oting; but today
I will perform my master-feat, and win me
The best prize in the circuit of the hills.

[_A wedding company crosses the scene, and mounts up through the Pass.
Tell looks at them, leaning on his bow; Stuessi the Forester joins
him._

STUeSSI. 'Tis Klostermey'r of Morlischachen holds
His bridal feast today: a wealthy man;
Has half a score of glens i' th' Alps. They're going
To fetch the bride from Imisee; tonight
There will be mirth and wassail down at Kuessnacht.
Come you! All honest people are invited.

TELL. A serious guest befits not bridal feasts.

STUeSSI. If sorrow press you, dash it from your heart!
Seize what you can: the times are hard; one needs
To snatch enjoyment nimbly while it passes.
Here 'tis a bridal, there 'twill be a burial.

TELL. And oftentimes the one leads to the other.

STUeSSI. The way o' th' world at present! There is nought
But mischief everywhere: an avalanche
Has come away in Glarus; and, they tell me,
A side o' th' Glarnish has sunk under ground.

TELL. Do, then, the very hills give way! On earth
Is nothing that endures.

STUeSSI. In foreign parts, too,
Are strange wonders. I was speaking with a man
From Baden: a Knight, it seems, was riding
To the King; a swarm of hornets met him
By the way, and fell on's horse, and stung it
Till it dropt down dead of very torment,
And the poor Knight was forced to go afoot.

TELL. Weak creatures too have stings.

[_Armgart's Wife enters with several children, and places herself at
the entrance of the Pass._

STUeSSI. 'Tis thought to bode
Some great misfortune to the land; some black
Unnatural action.

TELL. Ev'ry day such actions
Occur in plenty: needs no sign or wonder
To foreshow them.

STUeSSI. Ay, truly! Well for him
That tills his field in peace, and undisturb'd
Sits by his own fireside!

TELL. The peacefulest
Dwells not in peace, if wicked neighbours hinder.

[_Tell looks often, with restless expectation, towards the top of the
Pass._

STUeSSI. Too true.--Good b'ye!--You're waiting here for some one?

TELL. That am I.

STUeSSI. Glad meeting with your friends!
You are from Uri? His Grace the Landvogt
Is expected thence today.

TRAVELLER [_enters_]. Expect not
The Landvogt now. The waters, from the rain,
Are flooded, and have swept down all the bridges. [_Tell stands up._

ARMGART [_coming forward_].