The story of William Tell from an email posted by luckygunner.com:
If you do not remember the 14th century story of William Tell, it bears repeating as it's a "Braveheart"-type tale that's 100% real. Tell's story goes like this... William Tell was an expert marksman with a crossbow who originally hailed from a tiny town called Burglen, in what is now part of Switzerland. When he was a man, the 14th century Habsburg emperors of Austria were seeking to dominate this part of Switzerland that Tell called home. One day, the newly appointed Hapsburg chief of the region raised a pole in Burglen's central square and hung his hat on top of it. He demanded that all the local townsfolk bow before the hat. When Tell passed by the hat without bowing to it, he was immediately arrested. As punishment, Tell was forced to shoot an apple off the head of his son, Walter, or else both would be executed. Tell had been promised freedom if he successfully shot the apple.On November 18th, 1307, Tell drew a single arrow from his quiver and split the apple with his crossbow, without harming his son. The town was amazed and the chief was aghast. When the chief asked Tell about the purpose of the remaining second arrow in his quiver, Tell answered that if he had killed his son, he would have turned the crossbow on the chief himself. The chief became enraged at Tell's defiant response.As a result, the chief had Tell bound and brought to the chief's ship to be taken to his castle at Kussnacht, the capital, which was several days travel away. During Tell's journey on the ship, a storm broke out on Lake Lucerne and the ship was capsized. At this moment, Tell managed to escape. Now a fugitive from the chief, Tell went to Kussnacht himself and waited for the chief to arrive. Upon the chief's arrival, Tell shot and killed him with his crossbow.Tell's defiance of the chief sparked a rebellion in which Tell himself acted out a leading part. This rebellion eventually drove out the ruling Hapsburgs and lead to the formation of the country we now know as Switzerland.To make this story even more amazing, Tell later died in 1354 while trying to save a child from drowning in the alpine river Schachenbach after sparking this revolution.