William Tell and the Apple (Campfire Story)

Long ago, in the mountains of Switzerland, the people of the valleys were ruled by a cruel governor named Gessler. Gessler was a proud man, and he wanted everyone to know just how important he was.

So one day, in the town square of Altdorf, Gessler had his soldiers put up a tall wooden pole. On top of the pole, he hung his own hat. And he made a law: every person who walked past that pole had to stop, take off their own hat, and bow down to his.

The people grumbled, but they bowed. They were afraid of Gessler's soldiers.

Now, up in the mountains lived a hunter named William Tell. He was the finest shot with a crossbow in all of Switzerland. He could hit a falling leaf, or a running hare, or the stem off a pear at a hundred paces. And one market day, Tell came down to Altdorf with his young son, Walter, holding his hand.

They walked across the square, right past the pole with the hat on top. And William Tell did not bow.

The soldiers grabbed him at once and dragged him before Gessler. 'You didn't bow to my hat,' said Gessler. 'Why not?'

'Because it's a hat,' said Tell. 'I'll bow to God, and I'll bow to a good man. But I won't bow to a hat on a stick.'

Gessler's face turned dark. Then he smiled, a cold, cruel smile. 'They say you're the best shot in Switzerland, Tell. Let's find out. Your boy will stand under that linden tree, with an apple on his head. You'll shoot the apple off from a hundred paces. If you hit it, you both go free. If you won't shoot, you both die.'

The crowd gasped. William Tell went white. 'I won't shoot at my own son,' he said.

'Then you'll both die,' said Gessler.

That was when little Walter spoke up. 'Father,' he said, 'I'm not afraid. I know you won't miss.' And he walked over to the linden tree all by himself, and stood with his back against the trunk, and held very, very still while a soldier set an apple on top of his head.

William Tell took two arrows from his quiver. One, he slipped into his shirt. The other, he set in his crossbow. He raised the bow to his shoulder. The whole square went silent. You could hear the wind in the leaves. You could hear the soldiers breathing. Tell's hands were shaking. He closed his eyes. He breathed in. He breathed out. And his hands stopped shaking.

He opened his eyes, and he fired.

The arrow flew across the square and split the apple clean in two, and stuck quivering in the trunk of the tree, just above Walter's hair. Walter didn't even blink.

The crowd cheered so loudly that birds flew up from every rooftop in Altdorf. William Tell dropped his crossbow and ran to his son and swept him up in his arms.

But Gessler had seen something. 'Tell,' he said. 'Why did you take two arrows?'

Tell set his son down and looked Gessler right in the eye. 'If my first arrow had hit my son,' he said, 'my second arrow was for you. And I would not have missed.'

Gessler had promised to set him free. But he was so furious that he broke his promise and had Tell thrown in chains. Soon after, though, Tell escaped. And the story of the hunter who wouldn't bow to a hat spread from valley to valley across Switzerland, until the people stood up together and won their freedom.

To this day, William Tell is Switzerland's greatest hero. Historians argue about whether he was ever a real person. But in Altdorf, there's a bronze statue of a hunter with a crossbow on his shoulder and his arm around his son. And every Swiss child knows his name.

Storyteller tips: if you have an apple, set it on a stump or a helper's head (and don't shoot it). Let the silence before the shot go on longer than feels comfortable. Afterward, ask: was Walter braver, or his father?

The Tell legend was first written down in the White Book of Sarnen (around 1470) and made famous by Friedrich Schiller's 1804 play, the basis of Rossini's opera and its overture.