We are the strongest.Friends, endure it not, Our countrymen will back us to a man.
FRIESS.
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?
MELCH.(to Friesshardt).
Only try--
Try from our midst to force him, if you dare.
FURST and STAUFF.
Peace, peace, friends!
FRIESS.(loudly).
Riot! Insurrection, ho!
[Hunting horns without.]
WOMEN.
The Governor!
FRIESS.(raising his voice).
Rebellion! Mutiny!
STAUFF.
Roar till you burst, knave!
ROSSEL.and MELCH.
Will you hold your tongue?
FRIESS.(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 round the whole stage.]
HAR.
Room for the Viceroy!
GESSL.
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.]
FRIESS.
Dread sir, I am a soldier of your guard.
And station'd sentinel beside the cap;
This man I apprehended in the act Of passing it without obeisance due, So as you ordered, I arrested him, Whereon to rescue him the people tried.
GESSL.(after a pause).
And do you, Tell, so lightly hold your King, And me, who act as his viceregent here, That you refuse obeisance 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 Wilhelm Tell.
Forgive me now--I'll not offend again.
GESSL.(after a pause).
I hear, Tell, you're a master with the bow, From every rival bear the palm away.
WALT.
That's very truth, sir! At a hundred yards He'll shoot an apple for you off the tree.
GESSL.
Is that boy thine, Tell?
TELL.
Yes, my gracious lord.
GESSL.
Hast any more of them?
TELL.
Two boys, my lord.
GESSL.
And, of the two, which dost thou love the most?
TELL.
Sir, both the boys are dear to me alike.
GESSL.
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--make ready, then, To shoot an apple from the stripling's head!
But take this counsel,--look well to thine aim, See, that thou hit'st 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?
What! 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!
GESSL.
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!
GESSL.
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.
GESSL.
How now, Tell, on a sudden so discreet?
I had been told thou wert a visionary,--
A wanderer from the paths of common men.
Thou lov'st the marvellous.So have I now Cull'd out for thee a task of special daring.
Another man might pause and hesitate;--
Thou dashest at it, heart and soul, at once.
BERTH.
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.
GESSL.
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!
HAR.
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 indignation).
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 suffer'd 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.
GESSL.
Open a way there--quick! Why this delay?
Thy life is forfeited; I might dispatch 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 thine unerring aim.'Tis well!
Now is the 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!
WALT.
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!
STAUFF.
Does the child's innocence not touch your heart?
ROSSEL.
Bethink you, sir, there is a God in heaven, To whom you must account for all your deeds.
GESSL.(pointing to the boy).
Bind him to yonder lime tree!
WALT.
What! 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 can not be still.
Then I shall writhe and struggle with my bonds.
HAR.
But let your eyes at least be bandaged, boy!
WALT.
