Chapter I: Front Matter

[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.]

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