William Tell

Remember William Tell?  Who shot an apple off of his son's head?

What was up with that, anyway?

I checked the Wikipedia page and it appears to be entirely mythological (despite oddly specific dates being given...apparently the apple incident was said to have occurred on 18 November 1307, for instance).  William Tell, the legend goes, was a man from what is today Switzerland who defied a tyrant, was really good at archery, and became a vigilante assassin type.  His son's name was Walter.

For those who study these sorts of things, the story of William Tell has connections with similar Germanic, Danish, and Norse oral traditions (wonderfully, there is another Wikipedia page entitled "Shooting an apple off one's child's head" that will tell you all about it).  I suppose Americans these days aren't too interested in Mr. Tell and Son, but the Germans, French, and Swiss apparently find the story quite gripping...there are a lot of operas, essays, and insurrections held in the name of William Tell from these parts, it would appear.  One American was quite inspired by the Tell saga, though: his name was John Wilkes Booth, and this might explain the lack of popularity that William Tell experiences in my neck of the woods today.