Tuesday, February 12, 2013

William Tell



 The man, the myth, the legend. We've all heard of William Tell (kids... ask Mom or Dad) and the legend of the apple he shot off of his son's head. William was a man from the forest canton of Uri in Switzerland. In the early 14th century (that is the 1300's, kids) he refused to bow to the ruler, Hermann Gessler. Gessler had him arrested and forced him to shoot an arrow off of his son's head. William did this with one arrow but had two arrows with him in case he missed. The second was for Gessler. William was again arrested and put on a boat to be imprisoned across Lake Lucerne. But a storm came up and they let William free to steer the boat. He turned it around, captured Gessler and killed him. This made him a Swiss legend. Is this all true? You never know. Read more or check Wiki.
This statue is in Altdorf, Switzerland, (Richard Kissling 1895) I took these picture while on a bus trip through Switzerland in February 1986.

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