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The Apple and the Arrow

Author	Mary and Conrad Buff
Illustrator	Mary and Conrad Buff
Language	English
Genre	Fable, Folk Tale, Myths and Historical Fiction
Publisher	Houghton Mifflin
Publication date	1951
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print
Pages	75 pp
ISBN	9780618128075

The Apple and the Arrow is a short children's novel written and illustrated by Mary and Conrad Buff, published by Houghton Mifflin in 1951. It retells the legend of William Tell from the viewpoint of his 12-year-old son Walter. It is set in 1291, during the political upheaval that led to the foundation of the Old Swiss Confederacy.

The Buffs were one runner-up for the 1952 Newbery Medal from the American Library Association, recognizing the previous year's "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children". The Apple and the Arrow is called a Newbery Honor Book in retrospect and may display a silver seal.

Plot

In the years between 1290 and 1291, the people of Uri deal with tyranny from the nation of Austria. The story begins with Walter who enjoys shooting arrows at a tree, which he uses as a target to shoot with his bow in the Alps. He is accompanied by his younger brother Rudi and their herd dog, Prinz. After the boys finish their day shooting with their bows and arrows, they head home to milk the goats nearby a pen with three boulders that lay around the hut. When the boys head home, they see their mother Hedwig who is very playful with them. The boys talk to their mother and soon, she helps the boys with bringing buckets to milk the goats while doing other chores, and feeds the boys at home who she loves them very much. During the evening, Walter arrives home late as he talks to Hedwig about his day of hunting, as he didn't bring a chamois that he shot and killed. When he enters the house, he talks with Hedwig about going to the land of Altdorf, but Walter who is sleeping sees his parents talking outside. Hedwig who wants to give her husband something to eat, the married couple discuss the situation with the revolution and the chances of it happening. William wants Walter to keep the plan of a revolution a secret by not telling anyone. Before William leaves, he decides to take Walter with him on to the next location the following morning.

The next day, William and Walter travel together as they head for the land of Altdorf. Along the way, William decides to check out a tanner shop to start doing some trades for his wife, even though she didn't want him to travel after he got home from the mountains. Walter soon encounters his Grandfather. Walter Furst, near the Baren inn. Inside the Inn, they drank mugs of cider while they have conversations with each other. As William and Walter reach the land of Altdorf, Walter sees a group of soldiers occupying different locations within the land of Altdorf, such as the town square. As father and son continue their walk through Altdorf, a couple of soldiers yelled at them to stop as they confronted with them. Soon, many men, women and children soon appeared at the town square to witness the soldiers confronting with Walter and his father, as the soldiers arrived at the scene. Many people from the town square shouted at the soldiers, a group of knights stormed into the market place as the tyrant, Gessler, arrives and talks to William Tell as his soldiers kept a hold of him, while the crowd stood silent.

The Tells soon go into conflict with Gessler, as William talks to him. Then, Gessler tells his soldiers take Walter to a tree and tie him up with a rope. Gessler then talks to Walter about the rumors going on about William's skill as a bowman. Despite of William being unsure of the reaction to people thinking of him as a skillful bowmen, Gessler decides to challenge him to shoot an apple at the top of Walter's head, which was placed by his soldiers. William is warned that if he misses the apple or hits his son, then Gessler would kill him. As William agreed to the challenge, a monk tries to stop William from accepting Gessler's request, even though William is feeling scared of the situation. Walter shouts at William telling him to shoot the apple, as he wasn't scared of being aimed by his bow and to believe in himself. William carried on as he raised his arm with his bow and shot the arrow right into the apple,splitting the apple into two pieces, as the arrow didn't hit his son. Everyone throughout the town cheered as they ran towards William to celebrate his accomplishments of winning Gessler's challenge. Gessler soon sees that William had another arrow as he asks him why he had in the first place. William then replied to him, he said that the arrow was there in case he missed the arrow and was it was planned to be aimed at Gessler. He then orders his soldiers to capture William, as he tells his men to place him on a boat by a lake and lock him up in the dungeons within the castle of Kussnucht. Soon, the people in the town of Altdorf attacked the tyrant and his men as Walter Furst decides to take his son home.

As the following day approached, rain came down within the canton area of Uri. During the day, many people within the neighborhood traveled to the hut near the Tell family's home for a visit. Walter Furst milks the cows in the morning to keep the boys at home while he takes care of the chores. Inside the warm hut, Walter meets a boy named Ulrich, who is the son of a baker from Burglen. Ulrich who gets asked a question by Walter, he runs away to a cabin as he was hiding information that he knew about Walter's father. Ulrich comes out and talks to the Tell family and others in the room about what happened to William when he gets kidnapped.

William began the true story of his escape. He begins with talking about how the soldiers captured him with chains that were made of iron as many people from the town of Altdorf ran to help him as they retaliated by throwing stones and saying curse words to Gessler and his soldiers. As Gessler and the Knights moved ahead, William described the scene of their altercation at the boat as he was tied down beneath it. Along the way he meets an old friend of his grandfather, Peter. William explains next that during the storm, Gessler lets him take control of the boat when it was sinking. William ditches them by jumping away from the boat, and pushing it aside in the Lake of the Forest of Canton. After he sees the men in the boat, William sits at a log to think as he decides where to travel next. He then meets another friend of his father, Nicholas, who gives him food and helps him out for a bit as William has some injuries to his legs while pursuing a place called the Hollow Way. As he travels in the Alps, after he hears sounds of a variety of animals while hiding from a tree as he comtemplates of the enemies he may enouncter. He meets Gessler and his soldiers one last time as he took his arrow and shoots Gessler, which killed him instantly. He soon meets Kunz and tells him about him killing Gessler. They soon celebrate as they drank wine and some food at the hut of Kunz. Later on, William finishes the story of his escape, when he mentions the possible situations that could happen with the future of Gessler and his Austrian soldiers as the Tell family finish talking about Gessler's death as William wraps up his story. William then discusses about his plan of the revolution at New Year's Day as it's still something that he wishes to see happen.

In the end of the story, William and Rudi ask Hedwig if they can travel to Hockalp. Hedwig agrees as long as Walter takes care of Rudi. The boys depart for Hockalp as they had to travel through the snowy trails along the way.When they arrive at Hockalp, they meet a man named Klaus, as he prays to God, hoping to end the tyranny that the Swiss are going through. Soon, Walter hears a couple of sounds playing, from bells to other sorts of noises as a group of men began to lit fire around the mountains, while hearing sounds of the alphorn, flute, bells, melodies and others. They soon sang songs as people held hands and marched at a slow pace, around the fires that they set. As many as 33 men, were there singing as the castle of Zwing-Uri gets lit with fire as Gessler's castle gets captured. Soon, the people in the mountains began to feel joyful as Walter begins to take part of the events that were happening in Hockalp as he danced with them. He then notices that he wasn't with Rudi by his side. With the help of whistling, he finds Rudi sleeping near a tree as he wakes him up. Marie and the boys head home along with other people from Swiss for the New Year that soon turned the year 1291, as the new nation of Switzerland became part of Europe. The story concludes with mentioning the future of William, as he is now an old man who is respected among the people of Uri for helping to end the tyranny of Gessler and Austria. Walter grows up to become similar like his father, as he too became a bowmen and hunts in the Swiss mountains as well. He later marries Marie and raise two sons and daughtes together, while naming his older son William, after his father. The story of Walter's father and his grandfather helping to make Switzerland a new country, were told by children from one generation to the next. The story of William Tell and his plan against tyranny is over.

Characters

• William Tell- A mountaineer from the Swiss Alps as he often doesn't come home to see his family in some occassions. His goal is to start a revolution against Austria. He is the father of Walter.
• Walter Tell- The 11 year old male protagonist who lives in Uri. He admires the personality of his father who travels in the Alps. He dreams of becoming a bowman someday like William.
• Rudi- He is the younger brother of Walter.
• Hedwig Tell- She is the mother of young Walter and the wife of William. She spends her time at home doing chores around the house while she takes care of the boys.
• Prinz- A herd dog that lives with Walter and the rest of the family. He sometimes accompanies the boys when they travel in the Alps.
• Walter Furst- He is the father of William Tell. He's also the grandfather of Walter Tell.
• Rudolph- Known for being a ruler of Germany, Austria, and the cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Underwalden. His role as a king included things such as collecting taxes from his people and sending noblemen to dispute judgment with the people of Uri.
• Gessler- A tyrant from Austria, who leads his soldiers and knights to the land of Altdorf. He is the enemy of William Tell as they have confrontations with each other throughout the storyline.
• Albredcht- The successor as the new king and is the son of Rudolph. His role as king were opposite of his father as he didn't want the people from the land of Uri to have freedom.
• Peter- An old friend of William's father, Furster. He is a soldier under the order of the tyrant Gessler as the Tell family described his past as someone who was kind and friendly.
• Nicholas- Another friend of Walter's grandfather. He helps William by giving him food and other things he needed after his escape.
• Ulrich- The son of a pastry man who Walter meets. He tells the neighbors in the hut about the story of William who was kidnapped by Gessler.
• Marie- A young herd girl from the Alps. She meets Walter during the story.

Awards

Newbery Honor Award in 1952.

See also

• Children's Literature

• Switzerland

References

1. http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/apple-and-arrow

2. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1077704.The_Apple_and_the_Arrow

3. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/mary-buff/the-apple-and-the-arrow/