Friedrich von Schiller (1759–1805). Wilhelm Tell.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.
Act II
Scene IIM
Mechthal(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.
We are the first, we Unterwaldeners.
Upon the Selisberg has just called two.[A bell is heard at a distance.
Chimes clearly o’er the lake from Switzerland.
Let’s bid them welcome with a cheerful blaze.[Two peasants exeunt.
The lake reposes, bright as burnish’d steel.
Do you see nothing?
A rainbow in the middle of the night.
Many there be, who ne’er have seen the like.
The worthy patriot would not tarry long.[Goes with B
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.
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 cool’d in blood.
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 stand the peasantry disposed, and how
Yourself escaped the wiles of treachery?
Where dreary ice-fields stretch on every side,
And sound is none, save the hoarse vulture’s cry,
I reach’d 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 glacier heights
That thro’ the crevices come foaming down,
And turned to rest me in the herdsmen’s cots,
Where I was host and guest, until I gain’d
The cheerful homes and social haunts of men.
Already through these distant vales had spread
The rumour of this last atrocity;
And wheresoe’er I went, at every door,
Kind words saluted me and gentle looks.
I found these simple spirits all in arms
Against our ruler’s 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 valour flash’d
With joyful lustre, as I spoke those names,
Sacred to every peasant in the mountains,
Your own and Walter Fürst’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, scatter’d far and near—
And when I found my father, stript and blind,
Upon the stranger’s straw, fed by the alms
Of charity—
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 lock’d it fast, and thought on deeds alone.
Through every winding of the hills I crept,—
No valley so remote but I explored it;
Nay, at the very glacier’s ice-clad base,
I sought and found the homes of living men;
And still, where’er my wandering footsteps turn’d,
The selfsame hatred of these tyrants met me.
For even there, at vegetation’s verge,
Where the numb’d earth is barren of all fruits,
Their grasping hands had been for plunder thrust.
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.
Rossberg and Sarnen, are the country’s dread;
For from behind their adamantine walls
The foe, like eagle from his eyrie, swoops,
And, safe himself, spreads havoc o’er the land.
With my own eyes I wish’d to weigh its strength,
So went to Sarnen, and explored the castle.
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!
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 of Sarnen is my name; and this
Is Struth of Winkelried, my sister’s son.
Who slew the dragon in the fen at Weiler,
And lost his life in the encounter, too.
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.
That to no man his body’s service owes.
But worth is worth, no matter where ’tis found.
About a piece of ancient heritage.
Herr Reding, we are enemies in court,
Here we are one.[Shakes his hand.
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.
Creep forth by stealth to meet like murderers,
And in the night, that should her 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.
Shall free and boldly meet the morning light.
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 heav’n we stand.
According to our ancient usages.—
Though it be night, there’s sunshine in our cause.
Of the whole people; here the
Yet are they graven in our inmost hearts.
And plant the swords of power within the ground.
And by his side his secretaries stand.
To give the head to the united Council?
Schwytz may contest that dignity with Uri,
We Unterwald’ners enter not the field.
Invoking aid from our more potent friends.
In battle, the precedence of our own.
For she’s the honoured ancestor of all.
Uri shall lead in battle—Schwytz in Council.
Then take your place.
Hofe. Ulrich, the smith, is the most aged here.
Mauer. A worthy man, but not a freeman; no!
—No bondman can be judge in Switzerland.
Stauff. Is not Herr Reding here, our old Landamman?
Where can we find a worthier man than he?
You that agree with me, hold up your hands![All hold up their right hands.
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.
Meet the three Cantons of the mountains here,
Upon the lake’s inhospitable shore?
What may the purport be of this new league
We here contract beneath the starry heaven?
’Tis no new league that there we now contract,
But one fathers framed, in ancient times,
We purpose to renew! For know, confederates,
Though mountain ridge and lake divide out bounds,
And each Canton by its own laws is ruled,
Yet are we but one race, born of one blood,
And all are children of one common home.
That we came hither from a distant land?
Oh, tell us what you know, that our new league
May reap fresh vigour form the leagues of old.
A mighty people in the land that lies
Back to the north. The scourage 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 obey’d—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 these pine-clad hills of ours;
Nor stopp’d they ever on their forward course,
Till at the shaggy dell they halted, where
The Muta 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 barr’d their further progress. Thereupon
They view’d the country—found it rich in wood,
Discover’d 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 cross’d
To the black mountain, far as Weissland, where,
Conceal’d 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 mindfull of their parent stem,
The men of Schywtz, 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.
For they have to the conqueror succumbed.
Nay, e’en 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 bow’d the knee;
Freely we sought protection of the Empire.
’Tis so set down in Emperor Frederick’s charter.
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 allow’d,
For what they had recover’d from the waste
This honour to the Emperor, the lord
Of all the German and Italian soil;
And, like the other free men of his realm,
Engaged to aid him with their swords in war;
The free man’s duty this alone should be,
To guard the Empire that keeps guard for him.
The imperial standard, and they fought its battles!
To Italy they march’d in arms, to place
The Cæsars’ 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,
Who was call’d in, when doom was to be pass’d,
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!
We never stoop’d beneath a tyrant’s yoke.
When he gave judgment ’gainst us for the church;
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 our rights,
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 his plenitude of power, attempt?
This soil we have created for ourselves,
By the hard labour 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 vapours on the dreary waste;
Blasted the solid rock; across the chasm
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 vanture here,
Insult us by our own hearth fires,—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 oppress’d for justice looks in vain,
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 primaeval 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!
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!
His country’s foe!
What we denied to kindness and entreaty?
Who talks of yielding thus to Austria’s yoke!
I stand on this, Landamman. Let this be
The foremost of our laws!
Shall talk of bearing Austria’s yoke, let him
Of all his rights and honours be despoiled,
No man thenceforth receive him at his hearth!
Never shall Austria obtain by force
What she has fail’d to gain by friendly suit.
Perchance the Emp’ror knows not of our wrongs,
It may not be his will we suffer thus:
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 e’en in a righteous cause;
God only helps, when man can help no more.
Here you can give us information. Speak!
Deputed by the Cantons to complain
Of the oppressions of these governors,
And of our liberties the charter claim,
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 wish’d,
And straight went home again with merry heart.
But me, your envoy, they to the Council sent,
Where I with empty cheer was soon dismiss’d:
“The Emperor at present was engaged;
Some other time he would attend to us!”
I turn’d away, and passing through the hall,
With heavy heart, in a recess I saw
The Grand Duke John in tears, and by his side
The noble lords of Wart and Tegerfeld,
Who beckon’d 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 estates;
What is the answer made to him? The King
Places a chaplet of his head; “Behold
The fitting ornament,” he cries, “of youth!”
Or right or justice! Then redress yourselves!
What plan most likely to ensure success.
To keep our ancient rights inviolate,
As we received them from our fathers,—this,
Not lawless innovation, is our aim.
Let Cæsar still retain what is his due;
And he that is a vassal, let him pay
The service he is sworn to faithfully.
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 fear’d,
That, arms in hand, is temperate in its wrath.
The enemy is arm’d as well as we,
And, rest assured, he will not yield in peace.
We shall surprise him, ere he is prepared.
Two strongholds dominate the country—they
Protect the foe, and should the King invade us,
Our task would then be dangerous, indeed.
Rossberg and Sarnen both must be secured,
Before a sword is drawn in either Canton.
We are too numerous for secrecy.
Will be complete,—the governor secure.
Why, then, indeed, we must perforce be dumb.
Your hasty spirit much disturbs the peace.
Stand we not all for the same common cause?
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 neighb’ring wood, prepared
To sally forth upon a trumpet’s blast,
Soon as their comrades have secured the gate;
And thus the castle will with ease be ours.
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.
From mountain on to mountain we shall speed
The fiery signal: in the capital
Of every Canton quickly rouse the Landsturm.
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.
Surrounded with his dread array of horse,
Blood will be shed before he quits the field,
And even expell’d he’d still be terrible.
’Tis hard, nay, dangerous, to spare his life.
I owe my life to Tell, and cheerfully
Will pledge it for my country. I have clear’d
My honour, and my heart is now at rest.
Something must still be to the moment left.
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.
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.
Those other nations, that, beneath us far,
In noisome cities pent, draw painful breath,
Swear we the oath of our confederacy!
A band of brothers true we swear to be,
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.
Back to his friends, his kindred, and his home.
Let the herd winter up his flock, and gain
In secret friends for this great league of ours!
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 interests 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.