14. The Swiss Patriot and the Spears

Many years ago when an Austrian army was marching into Switzerland, Swiss peasants came down from the mountains with bows and arrows, scythes and pitchforks, sticks and clubs, to save their country. The Austrian soldiers were all armed with spears and shields and shining armor, and as they moved together in solid ranks, what could the poor peasants do against such foes? “We must break their ranks if we win!” cried the Swiss leader. So bowmen shot their arrows, but they glanced from the soldiers’ shields like raindrops from a roof. Others tried their scythes and pitchforks and sticks and clubs, but the lines were still unbroken. The Austrians moved steadily forward, their shields lapping over one another and their thousand spears shining in the sunlight like so many bristles. They were unafraid before the Swiss sticks and stones and scythes and arrows. “We must break their ranks or we are lost!” cried the leader again; and in a moment a poor peasant, named Arnold Winkleried, stepped out and cried: “My friends, on the side of yonder mountain I have a happy home. There my wife and my little children await my return. But they will never see me again, for this day I give my life for my country. I commit my wife and children to your care. I will break the lines, follow me.” He had nothing in his hands, neither stone nor club nor other weapon. Rushing forward toward the soldiers he gathered a number of their spears together against his breast and fell pierced through and through. But he had broken the ranks of the enemy and made way for his countrymen to win the battle and to gain their liberty. Switzerland was saved, and the Swiss patriot did not gather the spears into his own breast in vain.