List of Swiss People - Legendary and Folk Heroes

Legendary and Folk Heroes

  • Helvetia, personification ("mother") of Switzerland
  • Arnold von Melchtal, legendary founding father of Switzerland
  • Ueli Rotach, legendary hero of the 1405 battle at Stoss
  • William Tell, legendary 14th century hero
  • Arnold von Winkelried, legendary hero of the 1386 battle of Sempach

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Famous quotes containing the words legendary, folk and/or heroes:

    “By many a legendary tale of violence and wrong, as well as by events which have passed before their eyes, these people have been taught to look upon white men with abhorrence.... I can sympathize with the spirit which prompts the Typee warrior to guard all the passes to his valley with the point of his levelled spear, and, standing upon the beach, with his back turned upon his green home, to hold at bay the intruding European.”
    —Herman Melville (1819–1891)

    “Myths, as compared with folk tales, are usually in a special category of seriousness: they are believed to have “really happened,” or to have some exceptional significance in explaining certain features of life, such as ritual. Again, whereas folk tales simply interchange motifs and develop variants, myths show an odd tendency to stick together and build up bigger structures. We have creation myths, fall and flood myths, metamorphose and dying-god myths.”
    —Northrop Frye (1912–1991)

    “The heroes of the world community are not those who withdraw when difficulties ensue, not those who can envision neither the prospect of success nor the consequence of failure—but those who stand the heat of battle, the fight for world peace through the United Nations.”
    —Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)