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

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,