Wilhelm Tell [14]
men and manners strange Into these calm and happy valleys came, To warp our primitive and guileless ways! The new is pressing on with might. The old, The good, the simple, all flee fast away. New times come on. A race is springing up, That think not as their fathers thought before! What do I hear? All, all are in the grave With whom erewhile I moved, and held converse; My age has long been laid beneath the sod; Happy the man, who may not live to see What shall be done by those that follow me!
SCENE II. A meadow surrounded by high rocks and wooded ground. On the rocks are tracks, with rails and ladders, by which the peasants are afterwards seen descending. In the back-ground the lake is observed, and over it a moon rainbow in the early part of the scene. The prospect is closed by lofty mountains, with glaciers rising behind them. The stage is dark, but the lake and glaciers glisten in the moonlight. Melchthal, Baumgarten, Winkelried, Meyer von Sarnen, Burkhart am Buhel, Arnold von Sewa, Klaus von der Flue, and four other peasants, all armed.
MELCHTHAL (behind the scenes). The mountain pass is open. Follow me! I see the rock, and little cross upon it: This is the spot; here is the Rootli. [They enter with torches.] WINK. Hark! SEWA. The coast is clear. MEYER. None of our comrades come? We are the first, we Unterwaldeners. MELCH. How far is't i' the night? BAUM. The beacon watch Upon the Selisberg has just called two. [A bell is heard at a distance.] MEYER. Hush! Hark! BUHEL. The forest chapel's matin bell Chimes clearly o'er the lake from Switzerland. VON F. The air is clear, and bears the sound so far. MELCH. Go, you and you, and light some broken boughs, Let's bid them welcome with a cheerful blaze. [Two peasants exeunt.] SEWA. The moon shines fair to-night. Beneath its beams The lake reposes, bright as burnish'd steel. BUHEL. They'll have an easy passage. WINK. (pointing to the lake). Ha! look there! Do you see nothing? MEYER. Ay, indeed, I do! A rainbow in the middle of the night. MELCH. Formed by the bright reflection of the moon! VON F. A sign most strange and wonderful, indeed! Many there be, who ne'er have seen the like. SEWA. 'Tis doubled, see, a paler one above! BAUM. A boat is gliding yonder right beneath it. MELCH. That must be Werner Stauffacher! I knew The worthy patriot would not tarry long. [Goes with Baumgarten towards the shore.] MEYER. The Uri men are like to be the last. BUHEL. They're forced to take a winding circuit through The mountains; for the Viceroy's spies are out. [In the meanwhile the two peasants have kindled a fire in the centre of the stage.] MELCH. (on the shore). Who's there? The word? STAUFF. (from below). Friends of the country. [All retire up the stage, towards the party landing from the boat. Enter Stauffacher, Itel Reding, Hans auf der Mauer, Jorg im Hofe, Conrad Hunn, Ulrich der Schmidt, Jost von Weiler, and three other peasants, armed. ALL. Welcome! [While the rest remain behind exchanging greetings, Melchthal comes forward with Stauffacher.] MELCH. Oh, worthy Stauffacher, I've look'd but now On him, who could not look on me again, I've laid my hands upon his rayless eyes, And on their vacant orbits sworn a vow Of vengeance, only to be cool'd in blood. STAUFF. Speak not of vengeance. We are here, to meet The threatened evil, not to avenge the past. Now tell me what you've done, and what secured, To aid the common cause in Unterwald. How stand the peasantry disposed, and how Yourself escaped the wiles of treachery? MELCH. Through the Surenen's fearful mountain chain, Where dreary ice-fields stretch on every side, And sound is none, save the hoarse vulture's cry, I reach'd the Alpine pasture, where the herds From Uri and from Engelberg resort, And turn their cattle forth to graze in common. Still as I went along, I slaked my thirst With the coarse oozings of the glacier heights that thro' the crevices come foaming down, And turned to rest me in the herdsmen's cots, Where I was host and guest, until I gain'd The cheerful homes and social haunts of men. Already through these distant
SCENE II. A meadow surrounded by high rocks and wooded ground. On the rocks are tracks, with rails and ladders, by which the peasants are afterwards seen descending. In the back-ground the lake is observed, and over it a moon rainbow in the early part of the scene. The prospect is closed by lofty mountains, with glaciers rising behind them. The stage is dark, but the lake and glaciers glisten in the moonlight. Melchthal, Baumgarten, Winkelried, Meyer von Sarnen, Burkhart am Buhel, Arnold von Sewa, Klaus von der Flue, and four other peasants, all armed.
MELCHTHAL (behind the scenes). The mountain pass is open. Follow me! I see the rock, and little cross upon it: This is the spot; here is the Rootli. [They enter with torches.] WINK. Hark! SEWA. The coast is clear. MEYER. None of our comrades come? We are the first, we Unterwaldeners. MELCH. How far is't i' the night? BAUM. The beacon watch Upon the Selisberg has just called two. [A bell is heard at a distance.] MEYER. Hush! Hark! BUHEL. The forest chapel's matin bell Chimes clearly o'er the lake from Switzerland. VON F. The air is clear, and bears the sound so far. MELCH. Go, you and you, and light some broken boughs, Let's bid them welcome with a cheerful blaze. [Two peasants exeunt.] SEWA. The moon shines fair to-night. Beneath its beams The lake reposes, bright as burnish'd steel. BUHEL. They'll have an easy passage. WINK. (pointing to the lake). Ha! look there! Do you see nothing? MEYER. Ay, indeed, I do! A rainbow in the middle of the night. MELCH. Formed by the bright reflection of the moon! VON F. A sign most strange and wonderful, indeed! Many there be, who ne'er have seen the like. SEWA. 'Tis doubled, see, a paler one above! BAUM. A boat is gliding yonder right beneath it. MELCH. That must be Werner Stauffacher! I knew The worthy patriot would not tarry long. [Goes with Baumgarten towards the shore.] MEYER. The Uri men are like to be the last. BUHEL. They're forced to take a winding circuit through The mountains; for the Viceroy's spies are out. [In the meanwhile the two peasants have kindled a fire in the centre of the stage.] MELCH. (on the shore). Who's there? The word? STAUFF. (from below). Friends of the country. [All retire up the stage, towards the party landing from the boat. Enter Stauffacher, Itel Reding, Hans auf der Mauer, Jorg im Hofe, Conrad Hunn, Ulrich der Schmidt, Jost von Weiler, and three other peasants, armed. ALL. Welcome! [While the rest remain behind exchanging greetings, Melchthal comes forward with Stauffacher.] MELCH. Oh, worthy Stauffacher, I've look'd but now On him, who could not look on me again, I've laid my hands upon his rayless eyes, And on their vacant orbits sworn a vow Of vengeance, only to be cool'd in blood. STAUFF. Speak not of vengeance. We are here, to meet The threatened evil, not to avenge the past. Now tell me what you've done, and what secured, To aid the common cause in Unterwald. How stand the peasantry disposed, and how Yourself escaped the wiles of treachery? MELCH. Through the Surenen's fearful mountain chain, Where dreary ice-fields stretch on every side, And sound is none, save the hoarse vulture's cry, I reach'd the Alpine pasture, where the herds From Uri and from Engelberg resort, And turn their cattle forth to graze in common. Still as I went along, I slaked my thirst With the coarse oozings of the glacier heights that thro' the crevices come foaming down, And turned to rest me in the herdsmen's cots, Where I was host and guest, until I gain'd The cheerful homes and social haunts of men. Already through these distant