Actors at the William Tell Festival in New Glarus, Wisconsin
APPLE AND ARROW
No one can say for sure if William Tell was a real person, but he is a
national hero to the people of Switzerland. They tell the story about a
time, long ago, when an Austrian named Gessler tried to make the people
in Altdorf, Switzerland, bow to a hat on a pole. William Tell refused to
bow, so he was arrested. But Gessler said Tell could go free if he could
shoot an apple off his son’s head with an arrow shot from a crossbow.
Tell shot. ZING! His arrow split the apple in half without hurting his
son. But Tell had another arrow ready to shoot at Gessler in case
anything had happened to his son.
Today, you can see a statue of William Tell in Altdorf. Each summer,
actors in Altdorf portray the Swiss hero’s life, as it was written by
the German playwright, Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller. You can
see the same three-hour play in New Glarus, Wisconsin, during the Labor
Day weekend.
William Tell’s statue, Altdorf. Switzerland
