The Story of Beddgelert (in Snowdonia)

Bedd Gelert - translation ‘the grave of Gelert’
pronunciation: Bedd - ‘e’ as in ‘bear’, ‘dd’ - as the hard ‘th’ of ‘the’
Gel - hard ‘g’  as in ‘girl’, short ‘e’ as in ‘bell’

A prince and his dog and his darling son:
the prince came back home when his hunting was done,
and saw his hound Gelert all covered in blood,
strode into the palace – saw the cot overturned,
no sound and no sight of the child, and his sword
he plunged into Gelert, but suddenly heard
the wail of his hound stirred the baby to cry –
just hidden beneath all the bedding – nearby
the attacker, great wolf, slain by Gelert; the Prince
so sad, made a grave for his dog, but it’s since,
that time of Llywelyn the monument was built,
telling the story of the faithful blood spilt,
so how much is true of this shaggy dog’s tales
                    (shaking tails?)? –
a story beloved by the children in Wales.

(not knowing what sort of hunting hound ‘Gelert’
might be, the photo is of the second Gelert
that my family had when I was growing up!)

[IP: ‘myths, legends and heroes, fictional or real’]