



Produced by Branko Collin, Suzanne L. Shell, Charles Franks
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team, and the
Oxford College Library of Emory University







[Transcriber's note: _William Tell Told Again_ is two children's books
in one. One is a picture book--16 full-color illustrations by Philip
Dadd described in verse by John W. Houghton. The other is a humorous
novel by P. G. Wodehouse, based on the picture book. The novel has a
lengthier storyline, a more intricate plot, and more characterization.
The bound volume intermingled the picture book with the novel,
illustrations and poems appearing at regular intervals. Most pictures
and verses were distant from the page of the novel that they reflected.

For this text version, placeholders for the illustrations (with plate
numbers) have been inserted following the paragraph in the novel that
describes the events being illustrated. The verse descriptions of the
illustrations, labelled with plate numbers, have been moved to the end
of the novel, so as not to disrupt the story. Each verse also has an
illustration placeholder that includes the phrase from the novel shown
as a description on the List of Illustrations.]


[Illustration: Frontispiece]






WILLIAM TELL TOLD AGAIN




BY P. G. WODEHOUSE

1904


WITH
ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR BY PHILIP DADD
DESCRIBED IN VERSE BY JOHN W. HOUGHTON




[Dedication]
TO BIDDY O'SULLIVAN
FOR A CHRISTMAS PRESENT




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


SOMETIMES IT WAS ONLY A BIRD [Frontispiece]

GESSLER'S METHODS OF PERSUASION [Plate I]

THEY WOULD MARCH ABOUT, BEATING TIN CANS AND SHOUTING [Plate II]

AN EGG FLEW ACROSS THE MEADOW, AND BURST OVER LEUTHOLD'S SHOULDER
[Plate III]

"HERE! HI!" SHOUTED THE SOLDIERS, "STOP!" [Plate IV]

THEY SAW FRIESSHARDT RAISE HIS PIKE, AND BRING IT DOWN WITH ALL HIS
FORCE ON TELL'S HEAD [Plate V]

"LOOK HERE!" HE BEGAN. "LOOK THERE!" SAID FRIESSHARDT [Plate VI]

FRIESSHARDT RUSHED TO STOP HIM [Plate VII]

THE CROWD DANCED AND SHOUTED [Plate VIII]

"COME, COME, COME!" SAID GESSLER, "TELL ME ALL ABOUT IT" [Plate IX]

"I HAVE HERE AN APPLE" [Plate X]

THERE WAS A STIR OF EXCITEMENT IN THE CROWD [Plate XI]

A MOMENT'S SUSPENSE, AND THEN A TERRIFIC CHEER AROSE FROM THE
SPECTATORS [Plate XII]

"SEIZE THAT MAN!" HE SHOUTED [Plate XIII]

HE WAS LED AWAY TO THE SHORE OF THE LAKE [Plate XIV]

TELL'S SECOND ARROW HAD FOUND ITS MARK [Plate XV]





     The Swiss, against their Austrian foes,
       Had ne'er a soul to lead 'em,
     Till Tell, as you've heard tell, arose
       And guided them to freedom.
     Tell's tale we tell again--an act
       For which pray no one scold us--
     This tale of Tell we tell, in fact,
       As this Tell tale was told us.





WILLIAM TELL




CHAPTER I


Once upon a time, more years ago than anybody can remember, before the
first hotel had been built or the first Englishman had taken a
photograph of Mont Blanc and brought it home to be pasted in an album
and shown after tea to his envious friends, Switzerland belonged to the
Emperor of Austria, to do what he liked with.

One of the first things the Emperor did was to send his friend Hermann
Gessler to govern the country. Gessler was not a nice man, and it soon
became plain that he would never make himself really popular with the
Swiss. The point on which they disagreed in particular was the question
of taxes. The Swiss, who were a simple and thrifty people, objected to
paying taxes of any sort. They said they wanted to spend their money on
all kinds of other things. Gessler, on the other hand, wished to put a
tax on everything, and, being Governor, he did it. He made everyone who
owned a flock of sheep pay a certain sum of money to him; and if the
farmer sold his sheep and bought cows, he had to pay rather more money
to Gessler for the cows than he had paid for the sheep. Gessler also
taxed bread, and biscuits, and jam, and buns, and lemonade, and, in
fact, everything he could think of, till the people of Switzerland
determined to complain. They appointed Walter Fuerst, who had red hair
and looked fierce; Werner Sta