Part 3

RUDENZ. Yes, I conceal it not. It doth offend My inmost soul to hear the stranger's gibes, That taunt us with the name of "Peasant Nobles." Think you the heart that's stirring here can brook, While all the young nobility around Are reaping honor under Hapsburg's banner, That I should loiter, in inglorious ease, Here on the heritage my fathers left, And, in the dull routine of vulgar toil, Lose all life's glorious spring? In other lands Deeds are achieved. A world of fair renown Beyond these mountains stirs in martial pomp. My helm and shield are rusting in the hall; The martial trumpet's spirit-stirring blast, The herald's call, inviting to the lists, Rouse not the echoes of these vales, where naught Save cowherd's horn and cattle-bell is heard, In one unvarying, dull monotony.

ATTINGHAUSEN. Deluded boy, seduced by empty show! Despise the land that gave thee birth! Ashamed Of the good ancient customs of thy sires! The day will come, when thou, with burning tears, Wilt long for home, and for thy native hills, And that dear melody of tuneful herds, Which now, in proud disgust, thou dost despise! A day when thou wilt drink its tones in sadness, Hearing their music in a foreign land. Oh! potent is the spell that binds to home! No, no, the cold, false world is not for thee. At the proud court, with thy true heart thou wilt Forever feel a stranger among strangers. The world asks virtues of far other stamp Than thou hast learned within these simple vales. But go--go thither; barter thy free soul, Take land in fief, become a prince's vassal, Where thou might'st be lord paramount, and prince Of all thine own unburdened heritage! O, Uly, Uly, stay among thy people! Go not to Altdorf. Oh, abandon not The sacred cause of thy wronged native land! I am the last of all my race. My name Ends with me. Yonder hang my helm and shield; They will be buried with me in the grave. [12] And must I think, when yielding up my breath, That thou but wait'st the closing of mine eyes, To stoop thy knee to this new feudal court, And take in vassalage from Austria's hands The noble lands, which I from God received Free and unfettered as the mountain air!

RUDENZ. 'Tis vain for us to strive against the king. The world pertains to him:--shall we alone, In mad, presumptuous obstinacy strive To break that mighty chain of lands, which he Hath drawn around us with his giant grasp. His are the markets, his the courts; his too The highways; nay, the very carrier's horse, That traffics on the Gotthardt, pays him toll. By his dominions, as within a net, We are enclosed, and girded round about. --And will the empire shield us? Say, can it Protect itself 'gainst Austria's growing power? To God, and not to emperors, must we look! What store can on their promises be placed, When they, to meet their own necessities, Can pawn, and even alienate the towns That flee for shelter 'neath the eagle's wings? [13] No, uncle. It is wise and wholesome prudence, In times like these, when faction's all abroad, To own attachment to some mighty chief. The imperial crown's transferred from line to line, [14] It has no memory for faithful service: But to secure the favor of these great Hereditary masters, were to sow Seed for a future harvest.

ATTINGHAUSEN. Art so wise? Wilt thou see clearer than thy noble sires, Who battled for fair freedom's costly gem, With life, and fortune, and heroic arm? Sail down the lake to Lucerne, there inquire, How Austria's rule doth weigh the Cantons down. Soon she will come to count our sheep, our cattle, To portion out the Alps, e'en to their summits, And in our own free woods to hinder us From striking down the eagle or the stag; To set her tolls on every bridge and gate, Impoverish us to swell her lust of sway, And drain our dearest blood to feed her wars. No, if our blood must flow, let it be shed In our own cause! We purchase liberty More cheaply far than bondage.

RUDENZ. What can we, A shepherd race, against great Albert's hosts?

ATTINGHAUSEN. Learn, foolish boy, to know this shepherd race! I know them, I have led them on in fight-- I saw them in the battle at Favenz. Austria will try, forsooth, to force on us A yoke we are determined not to bear! Oh, learn to feel from what a race thou'rt sprung! Cast not, for tinsel trash and idle show, The precious jewel of thy worth away. To be the chieftain of a freeborn race, Bound to thee only by their unbought love, Ready to stand--to fight--to die with thee, Be that thy pride, be that thy noblest boast! Knit to thy heart the ties of kindred--home-- Cling to the land, the dear land of thy sires, Grapple to that with thy whole heart and soul! Thy power is rooted deep and strongly here, But in yon stranger world thou'lt stand alone, A trembling reed beat down by every blast. Oh come! 'tis long since we have seen thee, Uly! Tarry but this one day. Only to-day Go not to Altdorf. Wilt thou? Not to-day! For this one day bestow thee on thy friends.

[Takes his hand.

RUDENZ. I gave my word. Unhand me! I am bound.

ATTINGHAUSEN (drops his hand and says sternly). Bound, didst thou say? Oh yes, unhappy boy, Thou art, indeed. But not by word or oath. 'Tis by the silken mesh of love thou'rt bound.

[RUDENZ turns away.

Ay, hide thee, as thou wilt. 'Tis she, I know, Bertha of Bruneck, draws thee to the court; 'Tis she that chains thee to the emperor's service. Thou think'st to win the noble, knightly maid, By thy apostacy. Be not deceived. She is held out before thee as a lure; But never meant for innocence like thine.

RUDENZ. No more; I've heard enough. So fare you well.

[Exit.

ATTINGHAUSEN. Stay, Uly! Stay! Rash boy, he's gone! I can Nor hold him back, nor save him from destruction. And so the Wolfshot has deserted us;-- Others will follow his example soon. This foreign witchery, sweeping o'er our hills, Tears with its potent spell our youth away: O luckless hour, when 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, fleeteth fast away. New times come on. A race is springing up, That think not as their fathers thought before! What do I here? All, all are in the grave With whom ere while 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 background 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.

WINKELRIED. Hark!

SEWA. The coast is clear.

MEYER. None of our comrades come? We are the first, we Unterwaldeners.

MELCHTHAL. How far is't in the night?

BAUMGARTEN. 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.

FLUE. The air is clear, and bears the sound so far.

MELCHTHAL. 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 burnished steel.

BUHEL. They'll have an easy passage.

WINKELRIED (pointing to the lake). Ha! look there! See you nothing?

MEYER. What is it? Ay, indeed! A rainbow in the middle of the night.

MELCHTHAL. Formed by the bright reflection of the moon!

FLUE. 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!

BAUMGARTEN. A boat is gliding yonder right beneath it.

MELCHTHAL. 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.

MELCHTHAL (on the shore). Who's there? The word?

STAUFFACHER (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 HOPE, 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.

MELCHTHAL. Oh, worthy Stauffacher, I've looked 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 cooled in blood.

STAUFFACHER. 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 stands the peasantry disposed, and how Yourself escaped the wiles of treachery?

MELCHTHAL. 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 reached 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 lofty glacier, That through the crevices come foaming down, And turned to rest me in the herdsman's cots, [15] Where I was host and guest, until I gained The cheerful homes and social haunts of men. Already through these distant vales had spread The rumor of this last atrocity; And wheresoe'er I went, at every door, Kind words and gentle looks were there to greet me. I found these simple spirits all in arms Against our rulers' tyrannous encroachments. For as their Alps through each succeeding year Yield the same roots,--their streams flow ever on In the same channels,--nay, the clouds and winds The selfsame course unalterably pursue, So have old customs there, from sire to son, Been handed down, unchanging and unchanged; Nor will they brook to swerve or turn aside From the fixed, even tenor of their life. With grasp of their hard hands they welcomed me-- Took from the walls their rusty falchions down-- And from their eyes the soul of valor flashed With joyful lustre, as I spoke those names, Sacred to every peasant in the mountains, Your own and Walter Fuerst's. Whate'er your voice Should dictate as the right they swore to do; And you they swore to follow e'en to death. So sped I on from house to house, secure In the guest's sacred privilege--and when I reached at last the valley of my home, Where dwell my kinsmen, scattered far and near-- And when I found my father stripped and blind, Upon the stranger's straw, fed by the alms Of charity----

STAUFFACHER. Great heaven!

MELCHTHAL. Yet wept I not! No--not in weak and unavailing tears Spent I the force of my fierce, burning anguish; Deep in my bosom, like some precious treasure, I locked it fast, and thought on deeds alone. Through every winding of the hills I crept-- No valley so remote but I explored it; Nay, even at the glacier's ice-clad base, I sought and found the homes of living men; And still, where'er my wandering footsteps turned, The self-same hatred of these tyrants met me. For even there, at vegetation's verge, Where the numbed earth is barren of all fruits, There grasping hands had been stretched forth for plunder. Into the hearts of all this honest race, The story of my wrongs struck deep, and now They to a man are ours; both heart and hand. Great things, indeed, you've wrought in little time.

MELCHTHAL. I did still more than this. The fortresses, Rossberg and Sarnen, are the country's dread; For from behind their rocky walls the foe Swoops, as the eagle from his eyrie, down, And, safe himself, spreads havoc o'er the land. With my own eyes I wished to weigh its strength, So went to Sarnen, and explored the castle.

STAUFFACHER. How! Risk thyself even in the tiger's den?

MELCHTHAL. Disguised in pilgrim's weeds I entered it; I saw the viceroy feasting at his board-- Judge if I'm master of myself or no! I saw the tyrant, and I slew him not!

STAUFFACHER. Fortune, indeed, has smiled upon your boldness.

[Meanwhile the others have arrived and join MELCHTHAL and STAUFFACHER.

Yet tell me now, I pray, who are the friends, The worthy men, who came along with you? Make me acquainted with them, that we may Speak frankly, man to man, and heart to heart.

MEYER. In the three Cantons, who, sir, knows not you? Meyer of Sarnen is my name; and this Is Struth of Winkelried, my sister's son.

STAUFFACHER. No unknown name. A Winkelried it was Who slew the dragoon in the fen at Weiler, And lost his life in the encounter, too.

WINKELRIED. That, Master Stauffacher, was my grandfather.

MELCHTHAL (pointing to two peasants). These two are men belonging to the convent Of Engelberg, and live behind the forest. You'll not think ill of them, because they're serfs, And sit not free upon the soil, like us. They love the land, and bear a good repute.

STAUFFACHER (to them). Give me your hands. He has good cause for thanks, That unto no man owes his body's service. But worth is worth, no matter where 'tis found.

HUNN. That is Herr Reding, sir, our old Landamman.

MEYER. I know him well. There is a suit between us, About a piece of ancient heritage. Herr Reding, we are enemies in court, Here we are one.

[Shakes his hand.

STAUFFACHER. That's well and bravely said.

WINKELRIED. Listen! They come. Hark to the horn of Uri!

[On the right and left armed men are seen descending the rocks with torches.

MAUER. Look, is not that God's pious servant there? A worthy priest! The terrors of the night, And the way's pains and perils scare not him, A faithful shepherd caring for his flock.

BAUMGARTEN. The Sacrist follows him, and Walter Fuerst. But where is Tell? I do not see him there.

[WALTER FURST, ROSSELMANN the Pastor, PETERMANN the Sacrist, KUONI the Shepherd, WERNI the huntsman, RUODI the Fisherman, and five other countrymen, thirty-three in all, advance and take their places round the fire.

FURST. Thus must we, on the soil our fathers left us, Creep forth by stealth to meet like murderers, And in the night, that should their mantle lend Only to crime and black conspiracy, Assert our own good rights, which yet are clear As is the radiance of the noonday sun.

MELCHTHAL. So be it. What is woven in gloom of night Shall free and boldly meet the morning light.

ROSSELMANN. Confederates! listen to the words which God Inspires my heart withal. Here we are met To represent the general weal. In us Are all the people of the land convened. Then let us hold the Diet, as of old, And as we're wont in peaceful times to do. The time's necessity be our excuse If there be aught informal in this meeting. Still, wheresoe'er men strike for justice, there Is God, and now beneath his heaven we stand.

STAUFFACHER. 'Tis well advised. Let us, then, hold the Diet According to our ancient usages. Though it be night there's sunshine in our cause.

MELCHTHAL. Few though our numbers be, the hearts are here Of the whole people; here the best are met.

HUNN. The ancient books may not be near at hand, Yet are they graven in our inmost hearts.

ROSSELMANN. 'Tis well. And now, then, let a ring be formed, And plant the swords of power within the ground. [16]

MAUER. Let the Landamman step into his place, And by his side his secretaries stand.

SACRIST. There are three Cantons here. Which hath the right To give the head to the united council? Schwytz may contest the dignity with Uri, We Unterwaldeners enter not the field.

MELCHTHAL. We stand aside. We are not suppliants here, Invoking aid from our more potent friends.

STAUFFACHER. Let Uri have the sword. Her banner takes In battle the precedence of our own.

FURST. Schwytz, then, must share the honor of the sword; For she's the honored ancestor of all.

ROSSELMANN. Let me arrange this generous controversy. Uri shall lead in battle--Schwytz in council.

FURST (gives STAUFFACHER his hand). Then take your place.

STAUFFACHER. Not I. Some older man.

HOFE. Ulrich, the smith, is the most aged here.

MAUER. A worthy man, but he is not a freeman; No bondman can be judge in Switzerland.

STAUFFACHER. Is not Herr Reding here, our old Landamman? Where can we find a worthier man than he?

FURST. Let him be Amman and the Diet's chief? You that agree with me hold up your hands!

[All hold up their right hands.

REDING (stepping into the centre). I cannot lay my hands upon the books; But by yon everlasting stars I swear Never to swerve from justice and the right.

[The two swords are placed before him, and a circle formed; Schwytz in the centre, Uri on his right, Unterwald on his left.

REDING (resting on his battle-sword). Why, at the hour when spirits walk the earth, Meet the three Cantons of the mountains here, Upon the lake's inhospitable shore? And what the purport of the new alliance We here contract beneath the starry heaven?

STAUFFACHER (entering the circle). No new alliance do we now contract, But one our fathers framed, in ancient times, We purpose to renew! For know, confederates, Though mountain ridge and lake divide our bounds, And every Canton's ruled by its own laws, Yet are we but one race, born of one blood, And all are children of one common home.

WINKELRIED. Then is the burden of our legends true, That we came hither from a distant land? Oh, tell us what you know, that our new league May reap fresh vigor from the leagues of old.

STAUFFACHER. Hear, then, what aged herdsmen tell. There dwelt A mighty people in the land that lies Back to the north. The scourge of famine came; And in this strait 'twas publicly resolved, That each tenth man, on whom the lot might fall Should leave the country. They obeyed--and forth, With loud lamentings, men and women went, A mighty host; and to the south moved on, Cutting their way through Germany by the sword, Until they gained that pine-clad hills of ours; Nor stopped they ever on their forward course, Till at the shaggy dell they halted, where The Mueta flows through its luxuriant meads. No trace of human creature met their eye, Save one poor hut upon the desert shore, Where dwelt a lonely man, and kept the ferry. A tempest raged--the lake rose mountains high And barred their further progress. Thereupon They viewed the country; found it rich in wood, Discovered goodly springs, and felt as they Were in their own dear native land once more. Then they resolved to settle on the spot; Erected there the ancient town of Schwytz; And many a day of toil had they to clear The tangled brake and forest's spreading roots. Meanwhile their numbers grew, the soil became Unequal to sustain them, and they crossed To the black mountain, far as Weissland, where, Concealed behind eternal walls of ice, Another people speak another tongue. They built the village Stanz, beside the Kernwald The village Altdorf, in the vale of Reuss; Yet, ever mindful of their parent stem, The men of Schwytz, from all the stranger race, That since that time have settled in the land, Each other recognize. Their hearts still know, And beat fraternally to kindred blood.

[Extends his hand right and left.

MAUER. Ay, we are all one heart, one blood, one race!

ALL (joining hands). We are one people, and will act as one.

STAUFFACHER. The nations round us bear a foreign yoke; For they have yielded to the conqueror. Nay, even within our frontiers may be found Some that owe villein service to a lord, A race of bonded serfs from sire to son. But we, the genuine race of ancient Swiss, Have kept our freedom from the first till now, Never to princes have we bowed the knee; Freely we sought protection of the empire.

ROSSELMANN. Freely we sought it--freely it was given. 'Tis so set down in Emperor Frederick's charter.

STAUFFACHER. For the most free have still some feudal lord. There must be still a chief, a judge supreme, To whom appeal may lie in case of strife. And therefore was it that our sires allowed For what they had recovered from the waste, This honor to the emperor, the lord Of all the German and Italian soil; And, like the other freemen of his realm, Engaged to aid him with their swords in war; And this alone should be the freeman's duty, To guard the empire that keeps guard for him.

MELCHTHAL. He's but a slave that would acknowledge more.

STAUFFACHER. They followed, when the Heribann [17] went forth, The imperial standard, and they fought its battles! To Italy they marched in arms, to place The Caesars' crown upon the emperor's head. But still at home they ruled themselves in peace, By their own laws and ancient usages. The emperor's only right was to adjudge The penalty of death; he therefore named Some mighty noble as his delegate, That had no stake or interest in the land. He was called in, when doom was to be passed, And, in the face of day, pronounced decree, Clear and distinctly, fearing no man's hate. What traces here, that we are bondsmen? Speak, If there be any can gainsay my words!

HOFE. No! You have spoken but the simple truth; We never stooped beneath a tyrant's yoke.