STUSSI.
Too true! He"s blessed who tills his field in peace, And sits untroubled by his own fireside.
TELL.
The very meekest cannot rest in quiet, Unless it suits with his ill neighbor"s humor.
[TELL looks frequently with restless expectation towards the top of the pa.s.s.
STUSSI.
So fare you well! You"re waiting some one here?
TELL.
I am.
STUSSI.
A pleasant meeting with your friends!
You are from Uri, are you not? His grace The governor"s expected thence to-day.
TRAVELLER (entering).
Look not to see the governor to-day.
The streams are flooded by the heavy rains, And all the bridges have been swept away.
[TELL rises.
ARMGART (coming forward).
The viceroy not arrived?
STUSSI.
And do you seek him?
ARMGART.
Alas, I do!
STUSSI.
But why thus place yourself Where you obstruct his pa.s.sage down the pa.s.s?
ARMGART.
Here he cannot escape me. He must hear me.
FRIESSHARDT (coming hastily down the pa.s.s, and calls upon the stage).
Make way, make way! My lord, the governor, Is coming down on horseback close behind me.
[Exit TELL.
ARMGART (with animation).
The viceroy comes!
[She goes towards the pa.s.s with her children.
GESSLER and RUDOLPH DER HARRAS appear upon the heights on horseback.
STUSSI (to FRIESSHARDT).
How got ye through the stream When all the bridges have been carried down?
FRIESSHARDT.
We"ve battled with the billows; and, my friend, An Alpine torrent"s nothing after that.
STUSSI.
How! Were you out, then, in that dreadful storm?
FRIESSHARDT.
Ay, that we were! I shall not soon forget it.
STUSSI.
Stay, speak----
FRIESSHARDT.
I cannot. I must to the castle, And tell them that the governor"s at hand.
[Exit.
STUSSI.
If honest men, now, had been in the ship, It had gone down with every soul on board:-- Some folks are proof "gainst fire and water both.
[Looking round.
Where has the huntsman gone with whom I spoke?
[Exit.
Enter GESSLER and RUDOLPH DER HARRAS on horseback.
GESSLER.
Say what you please; I am the emperor"s servant, And my first care must be to do his pleasure.
He did not send me here to fawn and cringe And coax these boors into good humor. No!
Obedience he must have. We soon shall see If king or peasant is to lord it here?
ARMGART.
Now is the moment! Now for my pet.i.tion!
GESSLER.
"Twas not in sport that I set up the cap In Altdorf--or to try the people"s hearts-- All this I knew before. I set it up That they might learn to bend those stubborn necks They carry far too proudly--and I placed What well I knew their eyes could never brook Full in the road, which they perforce must pa.s.s, That, when their eyes fell on it, they might call That lord to mind whom they too much forget.
HARRAS.
But surely, sir, the people have some rights----
GESSLER.
This is no time to settle what they are.
Great projects are at work, and hatching now; The imperial house seeks to extend its power.
Those vast designs of conquests, which the sire Has gloriously begun, the son will end.
This petty nation is a stumbling-block-- One way or other it must be subjected.