Long, Switzerland was part of the German Empire. The Emperor of Germany was a kind and just ruler, and the Swiss people were very happy and content. When the good Emperor's reign ended, he was succeeded by a new Emperor who was cruel and harsh and who hated the Swiss. His first act was to place a governor in each Swiss town to rule over the people. For governors he chose the harshest and most cruel of men. He meant to oppress the people and bring them under his power.

All Switzerland groaned beneath the yoke of the tyrant Emperor. The governors and their troopers were so cruel that the mere mention of their names caused fear. They fined the simple people for every wrongdoing, no matter how small. They taxed them until they almost starved. They were imprisoned for the slightest reasons. The Emperor's men used every means to break the people's spirit.

Gesler was the name of the cruelest of all the governors. He spent all his time thinking up new ways to oppress the people. One of the things he did was to have his hat raised on a pole in the market place. Then he commanded that every man should bow to it as he passed by.

Said Gesler, "To this hat every man shall bend the knee as he passes by. If any be traitor and will not do this thing, he shall be cast into prison and lose all that he hath."

He placed soldiers by the pole to see that every person obeyed his command.

The people of the town were greatly troubled. They had no wish to bow to the power of the governor, but neither did they wish to fall into the hands of the governor's soldiers.

During these trying times William Tell, an archer, skilled in the use of bow and arrow, came into the town and was passing through the market place with his son. He saw a group of men talking together as if they were very much disturbed. As he came close to them, he saw the pole that the soldiers guarded. Upon it was the governor's hat.

As he did not understand the meaning of this, he was about to ask one of the men. Suddenly a soldier seized him roughly by the arm and commanded him to bow to the hat.

"Nay," said Tell. "I am a freeborn Swiss. I will never bow to that hat."

These words he would not take back, no matter what the soldiers threatened. Therefore, the soldiers seized William and his son and brought them before the governor.

"This man," said the soldiers, "hath refused to obey thine order and bow to the hat. For this reason we have seized him and brought him before thee."

When Gesler heard this news, he was very, very angry. He would have had Tell put to death immediately had he dared. Tell, however, was a man of much fame as an archer and was well liked by the people. Therefore, Gesler decided to try some other plan of cruelty.

He thought for some time, and then a smile began to grow upon his lips. This smile grew greater and greater as if the governor had thought of something that pleased him well.

Said he at last to his soldiers, "Is not this William Tell that cunning archer of whose skill I have heard great things?"

"He is indeed that archer, my lord," said the guard.

"So great is my father's skill," cried young Walter Tell, "that he can hit a bird on the wing. At one hundred paces he can split an apple so that it falls from the tree."

"I am well content," said Gesler. "Listen, good archer, and hear thy punishment. Know that my first purpose was that thou shouldst suffer death for thy disobedience. Later came more merciful thoughts--as is ever the case with me--and I considered how by thine own skill thy life might be saved.

"Guard, take the boy, bind him to yonder linden tree, and place an apple upon his head. Archer, if thine eye be as true, and thine arm as steady as hath been said, all goes well with thee. Let the apple on the boy's head be pierced and fall, and thy life is again thine."

The governor had no sooner finished speaking than a cry of horror broke from the soldiers. Even the cruelest of them did not like to see a father forced to risk the life of his son. If his arrow should fail to pierce the apple, he would kill the boy. However, Tell was silent.

"If his skill be as great as hath been said, he has nothing to lose," said Gesler coldly. "If not, then had he better have stopped the boasting of his son."

Tell suddenly threw himself at Gesler's feet.

"My lord," he pleaded, "take my life if thou wilt, for a brave man fears not his own death; but bid me not thus threaten the life of my son! The hand of the marksman should be sure and steady when he speeds the arrow. How shall mine be calm, when my son's life hangs upon my skill?"

"Nay," said Gesler cruelly, "the hunter's aim is surest when danger presses closest. Haste thee, Tell. Take thy bow into thy hand, lest men ask of thee where is thy boasted cunning."

"My father" cried Walter, "have no fear for me. Well I know the sureness of thine aim. I fear no arrow from thy hand. But, sirs, I pray ye, bind me not to the tree. I shall stand quite still while I await my father's aim.