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Explore: Gaelic translation of 'Wilhelm Tell'

A title page of a book. The title is "Uilliam Tell". The text below says "le Friedrich Schiller". There is further text in Scottish Gaelic.

Title page of Katherine Whyte Grant's Gaelic translation of Friedrich Schiller's drama 'Wilhelm Tell'

This is a Gaelic translation of the drama about the Swiss folk hero Wilhelm Tell (more commonly known as William Tell), who shot an apple from his son's head with a crossbow.

Tell, a 14th century crossbow marksman, did so to save his son's life, according to the popular legend. There were many legends surrounding Tell. In this story, he assassinated the tyrannical foreign ruler of his region and became the founder of the Swiss Confederacy.

Poet and playwright Friedrich Schiller (1759 to 1805) wrote 'Wilhelm Tell' in German in 1804. The story was still a favourite of theatre-goers and readers long after it was written. It was translated into Gaelic by Scottish writer Catrìona Nic-'Ille-Bhàin Ghrannd or Katherine Whyte Grant (1845 to 1928), in 1893.

Katherine Whyte Grant did her translation of Schiller's play from the original German into Gaelic. Only her initials appear on the title page. Steeped in the storytelling tradition, she also published her own stories and poems in Gaelic as well as other translations.

[Library reference: 1893.31(14)]

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