Beddgelert, North Wales
By John Welford
@indexer (4852)
Leicester, England
October 3, 2018 3:05am CST
This is Gelert's Grave in the village of Beddgelert in Snowdonia, North Wales - the name is Welsh for "grave of Gelert".
Gelert was a hound that belonged to Llewelyn, Prince of Wales in the 13th century. The story goes that Llewelyn was away from home when a wolf came to his house and attacked his baby son, but Gelert fought the wolf and saw it off, despite being injured.
When Llewelyn came home he could not see the child, but he did see Gelert, covered in blood. He drew the conclusion that Gelert had killed his son and immediately killed the dog. However, as soon as he had done so he heard the baby crying and discovered where Gelert had hidden him in safety from the wolf.
Llewelyn never forgave himself for his rash action, and he made sure that Gelert had a fitting memorial.
(The photo is not mine, but is taken from a copyright-free source)
4 people like this
3 responses
@indexer (4852)
• Leicester, England
3 Oct 18
He did - although he later fell foul of the English King Edward I and was killed in battle in 1282. Edward had his head taken to London and stuck on a pole at the Tower of London. His dog's remains were shown much more respect by him than his own were by King Edward.
2 people like this
@JohnRoberts (109841)
• Los Angeles, California
3 Oct 18
A dire consequence of jumping to conclusions.
