Shooting an apple off one's child's head of the story is in the legend of William Tell, supposedly happening to start off the Swiss revolution, written first in the 15th-century "White Book of Sarnen", then in Aegidius Tschudi's 16th-century "Chronicon Helveticum", and later the basis for Friedrich Schiller's 1804 play. Tell is arrested for failing to bow in respect to the hat that the newly appointed Austrian "Vogt", Albrecht Gessler, has placed on a pole, and Gessler commands him to shoot an apple off his son's head with a single bolt from his crossbow. After splitting the apple with the single shot (supposedly on November 18, 1307),
Journey to the Past befriends and adopts a small dog named Pooka, whom she takes with her on her journey. Filmtracks.com observed that the sequence "wrap[s] the story together with the necessary positive spirit." According to the book "Show Music", "'Journey to the Past' effectively states [Anya's] goal to find 'Home, love, family' while revealing a feisty spirit." Tim Brayton of Alternate Ending described "Journey to the Past" as a "Yearning Song", finding it to be "a somewhat unconventional version of the trope, in that the heroine is active, rather than passive". "Entertainment Weekly"'s Maureen Lee Lenker identified "Journey to the Past" as "a