Eastern shore of the Lake of Lucerne; rugged and singularly shaped rocks close the prospect to the west.The lake is agitated, violent roaring and rushing of wind, with thunder and lightning at intervals.
Kunz of Gersau, Fisherman and Boy KUNZ.
I saw it with these eyes! Believe me, friend, It happen'd all precisely as I've said.
FISHER.
How! Tell a prisoner, and to Kussnacht borne?
The best man in the land, the bravest arm, Had we for liberty to strike a blow!
KUNZ.
The Viceroy takes him up the lake in person:
They were about to go on board, as I
Started from Fluelen; but the gathering storm, That drove me here to land so suddenly, May well have hindered them from setting out.
FISHER.
Our Tell in chains, and in the Viceroy's power!
O, trust me, Gessler will entomb him, where He never more shall see the light of day;For Tell once free, the tyrant well might dread The just revenge of one so deeply wrong'd.
KUNZ.
The old Landamman, too--von Attinghaus--
They say, is lying at the point of death.
FISHER.
Then the last anchor of our hopes gives way!
He was the only man that dared to raise His voice in favour of the people's rights.
KUNZ.
The storm grows worse and worse.So, fare ye well!
I'll go and seek out quarters in the village.
There's not a chance of getting off to-day.
[Exit]
FISHER.
Tell dragg'd to prison, and the Baron dead!
Now, tyranny, exalt thy brazen front,--
Throw every shame aside! Truth's voice is dumb!
The eye that watch'd for us, in darkness closed, The arm that should have struck thee down, in chains!
BOY.
'Tis hailing hard--come, let us to the hut!
This is no weather to be out in, father!
FISHER.
Rage on, ye winds! Ye lightnings, flash your fires!
Burst, ye swollen clouds! Ye cataracts of Heaven Descend, and drown the country! In the germ Destroy the generations yet unborn!
Ye savage elements, be lords of all!
Return, ye bears: ye ancient wolves, return To this wide howling waste! The land is yours.
Who would live here, when liberty is gone?
BOY.
Hark! How the wind whistles, and the whirlpool roars.
I never saw a storm so fierce as this!
FISHER.
To level at the head of his own child!
Never had father such command before.
And shall not Nature, rising in wild wrath, Revolt against the deed? I should not marvel, Though to the lake these rocks should bow their heads, Though yonder pinnacles, yon towers of ice, That, since creation's dawn, have known no thaw, Should, from their lofty summits, melt away,--Though yonder mountains, yon primeval cliffs, Should topple down, and a new deluge whelm Beneath its waves all living men's abodes!
[Bells heard.]
BOY.
Hark, they are ringing on the mountain, yonder!
They surely see some vessel in distress.
And toll the bell that we may pray for it.
[Ascends a rock.]
FISHER.
Woe to the bark that now pursues its course, Rock'd in the cradle of these storm-tost waves!
Nor helm nor steersman here can aught avail;The storm is master.Man is like a ball, Toss'd 'twixt the winds and billows.Far or near, No haven offers him its friendly shelter!
Without one ledge to grasp, the sheer smooth rocks Look down inhospitably on his despair, And only tender him their flinty breasts.
BOY (calling from above).
Father, a ship: from Fluelen bearing down.
FISHER.
Heaven pity the poor wretches! When the storm Is once entangled in this strait of ours, It rages like some savage beast of prey, Struggling against its cage's iron bars!
Howling, it seeks an outlet--all in vain;For the rocks hedge it round on every side, Walling the narrow gorge as high as Heaven.
[He ascends a cliff.]
BOY.
It is the Governor of Uri's ship;
By its red poop I know it, and the flag.
FISHER.
Judgments of Heaven! Yes, it is he himself, It is the Governor! Yonder he sails, And with him bears the burden of his crimes.
The avenger's arm has not been slow to strike!
Now over him he knows a mightier lord.
These waves yield no obedience to his voice.
These rocks bow not their heads before his cap.
Boy, do not pray; stay not the Judge's arm!
BOY.
I pray not for the Governor, I pray For Tell, who's with him there on board the ship.
FISHER.
Alas, ye blind, unreasoning elements!
Must ye, in punishing one guilty head, Destroy the vessel and the pilot too?
BOY.
See, see, they've clear'd the Buggisgrat;[*] but now The blast, rebounding from the Devil's Minster,[*]
Has driven them back on the Great Axenberg.[*]
I cannot see them now.
FISHER.
The Hakmesser[*]
Is there, that's founder'd many a gallant ship.
If they should fail to double that with skill, Their bark will go to pieces on the rocks, That hide their jagged peaks below the lake.
The best of pilots, boy, they have on board.
If man could save them, Tell is just the man, But he is manacled both hand and foot.
[*] Rocks on the shore of the Lake of Lucerne.
