Story Time

Story Time

Once upon a time, in the ancient Welsh Kingdom of Gwynedd, Prince Llywelyn returned home from a fruitless winter hunt. He had had no luck on his expedition as his best and beloved hound, Gelert, was missing from the pack this day.

Llywelyn was struck by horror upon entering the room of his infant son, for the room was in disarray, the cot was overturned and Gelert, drenched in blood and gore, stood sentinel, his eyes brightening at his master's return.

Enraged by grief for his baby boy, Llywelyn drew his sword and struck Gelert down in a single stroke, only hearing the sound of his son, very much alive, begin to cry. Llywelyn pulled aside the cot and mess of blankets to find his boy, unharmed and laying next to the bloody body of a great wolf.

Upon realising his mistake, Llywelyn's heart was filled with so much sorrow and guilt that he never smiled again as the dying yelp of his brave and loyal dog haunted him. He buried Gelert in a fine cemetery in a town now called Beddgelert, in English, "Gelert's Grave" where a monument to the dog stands today.

As a Welsh man this is a story I've known from childhood, but today I learned of another brave dog of legend which is uncannily similar. In France, a Knight returned home to find his blood stained dog in his infant's nursery. The Knight struck the dog down only to discover his child lived and the body of a snake in his crib. The dog, Guinfort, became Saint Guinfort, the only dog to achieve sainthood, though not recognised by the Catholic Church.

The similarity of these two tales is unsurprising as they are both a variation of the Faithful Hound motif, that actually originated in India in the form of The Brahmin and the Mongoose. Though undoubtedly myths, there is the very true story of Jock of the Bushveld, which is both a book and a film so I won't spoil it.

The random things I see in the middle of nowhere when walking the dogs aye

In my Mam's garden

Fallen

Not bad like

Pilgrim in the dark wood