Gelert (also spelled as «Gellert»; Q7401288
on Wikidata) is the name of a Welsh folktale
dog who lived in Beddgelert in Gwynedd (a small
village by Yr Wyddfa with, as of 2021, only around 460 people living
there).
The story of Gelert is a tragic one and is a tale of why you must not
act in anger. The story is set in the 12th or 13th century Medieval Cymru and follows Prince Llywelyn the Great (also
called «Llywelyn ab Iorwerth»; Q467685 on
Wikidata) who was a keen hunter and spent much
of his time in the countryside with his hunting dogs, but his favorite
greyhound was named Gellert, which had been given to him by his
father-in-law, King John.
After a hunt, Prince Llywelyn calls his dogs to his side when he blows his horn, but Gelert is nowhere to be seen, so he calls the hound by his name, but the dog is still nowhere to be seen.
When the prince returns home, he finds, in horror, to see his baby son missing from his now overturned cradle, with Gelert the dog there, blood in his jaws; to quote Joseph Jacobs:
and shouting to Gellert, «Monster, thou hast devoured my child,» he drew out his sword and plunged it in the greyhound's side, who fell with a deep yell and still gazing in his master's eyes.
As Gellert raised his dying yell, a little child's cry answered it from beneath the cradle, and there Llewelyn found his child unharmed and just awakened from sleep. But just beside him lay the body of a great gaunt wolf all torn to pieces and covered with blood. Too late, Llewelyn learned what had happened while he was away. Gellert had stayed behind to guard the child and had fought and slain the wolf that had tried to destroy Llewelyn's heir.
In vain was all Llewelyn's grief; he could not bring his faithful dog to life again. So he buried him outside the castle walls within sight of the great mountain of Snowdon, where every passer-by might see his grave, and raised over it a great cairn of stones. And to this day the place is called Beth Gellert, or the Grave of Gellert, and men say, «I repent me as much as the man that slew his greyhound.»
After this event, it is said that Prince Llywelyn would never smile again.
How based in reality the story of Gelert is up to debate. Modern sources will point out that the original source of this story comes from around 1793 - 1800 by David Prichard, landlord of the Royal Goat Inn in Beddgelert, likely told as a way to boost tourism and business in the area.
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, the date of this event is traditionally given as 1205, and «The incident has given rise to a Welsh proverb, 'I repent as much as the man who slew his greyhound.» The whole story is, however, only the Welsh version of a tale long before current in Europe, which is traced to the Indian Panchatantra and perhaps as far back as 200 B.C.»
Meanwhile, in France, there is a story not unlike this one but with
another greyhound, this time called Guinefort. Llywelyn ab Iorwerth –
who, by the way, was a real person – has been swapped out by a knight
who lives in a castle near Lyon, but apart from that, the story is the
same. Guinefort the dog actually received local veneration as a folk
saint, becoming Saint Guinefort (1554131 on
Wikidata).
So, is the story of Gelert or even Guinefort real? Well, no, but is it doing any real harm? Not really. It's just a cute little story with a tragic ending.
This page was last edited on 2026-09-12 01:06:45.
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