(photo courtesy of Nordique)
At the time William Tell was known as a famed mountain climber and renowned for his strength. His most famous quality however was his expert marksmanship with the crossbow! Back in the 1300s, the land he lived in was dominated by the Habsburg Empire of Austria who wanted to control the area known as Uri. Albrecht Gessler, the newly appointed head of Altdorf, decided that he would string up a poll and on top of it and place his hat. His rule was that everyone who passed by had to bow down before it in respect for his authority and sovereignty over the land.
As we were saying, on that fateful day of November 18th, the defiant William Tell walked by this pole with a funny hat on top, and whole heartedly refused to bow before it. Angered by his deviance and rebellion of power, Gessler had William Tell imprisoned and slated for execution! However, Gessler was so intrigued by William Tell, he gave him one shot to redeem himself: Shoot a single arrow through a target. The only thing was, the target was an apple sitting on the top of his young son Walter’s head!
Tell, with no other option, placed the apple upon his son’s head and walked back to take aim at the hardest target he would ever have to make. He took out the arrow, pulled back the quiver, and put all the focus and concentration his brain could muster into firing this one shot that would either bring life or death.
With a swoosh, the arrow flew from the bow and went straight between the apple on top of Walter’s head. And as they say the rest is history!
Imagine the concentration it would take to fire an arrow right through the apple on top of the head of the person dearest to you!
Thankfully, we do not need to ever do things dangerous like that today but if you want to test your concentration skills, why not test them against our wooden brain teasers which will be sure to make you use every ounce of focus and concentration possible! Head over to our wooden brainteaser section to start right away!
Comments by Adam