“It is the lord governor’s good will and pleasure
The cap shall have like honor as himself;
And all shall reverence it with bended knee
And heads uncovered....
His life and goods are forfeit to the crown
That shall refuse obedience to the order.”
Guards were posted round the pole, and ordered to arrest all who refused thus to pay homage. It happened that William Tell was passing, and failed to pay the required homage. He was instantly seized and taken before the bailiff. The bailiff first tried to extract from Tell whether his conduct had been premeditated, and if so, who were his friends and abettors; but he remained stubbornly silent. Gessler, incensed at his contumacy, determined to punish him, and, the offence being one unknown to the land and of his own invention, he was likewise compelled to invent a punishment. Tell had only one child, a boy, who was with him at the time, and, as all peasants were accustomed to the cross-bow, Gessler condemned him to shoot from off his son’s head an apple, saying, “Know, audacious bowman, that thy own art shall serve to punish thee.” The lad was blindfolded, the apple placed on his head, and Tell led away to his position:
“And let him take his distance,
Just eighty paces, as the custom is,
Not an inch more or less.”