switzerland

13. International Screenwriters´ Workshop & Master ClassES 201313. International Screenwriters´ Workshop & Master ClassES 2013WHAT WAS THAT AGAIN WITH THE APPLE?WHERE DOES HEIDI ACTUALLY LIVE?No other Swiss person is so widely known as Wilhelm (William) Tell, theSwiss National Hero of Liberty - thanks to the German poet Friedrich vonSchiller and his drama Wilhelm Tell. William Tell’s picture can be seenon the back of coins worth 5 Swiss Francs (largest coin in Switzerland,approximately 4 US $) - but there is reasonable doubt whether WilhelmTell ever has lived at all. However, the verylegend of William Tell itself did have an enormousinfluence on the history of Switzerlandand of other countries. It is set in the periodof the original foundation of the Old SwissConfederacy in the early 14th century. Accordingto the legend, Tell—an expert marksmanwith the crossbow—assassinated Gessler, a tyrannical reeve of HabsburgAustria positioned in Altdorf, Uri. Along with Arnold Winkelried, Tellis a central figure in Swiss patriotism as it was constructed during theRestoration of the Confederacy after the Napoleonic era.“Peter! Peter! everything is on fire! All the rocks are burning,and the great snow mountain and the sky! O look, look! thehigh rock up there is red with flame! O the beautiful, fierysnow! “It is always like that,” said Peter; “but it is not reallyfire.” “What is it then?” cried Heidi, as she ran backwards andforwards to look first one side and then the other, for she feltshe could not have enough of such a beautiful sight. “What isit, Peter, what is it?” she repeated. “It gets like that of itself,”explained Peter. “Look, look!” cried Heidi in fresh excitement,“now they have turned all rose color! “O how beautiful, lookat the crimson snow! “It will come again to-morrow,” saidPeter. “Is it like that every day, shall we see it every day whenwe bring the goats up here?” asked Heidi. “It is like that mostdays,” he replied.“Heidi” is a delightful story for children of life in the Alps, one of manytales written by the Swiss authoress, Johanna Spyri. The record of theearly life of this Swiss child amid the beauties of her passionately lovedmountain-home and during her exile in the great town has been formany years a favorite book of younger readers in Germany and America.Maienfeld in the Swiss canton of GraubündenJohanna Spyri (1827 – 1901) was a Swiss author of children’s stories, andis best known for her book Heidi. Born in the rural area of Hirzel, Switzerland,as a child she spent several summers in the area around Chur inGraubünden, the setting she later would use in her novels.The Legend of William Tell and in which Swiss town did William Tell shoot an apple off his son’s head?The legend as told by Tschudi (ca. 1570) goes as follows: William Tell,who originally came from Bürglen, was known as a strong man, mountainclimber, and an expert shot with the crossbow. In his time, theHabsburg emperors of Austria were seeking to dominate Uri. Albrecht(or Hermann) Gessler, the newly appointed Austrian Vogt of Altdorf,raised a pole in the village’s central square, hung his hat on top of it,and demanded that all the townsfolk bow before the hat.On 18 November 1307, Tell visited Altdorf with his young son andpassed by the hat, publicly refusing to bow to it, and so was arrested.Gessler—intrigued by Tell’s famed marksmanship, yet resentful of hisdefiance—devised a cruel punishment: Tell and his son would be executed,but he could redeem his life by shooting an apple off the head ofhis son, Walter, in a single attempt. Tell split the apple with a bolt fromhis crossbow. But Gessler noticed that Tell had removed two crossbowbolts from his quiver, not one. Before releasing Tell, he asked why. Tellreplied that if he had killed his son, he would have used the secondbolt on Gessler himself. Gessler was angered, and had Tell bound.Tell was brought to Gessler’s ship to be taken to his castle at Küssnachtto spend his newly won life in a dungeon. But, as a storm broke onLake Lucerne, the soldiers were afraid that their boat would founder,and unbound Tell to steer with all his famed strength. Tell made useof the opportunity to escape, leaping from the boat at the rocky sitenow known as the Tellsplatte (“Tell’s slab”) and memorialized by theTellskapelle.Local tradition says that a first chapel had been constructed in 1388 atthe place where William Tell is said to have escaped from boat of thebailiff Gessler. The oldest documents mentioning a chapel there dateback to 1516/1530, however. Tell’s chapel became a place of pilgrimagefrom the 16th century on. The current chapel was constructed in 1879.WELCOME TO HEIDI`S VILLAGEVisitors from all over the world will find themselves transported back tothe time of the story of Heidi when they come to Johanna Spyri’s “Heidihaus”(Heidi’s house), in Heidi’s Village (Heididorf) at Maienfeld.The theme of Heidi’s Village is “Heidi: yesterday - today - tomorrow”. Itis an experience that is likely to warm the hearts of children and pleaseadult Heidi fans as well. Heidi’s Village takes visitors on an emotionaljourney back through time to the Swiss alpine landscape of the late 19thcentury. Here they can get an authentic picture of the area that inspiredJohanna Spyri’s world famous Heidi story. The village comprises Heidi’shouse, a museum , a souvenir shop and post office.Maienfeld is a municipality in the district of Landquart in the Swiss cantonof Graubünden. It is a tourist destination in the Alps, both because ofthe local wine and because it was the setting of the story Heidi.Johanna Spyri’s classic book Heidi is largely set in Maienfeld.Heidi’s houseTell’s Chapel near Sisikon (Lake Lucerne, Switzerland)40 41