Schiller Institute

WILHELM TELL

A Drama by Friedrich Von Schiller New Year's Gift for 1805. Translated by William F. Wertz, Jr.

ACT I

A Drama by Friedrich Von Schiller
New Year's Gift for 1805.

Translated by William F. Wertz, Jr.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

WERNER, BARON VON ATTINGHAUSEN, Standard-bearer
ULRICH VON RUDENZ, his nephew From Uri

WERNER STAUFFACHER
KONRAD HUNN
ITEL REDING
HANS AUF DER MAUER
JORG IM HOFE
ULRICH DER SCHMIED

JOST VON WEILER

From Uri
WALTER FURST
WILHELM TELL
TELL's BOYS, Walter and Wilhelm
ROSSELMANN, the priest
PETERMANN, the sacristan
KUONI, the herdsman
WERNI, the hunter
RUODI, the fisherman

From Unterwalden:
ARNOLD VOM MELCHTAL
KONRAD BAUMGARTEN
MEIER VON SARNEN
STRUTH VON WINKELRIED
KLAUS VON DER FLUE
BURKHARDT AM BUHEL
ARNOLD VON SEWA

PFEIFER VON LUZERN
KUNZ VON GERSAU
JENNI, fisher boy
SEPPI, herdsman boy
GERTRUD, Stauffacher's wife
HEDWIG, Tell's wife, Furst's daughter
BERTA VON BRUNECK, a rich heiress

Peasant women:
ARMGARD
MECHTHILD
ELSBETH
HILDEGARD

Mercenary Soldiers
FREISSART
LEUTHOLD

RUDOLPH der HARRAS, Gessler's Horsemaster
JOHANNES PARRICISA, Duke of Schwabia
STUSSI, the gamekeeper
THE STEER of URI
AM IMPERIAL MESSENGER
TASKMASTER
MASTER STONEMASON< JOPURNEYMEN AND LABORERS
PUBLIC CRIERS
BROTHERS OF MERCY
HORSEMEN OF GESSLER AND LANDENBERG
MANY COUNTRYMEN,MEN AND WOMEN FROM THE FOREST CANTONS

Wilhelm Tell, Schiller's last and greatest republican drama, was written at the end of his life, from 1803-4, when Schiller was at the peak of his artistic genius. The play was first performed in Weimar on March 17, 1804, and first put in print in October of that year, by Cotta at Tubingen. It was dedicated, as the title indicates, as a New Year's Gift to the World.

ACT I.
SCENE I.
High rocky shore of the Vierwaldstattensee, opposite Schwyz.
SCENE II. At Steinen in Schwyz.
A linden tree in front of STAUFFACHER's house on the country road, near the bridge. WERNER STAUFFACHER, PFEIFER VAN LUCERNE enter in conversation.
SCENE III. Public place near Altorf. On an eminence in the hinterground one sees a fortress being constructed, which is already so far advanced, that the form of the whole is evident. The back side is finished, the front is being built even now, the scaffolding is still standing, on which the workmen are climbing up and down, upon the highest part of the roof hangs the slater. -- Everything is in motion and work. TASKMASTER. MASTER- STONEMASON. JOURNEYMEN and Laborers.
SCENE IV.
Walter Furst's house. WALTER FURST and ARNOLD VON MELCHTAL enter simultaneously from different sides.

High rocky shore of the Vierwaldstattensee, opposite Schwyz.

The lake makes a cove in the land, a hut is not far from the shore, fisherboy conveys himself in a boat. Across the lake one sees the green meadows, villages and farms lie in the bright sunshine. To the left of the spectator the peaks of the Haken show themselves, surrounded by clouds; to

the right i n the distant hinterground one sees the ice-covered mountains. Even before the curtain rises, one hears the cowherd's dance and the harmonious chime of the cattle bells, which continues for some time even during the opening scene.

(Melody of the cowherd's dance.)
The lake it doth smile, to hathing it calleth,
The boy asleep on the verdant shore falleth,
There hears he a ringing,
Like flute-tones so nice,
Like voices of angels
In Paradise.
And as he awakens in happiness blest
There waters are washing him round the breast,
And it calls from the bottom:
Th'art mine, laddy dear!
Entice I the sleeper,
I pull him in here.

Ye pastures farewell!
Ye meadows aglowing!
The herdsman is going,
The summer is hence.
We go to the mount, return we'll be making,
When the cuckoo calls, when the songs are awaking,
When with flowers the earth itself new doth array,
When the fountains flow in the loveliest May.
Ye pastures farewell,
Ye meadows aglowing!
The herdsman is going,
The summer is hence.

The heights are athund'ring, now trembles the bridge,
Nor feareth the archer on dizzying ridge,
He strideth undaunted
O'er ice-covered fields,
No spring there is flaunted,
No shoot there green yields;
And under the footsteps a mist-covered sea,
No longer the cities of man doth he see,
Through the rift of clouds only
He glimpses the world,
Deep under the water
Green fields are unfurl'd.

(The landscape is altered, one hears a muffled crack from the mountains, shadows of clouds move across the region. RUODI the fisherman comes out of the hut WERNI the hunter climbs from the rocks. KUONI the herdsman comes, with the milkpail on his shoulder. SEPPI his handyman, follows him.)

RUODI: Be speedy, Jenni. Haul the boat ashore.
The grizzled Vale-Lord comes, dull roars the glacier,
The Mythenstein is drawing on his cap,
And from the weather cleft a cold wind blows,
The storm, I think, will be here, ere we know't.

KUONI: Rain's coming, Ferryman. My sheep are eating
The grass with greed, and Watcher paws the earth.

WERNI: The fish are springing, and the waterfowl
Dives down below. A storm is now approaching.

KUONI: I'm not so rich -- they are my gracious Lord's,
Of Attinghausen's, and to me entrusted.

KUONI: That knows she too, that she doth lead the herd, and took I it from her, she'd cease to feed.

WERNI: That's easy said. The beast hath reason too,
That's known to us, we men who hunt the Chamois,
Who shrewdly post, when they to pasture go, sentinel, who pricks his ears and warns
With piercing whistle, when the hunter nears.

BAUMGARTEN (to the fisherman):
Haste, haste, e'en now they're close upon my heels!
The Gov'rnor's troopers are in hot pursuit,
I am a man of death, if I am seized.

KUONI: The Wolfenschiesen? He's pursuing you? He'll harm no man again, I've vet him dead.

BAUMGARTEN: What any free man in my place had done!
I've exercised my household right against
Him who'd defile mine honor and my

BAUMGARTEN: That he did not his evil lust fulfill,
Hast God and my good axe alone prevented.

KUONI: O, let us hear, you've time enough, before
He hath the boat unfastened from the shore.

BAUMGARTEN: I had been felling timber in the woods,
When ran my wife toward me in mortal fear.
The Cast'llan quartered in my house, he had
Commanded her, to get a bath prepared.
And when he had indecencies of her
Demanded, she escaped, to search for me.
Then ran I brisk thereto, just as I was,
And with the axe I've blessed his bath for him.

KUONI: The maniac! Now hath he his reward!
'Twas long deserved from Unterwalden's people.

BAUMGARTEN: The deed was noised about, I am pursued --
And while we're speaking -- God -- the time is flying --

KUONI (to the fisherman):
Set out with God, one must assist his neighbor,
The like can happen to each one of us.

RUODI: The Fohn is loose, see how the waters rise,
I can not steer against the storm and waves.

RUODI: So what? I have a life as well to lose,
Have wife and child at home, like he -- Look how
It surges, how it heaves and whirlpools draw,
And all the water rouses from the depths.
-- I would be glad to save this worthy man,
Yet it's impossible, you see yourself.

BAUMGARTEN (still on his knees):
So must I fall into the tyrant's hands,
The shore of rescue now so near to sight!
-- Lies yonder! I can reach it with mine eyes,
My voice's sound can make its way across,
Here is the boat, that would convey me thence,
And must I lie here, helpless, and forlorn!

KUONI: It's an Alzeller man, he hath his honor
Defended, and the Wolfenschiessen slain,
The Cast'llan of the King, who sat at Rossberg --
The Governor's troopers are upon his heels,
He begs the boatman carry him across,
But he's afraid o'th' storm and will not go.

RUODI: Now here is Tell, he steers the rudder too
He'll be my witness, should the trip be dared.

TELL: The valiant man thinks of himself the last,
Put trust in God and rescue the distressed.

RUODI: Secure in port tis easy to advise
Here is the boat and there the lake! Attempt it!

RUODI: And 'twere my brother and my very child,
It can not be, 'tis Simon-Juda day,
Here raves the lake and wants to have its victim.

TELL: With idle talk will nothing here be done,
The hour insists, the man must now be helped.
Speak, Boatman, wilt thou take him?

TELL: I' th' name of God then! Give the boat to me,
I will attempt it, with my feeble strength.

TELL: I'll save you from the pow'r o' th Governor
From per'l of storm another must give aid.
Yet better is't, you fall into God's hands,
Than into men's! (to the herdsman) Compatriot, console
My wife, if something human falls to me,
I've done, but what I could not leave undone.

(He springs into the boat.)

KUONI (to fisherman):
You are a master of the helm. What Tell
Hath dared to do, that could not you have ventured?

RUODI: Far better men do not take Tell's example,
There are not two, like he is, in the mountains.

WERNI (hath climbed upon the rock):
He pushes off. God help thee, valiant swimmer!
See, how the bark is reeling on the waves!

The surge is passing thence -- I see't no more.
Yet wait, here it appears again! Robustly
The valiant man is working through the breakers.

WERNI (above):
Is't he in yonder boat, you seek? -- Ride on!
If you lay quickly to, you'll haul him in.

FIRST (to herdsman and fisherman): You've helped him to escape,
You'll pay us for it -- Fall upon their herds!
Tear down the cottage, burn and strike it down!

RUODI (Wrings his hands.): Righteousness of Heaven,
When will the savior come into this land?

A linden tree in front of STAUFFACHER's house on the country road, near the bridge. WERNER STAUFFACHER, PFEIFER VAN LUCERNE enter in conversation.

PFEIFER: Yes, yes, Lord as I told you.
Swear not to Austria, if you can help it.
Hold firmly to the Empire as before,
God shield you in your ancient freedom!

STAUFFACHER: Yet stay, until my wife returns are
My guest in Schwas, I in Lucerne am yours.

PFEIFER: Much thanks! I must reach Jersey yet today.
-- What difficulties you may have to suffer
From arrogance and greed of governors,
Bear it with patience! It can alter, quickly,
Another Emperor can gain the throne.
Are you once Austria's, you're hers forever.

(STAUFFACHER sits down sorrowfully upon a bench under the linden tree. Thus is he found by GERTRUDE, his wife, who places herself along side him and observes him for a long time silently.)

GERTRUD: So grave, my friend? No longer do I know thee.
For many days in silence I observe,
How gloomy spirits furrow in thy brow.
Upon thine heart a silent grief is weighing,
Confide in me, I am thy faithful wife,
And I demand my half of all thy sorrow.

(STAUFFACHER extends his hand to her and is silent.)
What can oppress thine heart, tell it to me.
Thine industry is blest, thy fortunes bloom,
Full are the barns, and now the herd of oxen,
The breed of horses sleek and fully fed
Is safely from the mountain brought back home
To winter in their comfortable stalls.
-- Here stands thy house, rich, like a nobleman's,
From beauteous timber is it newly built
And fit together with the standard gauge,
From many windows shines it pleasant, bright,
With colored coats of arms is it adorned,
And proverbs sage, the which the wanderer
Delaying reads and at their meaning wonders.

STAUFFACHER: The house stands well constructed and well joined,
But ah -- the ground, on which we built it, rocks.

With joy reflecting on what's fairly done,
When came from Kussnacht, from his citadel,
The Gov'rnor riding with his mercenaries.
Before this house he halted in surprise,
Though I rose quickly, and submissively,
As is becoming, I approached the Lord,
Who represents the Emperor's judicial
Power i'th' land. To whom belongs this house?
He asked maliciously, for well he knew't.
But thinking quickly thus I answered him:
This house, Lord Gov'rnor, is my Lord's the Emp'ror's
And yours and mine in fief -- then he replies:
"I'm regent in the land i'th' Emp'ror's stead
And will not, that the farmer's house be built
With his own hand, and he thus freely live
s if he were the master in the land.
I shall make bold, to hinder you in this."
This saying rode he thence defiantly.
But I remained behind with doleful soul,
Considering the evil man's remarks.

GERTRUD: My dearest Lord and husband! Wouldst thou take
An honest word of counsel from thy wife?
I boast to be the noble Iberg's daughter,
A much-experienced man. We sisters sat,
There spinning wool, throughout the lengthy nights,
When round our father leaders of the people
Convened themselves, and there the parchments read
Of ancient emp'rors, and the country's weal
Considered in judicious conversation.
Heedful I heard there many prudent words,
What intellectuals think, what good men wish,
And silently I've kept them in my heart.
So listen to me then and heed my speech,
For what thee pressed, behold, I long have known.
-- The Governor resents thee, would thee harm,
Because thou art an hindrance to him, that
The men of Schwyz will not subject themselves
To th' upstart prince's house, but true and firm
Adhere unto the realm, just as their worthy
Forefathers have resolved and have performed. --
Is't not so, Werner? Tell me, if I lie!

STAUFFACHER: So is it, that is Gessler's grudge against me.

GERTRUD: He envies thee, since thou dost dwell in bliss,
A free man on thine own inheritance,
-- For he hath none. From Emperor and realm
Thou hold'st this house in fief, thou may'st it show,
To well as any prince displays his land,
For over thee thou recognize no lord
Except the highest in all Christendom --
He merely is his house's younger son,
Naught calls he his except his knightly cloak,
He therefore sees each honest man's good fortune
With squinting eyes of poisonous disfavor,
Thee hath he long ago destruction sworn --
As yet thou art uninjured -- Wilt thou wait,
Until he wreaks his evil will on thee?
The smart man thinks ahead.

GERTRUD (steps nearer):
So hear what I advise! Thou know'st, how here
In Schwyz all honest men do now complain
About this Gov'rnor's greed and tyranny.
So have no doubt, that they there yonder too
In Unterwalden and in Uri land
Are weary of oppression and the yoke --
For just as Gessler here, there yonder o'er
The lake the Landenberger is as brazen --
There comes no fishing boat across to us,
Which doth not tell of some new mischief and
Beginning-violence from the governors.
Therefore it would be wise, if some of you,
Of sound intent, did quietly confer,
How we might free ourselves of this oppression,
So know I well, that God would not desert you
And would be gracious to a righteous cause --
Dost thou not have a friend in Uri, speak,
To whom thou may'st thine heart sincerely open?

STAUFFACHER: I know of many men of courage there
And men of high repute and eminence,
Who are my trusted friends and confidants.

(He stands up.)

Wife, what a storm of dangerous ideas
Awak'st thou in my quiet breast! My innermost
Thou bring'st from me into the light of day,
And what I secretly forbade myself
To think, thou boldly speak'st with easy tongue.
- Hast thou considered well, what thou advisest?
The savage discord and the clang of arms
Thou callest forth into this peaceful vale --
Dared we, a feeble folk of herdsmen, go
To battle with the master of the world?
'Tis only for some pretext, that they wait,
In order to unleash on this poor land
Their savage hordes of military might,
Therein to govern with the victor's rights
And 'neath the show of righteous punishment
To extirpate our ancient freedom's charter.

GERTRUD: You too are men, know how to wield your axe,
And God gives help unto courageous men!

STAUFFACHER: Oh wife! A fearful raging scourge is war,
It strikes at once the shepherd and his herd.

GERTRUD: One must endure, whatever heaven sends,
Inequity endures no noble heart.

STAUFFACHER: This house delights thee, that we newly built.
But war, the monster, burns it to the ground.

GERTRUD: Thought I my heart to temp'ral goods enslaved,
I'd throw the torch with mine own hand thereto.

STAUFFACHER: Thou dost believe in human kind! But war
Spares not the tender infant in its cradle.

GERTRUD: The innocent in heaven have a friend!
-- Look forward, Werner, not behind thee now!

STAUFFACHER: We men can perish bravely sword in hand,
And yet what destiny will fall to you?

GERTRUD: The final choice is left e'en to the weakest,
A spring from yonder bridge doth make me free.

Who presses such a heart unto his bosom,
He joyfully can fight for hearth and home,
And fears he not the hosts of any king --
To Uri shall I post without delay,
There lives a friend of mine, Lord Walter Furst,
Who thinks the same as I about these times.
There too I find the noble Banneret
Of Attinghaus -- although of lofty stock
He loves the people, honors ancient customs.
With both of these I shall confer, how one
May bravely fight against the country's foes --
Farewell -- and while I am away, bear thou
With prudent sense the regiment o' th' house --
To th' pilgrim, wand'ring to the House of God,
To th' pious monk, collecting for his cloister,
Give richly and dispatch him well cared for.
Stauffacher's house is not concealed. It stands
Out by the public way, a welcome roof
For all the wanderers, who take this road.

(While they exit toward the hinterground, WILHELM TELL enters

Now you will have no further need of me,
Go into yonder house, wherein resides
Stauffacher, who's a father to th' oppressed.
-- Yet see, there's he himself -- Come, follow me!

(Walks toward him, the scene changes)

On an eminence in the hinterground one sees a fortress being constructed, which is already so far advanced, that the form of the whole is evident the back side is finished, the front is being built even now, the scaffolding is still standing, on which the workmen are climbing up and down, upon the highest part of the roof hangs the slater. -- Everything is in motion and work.

TASKMASTER. MASTER- STONEMASON. JOURNEYMEN and Laborers.

TASKMASTER (with stick, drives the workers):
Not long be idle, brisk! The building stones
This way, the lime, the mortar bring up here!
If the Lord Governor comes, that he may see
The work's advanced -- It saunters just like snails.

(To two laborers, who bear loads)
Call that a load? At once go double it!
O how these laggards shirk their very duty!

FIRST JOURNEYMAN: Yet it is hard, that we should bear the stones
To build a keep and dungeon for ourselves!

TASKMASTER: What's that you murmur?
That's a wretched people,
To naught adroit except to milk their cows,
And saunter idly all around the mountains.

OLD MAN (takes a rest): I can no more.

TASKMASTER (shakes him): Get up, old man, to work!

FIRST JOURNEYMAN: Have you no viscera at all, that you
Would drive the aged man to hard forced labor,
Who scarce can haul himself?

MASTER STONEMASON AND JOURNEYMEN:
It cries to heaven!

TASKMASTER: Look to yourselves, I do, what is my office.

SECOND JOURNEYMAN: Taskmaster, how's the fortress to be named,
That we build here?

TASKMASTER: Keep Uri it is called,
For underneath this yoke you will be bowed.

JOURNEYMEN: Keep Uri!

TASKMASTER: Well, what's there to laugh about?

SECOND JOURNEYMAN: With this small hut you want to humble Uri?

FIRST JOURNEYMAN: Let's see, how many of such molehills one
Must place upon another, ere a mountain
Is made therefrom, that's like the least in Uri!

(Taskmaster goes toward the hinterground.)

MASTER STONEMASON: I cast the hammer in the deepest lake,
That served in building this accursed structure!

(TELL and STAUFFACHER enter.)

STAUFFACHER: O had I never lived, to look at this!

TELL: Here 'tis not good to be. Let us proceed.

STAUFFACHER: Am I in Uri, in the land of freedom?

MASTER STONEMASON: O Lord, if you at first had seen the cellars
Beneath the towers! Yes, who lives in there,
Will never hear the rooster crow again!

STAUFFACHER: O God!

STONEMASON: Behold these flanks, these buttresses,
They stand, as built for all eternity!

TELL: Whatever hands have built, hands can destroy.
(Pointing, toward the mountains.)

That house of freedom God hath built for us.

(One hears a drum, people enter, who carry a hat upon a pole, a crier follows them, women and children press tumultuously thereafter.)

FIRST JOURNEYMAN: What means the drum?
Give your attention!

MASTER STONEMASON: Why A carnival parade and why the hat?

CRIER: I' th' Emperor's name! Hear ye!

JOURNEYMEN: Be quiet! Hear ye!

CRIER: You see this hat before you, men of Uri!
It will be placed upon a lofty column,
I' th' midst of Altorf, in the highest place,
And this is both the Governor's will and purpose:
The hat should have like honor as himself,
One should show reverence for him with bent knee
And with uncovered head -- Thus will the King
Distinguish who are the obedient.
His limb and goods are forfeit to the King,
Whoe'er distains to follow this command.

(The people burst out loudly laughing, the drums are beat, they pass on.)

FIRST JOURNEYMAN: What new outrageous thing the Governor
Hath now devised! We must revere a hat!
Say! Hath one ever heard of such a thing?

MASTER STONEMASON: We are to bend our knees before a hat!
He plays his game with earnest worthy people?

FIRST JOURNEYMAN: If it were but the imperial crown! So is't
The hat of Austria; I saw it hang
Above the throne, where one assigns the fiefs!

MASTER STONEMASON: The hat of Austria! Pay heed, it is
A trick, to sell us out to Austria!

JOURNEYMEN: No worthy man will yield to this disgrace.

MASTER STONEMASON: Come, let us reach agreement with the others.

(They go to the rear.)

TELL (to STAUFFACHER):
You know now what occurs. Fare well, Lord Werner!

O haste not so from hence.
TELL: My home's without its father. Fare ye well.

STAUFFACHER: My heart is now so full, to speak with you.

TELL: The heavy heart doth not grow light through words.

STAUFFACHER: However words could lead us unto deeds.

TELL: The only deed is now be still and patient.

STAUFFACHER: Should one endure, what's unendurable?

TELL: 'Tis hasty rulers, who but briefly rule.
-- When out of its abyss the Fohn arises,
One puts the fires out, the ships make haste
To seek the harbor, and the mighty spirit
Walks harmless, without trace, across the earth.
Let every one live quietly at home,
The peaceful man is gladly granted peace.

STAUFFACHER: You think?

TELL: The snake bites not if unprovoked.
They'll finally grow weary of themselves,
If they see that the provinces stay calm.

STAUFFACHER: We could do much, if we but stood together.

TELL: In shipwreck one more eas'ly helps himself.

STAUFFACHER: So coldly do you quit the common cause?

TELL: A man counts safely only on himself.

STAUFFACHER: In unity the weak are mighty too.

TELL: The strong man is most mighty when alone.

STAUFFACHER: So can the fatherland not count on you,
When desperately it acts in self-defense?

TELL (gives him his hand): Tell fetches a lost sheep from the abyss,
And would he then be one to quit his friends?
Whate'er you do, excuse me from your counsel,
I can't consider or select for long.
If you have need of me for certain deeds,
Then call on Tell, I shall not fail to act.

(Depart to different sides. A sudden riot ensues around the scaffolding.)

MASTER STONEMASON (runs in):
What is't?

FIRST JOURNEYMAN (comes forward, shouting):
The slater is now fallen from the roof.

(BERTA with retinue.)

BERTA (rushes in): Hath he been shattered? Run now, save him, help --
If help is possible, save him, here is gold --

(Throws her jewelry among the people.)

MASTER STONEMASON: Hence with your gold -- You think all can be bought
With gold, when you have torn the father from
The children and the husband from his wife,
And have brought misery upon the world,
You think to make amends with gold -- Be gone!

We were a happy people, ere you came,
With you hath desperation entered in.

BERTA (to the TASKMASTER, who returns):
Is he alive? (TASKMASTER gives a sign to the contrary.)
O ill-begotten castle, built
With curses, curses shall inhabit thee! (Exit.)

Walter Furst's house.
WALTER FURST and ARNOLD VON MELCHTAL enter simultaneously from different
sides.

WALTER FURST: If we should be surprised!
Stay, where you are. We are beset by spies.
MELCHTAL: You bring me naught from
Unterwalden? Naught
From my dear father? I can bear't no longer,
To lie here idly like a prisoner.
What have I done then that's so criminal,
That I should hide just like a murderer?
O' th' brazen rascal, who would drive away
From me the oxen, my most excellent team,
Before mine eyes on orders from the Governor,
I have but with my staff the finger broken.

WALTER FURST:

You are too rash. The rascal was the Gov'rnor's,
He was dispatched by your superiors,
You had received a penalty, you should,
As harsh it was, have paid it silently.

MELCHTAL: Should I have countenanced the flippant talk
Of one so unashamed: "If peasants want
Their bread, then, let them pull the plow themselves!"
It cut me to the soul, to see the knave
Unyoke the oxen, beauteous creatures, from the plow,
They bellowed low, as though they had the sense
Of some abuse, and struck out with their horns,
Here I was overwhelmed by righteous anger,
And of myself not lord, I struck the mess'nger.

WALTER FURST: O scarcely do we master our own hearts,
How should the hasty youth restrain himself!
MELCHTAL: I pity but the father -- He demands
So much attention, and his son's away.
The gov'nor's hateful to him, since he e'er
Hath striven honestly for right and freedom.
So therefore they will harry the old man,
And there is none, who shields him from affront.
-- Come what may come with me, I must go over.

WALTER FURST: Just wait and patiently compose yourself,
Until reports come to us from yon forest.
-- I hear a knocking, go -- Perhaps a message
From th' Gov'nor -- Go in there You are not safe
In Uri 'fore the Landenberger's arm,
Since tyrants give a hand to one another.
MELCHTAL: They're teaching us, what we should do.

(MELCHTAL goes therein.)
The wretched man, I may not now confess
To him, what evil I suspect -- Who knocks?
So oft the door doth creak, I fear disaster.
Mistrust and treason lurk in every corner,
Into the house's inmost rooms the bearers
Of power penetrate, soon we shall need,
To place a lock and key upon our doors.
(He opens and steps back astounded, as WERNER STAUFFACHER enters.)

What see I? You, Lord Werner! Now, by God!
A worthy, cherished guest -- No better man
Hath ever walked across this threshold yet.
You're highly welcome underneath my roof!
What brings you here? What seek you here in Uri?

STAUFFACHER (extending him his hand):
The olden times and olden Switzerland.

WALTER FURST: You bring them with you -- Look, how I rejoice,
My heart grows warm upon the sight of you,
-- Sit down, Lord Werner -- How did you depart
From Lady Gertrud, your most pleasant wife,
Sagacious Iberg's highly prudent daughter?
By all the wand'rers from the German lands,
Who cross the Meinrad's Cell to Italy,
Your hospitality is praised -- But say,
Have you just come direct from Fluelen hence,
And did you look in any other place,
Before you placed your foot upon this threshold?

STAUFFACHER (sits down): Yes, an astonishing new work I've seen
In preparation, with which I'm not pleased.

STAUFFACHER: A thing like that hath never been in Uri --
In human mem'ry was no prison here,
Nor dwelling fortified except the grave.

STAUFFACHER: Lord Walter Furst, I won't hold back with you,
No idle curiosity conducts
Me here, I'm pressed by heavy cares -- Oppression
I've left at home, oppression find I here.
For 'tis insufferable, what we endure,
And there's no end in sight to this distress.
Free hath the Schweizer been from ancient times,
We are accustomed, to be treated well,
The like of this was in the land ne'er known,
So long a herdsman drove upon these mountains.

WALTER FURST: Yes, tis unparalleled, how they are acting!
Even our noble Lord of Attinghausen,
Who hath the ancient times still seen himself,
Believes, it is no longer to be borne.

STAUFFACHER: Below yon forest goes it poorly too,
And bloody is the penance -- Wolfenschiessen,
The Emp'ror's Governor, who dwelt at Rossberg,
He had a longing for forbidden fruit,
Baumgarten's wife, that keeps house in Alzellen,
He wished to misuse her to bold excess,
And with his axe the man hath struck him dead.

WALTER FURST: O righteous are the judgments of the Lord!
-- Baumgarten, do you say? A modest man.
He's rescued surely and is well concealed?

STAUFFACHER: Your son-in-law took him across the lake,
I keep him hidden at my house in Steinen --
-- Yet more atrocious things hath this same man
Conveyed to me, of what's been done in Sarnen.
The heart of every honest man must bleed.

STAUFFACHER: In Melchtal, then, where one
Goes into Kerns, there lives an upright man,
They call him Heinrich von der Halden, and
His voice is of some weight in the Assembly.

STAUFFACHER: The Landenberger penalized his son
For some small misdeed, ordered his best pair
Of oxen, be unharnessed from the plow,
The boy then struck the knave and took to flight.

WALTER FURST (in highest excitement):
And yet the father -- say, how's it with him?

STAUFFACHER: The Landenberger had the father summoned.
He should produce his son upon the spot,
And as the old man swore with truthfulness,
That he knew nothing of the fugitive,
The Gov'rnor ordered torturers to come --

WALTER FURST (Springs up and wants to lead him to the other side.):
O hush, no more!

Yet have I thee!" -- Has him thrown to the ground,
The pointed steel has plunged into his eyes --

This is the son? All righteous God!
MELCHTAL: And I
had to be hence! -- Into both of his eyes?

MELCHTAL: Because of my offense, of my misdeed!
-- He's blind then! Really blind and fully blinded?

STAUFFACHER: I say't. The fountain of his sight's run out,
The sunlight he will ne'er behold again.

(He presses his hand upon his eyes and is silent a few moments, then he turns from the one to the other and speaks with a gentle voice, choked by tears.)

O, what a noble gift of heaven is
The light o' th' eye -- For every being lives
From light, and each and every happy creature --
The plants themselves turn joyously toward light.
And he must sit there, feeling, in the night,
In constant darkness -- he's refreshed no more
By meadows of warm green, the flower's glaze,
The reddish glaciers he can see no more --
To die is naught -- to live and not to see,
That's misery -- Why do you look at me
So grievously? I have two lively eyes,
And can give neither to my blinded father,
Nor any shimmer from the sea of light,
That splendid, dazzling, breaks upon mine eyes.

STAUFFACHER: Alas, I must enlarge your sorrow further,
Instead of healing it -- He wants still more!
The Governor hath stolen all from him,
Naught hath he left to him except his staff,
To wander bare and blind from door to door.

MELCHTAL: Naught but his staff to th' sightless aged man!
Everything robbed, and e'en the light o' th' sun,
The common good o' th' poorest wretch --
Now speak To me no more of staying or of hiding!
What kind of wretched coward have I been,
That of mine own security I thought,
And not of thine -- thy precious head left as
Security within the tyrant's hands!
Faint-hearted caution, travel hence --
On naught But bloody retribution shall I think --
I will go over there -- No one shall stop me --
And from the Governor claim my father's eyes --
I'll find him even in the midst of all
His mounted men -- Life is but naught to me,
If I can only quench this feverish,
Enormous pain in his life's blood!

(He wants to leave.)

WALTER FURST: Remain!
What could you do to him?
He sits in Sarnen Upon his lofty lordly keep and scoffs
At unavailing wrath in his safe fortress.

MELCHTAL: And lived he yonder in the icy palace
Of Schreckhorn or much higher, where the Jungfrau
Sits veiled eternally -- I still would make
MY way to him, with only twenty youths,
Disposed like I, then I would break his fortress.
And if none follows me, and if you all
So frightened for your huts and for your herds,
Bow down before the tyrant's yoke -- I'll call
The herdsmen all together in the mountains,
There underneath the open roof of heaven,
Where still the mind is fresh and heart is sound
Relate the story of this monstrous horror.

STAUFFACHER (to WALTER FURST):
It hath now reached its height -- Are we to wait,
Until the last extreme --

MELCHTAL: What last extreme
Is to be feared yet, if the star o' th' eye
Is safe no longer in its cavity? --
Are we defenseless? Wherefore did we learn
To bend the bow and swing the heavy weight
Of battle axes? Every creature hath
Been granted a defense in its despair,
Th' exhausted stag will take a stand and show
His dreaded antlers to the pack of hounds,
The chamois drags the hunter in th' abyss --
The ox itself, the gentle fellow lodger
Of man, who bends th' enormous power of
His neck with patience underneath the yoke,
Springs up, provoked, whets his gigantic horns
And slings his enemy up to the clouds.

WALTER FURST: If the three cantons thought as we three men,
So then might we perhaps accomplish something.

STAUFFACHER: If Uri calls, if Unterwalden helps,
The Schweizer will revere the ancient bond.

MELCHTAL: In Unterwalden I have many friends,
And each would risk his life and limb with joy,
If he hath back up from the others and
A shield -- O pious fathers of this land!
I'm standing here now but a youth between you,
The much experienced -- my voice must be
Discreetly silent in the land's Assembly.
Because I'm young and know not much of life,
Do not disdain my counsel and my speech,
Not lustful youthful blood impels me, but
The painful violence o' th' greatest woe,
Which e'en the stone o' th' rock mustmove to pity.
You both are fathers, heads of both yur houses,
And you desire to have a virtuous son,
Who will revere your head's most sacre locks,
And piously protect your eyesight's star.
since you both have suffered nothing yet
In limb and property, your eyes still move
Themselves alert and bright within their spheres,
So therefore be not distant to our need.
The tyrant's sword hangs over you as well,
You've turned away the land of Austria,
MY father's crime was nothing more than that,
You share an equal guilt and condemnation.

STAUFFACHER (to WALTER FURST): Do you decide,
I am prepared to follow.

WALTER FURST: We wish to hear, what do the noble lords
Of Sillinen, and Attinghaus advise --
Their names, I think, will win us over friends.

MELCHTAL: Where's there a name within the forest mountains
That's worthier than yours or that of yours?
The people do believe i' th' genuine worth
Of names like these, their ring is good i' th' country.
Rich was your heritage in father's virtue
And richly you've enlarged on it --
What need of noblemen?
Let's finish it alone.
Were we indeed alone i' th' land! I think,
We'd know already how to shield ourselves.

STAUFFACHER: The noble's plight is not the same as ours,
The stream, which rages in the lower grounds,
Til now hath not yet reached unto the heights --
But they will not refuse us their support
When they once see the country up in arms.

WALTER FURST: Were there 'tween us and Austria an umpire,
So then would justice and the law decide
But he who doth oppress us, is our Emp'ror
And highest judge -- so therefore
God must help us Through our own arm --
Now you seek out the men
Of Schwyz, and I'll win over friends in Uri.
But whom are we to send to Unterwalden --

MELCHTAL: Send me o'er there --
Whom should it more concern --

WALTER FURST: I won't allow it, you're my guest,
I have To guarantee your safety!

MELCHTAL: Let me go!
I know the byways and the rocky paths,
Friends too I find enough, who'll hide me from
The enemy and gladly give me shelter.

STAUFFACHER: Let him with God go over there.
O'er there There are no traitors -- so detested is
This tyranny, that it can find no tool.

Below the forest too should the Alzellen
Recruit confederates and rouse the land.

MELCHTAL: How shall we safely then communicate,
That we deceive suspicions of the tyrants?

STAUFFACHER: We could perhaps arrange to meet at Treib Or Brunnen,
Where the merchant vessels land.

WALTER FURST: So openly we may not go to work.
Hear my idea. To th' left o' th' lake, on th' way
Brunnen, opposite the Mythenstein,
A meadow lies concealed within the woods,
It's called the Rutli by the shepherd folk,
Because the timber there was all uprooted.
That's where our canton's boundary and yours

(to STAUFFACHER)
In your light boat bears you across from Schwyz.
Upon deserted paths can we go thence
At night and quietly deliberate.
Let each bring there with him ten trusted men,
Who are at one with us within their hearts,
So then may we discuss the common cause
In common and with God resolve afresh.

STAUFFACHER: So be't.
Now give your staunch right hand to me,
And give me yours as well and thus, as we
Three men have now, among ourselves, entwined
Our hands, in honesty, without deception,
So too shall we three cantons stand together
In defense and in offense, death and life.

WALTER FURST AND MELCHTAL: In death and life!

(They hold their hands clasped together for a few moments longer and are silent.)

MELCHTAL: O blinded, aged father!
Thou can'st no longer see the day of freedom,
But thou shalt hear it -- When from Alp to Alp
The fiery signals rise aloft in flame,
The sturdy castles of the tyrants fall,
Unto thy cottage shall the Schweizer travel,
To carry to thine ear the joyous news,
And in thy night shall it be day to thee.
(They part from one another.)

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
ACT I.,
Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4

ACT II.

ACT III.

ACT IV.

ACT V.

Reprinted from
"Friedrich Schiller, Poet of Freedom,
Volume II"
ORDER