_Enter, slowly, people in evident distress. Officers, SARNEM,
GESLER, TELL, ALBERT, and soldiers, one bearing TELL’S bow and
quiver, another with a basket of apples._
GES. That is your ground. Now shall they measure thence
A hundred paces. Take the distance.
TELL. Is the line a true one?
GES. True or not, what is’t to thee?
TELL. What is’t to me? A little thing,
A very little thing--a yard or two
Is nothing here or there--were it a wolf
I shot at. Never mind.
GES. Be thankful, slave,
Our grace accords thee life on any terms.
TELL. I will be thankful, Gesler. Villain, stop!
You measure to the sun!
GES. And what of that?
What matter whether to or from the sun?
TELL. I’d have it at my back--the sun should shine
Upon the mark, and not on him that shoots.
I cannot see to shoot against the sun;
I will not shoot against the sun!
GES. Give him his way. Thou hast cause to bless my mercy.
TELL. I shall remember it. I’d like to see
The apple I’m to shoot at.