Read Ebook: Wilhelm Tell by Schiller Friedrich Martin Theodore Sir Translator

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Ebook has 1024 lines and 31502 words, and 21 pages

TELL. I may preserve you from the Viceroy's power, But from the tempest's rage another must. Yet better 'tis you fall into God's hands, Than into those of men.

Herdsman, do thou Console my wife if I should come to grief. I could not choose but do as I have done.

KUONI . A pretty man to keep a ferry, truly! What Tell could risk, you dared not venture on.

WERNI . Now he is off. God help thee, gallant sailor! Look how the little boat reels on the waves! There! they have swept clean over it. And now--

KUONI . 'Tis out of sight. Yet stay, there 'tis again! Stoutly he stems the breakers, noble fellow!

SEPPI . Oh, my poor lambs!

KUONI . Unhappy me, my herds!

RUODI . Righteous Heaven! Oh, when will come Deliverance to this doom-devoted land?

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.

PFEIFF. 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!

STAUFF. Wait till my mistress comes. Now do! You are My guest in Schwytz--I in Lucerne am yours.

PFEIFF. 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 for ever.

GERT. So sad, my love! I scarcely know thee now. For many a day in silence I have mark'd 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.

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 well-fed horses, too, 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 quarter'd o'er with' scutcheons of all hues, And proverbs sage, which passing travellers Linger to read, and ponder o'er their meaning.

STAUFF. The house is strongly built, and handsomely, But, ah! the ground on which we built it quakes.

GERT. Tell me, dear Werner, what you mean by that?

STAUFF. No later gone than yesterday, I sat Beneath this linden, thinking with delight, How fairly all was finished, when from Kussnacht 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 me 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 betray'd.

GERT. My 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 now the wise man thought, the good man wished, And garner'd 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 cross'd his wish to bend the Swiss In homage to this upstart house of princes, And kept them staunch, like their good sires of old, In true allegiance to the Empire. Say, Is't not so, Werner? Tell me, am I wrong?

STAUFF. 'Tis even so. For this doth Gessler hate me.

GERT. He burns with envy, too, to see thee living Happy and free on thine ancestral soil, For he is landless. From the Emperor's self Thou hold'st in fief the lands thy fathers left thee. There's not a prince i' 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 vent? A wise man would anticipate the blow.

STAUFF. What's to be done?

GERT. 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, Some fresh outrage, more grievous than the last. Then it were well, that some of you--true men-- Men sound at heart, should secretly devise, How best to shake this hateful thraldom off. Full sure I am that God would not desert you, But lend His favour to the righteous cause. Has thou no friend in Uri, one to whom Thou frankly may'st unbosom all thy thoughts?

STAUFF. I know full many a gallant fellow there, And nobles, too,--great men, of high repute, In whom I can repose unbounded trust.

GERT. You, too are men; can wield a battle axe As well as they. God ne'er deserts the brave.

STAUFF. Oh wife! a horrid, ruthless fiend is war, That smites at once the shepherd and his flock.

GERT. Whate'er great Heaven inflicts, we must endure; But wrong is what no noble heart will bear.

STAUFF. This house--thy pride--war, unrelenting war Will burn it down.

GERT. And did I think this heart Enslaved and fettered to the things of earth, With my own hand I'd hurl the kindling torch.

STAUFF. Thou hast faith in human kindness, wife; but war Spares not the tender infant in its cradle.

GERT. There is a Friend to innocence in heaven. Send your gaze forward, Werner--not behind.

STAUFF. We men may die like men, with sword in hand; But oh, what fate, my Gertrude, may be thine?

GERT. None are so weak, but one last choice is left. A spring from yonder bridge and I am free!

STAUFF. . Well may he fight for hearth and home, that clasps A heart so rare as thine against his own! What are the host of emperors to him? Gertrude, farewell! I will to Uri straight. There lives my worthy comrade, Walter Furst; His thoughts and mine upon these times are one. There, too, resides the noble Banneret Of Attinghaus. High though of blood he be, He loves the people, honours their old customs. With both of these I will take counsel, how To rid us bravely of our country's foe. Farewell! and while I am away, bear thou A watchful eye in management at home. The pilgrim journeying to the house of God, And holy friar, collecting for his cloister, To these give liberally from purse and garner. Stauffacher's house would not be hid. Right out Upon the public way it stands, and offers To all that pass a hospitable roof.

TELL. Now, then, you have no further need of me. Enter yon house. 'Tis Werner Stauffacher's, A man that is a father to distress. See, there he is, himself! Come, follow me.

A common near Altdorf. On an eminence in the background a castle in progress of erection, and so far advanced that the outline of the whole may be distinguished. The back part is finished: men are working at the front. Scaffolding, on which the workmen are going up and down. A slater is seen upon the highest part of the roof. All is bustle and activity.

Taskmaster, Mason, Workmen and Labourers.

TASK. . Up, up! You've rested long enough. To work! The stones here! Now the mortar, and the lime! And let his lordship see the work advanced, When next he comes. These fellows crawl like snails!

What! call ye that a load? Go, double it. Is this the way ye earn your wages, laggards?

TASK. What's that you mutter? 'Tis a worthless race, For nothing fit but just to milk their cows, And saunter idly up and down the hills.

OLD MAN . I can no more.

TASK. . Up, up, old man, to work!

MASTER MASON and WORKMEN. Shame, shame upon you--shame! It cries to heaven.

TASK. Mind your own business. I but do my duty.

TASK. The Keep of Uri; For by it we shall keep you in subjection.

WORK. The Keep of Uri?

TASK. Well, why laugh at that?

MAS. M. I'll drown the mallet in the deepest lake, That served my hand on this accursed pile.

STAUFF. O, that I had not lived to see this sight!

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

STAUFF. Am I in Uri,--Uri, freedom's home?

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