes; I fear not. Our distress
+Is so extreme, so boundless, that we care
+No longer for thine anger.
+
+GESSLER.
+              Woman, hence!
+Give way, I say, or I will ride thee down.
+
+ARMGART.
+Well, do so; there!
+
+   [Throws her children and herself upon the ground before him.
+
+           Here on the ground I lie,
+I and my children. Let the wretched orphans
+Be trodden by thy horse into the dust!
+It will not be the worst that thou hast done.
+
+HARRAS.
+Are you mad, woman?
+
+ARMGART (continuing with vehemence).
+           Many a day thou hast
+Trampled the emperor's lands beneath thy feet.
+Oh, I am but a woman! Were I man,
+I'd find some better thing to do, than here
+Lie grovelling in the dust.
+
+   [The music of the wedding party is again heard
+   from the top of the pass, but more softly.
+
+GESSLER.
+               Where are my knaves?
+Drag her away, lest I forget myself,
+And do some deed I may repent hereafter.
+
+HARRAS.
+My lord, the servants cannot force a passage;
+The pass is blocked up by a marriage party.
+
+GESSLER.
+Too mild a ruler am I to this people,
+Their tongues are all too bold; nor have they yet
+Been tamed to due submission, as they shall be.
+I must take order for the remedy;
+I will subdue this stubborn mood of theirs,
+And crush the soul of liberty within them.
+I'll publish a new law throughout the land;
+I will----
+
+   [An arrow pierces him,--he puts his hand on his heart,
+   and is about to sink--with a feeble voice.
+
+     Oh God, have mercy on my soul!
+
+HARRAS.
+My lord! my lord! Oh God! What's this? Whence came it?
+
+ARMGART (starts up).
+Dead, dead! He reels, he falls! 'Tis in his heart!
+
+HARRAS (springs from his horse).
+This is most horrible! Oh Heavens! sir knight,
+Address yourself to God and pray for mercy;
+You are a dying man.
+
+GESSLER.
+           That shot was Tell's.
+
+   [He slides from his horse into the arms of RUDOLPH
+   DER HARRAS, who lays him down upon the bench. TELL
+   appears above, upon the rocks.
+
+TELL.
+Thou knowest the archer, seek no other hand.
+Our cottages are free, and innocence
+Secure from thee: thou'lt be our curse no more.
+
+   [TELL disappears. People rush in.
+
+STUSSI.
+What is the matter? Tell me what has happened?
+
+ARMGART.
+The governor is shot,--killed by an arrow!
+
+PEOPLE (running in).
+Who has been shot?
+
+   [While the foremost of the marriage party are coming
+   on the stage, the hindmost are still upon the heights.
+   The music continues.
+
+HARRAS.
+           He's bleeding fast to death.
+Away, for help--pursue the murderer!
+Unhappy man, is't thus that thou must die?
+Thou wouldst not heed the warnings that I gave thee!
+
+STUSSI.
+By heaven, his cheek is pale! His life ebbs fast.
+
+MANY VOICES.
+Who did the deed?
+
+HARRAS.
+          What! Are the people mad
+That they make music to a murder? Silence!
+
+   [Music breaks off suddenly. People continue to flock in.
+
+Speak, if thou canst, my lord. Hast thou no charge
+To intrust me with?
+
+   [GESSLER makes signs with his hand, which he repeats
+   with vehemence, when he finds they are not understood.
+
+           What would you have me do?
+Shall I to Kuessnacht? I can't guess your meaning.
+Do not give way to this impatience. Leave
+All thoughts of earth and make your peace with Heaven.
+
+   [The whole marriage party gather round the dying man.
+
+STUSSI.
+See there! how pale he grows! Death's gathering now
+About his heart; his eyes grow dim and glazed.
+
+ARMGART (holds up a child).
+Look, children, how a tyrant dies!
+
+HARRAS.
+                  Mad hag!
+Have you no touch of feeling that you look
+On horrors such as these without a shudder?
+Help me--take hold. What, will not one assist
+To pull the torturing arrow from his breast?
+
+WOMEN.
+We touch the man whom God's own hand has struck!
+
+HARRAS.
+All curses light on you!
+
+   [Draws his sword.
+
+STUSSI (seizes his arm).
+             Gently, sir knight!
+Your power is at an end. 'Twere best forbear.
+Our country's foe is fallen. We will brook
+No further violence. We are free men.
+
+ALL.
+The country's free!
+
+HARRAS.
+           And is it come to this?
+Fear and obedience at an end so soon?
+
+   [To the soldiers of the guard who are thronging in.
+
+You see, my friends, the bloody piece of work
+They've acted here. 'Tis now too late for help,
+And to pursue the murderer were vain.
+New duties claim our care. Set on to Kuessnacht,
+And let us save that fortress for the king!
+For in an hour like this all ties of order,
+Fealty, and faith are scattered to the winds.
+No man's fidelity is to be trusted.
+
+   [As he is going out with the soldiers six
+   FRATRES MISERICCRDIAE appear.
+
+ARMGART.
+Here come the brotherhood of mercy. Room!
+
+STUSSI.
+The victim's slain, and now the ravens stoop.
+
+BROTHERS OF MERCY (form a semicircle round the body, and sing
+in solemn tones).
+
+   With hasty step death presses on,
+    Nor grants to man a moment's stay,
+   He falls ere half his race be run
+    In manhood's pride is swept away!
+   Prepared or unprepared to die,
+   He stands before his Judge on high.
+
+   [While they are repeating the last two lines, the curtain falls.
+
+
+
+
+ACT V.
+
+SCENE I.
+
+   A common near Altdorf. In the background to the right the keep
+   of Uri, with the scaffold still standing, as in the third scene
+   of the first act. To the left the view opens upon numerous
+   mountains, on all of which signal fires are burning. Day is
+   breaking, and bells are heard ringing from various distances.
+
+   RUODI, KUONI, WERNI, MASTER MASON, and many other country people,
+   also women and children.
+
+RUODI.
+Look at the fiery signals on the mountains!
+
+MASTER MASON.
+Hark to the bells above the forest there!
+
+RUODI.
+The enemy's expelled.
+
+MASTER MASON.
+            The forts are taken.
+
+RUODI.
+And we of Uri, do we still endure
+Upon our native soil the tyrant's keep?
+Are we the last to strike for liberty?
+
+MASTER MASON.
+Shall the yoke stand that was to bow our necks?
+Up! Tear it to the ground!
+
+ALL.
+               Down, down with it!
+
+RUODI.
+Where is the Stier of Uri?
+
+URI.
+               Here. What would ye?
+
+RUODI.
+Up to your tower, and wind us such a blast,
+As shall resound afar, from hill to hill;
+Rousing the echoes of each peak and glen,
+And call the mountain men in haste together!
+
+   [Exit STIER OF URI--enter WALTER FURST.
+
+FURST.
+Stay, stay, my friends! As yet we have not learned
+What has been done in Unterwald and Schwytz.
+Let's wait till we receive intelligence!
+
+RUODI.
+Wait, wait for what? The accursed tyrant's dead,
+And the bright day of liberty has dawned!
+
+MASTER MASON.
+How! Do these flaming signals not suffice,
+That blaze on every mountain top around?
+
+RUODI.
+Come all, fall to--come, men and women, all!
+Destroy the scaffold! Tear the arches down!
+Down with the walls; let not a stone remain.
+
+MASTER MASON.
+Come, comrades, come! We built it, and we know
+How best to hurl it down.
+
+ALL.
+              Come! Down with it!
+
+   [They fall upon the building at every side.
+
+FURST.
+The floodgate's burst. They're not to be restrained.
+
+   [Enter MELCHTHAL and BAUMGARTEN.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+What! Stands the fortress still, when Sarnen lies
+In ashes, and when Rossberg is a ruin?
+
+FURST.
+You, Melchthal, here? D'ye bring us liberty?
+Say, have you freed the country of the foe?
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+We've swept them from the soil. Rejoice, my friend;
+Now, at this very moment, while we speak,
+There's not a tyrant left in Switzerland!
+
+FURST.
+How did you get the forts into your power?
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+Rudenz it was who with a gallant arm,
+And manly daring, took the keep at Sarnen.
+The Rossberg I had stormed the night before.
+But hear what chanced. Scarce had we driven the foe
+Forth from the keep, and given it to the flames,
+That now rose crackling upwards to the skies,
+When from the blaze rushed Diethelm, Gessler's page,
+Exclaiming, "Lady Bertha will be burnt!"
+
+FURST.
+Good heavens!
+
+   [The beams of the scaffold are heard falling.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+        'Twas she herself. Here had she been
+Immured in secret by the viceroy's orders.
+Rudenz sprang up in frenzy. For we heard
+The beams and massive pillars crashing down,
+And through the volumed smoke the piteous shrieks
+Of the unhappy lady.
+
+FURST.
+           Is she saved?
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+Here was a time for promptness and decision!
+Had he been nothing but our baron, then
+We should have been most chary of our lives;
+But he was our confederate, and Bertha
+Honored the people. So without a thought,
+We risked the worst, and rushed into the flames.
+
+FURST.
+But is she saved?
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+          She is. Rudenz and I
+Bore her between us from the blazing pile,
+With crashing timbers toppling all around.
+And when she had revived, the danger past,
+And raised her eyes to meet the light of heaven,
+The baron fell upon my breast; and then
+A silent vow of friendship passed between us--
+A vow that, tempered in yon furnace heat,
+Will last through every shock of time and fate.
+
+FURST.
+Where is the Landenberg?
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+             Across the Bruenig.
+No fault of mine it was, that he, who quenched
+My father's eyesight, should go hence unharmed.
+He fled--I followed--overtook and seized him,
+And dragged him to my father's feet. The sword
+Already quivered o'er the caitiff's head,
+When at the entreaty of the blind old man,
+I spared the life for which he basely prayed.
+He swore Urphede [26], never to return:
+He'll keep his oath, for he has felt our arm.
+
+FURST.
+Thank God, our victory's unstained by blood!
+
+CHILDREN (running across the stage with fragments of wood).
+Liberty! Liberty! Hurrah, we're free!
+
+FURST.
+Oh! what a joyous scene! These children will,
+E'en to their latest day, remember it.
+
+   [Girls bring in the cap upon a pole. The whole stage
+   is filled with people.
+
+RUODI.
+Here is the cap, to which we were to bow!
+
+BAUMGARTEN.
+Command us, how we shall dispose of it.
+
+FURST.
+Heavens! 'Twas beneath this cap my grandson stood!
+
+SEVERAL VOICES.
+Destroy the emblem of the tyrant's power!
+Let it burn!
+
+FURST.
+        No. Rather be preserved!
+'Twas once the instrument of despots--now
+'Twill be a lasting symbol of our freedom.
+
+   [Peasants, men, women, and children, some standing,
+   others sitting upon the beams of the shattered scaffold,
+   all picturesquely grouped, in a large semicircle.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+Thus now, my friends, with light and merry hearts,
+We stand upon the wreck of tyranny;
+And gallantly have we fulfilled the oath,
+Which we at Rootli swore, confederates!
+
+FURST.
+The work is but begun. We must be firm.
+For, be assured, the king will make all speed,
+To avenge his viceroy's death, and reinstate,
+By force of arms, the tyrant we've expelled.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+Why, let him come, with all his armaments!
+The foe within has fled before our arms;
+We'll give him welcome warmly from without!
+
+RUODI.
+The passes to the country are but few;
+And these we'll boldly cover with our bodies.
+
+BAUMGARTEN.
+We are bound by an indissoluble league,
+And all his armies shall not make us quail.
+
+   [Enter ROSSELMANN and STAUFFACHER.
+
+ROSSELMANN (speaking as he enters).
+These are the awful judgments of the lord!
+
+PEASANT.
+What is the matter?
+
+ROSSELMANN.
+           In what times we live!
+
+FURST.
+Say on, what is't? Ha, Werner, is it you?
+What tidings?
+
+PEASANT.
+        What's the matter?
+
+ROSSELMANN.
+                  Hear and wonder.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+We are released from one great cause of dread.
+
+ROSSELMANN.
+The emperor is murdered.
+
+FURST.
+             Gracious heaven!
+
+   [PEASANTS rise up and throng round STAUFFACHER.
+
+ALL.
+Murdered! the emperor? What! The emperor! Hear!
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+Impossible! How came you by the news?
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+'Tis true! Near Bruck, by the assassin's hand,
+King Albert fell. A most trustworthy man,
+John Mueller, from Schaffhausen, brought the news.
+
+FURST.
+Who dared commit so horrible a deed?
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+The doer makes the deed more dreadful still;
+It was his nephew, his own brother's child,
+Duke John of Austria, who struck the blow.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+What drove him to so dire a parricide?
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+The emperor kept his patrimony back,
+Despite his urgent importunities;
+'Twas said, indeed, he never meant to give it,
+But with a mitre to appease the duke.
+However this may be, the duke gave ear,
+To the ill counsel of his friends in arms;
+And with the noble lords, von Eschenbach,
+Von Tegerfeld, von Wart, and Palm, resolved,
+Since his demands for justice were despised,
+With his own hands to take revenge at least.
+
+FURST.
+But say, how compassed he the dreadful deed?
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+The king was riding down from Stein to Baden,
+Upon his way to join the court at Rheinfeld,--
+With him a train of high-born gentlemen,
+And the young princes, John and Leopold.
+And when they reached the ferry of the Reuss,
+The assassins forced their way into the boat,
+To separate the emperor from his suite.
+His highness landed, and was riding on
+Across a fresh-ploughed field--where once, they say,
+A mighty city stood in Pagan times--
+With Hapsburg's ancient turrets full in sight,
+Where all the grandeur of his line had birth--
+When Duke John plunged a dagger in his throat,
+Palm ran him through the body with his lance,
+Eschenbach cleft his skull at one fell blow,
+And down he sank, all weltering in his blood,
+On his own soil, by his own kinsmen slain.
+Those on the opposite bank, who saw the deed,
+Being parted by the stream, could only raise
+An unavailing cry of loud lament.
+But a poor woman, sitting by the way,
+Raised him, and on her breast he bled to death.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+Thus has he dug his own untimely grave,
+Who sought insatiably to grasp at all.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+The country round is filled with dire alarm.
+The mountain passes are blockaded all,
+And sentinels on every frontier set;
+E'en ancient Zurich barricades her gates,
+That for these thirty years have open stood,
+Dreading the murderers, and the avengers more,
+For cruel Agnes comes, the Hungarian queen,
+To all her sex's tenderness a stranger,
+Armed with the thunders of the church to wreak
+Dire vengeance for her parent's royal blood,
+On the whole race of those that murdered him,--
+Upon their servants, children, children's children,--
+Nay on the stones that build their castle walls.
+Deep has she sworn a vow to immolate
+Whole generations on her father's tomb,
+And bathe in blood as in the dew of May.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+Know you which way the murderers have fled?
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+No sooner had they done the deed than they
+Took flight, each following a different route,
+And parted, ne'er to see each other more.
+Duke John must still be wandering in the mountains.
+
+FURST.
+And thus their crime has yielded them no fruits.
+Revenge is barren. Of itself it makes
+The dreadful food it feeds on; its delight
+Is murder--its satiety despair.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+The assassins reap no profit by their crime;
+But we shall pluck with unpolluted hands
+The teeming fruits of their most bloody deed,
+For we are ransomed from our heaviest fear;
+The direst foe of liberty has fallen,
+And, 'tis reported, that the crown will pass
+From Hapsburg's house into another line.
+The empire is determined to assert
+Its old prerogative of choice, I hear.
+
+FURST and several others.
+Has any one been named to you?
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+                 The Count
+Of Luxembourg is widely named already.
+
+FURST.
+'Tis well we stood so stanchly by the empire!
+Now we may hope for justice, and with cause.
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+The emperor will need some valiant friends,
+And he will shelter us from Austria's vengeance.
+
+   [The peasantry embrace. Enter SACRIST, with imperial messenger.
+
+SACRIST.
+Here are the worthy chiefs of Switzerland!
+
+ROSSELMANN and several others.
+Sacrist, what news?
+
+SACRISTAN.
+           A courier brings this letter.
+
+ALL (to WALTER FURST).
+Open and read it.
+
+FURST (reading).
+          "To the worthy men
+Of Uri, Schwytz, and Unterwald, the Queen
+Elizabeth sends grace and all good wishes!"
+
+MANY VOICES.
+What wants the queen with us? Her reign is done.
+
+FURST (reads).
+"In the great grief and doleful widowhood,
+In which the bloody exit of her lord
+Has plunged her majesty, she still remembers
+The ancient faith and love of Switzerland."
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+She ne'er did that in her prosperity.
+
+ROSSELMANN.
+Hush, let us hear.
+
+FURST (reads).
+          "And she is well assured,
+Her people will in due abhorrence hold
+The perpetrators of this damned deed.
+On the three Cantons, therefore, she relies,
+That they in nowise lend the murderers aid;
+But rather, that they loyally assist
+To give them up to the avenger's hand,
+Remembering the love and grace which they
+Of old received from Rudolph's princely house."
+
+   [Symptoms of dissatisfaction among the peasantry.
+
+MANY VOICES.
+The love and grace!
+
+STAUFFACHER.
+Grace from the father we, indeed, received,
+But what have we to boast of from the son?
+Did he confirm the charter of our freedom,
+As all preceding emperors had done?
+Did he judge righteous judgment, or afford
+Shelter or stay to innocence oppressed?
+Nay, did he e'en give audience to the envoys
+We sent to lay our grievances before him?
+Not one of all these things e'er did the king.
+And had we not ourselves achieved our rights
+By resolute valor our necessities
+Had never touched him. Gratitude to him!
+Within these vales he sowed not gratitude.
+He stood upon an eminence--he might
+Have been a very father to his people,
+But all his aim and pleasure was to raise
+Himself and his own house: and now may those
+Whom he has aggrandized lament for him!
+
+FURST.
+We will not triumph in his fall, nor now
+Recall to mind the wrongs we have endured.
+Far be't from us! Yet, that we should avenge
+The sovereign's death, who never did us good,
+And hunt down those who ne'er molested us,
+Becomes us not, nor is our duty. Love
+Must bring its offerings free and unconstrained;
+From all enforced duties death absolves--
+And unto him we are no longer bound.
+
+MELCHTHAL.
+And if the queen laments within her bower,
+Accusing heaven in sorrow's wild despair;
+Here see a people from its anguish freed.
+To that same heaven send up its thankful praise,
+For who would reap regrets must sow affection.
+
+   [Exit the imperial courier.
+
+STAUFFACHER (to the people).
+But where is Tell? Shall he, our freedom's founder,
+Alone be absent from our festival?
+He did the most--endured the worst of all.
+Come--to his dwelling let us all repair,
+And bid the savior of our country hail!
+
+               [Exeunt omnes.
+
+
+
+SCENE II.
+
+   Interior of TELL'S cottage. A fire burning on the hearth.
+   The open door shows the scene outside.
+
+   HEDWIG, WALTER, and WILHELM.
+
+HEDWIG.
+Boys, dearest boys! your father comes to-day.
+He lives, is free, and we and all are free!
+The country owes its liberty to him!
+
+WALTER.
+And I too, mother, bore my part in it;
+I shall be named with him. My father's shaft
+Went closely by my life, but yet I shook not!
+
+HEDWIG (embracing him).
+Yes, yes, thou art restored to me again.
+Twice have I given thee birth, twice suffered all
+A mother's agonies for thee, my child!
+But this is past; I have you both, boys, both!
+And your dear father will be back to-day.
+
+   [A monk appears at the door.
+
+WILHELM.
+See, mother, yonder stands a holy friar;
+He's asking alms, no doubt.
+
+HEDWIG.
+               Go lead him in,
+That we may give him cheer, and make him feel
+That he has come into the house of joy.
+
+   [Exit, and returns immediately with a cup.
+
+WILHELM (to the monk).
+Come in, good man. Mother will give you food.
+
+WALTER.
+Come in, and rest, then go refreshed away!
+
+MONK (glancing round in terror, with unquiet looks).
+Where am I? In what country?
+
+WALTER.
+                Have you lost
+Your way, that you are ignorant of this?
+You are at Buerglen, in the land of Uri,
+Just at the entrance of the Sheckenthal.
+
+MONK (to HEDWIG).
+Are you alone? Your husband, is he here?
+
+HEDWIG.
+I momently expect him. But what ails you?
+You look as one whose soul is ill at ease.
+Whoe'er you be, you are in want; take that.
+
+   [Offers him the cup.
+
+MONK.
+Howe'er my sinking heart may yearn for food,
+I will take nothing till you've promised me----
+
+HEDWIG.
+Touch not my dress, nor yet advance one step.
+Stand off, I say, if you would have me hear you.
+
+MONK.
+Oh, by this hearth's bright, hospitable blaze,
+By your dear children's heads, which I embrace----
+
+   [Grasps the boys.
+
+HEDWIG.
+Stand back, I say! What is your purpose, man?
+Back from my boys! You are no monk,--no, no.
+Beneath that robe content and peace should dwell,
+But neither lives within that face of thine.
+
+MONK.
+I am the veriest wretch that breathes on earth.
+
+HEDWIG.
+The heart is never deaf to wretchedness;
+But thy look freezes up my inmost soul.
+
+WALTER (springs up).
+Mother, my father!
+
+HEDWIG.
+          Oh, my God!
+
+   [Is about to follow, trembles and stops.
+
+WILHELM (running after his brother).
+My father!
+
+WALTER (without).
+Thou'rt here once more!
+
+WILHELM (without).
+             My father, my dear father!
+
+TELL (without).
+Yes, here I am once more! Where is your mother?
+
+   [They enter.
+
+WALTER.
+There at the door she stands, and can no further,
+She trembles so with terror and with joy.
+
+TELL.
+Oh Hedwig, Hedwig, mother of my children!
+God has been kind and helpful in our woes.
+No tyrant's hand shall e'er divide us more.
+
+HEDWIG (falling on his neck).
+Oh, Tell, what have I suffered for thy sake!
+
+   [Monk becomes attentive.
+
+TELL.
+Forget it now, and live for joy alone!
+I'm here again with you! This is my cot
+I stand again on mine own hearth!
+
+WILHELM.
+                  But, father,
+Where is your crossbow left? I see it not.
+
+TELL.
+Nor shalt thou ever see it more, my boy.
+It is suspended in a holy place,
+And in the chase shall ne'er be used again.
+
+HEDWIG.
+Oh, Tell, Tell!
+
+   [Steps back, dropping his hand.
+
+TELL.
+         What alarms thee, dearest wife?
+
+HEDWIG.
+How--how dost thou return to me? This hand--
+Dare I take hold of it? This hand--Oh God!
+
+TELL (with firmness and animation).
+Has shielded you and set my country free;
+Freely I raise it in the face of Heaven.
+
+   [MONK gives a sudden start--he looks at him.
+
+Who is this friar here?
+
+HEDWIG.
+             Ah, I forgot him.
+Speak thou with him; I shudder at his presence.
+
+MONK (stepping nearer).
+Are you that Tell that slew the governor?
+
+TELL.
+Yes, I am he. I hide the fact from no man.
+
+MONK.
+You are that Tell! Ah! it is God's own hand
+That hath conducted me beneath your roof.
+
+TELL (examining him closely).
+You are no monk. Who are you?
+
+MONK.
+                You have slain
+The governor, who did you wrong. I too,
+Have slain a foe, who late denied me justice.
+He was no less your enemy than mine.
+I've rid the land of him.
+
+TELL (drawing back).
+              Thou art--oh horror!
+In--children, children--in without a word.
+Go, my dear wife! Go! Go! Unhappy man,
+Thou shouldst be----
+
+HEIWIG.
+Heavens, who is it?
+
+TELL.
+           Do not ask.
+Away! away! the children must not hear it.
+Out of the house--away! Thou must not rest
+'Neath the same roof with this unhappy man!
+
+HEDWIG.
+Alas! What is it? Come!
+
+   [Exit with the children.
+
+TELL (to the MONK).
+              Thou art the Duke
+Of Austria--I know it. Thou hast slain
+The emperor, thy uncle, and liege lord.
+
+DUKE JOHN.
+He robbed me of my patrimony.
+
+TELL.
+                How!
+Slain him--thy king, thy uncle! And the earth
+Still bears thee! And the sun still shines on thee!
+
+DUKE JOHN.
+Tell, hear me, ere you----
+
+TELL.
+             Reeking with the blood
+Of him that was thy emperor and kinsman,
+Durst thou set foot within my spotless house?
+Show thy fell visage to a virtuous man,
+And claim the rites of hospitality?
+
+DUKE JOHN.
+I hoped to find compassion at your hands.
+You also took revenge upon your foe!
+
+TELL.
+Unhappy man! And dar'st thou thus confound
+Ambition's bloody crime with the dread act
+To which a father's direful need impelled him?
+Hadst thou to shield thy children's darling heads?
+To guard thy fireside's sanctuary--ward off
+The last, worst doom from all that thou didst love?
+To heaven I raise my unpolluted hands,
+To curse thine act and thee! I have avenged
+That holy nature which thou hast profaned.
+I have no part with thee. Thou art a murderer;
+I've shielded all that was most dear to me.
+
+DUKE JOHN.
+You cast me off to comfortless despair!
+
+TELL.
+My blood runs cold even while I talk with thee.
+Away! Pursue thine awful course! Nor longer
+Pollute the cot where innocence abides!
+
+   [DUKE JOHN turns to depart.
+
+DUKE JOHN.
+I cannot live, and will no longer thus!
+
+TELL.
+And yet my soul bleeds for thee--gracious heaven!
+So young, of such a noble line, the grandson
+Of Rudolph, once my lord and emperor,
+An outcast--murderer--standing at my door,
+The poor man's door--a suppliant, in despair!
+
+   [Covers his face.
+
+DUKE JOHN.
+If thou hast power to weep, oh let my fate
+Move your compassion--it is horrible.
+I am--say, rather was--a prince. I might
+Have been most happy had I only curbed
+The impatience of my passionate desires;
+But envy gnawed my heart--I saw the youth
+Of mine own cousin Leopold endowed
+With honor, and enriched with broad domains,
+The while myself, that was in years his equal,
+Was kept in abject and disgraceful nonage.
+
+TELL.
+Unhappy man, thy uncle knew thee well,
+When he withheld both land and subjects from thee;
+Thou, by thy mad and desperate act hast set
+A fearful seal upon his sage resolve.
+Where are the bloody partners of thy crime?
+
+DUKE JOHN.
+Where'er the demon of revenge has borne them;
+I have not seen them since the luckless deed.
+
+TELL.
+Know'st thou the empire's ban is out,--that thou
+Art interdicted to thy friends, and given
+An outlawed victim to thine enemies!
+
+DUKE JOHN.
+Therefore I shun all public thoroughfares,
+And venture not to knock at any door--
+I turn my footsteps to the wilds, and through
+The mountains roam, a terror to myself.
+From mine own self I shrink with horror back,
+Should a chance brook reflect my ill-starred form.
+If thou hast pity for a fellow-mortal----
+
+   [Falls down before him.
+
+TELL.
+Stand up, stand up!
+
+DUKE JOHN.
+           Not till thou shalt extend
+Thy hand in promise of assistance to me.
+
+TELL.
+Can I assist thee? Can a sinful man?
+Yet get thee up,--how black soe'er thy crime,
+Thou art a man. I, too, am one. From Tell
+Shall no one part uncomforted. I will
+Do all that lies within my power.
+
+DUKE JOHN (springs up and grasps him ardently by the hand).
+                  Oh, Tell,
+You save me from the terrors of despair.
+
+TELL.
+Let go my hand! Thou must away. Thou canst not
+Remain here undiscovered, and discovered
+Thou canst not count on succor. Which way, then,
+Wilt bend thy steps? Where dost thou hope to find
+A place of rest?
+
+DUKE JOHN.
+         Alas! alas! I know not.
+
+TELL.
+Hear, then, what heaven suggested to my heart,
+Thou must to Italy,--to Saint Peter's city,--
+There cast thyself at the pope's feet,--confess
+Thy guilt to him, and ease thy laden soul!
+
+DUKE JOHN.
+But will he not surrender me to vengeance!
+
+TELL.
+Whate'er he does receive as God's decree.
+
+DUKE JOHN.
+But how am I to reach that unknown land?
+I have no knowledge of the way, and dare not
+Attach myself to other travellers.
+
+TELL.
+I will describe the road, and mark me well
+You must ascend, keeping along the Reuss,
+Which from the mountains dashes wildly down.
+
+DUKE JOHN (in alarm).
+What! See the Reuss? The witness of my deed!
+
+TELL.
+The road you take lies through the river's gorge,
+And many a cross proclaims where travellers
+Have perished 'neath the avalanche's fall.
+
+DUKE JOHN.
+I have no fear for nature's terrors, so
+I can appease the torments of my soul.
+
+TELL.
+At every cross kneel down and expiate
+Your crime with burning penitential tears
+And if you 'scape the perils of the pass,
+And are not whelmed beneath the drifted snows
+That from the frozen peaks come sweeping down,
+You'll reach the bridge that hangs in drizzling spray;
+Then if it yield not 'neath your heavy guilt,
+When you have left it safely in your rear,
+Before you frowns the gloomy Gate of Rocks,
+Where never sun did shine. Proceed through this,
+And you will reach a bright and gladsome vale.
+Yet must you hurry on with hasty steps,
+For in the haunts of peace you must not linger.
+
+DUKE JOHN.
+Oh, Rudolph, Rudolph, royal grandsire! thus
+Thy grandson first sets foot within thy realms!
+
+TELL.
+Ascending still you gain the Gotthardt's heights,
+On which the everlasting lakes repose,
+That from the streams of heaven itself are fed,
+There to the German soil you bid farewell;
+And thence, with rapid course, another stream
+Leads you to Italy, your promised land.
+
+   [Ranz des Vaches sounded on Alp-horns is heard without.
+
+But I hear voices! Hence!
+
+HEDWIG (hurrying in).
+              Where art thou, Tell?
+Our father comes, and in exulting bands
+All the confederates approach.
+
+DUKE JOHN (covering himself).
+                 Woe's me!
+I dare not tarry 'mid this happiness!
+
+TELL.
+Go, dearest wife, and give this man to eat.
+Spare not your bounty. For his road is long,
+And one where shelter will be hard to find.
+Quick! they approach.
+
+HEDWIG.
+            Who is he?
+
+TELL.
+                  Do not ask
+And when he quits thee, turn thine eyes away
+That they may not behold the road he takes.
+
+   [DUKE JOHN advances hastily towards TELL, but he beckons
+   him aside and exit. When both have left the stage, the
+   scene changes, and discloses in--
+
+
+
+SCENE III.
+
+   The whole valley before TELL'S house, the heights which enclose
+   it occupied by peasants, grouped into tableaux. Some are seen
+   crossing a lofty bridge which crosses to the Sechen. WALTER
+   FURST with the two boys. WERNER and STAUFFACHER come forward.
+   Others throng after them. When TELL appears all receive him
+   with loud cheers.
+
+ALL.
+Long live brave Tell, our shield, our liberator.
+
+   [While those in front are crowding round TELL and embracing him,
+   RUDENZ and BERTHA appear. The former salutes the peasantry, the
+   latter embraces HEDWIG. The music, from the mountains continues
+   to play. When it has stopped, BERTHA steps into the centre of
+   the crowd.
+
+BERTHA.
+Peasants! Confederates! Into your league
+Receive me here that happily am the first
+To find protection in the land of freedom.
+To your brave hands I now intrust my rights.
+Will you protect me as your citizen?
+
+PEASANTS.
+Ay, that we will, with life and fortune both!
+
+BERTHA.
+'Tis well! And to this youth I give my hand.
+A free Swiss maiden to a free Swiss man!
+
+RUDENZ.
+And from this moment all my serfs are free!
+
+   [Music and the curtain falls.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES.
+
+[1] The German is Thalvogt, Ruler of the Valley--the name given
+figuratively to a dense gray mist which the south wind sweeps into the
+valleys from the mountain tops. It is well known as the precursor of
+stormy weather.
+
+[2] A steep rock standing on the north of Ruetli, and nearly opposite to
+Brumen.
+
+[3] In German, Wolfenschiessen--a young man of noble family, and a
+native of Unterwalden, who attached himself to the house of Austria and
+was appointed Burgvogt, or seneschal, of the castle of Rossberg. He was
+killed by Baumgarten in the manner and for the cause mentioned in the
+text.
+
+[4] Literally, the Foehn is loose! "When," says Mueller, in his History
+of Switzerland, "the wind called the Foehn is high the navigation of the
+lake becomes extremely dangerous. Such is its vehemence that the laws of
+the country require that the fires shall be extinguished in the houses
+while it lasts, and the night watches are doubled. The inhabitants lay
+heavy stones upon the roofs of their houses to prevent their being blown
+away."
+
+[5] Buerglen, the birthplace and residence of Tell. A chapel erected in
+1522 remains on the spot formerly occupied by his house.
+
+[6] Berenger von Landenberg, a man of noble family in Thurgau and
+governor of Unterwald, infamous for his cruelties to the Swiss, and
+particularly to the venerable Henry of the Halden. He was slain at the
+battle of Morgarten in 1315.
+
+[7] A cell built in the ninth century by Meinrad, Count Hohenzollern,
+the founder of the Convent of Einsiedlen, subsequently alluded to in the
+text.
+
+[8] The League, or Bond, of the Three Cantons was of very ancient
+origin. They met and renewed it from time to time, especially when their
+liberties were threatened with danger. A remarkable instance of this
+occurred in the end of the thirteenth century, when Albert of Austria
+became emperor, and when, possibly, for the first time, the bond was
+reduced to writing. As it is important to the understanding of many
+passages of the play, a translation is subjoined of the oldest known
+document relating to it. The original, which is in Latin and German, is
+dated in August, 1291, and is under the seals of the whole of the men of
+Schwytz, the commonalty of the vale of Uri, and the whole of the men of
+the upper and lower vales of Stanz.
+
+              THE BOND.
+
+Be it known to every one, that the men of the Dale of Uri, the Community
+of Schwytz, as also the men of the mountains of Unterwald, in
+consideration of the evil times, have full confidently bound themselves,
+and sworn to help each other with all their power and might, property and
+people, against all who shall do violence to them, or any of them. That
+is our Ancient Bond.
+
+Whoever hath a Seignior, let him obey according to the conditions of his
+service.
+
+We are agreed to receive into these dales no Judge who is not a
+countryman and indweller, or who hath bought his place.
+
+Every controversy amongst the sworn confederates shall be determined by
+some of the sagest of their number, and if any one shall challenge their
+judgment, then shall he be constrained to obey it by the rest.
+
+Whoever intentionally or deceitfully kills another shall be executed, and
+whoever shelters him shall be banished.
+
+Whoever burns the property of another shall no longer be regarded as a
+countryman, and whoever shelters him shall make good the damage done.
+
+Whoever injures another, or robs him, and hath property in our country,
+shall make satisfaction out of the same.
+
+No one shall distrain a debtor without a judge, nor any one who is not
+his debtor, or the surety for such debtor.
+
+Every one in these dales shall submit to the judge, or we, the sworn
+confederates, all will take satisfaction for all the injury occasioned by
+his contumacy. And if in any internal division the one party will not
+accept justice, all the rest shall help the other party. These decrees
+shall, God willing, endure eternally for our general advantage.
+
+[9] The Austrian knights were in the habit of wearing a plume of
+peacocks' feathers in their helmets. After the overthrow of the Austrian
+dominion in Switzerland it was made highly penal to wear the peacock's
+feather at any public assembly there.
+
+[10] The bench reserved for the nobility.
+
+[11] The Landamman was an officer chosen by the Swiss Gemeinde, or Diet,
+to preside over them. The Banneret was an officer intrusted with the
+keeping of the state banner, and such others as were taken in battle.
+
+[12] According to the custom by which, when the last male descendant of
+a noble family died, his sword, helmet, and shield were buried with him.
+
+[13] This frequently occurred. But in the event of an imperial city
+being mortgaged for the purpose of raising money it lost its freedom, and
+was considered as put out of the realm.
+
+[14] An allusion to the circumstance of the imperial crown not being
+hereditary, but conferred by election on one of the counts of the empire.
+
+[15] These are the cots, or shealings, erected by the herdsmen for
+shelter while pasturing their herds on the mountains during the summer.
+These are left deserted in winter, during which period Melchthal's
+journey was taken.
+
+[16] It was the custom at the meetings of the Landes Gemeinde, or Diet,
+to set swords upright in the ground as emblems of authority.
+
+[17] The Heribann was a muster of warriors similar to the arriere ban in
+France.
+
+[18] The Duke of Suabia, who soon afterwards assassinated his uncle, for
+withholding his patrimony from him.
+
+[19] A sort of national militia.
+
+[20, 21, 22, 23] Rocks on the shore of the Lake of Lucerne.
+
+[24] A rock on the shore of the lake of Lucerne.
+
+[25] An allusion to the gallant self-devotion of Arnold Struthan of
+Winkelried at the battle of Sempach (9th July, 1386), who broke the
+Austrian phalanx by rushing on their lances, grasping as many of them as
+he could reach, and concentrating them upon his breast. The confederates
+rushed forward through the gap thus opened by the sacrifice of their
+comrade, broke and cut down their enemy's ranks, and soon became the
+masters of the field. "Dear and faithful confederates, I will open you a
+passage. Protect my wife and children," were the words of Winkelried as
+he rushed to death.
+
+[26] The Urphede was an oath of peculiar force. When a man who was at
+feud with another, invaded his lands and was worsted, he often made terms
+with his enemy by swearing the Urphede, by which he bound himself to
+depart and never to return with a hostile intention;
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Wilhelm Tell, by Frederich Schiller
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILHELM TELL ***
+
+***** This file should be named 6788.txt or 6788.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/6/7/8/6788/
+
+Produced by Tapio Riikonen and David Widger
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.