Ladies and Gentlemen, Arnold von Winkelried:

I walked past this statue every day I went to school, as an exchange student. Not many of my classmates tended to care very much about it. More for me!

Winkelried, by the way, is the guy laying on the ground with all the spears in his chest. The fact that he is a well-muscled and immaculately groomed representation in the statue may be a remnant of the Romanticism that was sweeping Europe around the time of the statue’s carving. Winkelried and his compatriots were not wealthy soldiers, more likely farmers. Winkelried may not have even existed, but he has such a great story, who cares?

There was a great battle, where both sides were in a defensive stalemate position. The way it was told to me is that both sides had their halberds pointed at the other line, but were jammed in so tight by a narrow pass that they couldn’t move.

Thinking quickly, Winkelried jumped onto the spears of as many of the enemy as possible, opening a place in the line for his compatriots to follow, allowing the Swiss to win the battle of Sempach.

Winkelried is as much a revered patriot to the Swiss as William Tell, rebelling for the cause under the thumb of the Holy Roman Empire. So, why do we in the US know more about William Tell? Maybe because Tell lived to see the end? Who knows. Remember, Tell showed great skill and grace by shooting an apple off his own kid’s head. Any fool with two arms and a chest can leap on some spears and martyr himself. Or, maybe it’s just easier to say “William Tell” then “Arnold von Winkelried.”

For more: to the WIKIPEDIA