STUSSI. Of strange things, too, we hear from other parts. I spoke with one but now, from Baden come, Who said a knight was on his way to court, And, as he rode along, a swarm of wasps Surrounded him, and settling on his horse, So fiercely stung the beast, that it fell dead, And he proceeded to the court on foot. TELL. The weak are also furnish'd with a sting. [Armgart enters with several children, and places herself at the entrance of the pass.] STUSSI. Tis thought to bode disaster to the land,-- Some horrid deeds against the course of nature. TELL. Why, every day brings forth such fearful deeds; There needs no prodigy to herald them. STUSSI. Ay, happy he who tills his field in peace, And sits at home untroubled with his kin. TELL. The very meekest cannot be at peace If his ill neighbour will not let him rest. [Tell looks frequently with restless expectation towards the top of the pass.] STUSSI. So fare you well! You're waiting some one here? TELL. I am. STUSSI. God speed you safely to your home! 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.] ARM. (coming forward). Gessler not coming? STUSSI. Want you aught with him? ARM. Alas, I do! STUSSI. Why, then, thus place yourself Where you obstruct his passage down the pass? ARM. Here he cannot escape me. He must hear me. FRIESS. (coming hastily down the pass and calls upon the stage). Make way, make way! My lord, the Governor, Is close behind me, riding down the pass. [Exit TELL.] ARM. (excitedly). The Viceroy comes! [She goes towards the pass with her children, Gessler and Rudolph der Harras appear on horseback at the upper end of the pass.] STUSSI. (to Friess.). How got ye through the stream, When all the bridges have been carried down? FRIESS. We've fought, friend, with the tempest on the lake; An Alpine torrent's nothing after that. STUSSI. How! Were you out, then, in that dreadful storm? FRIESS. We were! I'll not forget it while I live. STUSSI. Stay, speak-- FRIESS. I can't--must to the castle haste, 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.] GESSL. Say what you will; I am the Emperor's liege, And how to please him my first thought must be. He did not send me here to fawn and cringe, And coax these boors into good humour. No! Obedience he must have. The struggle's this: Is king or peasant to be sovereign here? ARM. Now is the moment! Now for my petition!