REMEMBERING WILLIAM TELL
Six
years ago, I had posted a blog and captioned it as ‘Gessler’s Hat’. Today, I am
reposting it, again…
For,
the story of William Tell’s legendary defiance is so timeless, and so inspiring…
that, I am prompted to recount this tale, today…
THE GESSLER'S HAT
“Brute force, no
matter how strongly applied,
can never subdue the
basic human desire for freedom.”
-
Dalai Lama
I do
not know why they had included the story of William Tell in our higher-primary
school text. Perhaps, to inculcate in us — the little children — the importance
of knowing what is right and what is wrong… what is just and human and what is
unjust and inhuman. When I look back at those days — late sixties — I was,
perhaps, of the age of William Tell’s son. And, imagine, the impact of this
story on a young mind!
We,
also, had, in our History textbook, the story of Martin Luther King, who had
revolted against the unjust and inhuman practices prevalent under the Pope’s
leadership of Christianity. I was a Roman Catholic and I was studying in a
Jesuit college (Roman Catholics). Ironically, a Roman Catholic priest was
teaching us Social Studies and, particularly, that lesson about how Martin
Luther King had revolted against the Pope and split Christianity to form the
‘Protestants’. Our teacher, a Catholic priest, never snubbed us when we asked
our innocent questions… He let our thinking flower!
In
the same way, when we asked questions about William Tell, all that our teachers
wanted us to know, early in life, was this: You need to stand up against unjust
laws, at times… You need to take strong stands, defy unjust laws, even if that
means there is a threat to your life…
Easier
said than done, Sir… But, that’s how every kind of ‘freedom’ comes!
Let
me recount the story — rather the legend — of William Tell…
William
Tell was a hero in the Swiss folklore. He was a strong man, a mountain climber
and an expert crossbow shooter. He lived in the thirteenth century, in a time
when the Austrian emperors were trying to strengthen their domination in
Switzerland. Albrecht Gessler had been just appointed as Austrian Vogt of
Altdorf in Switzerland. Gessler had raised a pole under the village linden
tree, hung his hat on top of it, and demanded that the citizens bow before it…
One
day, William Tell visited Altdorf with his little son. He passed the hat, but
refused to bow before it. He and his son were immediately apprehended. As a
punishment, Gessler made Tell’s little son stand under the tree, an apple on
his head, and ordered Tell to shoot the apple. When Tell succeeded, Gessler
noticed another arrow in Tell’s hand and asked why he was holding another
arrow. “To kill you if the first arrow had killed my son,” beamed Tell, without
blinking!
William
Tell was given a Life imprisonment!
Later,
one day, the prisoner William Tell was being carried in a boat in which Gessler
was present. The boat was caught up in a dangerous storm… The frightened men of
Gessler pleaded with him to remove Tell’s chains so that he could save all of
them. The chains were removed… Tell cleverly drove the boat towards a rocky
place and crashed it… while he jumped and escaped!
The
story did not end there… In the days that followed, William Tell made sure that
he killed the dictator with the second arrow!
This
act of defiance led to mass revolt and laid the foundation for the freedom of
Switzerland…
To
me, William Tell, his little son, Gessler and his hat… Yes, all these are the
images of freedom.
GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic.: indianexpress.com
Video: JoBlo Movie Clips
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