My wife has a Ukrainian (possibly Russian) student who read a
book, possibly a short story, as a child that she really liked, but
can't remember thename of it.  Here's what the book is about,
according to the fifth
grade student:


It is about a leader of a country that didn?t let people inside the
country. The leader would put a hat on a long high stick as a symbol
of not letting people in.

There was a Father and son who got caught when they were trying to get
in. The Father was made to shoot an apple on top of his son?s head.
His son doesn?t move and the Father ends up shooting the apple off his
head. Then they won a prize.

That sounds like the legendary tale of William Tell.

"William Tell from Bürglen was known as an expert marksman with the
crossbow. At the time, the Habsburg emperors were seeking to dominate
Uri. Hermann Gessler, the newly appointed Austrian Vogt of Altdorf
raised a pole in the village's central square with his hat on top and
demanded that all the local townsfolk bow before it. As Tell passed by
without bowing, he was arrested. He received the punishment of being
forced to shoot an apple off the head of his son, Walter, or else both
would be executed."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tell

This story has been retold so many times, by so many authors, that I
don't see how it would be possible to know which version the student
might have read.

Perhaps the Russian article on "Wilhelm Tell" (Wikipedia) has some
additional information:

http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BB%D1%8C%2C_%D0%92%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B3%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BC

William Tell, Wilhelm Tell, Guillermo Tell is a very good story i read
when i was only a kid, if you are interestet in get it you can buy it
here

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/104-9189163-9655127?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=william+tell&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go

there are also tv series and movies based on character.

Thank you all very, very much for your comments!  I'll cancel this
question seeing as I posted the question a little over two weeks ago,
and you've basically answered it.

Thank you very, very much!