William Tell...............................

Kuoni               Quick, ferryman, and set the good man over.

Ruodi                Impossible! A storm is close at hand.
                            Wait till it pass!  You must.

Baumgarten      Almighty Heavens!
                                I cannot wait; the least delay is death

Kuoni                (to the fisherman)
                                     Push out - God with you!  We should help
                          our neighbors;
                          The like misfortune may betide us all.
                          (Thunder and the roaring of the wind)

Ruodi                 The Southwind's up!  See how the lake is rising!
                            I cannot steer against both wind and wave.

Baumgarten       (clasping him by the knees)
                                        God so help you as now you pity me!

Werni                  His life's at stake.  Have pity on him, man!

Kuoni                  He is a father; has a wife and children.
                             (repeated peals of thunder)

Ruodi                 What! And have I not, then, a life to lose.
                            A wife and child at home as well as he?
                            See how the breakers foam, and toss, and whirl,
                            And the lake eddies up from all its depths!
                            Rightly glad would I save the worthy man.
                            But 'tis impossible, as you must see.

Baumgarten        (still kneeling)
                                         Then must I fall into the tyrant's hands.
                             And with the shore of safety close in sight!
                             Yonder it lies!  My eyes can see it clear.
                             My very voice can echo to its shores.
                             There is the boat to carry me across,
                             Yet must I lie here helpless and forlorn.

Kuoni                   Look!  Who comes here?

Ruodi                    'Tis Tell, ay, Tell of Burglen.  (Enter Tell with a cross-bow)

Tell                       What man is he that here implores for aid?

Kuoni                    He is from Alzellen, and to guard his honor
                              From touch of foulest shame, has slain the Wolfshot,
                              The imperial Seneschal, who dwelt in Rossberg.
                              The Viceroy's troopers are upon his heels;
                              He begs the ferryman to take him over,
                              But frightened at the storm he says he won't.

Ruodi                   Well, there is Tell can steer as well as I.
                              He'll be my judge, if it be possible.
                              (Violent peals of thunder - the lake becomes more tempestuous)
                                   Am I to plunge into the jaws of hell?
                              I should be mad to dare the desperate act.

Tell                       The brave man thinks upon himself the last.
                             Put trust in God, and help him in his need!

Ruodi                    Safe in port, 'tis easy to advise.
                             There is the boat, and there the lake!  Try you!

Tell                       The lake may pity, but the Viceroy never.
                             Come, risk it, man! 

Shepherd
and Huntsman    Oh, save him!  save him! save him!

Ruodi                  Though 'twere my brother, or my darling child
                           I would not go.  'Tis Simon and Jude's day,
                           The lake is up, and calling for its victim.

Tell                     Naught's to be done with idle talking here.
                           Each moment's precious:  the man must by help'd
                           Say, boatman, will you venture?

Ruodi                 No; not I.

Tell                    In God's name, then, give me the boat! I will
                         With my poor strength, see what is to be done!

Kuoni                 Ha, gallant Tell!

Werni                 That's like a huntsman true.

Baumgarten       You are my angel, my preserver, Tell.

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.
                          (To the herdsman)  Herdsman, do thou
                          Console my wife if I should come to grief.
                          I could not choose but do as I have done.
                          (He leaps into the boat)

-Friedrich Schiller, as excerpted from his play, William Tell

art work is by Rafaello Busoni