The grave of gelert - pets

Just south of Snowdon, in the grey-stoned village of Beddgelert set among the wild mountains of Wales, is the Grave of Gelert. Here, in a charming field below Cerrig Llan, is a large stone slab lying on its side with two upright slabs which owes its fame to the legend of Prince Llewelyn ap Iorwerth and his faithful hound.

Llewelyn (1173-1240 CE) was very fond of hunting and in the summer he lived in a hunting lodge at the foot of Mt. Snowdon. Even if he had many dogs, his favourite was the brave Gelert, his great Irish Wolfhound, not only a dog bold in the hunt, but a loyal ally and companion at the fireside.

One critical day on the hunt, Gelert refused to accompany his master further, but as a replacement for he ran cry back to the Lodge. When Llewellyn returned he was met by his dog, bounding to meet him, but streaked with blood about his muzzle. On incoming his existing quarters, Llewellyn found a scene of chaos with rooms higgledy-piggledy and articles scattered in heaps. Now Llewelyn had a son, barely a year old, and as the prince recalled how Gelert and his diminutive boy used to play together, a terrible belief came to his mind !

He rushed to the garden center only to find the the frame was overturned, the bed clothes bloody and although he looked crazily for his son, the child could not be found.

Turning to Gelert, whose gag was still wet with blood, Llewelyn came into a great rage and cried, "Thou hast killed my only son!", and drew his sword and drove it into the heart of the hound.

Then - as all was silent but for the steady drip of blood onto the stone flag floor, the wail of a baby could be heard. On penetrating additional Llewellen found his son safe and well, lying next to the body of a large grey wolf.

It was plain to see what had happened !

Gelert had killed the wolf even as defending the baby from attack. Overcome with grief at his hasty action, Llewellyn obscured Gelert with all honour and raised a monument over his grave.

From then on the clearing was known as Beddgelert, consequence "Gelert's Grave" and this is the customary tale still told today.

Where do these tales come from ? It's likely that the village of Beddgelert conventional its name from an Irish Wolf Hound given to Llewellyn as a gift by his father-in-law, King John of England.

Irish Wolfhounds were known and fashionable in Rome as early as 391 C. E. when the first allusion of the breed was on paper by the Roman Diplomat Quintus Aurelius, who had conventional seven of them as a gift which "all Rome viewed with wonder. "

The story of a dog slain in error after butchery a wolf seems to have been friendly to Llewellyn about 1793-4 by a local inn-keeper. A communal adequate occurrence along the same lines of hotels and taverns introduction signs like "Ye Olde Inne" to be a focus for more custom. William Spencer visited Beddgelert and, on consideration the tale, wrote his all the rage ballad about the faithful Gelert and so the story grew into the dialect and gossip of Wales

However, the legend after all this myths is enormously old, although the animals caught up firstly were neither wolves nor dogs.

A mongoose who saved a Brahmin's son from a snake is found in the Indian Panchatantra. It was printed in Sanskrit a moment or two in the third century C. E and later translated into Persian and Arabic. We find it in the Book of Sindibad and thence our own Arabian Nights

The mongoose wasn't known in the Arab world, so it became a weasel, and then a dog. The snake remained. A adaptation of this story reached Wales and was recorded in the 14th century in the Red Book of Hergest.

In Welsh folktales the snake is replaced by a wolf in all probability for the reason that it was a more possible assailant and by now had a awesome reputation

So in this tale we see how time, legends and story-telling about the fire has fused as one traditions from many sources and bent them into a legend still honoured at Gelert's Grave.

Susanna Duffy is a Civil Celebrant, grief counsellor and mythologist. She creates ceremonies and Rites of Passage for character and civic functions, and specialises in carousing for women. http://celebrant. yarralink. com