IF YOU HAVE FREE TIME READ THIS STORY THEN ANSWER THE QUESTIONS I WILL PUT IN THE CHAT Long ago, in Switzerland, the governors chose the harshest and most cruel of men. 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. He placed soldiers by the pole to see that every person obeyed his command. The people of the town were greatly troubled. 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. The soldiers seized William and his son and brought them before the governor. "This man," said the soldiers, "hath refused to obey the order and bow to the hat. For this reason, we have seized him and brought him before thee." When Gessler heard this news, he was very, very angry. He would have had Tell put to death immediately but Tell was famous for his archery. 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."
"Listen, good archer, and hear thy punishment," Gesler said "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 is 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." Even the cruelest of them did not like to see a father forced to risk the life of his son. However, Tell was silent. "If his skill is 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 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. Is not this the best day of my life--when I show my belief in him?" He said the archer must send his arrow to prove his skill. The child took his place beneath the linden tree. His face said that he was not afraid. Tell was placed eighty paces distant, amid the murmurs of the crowd. Tell lifted one arrow and set it ready for use. Then he lifted another and hid it in his bosom. He made ready and aimed. The arrow sped through the air. The people scarcely breathed. Now the silence was broken by the fall of the apple. A great shout came from the nobles near Gesler. They forgot the governor and thought only of the archer and his little son. Gesler was dark and silent, for as William Tell bent his head in thanksgiving, the governor saw the second arrow fall from his bosom. Gesler asked William a question. William Tell would not at first answer this question. When the governor demanded a reply, his anger became too much for him. "My lord," said he, "had the first shaft taken my son's life, the second had surely found a resting place in thine own heart." At these words, Gesler turned pale with wrath and dread, for he feared this man. "Wretch," cried he, "it is true that thy life is promised thee, but know that it shall be spent where neither the sun's light nor the moons shall reach thee!" He ordered that the archer should be seized and bound but in the confusion of the crowd, Tell took his son in his arms and escaped to his mountain home.