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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. 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