“Come away, come away with Wilhelm Tell, on the day, on the day when the apple fell…”

Many boomers remember that old television series.

A beautiful story about a 14^th century freedom hero of Switzerland.

The country was occupied by the Habsburgs.

It was poor, as all mountain areas in that time.

Only rye would grow in sparse quantities, while more fruitful valley regions belonged to the powerful Empire.

As it is a folk’s tale, which became well known only centuries afterwards, little is known for sure.

Once, I was travelling by train, and a curious fact drew my attention.

In the neighbor compartment were sitting two elderly ladies.

One of those took an apple out of her bag and proposed to share it with the other lady.

Then, she seized the apple and separated it in two even parts with bare hands.

We usually do this with a knife, so I had never thought about the possibility of doing it this way.

I sank back in my thoughts, which reminded me about the son of Wilhelm Tell.

If an old woman was able to do that, then why not a youngster.

So, I imagined following possibility:

A bow with arrows at the time of Robin Hood was extremely precise, able to strike a tiny stick at about 30 feet distance.

Those were of the length of the soldier, as tall as him.

Arrows shot this way could reach far but could in no way pierce a thick armor.

Then, people invented the crossbow!

Those ones were put under tension by the strength of the whole body.

A trained soldier can put a strength of 150kg in his weapon.

Even machines were used for this purpose.

Weak point were the strings, which were even woven but would tear frequently.

Also, the arrow could pierce thick armor but could not be aimed at very precisely.

Thus, a father accepting to shoot an apple off his son’s head, can be only fiction.

Hence, we can imagine Wilhelm Tell accepting his crossbow and an arrow, Austrian soldiers weren’t crazy to give him two.  

As he prepares the guards go away behind him, ready to kill him with spears and halberds.

He bends down to put the crossbow under tension and in the last moment covers the arrow under his garment.

You can easily imagine the scene, that for security reasons, Gessler, all officials and public have stayed way behind, far off, and only the child is in front.

He aims, shoots and the boy is frightened.

The apple thus falls down off his head.

He bends, youngsters especially under such conditions are always hungry, separates the apple in two halves and bites immediately in it while getting upright, still stooping.

The strike of a crossbow arrow is frequently missed by spectators, so fast it goes.

This is a shooting field and there are many broken arrows on the ground.

Everybody is convinced Wilhelm Tell kept his part of job and after Gessler’s promise he is again a free man.

Only dark point, a soldier was made suspicious, and checked his clothes, or happened to see the arrow in his garment before…

What is that? Asks Gessler.

You know the rest of the tale…