Tell is a revered historical figure in Europe. Hermann Gessler, the local potentate of the Hapsburg monarch, forces Tell to shoot the apple off his son's head because he refused to bow before Gessler's hat. Tell drills the apple cleanly and wins both his and his son's freedom. When Gessler asked Tell why he had two arrows in his quiver, Tell informed him that the second was for Gessler, had Tell missed with the first arrow. His defiance ignited an uprising against the Austrian government that led to the formation of Switzerland.