dogs

[ianccooke]

which welsh dog was mistakenly thought to have killed a prince's baby

[lankeela]

Gelert

[lankeela]

A Short Walk south of the village, following the footpath along the banks of the Glaslyn leads to Beddgelerts most famous historical feature "Gelert's Grave". According to legend, the stone monument in the fields, marks the resting place of "Gelert" the faithfull hound of the medieval Welsh Prince Llywelyn the Great.

The story, as written on the tombstone reads:

"In the 13th century Llywelyn, prince of North Wales, had a palace at Beddgelert. One day he went hunting without Gelert, "The Faithful Hound", who was unaccountably absent. On Llywelyn's return the truant, stained and smeared with blood, joyfully sprang to meet his master. The prince alarmed hastened to find his son, and saw the infant's cot empty, the bedclothes and floor covered with blood. The frantic father plunged his sword into the hounds side, thinking it had killed his heir. The dog's dying yell was answered by a child's cry. Llywelyn searched and discovered his boy unharmed, but near by lay the body of a mighty wolf which Gelert had slain. The prince filled with remorse is said never to have smiled again. He buried Gelert here.

[B00]

That ^^^ actually brought a tear to my eye!

[Lonnie]

A truly tragic story, i'm not normally moved, but I was with this one.

[dancecaller]

We were told thar story at school. As an 8 year old I didn't like it one bit

[~Wingnut~]

Oh how sad! I don't often venture into Animals and Nature either! I'll be thinking about that all day now :o(

[electricblue]

Oh my god,,,tears!!!

[pompomfairy]

aww thats so sad brought a tear 2 my eye

[beckyreitsis]

makes me proud to be welsh :) i love the old welsh stories like this one. brings a tear to my eye every time!!

[unruliejulie]

isn't this story the reason why we have the saying "cry wolf" or am i getting mixed up?

[unruliejulie]

No, sorry, im totally wrong with that one. That was about a little boy who kept shouting that a wolf was coming to get him. In the end, no one listened and the wolf did come and eat him, something like that anyway. Don't know why i associated that, just ignore me! ;-)

[CrazyWolfman]

What a load of rubbish!
1. In at least the last 200 years no-one has been killed by a healthy, wild wolf.
2. Wolves are naturally very timid of man and usually avoid contact at all costs.
3. Nine times out of ten a wolf will easily be able to bring down a dog. They are much more intelligent, have over twice the jaw strength (1500 pounds per square inch) and don't bother with any of the posturing and circling when fighting dogs, whilst the dog is still performing these behaviours the wolf will have already finished the dog or legged it.

Frankly, although it is possible, the scenario is about as likely as everyone on the planet suddenly turning into small mushrooms. Additionally, why would a wolf enter the dog's territory as well as the prince's house. We know there is plenty of food available in the surrounding countryside, otherwise it would be impossible for the prince to go hunting, therefore it wasn't because the wolf was hungry.

Good on you dancecaller! It's a silly story and was probably only invented to cover up something the prince accidentally did to his dog.

(Sorry about that, I just had to get it off my chest)