You know how South Africa had Nelson Mandela as a struggle hero? The Swiss had their own, and his name was Wilhelm Tell. A man I imagine was a handsome giant with great teeth, olive skin, a man bun and thighs of steel.
Flag: Yellow
Elevation: 441m
Distance: 7,5km
Villages crossed: Immensee and Greppen
During the first two days of my arrival in Weggis, the weather was miserable, it was drizzling and foggy. This is not ideal for hiking. So we kept our heads down and counted the days until the sun came out. It eventually did on the third day. CO and I decided to take advantage of this and thus embarked on our first trail to Küssnacht. This trail is long and flat, but the scenery and the historical sites make it interesting.
The legend of Wilhelm Tell
You know how South Africa had Nelson Mandela as a struggle hero? The Swiss had their own, and his name was Wilhelm Tell. A man I imagine was a handsome giant with great teeth, olive skin, a man bun and thighs of steel. I also imagine I would have been his wife, except he lived 710 years ago, in 1307 to be precise. So he had no choice but to marry some personality-free farm Julia. Just like Mandela had no choice but to change wives, because when he was the marrying age, I was not yet a twinkle in my daddy’s eye.
Anyway, this hottie named Wilhelm, lived in the region of Uri, an area which was ruled by a psycho from Austria named Gessler. This man was so drunk with power that he took his smelly old cap, put it on top of a pole and demanded that all that who walk past it bow down to it. Wilhelm, thought this was ridiculous and refused to do so.
As expected, Gessler was deeply upset by this. He demanded that Wilhelm be brought to him, to answer for his crime. He ordered him to bow to the hat, naturally Wilhelm said, up yours. So the Idi Amin of Austria, took Wilhelm’s son and put an apple on his head and told Wilhelm shoot it with a crossbow, and if he hits the apple, he will let him go. Fortunately the arrow did not hit his son. At this point Wilhelm had resolved that he would end the miserable life of Gissler, weather he arrow struck his son or not. Then one day, Wilhelm bumped into Gissler and his boys in Hohle Gasse, and Wil, put an arrow in Gissler’s heart while his buddies watched him take his last breath. The end.
Hohle Gasse then
A much loved man
Hohle Gasse still exists to this day, it is a narrow passage in the forest of Küssnacht, also in Kanton Shcwyz. Where the passage ends you will find a chapel (there is a least twenty in every village, but more about that in another post). There is a pavillon ( a deck) with everything you need to know about Wilhelm Tell and Gissler. This struggle hero is adored by many of the Swiss villages and you wouldn’t have to look hard to find his statue. Just as much as you wouldn’t break a sweat looking for things with the face of Mandela.
Hohle Gasse now
Christine and I now. 🙂
Photo cred: Otto and Google images
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