“What is going on here? Why is everyone stopping to bow at this pole and blocking people trying to get through town.”
“Lord Gessler has commanded that everyone must bow to his hat, then he placed it on top of that pole there.”
William Tell thought that was a pretty silly. He hadn't even heard of this new lord before and didn't see much reason to bow to Gessler much less his hat. He decided he wasn't going to bother with such foolishness and so he and his son just walked through the town square without stopping to bow to Gessler's hat.
The other people were shocked to see what William Tell had done in not bowing to the hat. They asked him why he didn't do so.
“It's just a hat, and a pretty useless one at that” he said. “Look at it, it couldn't even keep your head dry in the rain. It might have some fancy feathers stuck in it but my own hat is better then that thing up there. Why should I bow to it when I don't even bow to my own hat which is better in every way? Also, look at the giant mess it's made because everyone has to stop. People are late getting to their jobs, farmers can't bring in their produce, shoppers can't get to the market.”
A lot of the people realized it did seem pretty foolish to bow to a hat, especially with the giant traffic jam it was creating. They decided that William Tell was right and that they should just ignore the hat. William Tell continued on his way to the market to sell his animals hardly even thinking about what had happened.
Gessler had been enjoying the traffic jam created by the people bowing to his hat. It made him feel important to see everyone inconvenienced by something as petty as his hat. When he noticed the crowd had cleared and everyone was ignoring his hat he was furious. He sent out his servants to ask the people why they weren't bowing to his hat anymore. He was still fuming when his servants came back.
“The people all agree that William Tell said bowing to your hat was stupid and that no one should do it”
“Bowing to my hat is stupid?” Gessler said incredulously. “I was assigned by the Emperor himself to rule over this area. You should all be kissing the ground I walk on in gratitude simply for me being here. Who is this William Tell?”
“He is a well known hunter in these parts that lives in a nearby village. It's said there is no one stronger or better at using a crossbow then him.”
“He won't be so tough when I have him executed.”
“He has been a well respected person here for many years the people won't stand for it if you just kill him”
“The people won't stand for it?” Gessler laughed “Who cares about what 'people' think. I'm the only one that is supposed to do any thinking around here anyways. Thats what being a lord is all about.”
“The law says a man must have a trial before he can be executed.”
“Fine, fine, we'll give him a trial first, then we'll execute him” Gessler said dismissively.
It didn't take Gessler and his guards long to find William Tell. He had already sold his meat and skins and was looking to purchase some more bolts for his crossbow. He was showing his son the signs to recognize a well made bolt that would fly true then poorly made one likely to miss.
“William Tell?” a voice behind said.
“Yes?” he said turning around to see a group of guards armed with spears.
“You're under arrest!”
“On what charge?” He asked
“Treason”
William Tell was taken aback.
“Treason?!” He said “When and how did I commit treason?”
Gessler himself came forward and stuck out his chest.
“You encouraged people to disobey their lord who was duly appointed by the Hapsburg Emperor!” he sneered. “That is treason!”
“When did I do that?”
“Earlier today when you encouraged people to not bow down to my hat!”
“But it's just a hat, and it was making a mess of the town square.”
Gessler grew irate “That's not the point! The point is you broke the law, you encouraged others to break the law and you will be tried for treason.”
“Fine,” William Tell said rolling his eyes. “Lets get this over with, I'd just as soon have the trial right here and now so I can hurry up and go home.”
“What do you mean go home? When you're found guilty you will be executed.”
“And who is going to be the judge in this trial?”
Gessler
grinned evilly “Why me of course.”
On hearing this the crowd around them started grumbling.
“Hey, you can't be the judge, you're the one accusing him” One person shouted.
“Yeah, the law says a person must be judged by someone who's neutral” Someone else called.
Gessler saw the crowd was starting to get angry and began to fear that it might turn into a riot if he chose himself as judge. However if he picked someone else then William Tell might be found innocent and he couldn't bear to let someone who didn't fear or respect him live. Noticing the crossbow William Tell had he came up with an evil idea.
“Very well, we will let God be the judge. We will place an apple on the head of his son and if he can shoot it off from waaaaay over there then it means he is innocent, if he misses then it means he's guilty.”
The crowd felt that was a reasonable solution and started moving out of the way to make room for the shot. Now this may seem like a strange way to determine guilt or innocence to us but back then it was very common to have challenges like this in place of what we would consider to be a regular trial with witnesses, evidence and juries.
William Tell didn't really want to do this, although he was a good shot with a crossbow and knew he was innocent, he also knew that if he was off by just a little bit he might miss, or worse hit his son. However he didn't see any other alternative that wouldn't either get him killed or start a riot. So he moved to the place he would shoot from while one of the guards put an apple on the top of his sons head. William Tell drew two crossbow bolts and took aim. He fired and breathed a sigh of relief as the apple split neatly in two. The crowd cheered as Gessler jaw dropped. He didn't really want to let William Tell go but he knew he had no choice.
“Well, I guess that proves you're innocent” Gessler grumbled. “I do have one question though, why did you draw two bolts for the shot?”
“Had I hit my son I would have killed you with the second one” he replied honestly.
“Conspiracy to commit murder!” Gessler shouted “Everyone hear heard it! He was planning to kill me!”
Although the crowd like William Tell they all had to admit that they had heard him admit to planning to kill Gessler which meant he was guilty of this new charge, even without a trial. Gessler had his guards arrest William Tell to take him to prison. They also brought his crossbow and the second bolt with them as evidence. The prison was located on the far side of Lake Lucerne so the guards tied him up tightly and put him in a boat to sail across. While they were crossing the lake a storm arose. It was a very bad and unexpected one, serious enough that they were afraid the boat might sink. The helmsman especially couldn't hold the wheel to keep it straight. The wind and waves kept ripping the wheel out of his hands. Knowing of his strength and desperate enough the guards untied William Tell so that he could steer the ship since they all knew he was stronger then any of them. They were a little worried he might escape but the water was so rough they felt no one could survive a swim in it. As soon as the ropes were loosened though William Tell grabbed the his crossbow and single bolt and leaped from the ship, much farther then they thought anyone could jump, and he landed on a slab of rock on the shore of the lake. William Tell then ran all the way back to Altdorf where he assassinated Gessler with that same bolt. This encouraged the people to rebel against all the lords in the area and was the start of the Old Swiss Confederacy.