Felicia Hemans in The New Monthly Magazine Volume 11 1824/The Cavern of the Three Tells

by Felicia Hemans

For other versions of this work, see The Cavern of the Three Tells.

The New Monthly Magazine, Volume 11, Pages 148-149

THE CAVERN OF THE THREE TELLS.

A Swiss Tradition.

The three founders of the Helvetic Confederacy are thought to sleep in a cavern near the Lake of Lucerne. The herdsmen call them the Three Tells, and say that they lie there in their antique garb, in quiet slumber; and when Switzerland is in her utmost need, they will awaken and regain the liberties of the land.—See Quarterly Review, No. 44.

Oh! enter not yon shadowy cave,
    Seek not the bright spars there,
Though the whispering pines, that o'er it wave,
    With freshness fill the air.
        For there the patriot-three,
            In the garb of old array'd,
        By their native forest-sea*^[1]
            On a rocky couch are laid.

The patriot-three that met of yore,
    Beneath the midnight sky,
And leagued their hearts on the Grütli shore†^[2]
    In the name of Liberty!
        Now silently they sleep
            Amidst the hills they freed,
        But their rest is only deep
            Till their country's hour of need.

They start not at the hunter's call,
    Nor the Lammer-geyer's cry,
Nor the rush of a sudden torrent's fall,
    Nor the Lauwine thundering by!
        And the Alpine herdsman's lay,
            To a Switzer's heart so dear,
        On the wild wind floats away,
            No more for them to hear.

But when the battle-horn is blown
    Till the Schreckhorn's peaks reply,
When the Jungfrau's cliffs send back the tone
    Through their eagles' lonely sky;
        When spear-heads light the lakes,
            When trumpets loose the snows,
        When the rushing war-steed shakes
            The glacier's mute repose:

When Uri's beechen-woods wave red
    In the burning hamlet's light,
Then from the cavern of the dead.
    Shall the Sleepers wake in might!

        With a leap, like Tell's proud leap,*^[3]
            When away the helm he flung,
        And boldly up the steep
            From the flashing billow sprung!
        
They shall wake beside their forest-sea
    In the ancient garb they wore,
When they link'd the hands that made us free,
    On the Grütli's moonlight shore;
        And their voices shall be heard,
            And be answer'd with a shout,
        Till the echoing Alps are stirr'd,
            And the signal-fires blaze out!

And the land shall see such deeds again,
    As those of that proud day,
When Winkelried, on Sempack's plain,
    Through the serried spears made way!
        And when the rocks came down
            On the dark Morgarten dell,
        And the crowned helms†^[4] o'erthrown
            Before our fathers fell!

For the Kühreihen's‡^[5] notes must never sound
    In a land that wears the chain,
And the vines on Freedom's holy ground
    Untrampled must remain!
        And the yellow harvests wave,
            For no stranger's hand to reap,
        While within their silent cave
            The Men of Grutli sleep!F. H.

1. * Forest-sea, the Lake of Lucerne, or Lake of the Forest-towns, as the German name implies.
2. † The Grütli, a meadow on the shore of the Lake of Lucerne, where the founders of the Helvetic Confederacy held their meetings.
3. * The spot where Tell leaped from the boat of Gessler, is marked by a chapel, and called the Tellensprung.
4. † Crowned helmets, as a distinction of rank, are mentioned in Simond's Switzerland.
5. ‡ Kühreihen, the celebrated Ranz des Vaches.