The legend of Gelert, 1894 by Charles Burton Barber. Medieval king Llywelyn Fawr returned home to find his baby gone and his dog Gelert covered in blood. He assumed the dog had savaged the baby and he killed the dog on the spot. Then he heard the baby cry...
There's a French version of this story in which the dog is named Guinefort. He became a folk saint and people would bring their sick children to his shrine and ask him to heal them (or return their real child who had been replaced by a changeling). I love St Guinefort.
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Can't miss the Ffestiniog railway if around the area 😉
Now, I'm crying the rest of the day
My sister’s dog was called Gelly, he was a lovely boy too x
The child was unharmed, but next to it lay the dead wolf that Gelert had killed, to protect the baby. Llywelyn can't forget the sound of his dog yelping when he killed it and never smiles again. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelert Who Knoweth the Spirit of Man... by Byam Shaw (1901)
I get that he was sad about his dog, but he has a child! Surely he smiled at something his kid did? Imagine your Dad never smiled at you because he was sad about a dog you don't remember! Harsh...
It'd only take a year or two to get an equivalent replacement of the child, a dog that dedicated is much rarer.
Gourlay Steell (1819-94) LLywelyn (1173-1240) and his Brave Hound, Gelert 1880
Gelert's grave, (very) allegedly, in Beddgelert, Caernarfon Wales.
well that’s fd up
Gelert even has a little statue that stands near the grave. He was a good boy. I'm not crying.
But of course, you know, the truth of that story...
I’m on my way there later today!
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Why are you doing this to us? 😭
