Wilhelm Tell Part 15

Then they resolved to settle on the spot; Erected there the ancient town of Schwytz; And many a day of toil had they to clear The tangled brake and forest's spreading roots.

Meanwhile their numbers grew, the soil became Unequal to sustain them, and they crossed To the black mountain, far as Weissland, where, Concealed behind eternal walls of ice, Another people speak another tongue.

They built the village Stanz, beside the Kernwald The village Altdorf, in the vale of Reuss; Yet, ever mindful of their parent stem, The men of Schwytz, from all the stranger race, That since that time have settled in the land, Each other recognize. Their hearts still know, And beat fraternally to kindred blood.

[Extends his hand right and left.

MAUER.

Ay, we are all one heart, one blood, one race!

ALL (joining hands).

We are one people, and will act as one.

STAUFFACHER.

The nations round us bear a foreign yoke; For they have yielded to the conqueror.

Nay, even within our frontiers may be found Some that owe villein service to a lord, A race of bonded serfs from sire to son.

But we, the genuine race of ancient Swiss, Have kept our freedom from the first till now, Never to princes have we bowed the knee; Freely we sought protection of the empire.

ROSSELMANN.

Freely we sought it--freely it was given.

'Tis so set down in Emperor Frederick's charter.

STAUFFACHER.

For the most free have still some feudal lord.

There must be still a chief, a judge supreme, To whom appeal may lie in case of strife.

And therefore was it that our sires allowed For what they had recovered from the waste, This honor to the emperor, the lord Of all the German and Italian soil; And, like the other freemen of his realm, Engaged to aid him with their swords in war; And this alone should be the freeman's duty, To guard the empire that keeps guard for him.

MELCHTHAL.

He's but a slave that would acknowledge more.

STAUFFACHER.

They followed, when the Heribann [17] went forth, The imperial standard, and they fought its battles!

To Italy they marched in arms, to place The Caesars' crown upon the emperor's head.

But still at home they ruled themselves in peace, By their own laws and ancient usages.

The emperor's only right was to adjudge The penalty of death; he therefore named Some mighty n.o.ble as his delegate, That had no stake or interest in the land.

He was called in, when doom was to be pa.s.sed, And, in the face of day, p.r.o.nounced decree, Clear and distinctly, fearing no man's hate.

What traces here, that we are bondsmen? Speak, If there be any can gainsay my words!

HOFE.

No! You have spoken but the simple truth; We never stooped beneath a tyrant's yoke.

STAUFFACHER.

Even to the emperor we refused obedience, When he gave judgment in the church's favor; For when the Abbey of Einsiedlen claimed The Alp our fathers and ourselves had grazed, And showed an ancient charter, which bestowed The land on them as being ownerless-- For our existence there had been concealed-- What was our answer? This: "The grant is void, No emperor can bestow what is our own: And if the empire shall deny us justice, We can, within our mountains, right ourselves!"

Thus spake our fathers! And shall we endure The shame and infamy of this new yoke, And from the va.s.sal brook what never king Dared in the fulness of his power attempt?

This soil we have created for ourselves, By the hard labor of our hands; we've changed The giant forest, that was erst the haunt Of savage bears, into a home for man; Extirpated the dragon's brood, that wont To rise, distent with venom, from the swamps; Rent the thick misty canopy that hung Its blighting vapors on the dreary waste; Blasted the solid rock; o'er the abyss Thrown the firm bridge for the wayfaring man By the possession of a thousand years The soil is ours. And shall an alien lord, Himself a va.s.sal, dare to venture here, On our own hearths insult us,--and attempt To forge the chains of bondage for our hands, And do us shame on our own proper soil?

Is there no help against such wrong as this?

[Great sensation among the people.

Yes! there's a limit to the despot's power!

When the oppressed looks round in vain for justice, When his sore burden may no more be borne, With fearless heart he makes appeal to Heaven, And thence brings down his everlasting rights, Which there abide, inalienably his, And indestructible as are the stars.

Nature's primeval state returns again, Where man stands hostile to his fellow-man; And if all other means shall fail his need, One last resource remains--his own good sword.

Our dearest treasures call to us for aid Against the oppressor's violence; we stand For country, home, for wives, for children here!

ALL (clas.h.i.+ng their swords).

Here stand we for our homes, our wives, and children.

ROSSELMANN (stepping into the circle).

Bethink ye well before ye draw the sword.

Some peaceful compromise may yet be made; Speak but one word, and at your feet you'll see The men who now oppress you. Take the terms That have been often tendered you; renounce The empire, and to Austria swear allegiance!

MAUER.

What says the priest? To Austria allegiance?

BUHEL.

Hearken not to him!

WINKELRLED.

'Tis a traitor's counsel, His country's foe!

REDING.

Peace, peace, confederates!

SEWA.

Homage to Austria, after wrongs like these!

FLUE.

Shall Austria exert from us by force What we denied to kindness and entreaty?

MEYER.

Then should we all be slaves, deservedly.

MAUER.

Yes! Let him forfeit all a Switzer's rights Who talks of yielding to the yoke of Austria!

I stand on this, Landamman. Let this be The foremost of our laws!

MELCHTHAL.

Even so! Whoever Shall talk of tamely bearing Austria's yoke, Let him be stripped of all his rights and honors; And no man hence receive him at his hearth!

ALL (raising their right hands).

Agreed! Be this the law!

REDING (after a pause).

The law it is.

ROSSELMANN.

Now you are free--by this law you are free.

Never shall Austria obtain by force What she has failed to gain by friendly suit.

WEILER.

On with the order of the day! Proceed!