xpiate
Your crime with burning penitential tears--
And if you 'scape the perils of the pass,
And are not whelm'd beneath the drifted snows,
That from the frozen peaks come sweeping down,
You'll reach the bridge that's drench'd with drizzling spray.
Then if it give not way beneath your guilt,
When you have left it safely in your rear,
Before you frowns the gloomy Gate of Rocks,
Where never sun did shine. Proceed through this,
And you will reach a bright and gladsome vale.
Yet must you hurry on with hasty steps,
You must not linger in the haunts of peace.

JOHN.

O Rudolph, Rudolph, royal grandsire! thus
Thy grandson first sets foot within thy realms!

TELL.

Ascending still, you gain the Gotthardt's heights,
Where are the tarns, the everlasting tarns,
That from the streams of Heaven itself are fed,
There to the German soil you bid farewell;
And thence, with swift descent, another stream
Leads you to Italy, your promised land.

[_Ranz des Vaches sounded on Alp-horns is heard without_.]

But I hear voices! Hence!

HEDWIG (_hurrying in_).

Where art thou, Tell?
My father comes, and in exulting bands
All the confederates approach.

DUKE JOHN (_covering himself_).

Woe's me!
I dare not tarry 'mong these happy men!

TELL.

Go, dearest wife, and give this man to eat.
Spare not your bounty; for his road is long,
And one where shelter will be hard to find.
Quick--they approach!

HEDWIG.

Who is he?

TELL.

Do not ask!
And when he quits you, turn your eyes away,
So that they do not see which way he goes.

[DUKE JOHN _advances hastily toward_ TELL, _but he beckons
him aside and goes out. When both have left the stage, the
scene changes_.]

SCENE III

_The whole valley before_ TELL's _house, the heights which
inclose it occupied by peasants, grouped into tableaux. Some
are seen crossing a lofty bridge, which crosses the
Shechen_. WALTER FUeRST _with the two boys_, WERNER _and_
STAUFFACHER, _come forward. Others throng after them. When_
TELL _appears, all receive him with loud cheers._

ALL.

Long live brave Tell, our shield, our Savior!

[_While those in front are crowding round_ TELL, _and
embracing him_, RUDENZ _and_ BERTHA _appear. The former
salutes the peasantry, the latter embraces_ HEDWIG. _The
music front the mountains continues to play. When it has
stopped_, BERTHA _steps into the cen