Stories of William Tell and His Friends

The legend of William Tell takes on new meaning in this wonderful retelling by master storyteller H. E. Marshall. William Tell is the folk hero of Switzerland whose exploits were first recorded in a fifteenth-century Swiss chronicle. Set in the time of the first Swiss Confederacy, Tell's story runs alongside that of the struggle for independence waged against the Holy Roman Empire by the Alpine nation. According to the legend, Gessler, a newly-appointed Austrian ruler of two local regions, caused his hat to be placed on a raised pole in the central square of a village, and ordered that all the townsfolk bow before it. When Tell refused to bow to the hat, Gessler ordered Tell's son to be seized. The tyrannical ruler then demanded that Tell shoot an apple off his son's head or both of them would be executed. Tell took the shot, and succeeded. From there, numerous incidents took place which led to the assassination of Gessler, an act that sparked the Swiss rebellion. There is no real evidence that William Tell actually existed or that the events recounted in the legend took place. Marshall addresses it this way in her introduction: "Yet some people say that William Tell never lived. Let them visit the Rütli, Tell's Platte, the Hollow Way, and let them ask themselves whether Tell lives in the hearts of his countrymen or not."