The adulation, the hero worship, sickens me.
It has sickened me for centuries, and will sicken me for centuries to come, for I am doomed to hear the tale echo throughout eternity.
More tourists. They come to Altdorf to worship their hero. They gaze at the mighty bronze figure towering above the village square, as though they gaze upon a god.
The statue looms; two figures stand upon the pedestal. The taller, the one the tourists came to see, is heroic indeed. Legs strong as trees, broad chest filled as though to announce his arrival in Valhalla, mightily thewed arm holding the famed crossbow over his shoulder. Even I once saw myself that way.
The smaller figure of bronze is a boy, raising adoring eyes to his father, the hero, whose defiance of miscreant authority set in motion the birth of Switzerland.
The statue is a testament to falsehood, the tourists but worshippers of the same.
The tale, heard so many times before, sears my soul. How Wilhelm Tell failed to pay obeisance at a makeshift shrine to the insufferable Hapsburg duke. How a Hapsburg agent sought to humiliate Tell by forcing him to take up his crossbow and shoot an apple atop his own son’s head. How Tell confidently placed one bolt in the weapon, and tucked another into his shirt, then demonstrated his famed prowess by shooting the apple as ordered. How the defiant Tell afterward explained to the agent, when asked why he’d tucked that second bolt away: “Had my first shot killed my son, my second would have killed you.”
And thus an outlaw was born, and a legend, and a nation.
I cry again as I listen to the tourists recount the tale. The story is true enough, where events are concerned. But they do not know all, as I do. If they did, they would spit on their bronze hero.
The lie is cast in metal, in the boy’s adoring eyes.
Oh, the living boy indeed once beamed adulation at his father, as the boy of bronze does now. How proud that boy was when his father refused to doff his cap for the hated Hapsburg! How the boy’s chest swelled with pride for his stoic, fearless father when the bailiff commanded: “Shoot the apple from your son’s head, at one-hundred-and-twenty paces, or you both shall be put to death.”
The boy worried not a whit. He knew his father’s prowess, knew his father’s mettle. The boy returned his father’s wink with a smile. Upon seeing the second bolt, the boy’s eyes shone. “I’m not afraid,” the boy said as his father confidently marched off the distance.
The bolt sailed true, spearing the apple, just as legend recounts.
But confidence, adoration–indeed, love!–vanished from the boy’s eyes the instant that bolt was loosed. The bolt destroyed his love for his father when it shattered the apple.
Before that shot, those brave young eyes had expected to see the bolt kill the bailiff, had expected to stare death in the face–along with his father–when it came at the hands of the Hapsburg guards.
The boy had expected to see almost anything but his own father calmly loosing that damned bolt in his direction.
No matter how great the marksman, many things can happen as a bolt traverses one-hundred-and-twenty long paces. A trick of the wind. A small move by the target. A single warped shaft, one botched fletching job, and the boy dies. The boy, a hunter himself, knew that.
I knew it, too.
And yet, I fired.
For seven centuries now I’ve stood at the base of this damned monument, a dozen paces from where the pierced apple fell. And for seven centuries I’ve asked: Why? Oh God! Why did I not put that first bolt through the Hapsburg bastard’s brain?
Steve Goble’s fantasy fiction has appeared in several venues. Visit www.stevegoble.com/blog to learn more.
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20 Responses to “TELL’S CHOICE • by Steve Goble”
Comments
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October 14th, 2007 at 4:33 am
Now THAT is wonderful, how everything depends on a single choice and the targets we choose to go for. Rich, rich, rich! Powerful stuff. My hands down very favourite story so far on EDF.
October 14th, 2007 at 5:24 am
Neat twist. I really liked this story. A sad day when we discover our idol has feet of clay – or makes the wrong decision.
October 14th, 2007 at 7:27 am
Nice twist on an old tale–Loved it!
October 14th, 2007 at 8:14 am
I’d never seen the legend of William Tell explored in such a manner. An fine example of how society’s morals change through the centuries.
October 14th, 2007 at 8:18 am
An interesting twist on a well known tale. Well done, it was an absorbing read.
regards
John Ritchie
October 14th, 2007 at 9:17 am
Thank you, all. My wife has often commented that parenthood seems to have improved my writing; I’m certain I never would have written “Tell’s Choice” before I became a father.
I’m glad you like it, and I’m very glad to see it here at EDF.
– Steve
October 14th, 2007 at 9:39 am
Great story, Steve!
October 14th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Well done! Loved the “twist” at the end, how we all have to live with the choices we make and the consequences of those choices, and how some might see a hero while others see something else, the truth perhaps?
October 14th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Ditto all of the above
October 14th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
Awesomeness!
Clyde
October 14th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
Thanks, all. I’m a tad overwhelmed. This particular story had been sold to another market a while back, but that magazine went on extended hiatus. So I tried again with EDF, and I’m really glad I did. Most of the time, writers of short stories don’t get a whole lot of feedback from readers.
– Steve
October 15th, 2007 at 3:54 am
I really like this story, very sad, great tone. It feels like a classic.
October 18th, 2007 at 11:35 am
[...] And while I’m shamelessly plugging my fiction here, let me provide links to Tell’s Choice, my historical ghost story over at “Every Day Fiction,” and to The Bloofer Lady, a [...]
November 14th, 2007 at 8:28 am
Hey, Steve-o! Better late than never, right? Enjoyed it immensely – now I know what all the hubbub was about.
November 26th, 2007 at 9:10 am
[...] It’s my second appearance in this flash-story-a-day venue. My ghostly take on the William Tell legend, Tell’s Choice, garnered a lot of good responses in October. If you are so inclined, you can read it here. [...]
December 5th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
Nice!
January 30th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
[...] Sarah Hilary, “Lolita’s Lynch Mob” 24) Steve Goble, “Tell’s Choice” 27) Robert J Santa, “For Cabbages and Ale” 28) Kathleen Mack, [...]
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:55 am
[...] My flash story, Tell’s Choice, is rated in the top ten stories published at “Every Day Fiction.” Not too shabby, considering the one-flash-a-day venture has published about 200 stories to date. If you haven’t read it and are so inclined, you can read Tell’s Choice here. [...]
March 15th, 2008 at 3:46 am
Too long have I not posted here on EDF, and about this particular story. This is indeed a fine tale. Always looking forward to more from Mr. Goble.
March 19th, 2008 at 1:27 am
UI echo all the comments above.