Melchthal monologue (Act 2) — Wilhelm Tell

Through the Surenen's fearful mountain chain, Where dreary ice-fields stretch on every side, And sound is none, save the hoarse vulture's cry, I reached the Alpine pasture, where the herds From Uri and from Engelberg resort, And turn their cattle forth to graze in common. Still as I went along, I slaked my thirst With the coarse oozings of the lofty glacier, That through the crevices come foaming down, And turned to rest me in the herdsman's cots, [15] Where I was host and guest, until I gained The cheerful homes and social haunts of men. Already through these distant vales had spread The rumor of this last atrocity; And wheresoe'er I went, at every door, Kind words and gentle looks were there to greet me. I found these simple spirits all in arms Against our rulers' tyrannous encroachments. For as their Alps through each succeeding year Yield the same roots,--their streams flow ever on In the same channels,--nay, the clouds and winds The selfsame course unalterably pursue, So have old customs there, from sire to son, Been handed down, unchanging and unchanged; Nor will they brook to swerve or turn aside From the fixed, even tenor of their life. With grasp of their hard hands they welcomed me-- Took from the walls their rusty falchions down-- And from their eyes the soul of valor flashed With joyful lustre, as I spoke those names, Sacred to every peasant in the mountains, Your own and Walter Fuerst's. Whate'er your voice Should dictate as the right they swore to do; And you they swore to follow e'en to death. So sped I on from house to house, secure In the guest's sacred privilege--and when I reached at last the valley of my home, Where dwell my kinsmen, scattered far and near-- And when I found my father stripped and blind, Upon the stranger's straw, fed by the alms Of charity----