Think of an archer shooting an apple off someone's head, and William Tell is probably a name that springs to mind. If you are Swiss, it is likely that you revere him as a national hero, responsible for the birth of Swiss independence in 1307. But throughout the world, he is most famous for shooting an apple off his son's head from 120 paces in one shot.
If the legend is true, which is far from certain, it was undoubtedly an impressive achievement, but not as impressive as people imagine. Think of Tell performing that legendary feat, and you may be picturing him with a longbow or something similar, but William Tell was renowned for his proficiency with a crossbow, as the famous statue of him in Altdorf testifies. And a crossbow is a very different species of bow.
What makes shooting an apple off someone's head with a bow and arrow so remarkable? Leaving aside, of course, modern bows with sights and such, success is determined by a number of factors: stance and positioning, knowing or guessing the correct distance, arm height, releasing the string correctly, using your back muscles properly, keeping your bow arm from moving. Any slight deviation in these matters could well be fatal for the boy under the apple.
With a crossbow, however, the only things one really need worry about are aim and distance. No less impressive as the same feat with a rifle, but nowhere near as impressive as accomplishing it with a bow.
Somehow William Tell shooting that apple has been conjured up in the minds of many as a longbow archer. Maybe deep down we all instinctively know which of those two weapons requires the greater skill.
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