[Sprightly music heard in the distance, which comes gradually nearer.]
From my first years of boyhood I have used
The bow-been practised in the archer's feats;
The bull's eye many a time my shafts have hit,
And many a goodly prize have I brought home
From competitions. But this day I'll make
My master-shot, and win what's best to win
In the whole circuit of our mountain range.
[A bridal party passes over the stage, and goes up the pass. Tell
gazes at it, leaning on his bow. He is joined by Stussi, the Ranger .]
STUSSI.
There goes the cloister bailiff's bridal train
Of Morlischachen. A rich fellow he!
And has some half score pastures on the Alps.
He goes to fetch his bride from Imisee.
At Kussnacht there will be high feast to-night-
Come with us-ev'ry honest man is asked.
TELL.
A gloomy guest fits not a wedding feast.
STUSSI.
If you've a trouble, dash it from your heart!
Take what Heaven sends! The times are heavy now,
And we must snatch at pleasure as it flies.
Here 'tis a bridal, there a burial.
TELL.
And oft the one close on the other treads.
STUSSI.
So runs the world we live in. Everywhere
Mischance befalls and misery enough.
In Glarus there has been a landslip, and
A whole side of the Glarnisch has fallen in.
TELL.
How! Do the very hills begin to quake?
There is stability for nought on earth.
STUSSI.
Of strange things, too, we hear from other parts.
I spoke with one but now, from Baden come,
Who said a knight was on his way to court,
And, as he rode along, a swarm of wasps
Surrounded him, and settling on his horse,
So fiercely stung the beast, that it fell dead,
And he proceeded to the court on foot.
TELL.
The weak are also furnish'd with a sting.
[Armgart enters with several children, and places herself at the
entrance of the pass.]
STUSSI.
Tis thought to bode disaster to the land,-
Some horrid deeds against the course of nature.
TELL.
Why, every day brings forth such fearful deeds;
There needs no prodigy to herald them.
STUSSI.
Ay, happy he who tills his field in peace,
And sits at home untroubled with his kin.
TELL.
The very meekest cannot be at peace
If his ill neighbour will not let him rest.
[Tell looks frequently with restless expectation towards the top of
the pass.]
STUSSI.
So fare you well! You're waiting some one here?
TELL.
I am.
STUSSI.
God speed you safely to your home!
You are from Uri, are you not? His grace
The Governor's expected thence to-day.
TRAVELLER (entering).
Look not to see the Governor to-day.
The streams are flooded by the heavy rains,
And all the bridges have been swept away.
[Tell rises.]
ARM. (coming forward).
Gessler not coming?
STUSSI.
Want you aught with him?
