William Tell Swiss? Who Knew?

June 17, 2011

William Tell Statue in Altdorf (wikipedia)

I sure didn’t.  Five years ago I thought he was English. I mean all guys good with bows were English right? Who’s the kid you ask? That would be his son Walter. The story goes that after William Tell disrespected the local governor, Hermann Gessler, the evil man stood the young boy up in the town square and made Tell shoot an apple off his head.

Later, our hero ambushes Gessler on a dark forest road and shoots him in the chest. Then I think everyone sings.

At least that’s the version popularized by Friedrich Schiller in the early 1800’s. Here‘s the full play if you feel like some light reading.