"So should I!" cried Joe. "No one shall ever hurt father or mother, if I can help it!"
"Well, that sounds good," said their father, who came up behind the boys just in time to hear what they were talking about. "I shall not be afraid to serve my country, so long as I have boys as brave as Walter Tell."
They were looking at the monument of William Tell
"Oh, father, did this all really happen, or is it just a story?" asked Jack.
"Well," said their father, "a few wise men are telling us that it is only a legend, but many of the Swiss people believe that it is every bit true. They are proud to have had such heroes as William Tell and his little boy."
"Of course they are," said Joe. "I am going to believe that it is true. Why, William Tell did almost as much for his country as George Washington did for ours. I think that he ought to be called the 'Father of his Country,' the same as Washington is."
"So do I," said their father. "But let me tell you something now. I have a surprise for you. The people of the village are going to play the story of William Tell to-day in their little open-air theater on the edge of the woods.
"The king's hat will be there on a pole in the center of the busy marketplace, and all the people will bow low to it—all except William Tell and his little son, who will march proudly by it. Then, of course, Tell will have to shoot the apple from his little boy's head, and he will be taken across the stormy lake in Gessler's boat, and then he will spring out upon the rocky shore, and escape into the woods. Gessler and his men will climb up the mountain path toward the castle; the poor woman will beg Gessler to release her husband from prison—and all the rest of the story will be played. Would you like to see it?"