Wilhelm Tell by Friedrich Schiller (best books for students to read .txt) 📕

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