cariadbach / Stories / Faithful Hound.
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Gelert The Faithful Hound.

Gelert The Faithful Hound. This short story is based on an old Welsh tale. The name of the dog was Gelert. His monument can still be seen in a Welsh village called Beddgelert, which translated means, grave of Gelert.
Hope you enjoy. Owain and Angharad had been friends since childhood. As they grew their friendship turned into love. One sunny day in the month of May they became man and wife. It was a small wedding as they had spent all their money in buying a little cottage deep in the woods. Their love was so great nothing mattered to them as long as they had each other, life was perfect... They moved into their cottage in the woods to begin their life as man and wife. Owain was a romantic at heart and insisted on carrying his new wife over the threshold . He wanted to bring all the love and luck he could into this marriage... Angharad, for as long as she could remember had wanted a family of her own to love. She was besotted with Owain and thought nothing could make her happier. That was until the day she found out she was with child. She could not wait for Owain to come back from the fields so that she could tell him her good news... She had been afraid that Owain might have thought it was all happening too quickly, but how wrong she had been , he was overwhelmed at the news and could not wait for his child to be born... The months flew by and both Owain and Angharad were elated on the day their first son Dylan was born. It was one of the happiest days of their life. How could one so little bring so much joy... Angharad took to motherhood with such ease , she was a born natural.She took so much pleasure in taking care of her son. She spoke to him constantly and told him what a lucky baby he was to have so much love... Owain spent most of his day working the land. He was worried that Angharad and Dylan were on their own in the cottage for such a long time... He was always busy ensuring that there was food and water available for his family... Owain decided as he was away from the cottage for long hours it would be a good idea to buy a dog. A dog who would guard the family home and also be good company for Angharad.
Gelert was an ideal choice. He was from good stock. His father had been a brave hunter and his mother faithful and obedient...

 Gelert made an instant friendship with Angharad , they would play for hours while Dylan was asleep... Meal times changed ,instead of two having a meal , the table was now set for three , as Gelert was never far away.. Gelert seemed to sense when Dylan was awake and was never far away from his crib... As the cottage was deep in the forest they quite often saw the lone wolf passing by... Gelert was a brave dog and knew that his role was to guard the family and he did this with ease... He would always chase the wolf away from his territory keeping his master and his family safe... A few weeks after the birth of their son , Angharad was unwell. She had a fever and had a very restless night... The following morning she was unable to stand up on her feet. Owain decided to take her into the village to see the doctor... The month was February and it was much too cold for Dylan to travel outside in the wagon. Before they left, Owain called upon their next door neighbour's daughter ,Bronwen and asked if she would look after the baby while they were away. Bronwen was more than delighted to help as she wanted to spend some time with her lover , away from the prying eyes of her father. Dewi her lover appeared at the cottage as soon as the wagon had departed , it was his chance to be alone with Bronwen and he was going to make the most of this time... They greeted each other with affection and decided to go for a walk in the woods. Unfortunately they left the door to the cottage open and Dylan in his crib alone... Gelert could smell danger approaching and went to the door and saw to his dimay not one but two hungry wolf's on the prowl. He knew what he had to do , he knew he was responsible for the child... He fought a brave fight ... One battle was won and Gelert was able to send one of the wolves back into the forest howling in pain... He realised that while he had been fighting with the wolf the other had gone into the cottage and his master's son was in danger. The lone wolf was racing towards the crib, where the infant lay... He pounced into the crib and pulled the baby out. Gelert knew he had to act fast... He growled as fiercly as he could and the wolf looked up and seemed to forget about the baby... Gelert fought the hardest battle of his life, he knew if he was defeated the master's son would be lost... Owain came home from the doctors to find the house in darkness. He called out but there was no reply. There he was met with a devastating sight. The crib was empty, there was blood everywhere and worst of all the dog's jaws were dripping in blood... Thinking that Gelert had savaged his son. Owain reached for his sword and knew what he had to do... The dog looked up at him with pleading eyes wondering what he had done to upset his master. Owain raised his sword and plunged it into Gelerts side... The dog howled as he sunk into the floor dying, and as he howled Owain heard the cry of a baby... He went into the bedroom , and there hidden behind a pile of broken chairs was his son... He could hardly believe his eyes, his son alive and unharmed... He then turned around to see the bloodstained body of a wolf... Full of remorse he rushed to the side of Gelert . Cradeling the dogs head he tried to ease the pain, Gelert licked the hand of his master, as though in forgivness before he died... Owain was distraught. He had killed his faithful hound. He built a monument to remember the good deed that his dog had done. He had fought off the wolves and saved his only son from harm... Dylan grew up to be a fine young man. His parents never forgot Gelert their faithful hound that saved their son's life.

NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS STORY!

Faithful Hound.

Apr 1, 2007 by cariadbach
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    55 Comment(s) posted so far

    On Mar 31, 2007 cariadbach wrote:

    \:\) A lttle bit of Welsh history this time. This was my favourite story when I was a child even though I cried when Gelert died. Once again excuse a few typos. I don't know how they sneak in\:P

    On Apr 1, 2007 wrote:

    Different and very interesting. Poor Gelert What a brave dog\:rah\:

    On Apr 1, 2007 wrote:

    what as sad story, well told

    On Apr 1, 2007 wrote:

    oh, poor dog , very nicely told

    On Apr 1, 2007 VEPerfect wrote:

    \:\( that was sooooooo sad.
    really well told though \:\)

    On Apr 1, 2007 scarlet_white wrote:

    Extremely beautiful, sad and touching, and the scenery is flawless. Congratulations

    On Apr 1, 2007 bingochao1 wrote:

    good one (Y) I LEARNT ABOUT THIS AT SCHOOL, WASN'T THE MANS NAME llewllyn or somthing 4.5! woops sorry about the capital letters!\:D \:D \;\)

    On Apr 1, 2007 wrote:

    \:eek\: forgot to rate.

    On Apr 1, 2007 josh1092 wrote:

    I remember this story it is so sad. Glad you could make it again.5.0\:rah\:

    On Apr 1, 2007 PRDGirls wrote:

    What a lovely story! That dog looks like mine, so that made it even nicer \:\)

    On Apr 1, 2007 wrote:

    did this at school yours was better though

    On Apr 1, 2007 eshuff wrote:

    God those old tales always have horrible endings, don't they? Beautifully done! Wonderful! And all the work you put into recreating the place, the land, the clothes -- gorgeous -- thank you!!\:rah\: \:rah\:

    On Apr 1, 2007 wrote:

    I really like it!!The place , the clothes , everything is very nice!!Good Job!\:rah\: \:rah\: \:D

    On Apr 1, 2007 kkffoo wrote:

    Enjoyed this story, you paced the action well, good job\:\)

    On Apr 1, 2007 wrote:

    I love that story! I learnt it in year 3, and when I saw Gelert the Faithful Hound on the front page, I was like: I KNOW THIS ONE! It was brilliant, and I'm glad no amimals were harmed, because if they were... I give you a 5.0! \:D

    On Apr 1, 2007 15RabbitLane wrote:

    lol, I learnt this one in year 3 too! I loved it! \:P

    On Apr 2, 2007 blueclarity25 wrote:

    Beautiful and touching story! So incredibly sad though!!\:\( . Great work, beautiful period costumes and it's nice to see a story where the dog is a main character. I haven't seen that before here in the storytelling section. Wonderful job on this tale. 5.0 \:rah\: \:rah\:

    On Apr 2, 2007 cariadbach wrote:

    \:\) Some of you guys have not published your profiles so I can' get into your guest books to say thankyou so thanks for reading. \:D

    On Apr 2, 2007 dannybond1990 wrote:

    Very cute, I really liked it.

    On Apr 2, 2007 wrote:

    totally awesome! but it was sad when Gelert died, and no offense, but it was kinda stupid of the man to just plunge his sword into Gelert, I mean, he had no proof...

    On Apr 2, 2007 wrote:

    I remember this story at school so sad. Very well told , loved it and loved the costumes.Gave you a 5. Its nice to see the ratings back.

    On Apr 2, 2007 wrote:

    What a wonderful story. different.\:\)

    On Apr 2, 2007 wrote:

    \:o Forgot to rate.gave you a five

    On Apr 2, 2007 cariadbach wrote:

    \:o Dont get into trouble with the teacher\;\)

    On Apr 2, 2007 wrote:

    \:\) Love the different sort of story involving the dog\:rah\:

    On Apr 2, 2007 drewsoltesz wrote:

    Delightful and sad all at once, your shots are well done, love the costumes, CC etc...nicely done, indeed!\:D

    On Apr 2, 2007 Mykki wrote:

    Great story, I've never heard of the story before, and the sad thing is I'm Walsh, or at least part of me is. lol

    On Apr 2, 2007 chardonnayonedge wrote:

    I love animal stories...reaching for the tissues now...\:wub\: I am always so amazed at your screenshots. And your background and scenery always fit. Another wonderful tale. Thank you!! \:rah\: \:rah\: \:rah\:

    On Apr 2, 2007 estatica wrote:

    OMG! That was so sad and beautiful... You did an excellent job, as always. I would love to read more stories of this kind, so thank you for sharing it! 5.0! \:wub\:

    On Apr 3, 2007 Jubilant wrote:

    What a great rendition to an old tale. The pace of the story was great, the pictures, everything. Thank you for sharing. And I know it's fake (obviously) but to see the wolf chewing on the baby was really disturbing. \:wacko\: erin

    On Apr 3, 2007 corabelle42 wrote:

    That was great,
    Thanks for sharing,,
    Corabelle

    On Apr 3, 2007 fizz bomb wrote:

    what a powerfull and deverstating story, great use of custom content

    On Apr 3, 2007 bethbrit wrote:

    bingochao1 - yes he original man in the story was named Llewelyn Fawr (Large Llewelyn, as he was a big man.
    Dai awn cariadbach, nes i hoffi's stori lot fawr, a nes to ddefnyssio llawer o CC dda sy'n cysylltu gyda'r stori \:D

    On Apr 4, 2007 wrote:

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
    The dog died!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
    *weep* At least no animals were harmed...5.0 *weep*

    On Apr 4, 2007 wrote:

    Read about this dog at school, very sad gave u 5

    On Apr 4, 2007 skywalker_16 wrote:

    That was very sad story... \:\( But also very good \:D Nice work \:cool\:

    On Apr 4, 2007 Little Seer wrote:

    Old tales often have the theme times were tough and it was tough to survive. This tale also shows we all make mistakes. Building the statue helped him forgive himself for his mistake and show remorse and respect for Gelert. Good story. Cheers, \:\)

    On Apr 5, 2007 shopgirl! wrote:

    never herd this story before. but i really like it, poor Gelert 5.\:rah\: \:\(

    On Apr 5, 2007 wrote:

    Poor Gelert! So sad but beautifully told. Your storytelling and photography were wonderful. \:rah\:

    On Apr 6, 2007 wrote:

    oh god, i'm crying buckets right now. this one really got to me. beautifully done, very emotional.

    On Apr 6, 2007 Tempty wrote:

    I'm not welsh, But spent 5 yrs of my childhood living in Cymbran in south wales. I had heard of this story before (although I admit I could'nt remember all the details) Your story brought it all back to me \:\) a very sad tale, very well done\:rah\: Tempty

    On Apr 6, 2007 wrote:

    Brilliant

    On Apr 8, 2007 wrote:

    Great retelling of the story- I like it.

    On Apr 12, 2007 Mistress Useless wrote:

    Lovely story!

    On May 15, 2007 wrote:

    Loved it\:rah\:

    On May 16, 2007 S.Cains wrote:

    I think I nearly cried when he died, it was so sad. I was like nooooooooooooooo! The dog may have forgiven his master but I certainly didn't. Well told and very good! \:rah\:

    On May 29, 2007 wrote:

    So sad! I felt like crying \:\( \:o Great scenery!

    On Jul 23, 2007 hazabaza1 wrote:

    A very sad but meanful story. If someone has had a companion for a long time, man or animal, no matter what happens, they will always be friends on the inside.

    On Sep 8, 2007 Wolfie13 wrote:

    Great story, but very sad. I've heard it before, and I think it's cool the way you retold it!

    On Oct 21, 2007 ShoLeigh84 wrote:

    That was so beautifully told and so much sadder knowing it's true! I'm almost in tears! \:ty\: for sharing \:wub\:

    On Oct 22, 2007 OpheliaNival wrote:

    Wow, this is great! I feel so sorry for the father, when he realised that the dog was innocent... Heartbreak.

    On Oct 30, 2007 qvisn wrote:

    Oh Jane, I never heard thar story before, I loved it so much, I thought Dylan was going to get it and my heart raced,thinking of our baby Dylan. fancy that being his name. poor dog, how dreadful was that.\:\( Jane it took me longer to read these comments than the story,its a massive HIT. also your screenshots are wonderful and the scene you set was amazing. I loved the house. 5.0 should be 500.\:D \:wub\: Shirley. got to go and blow my nose now,need more tissues.\:o

    On Nov 7, 2007 Emilie Jolie wrote:

    Wow, this was a good story. I got all tense when the master got ready to kill Gelert \:eek\:

    On Jul 29, 2010 qvisn wrote:

    Still great jane, its funny being in here again. \:\))

    On Jul 29, 2010 Karie wrote:

    OHHH it made me CRY!  \:\(  It was very good though, I liked it!

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