Week 13 Story: A Deadly Misunderstanding

In a small kingdom far far away, there lived a loyal greyhound named Gellert. He was the faithful companion to Prince Llewelyn and his son. Prince Llewelyn had raised Gellert since he was a mere pup and the two were the best of friends.

One day, Prince Llewelyn had to leave the kingdom to help his father. When he returned, he went to the front of the castle and blew his mighty horn. All of the dogs in the palace rushed towards him except for Gellert.

While Price Llewelyn was away, Gellert was happily playing with the Prince's son in the nursery. While the infant was napping, Gellert stood guard. Becoming tired himself, he started to doze off as well. Shortly after, Gellert's ears began to perk up. He head a faint rustling in the distance and his sense became heightened. From around the corner, a viscous wolf appeared. His eyes were set on the infant and a feeling of horror swept Gellert. Before the wolf could make a move, Gellert leapt into the air and tackled the wolf. The two tossed and turned as the power struggle continued. The wolf was overcome by hunger and would do anything to get his next meal. He bit Gellert's leg and Gellert let out a long howl in pain. Furious, Gellert attacked the wolf with even more might and courage. He eventually got a good angle on the wolf and bit into its neck. Once the blood loss was great enough, the wolf fainted near the crib. The infant, witnessing it all, was stupefied. Frozen like a medieval statue, the baby sat in awe. After the commotion had settled, Gellert heard the horn and limped towards the sound.

Once he reached his master, he knew he couldn't explain what happened. He followed Prince Llewlyn back to the nursery and tried to show him towards the wolf's corpse. Prince Llewlyn was so horror struck that all he could see was the blood. Staring Gellert in the eyes, Prince Llewlyn drove a sword through his heart and Gellert collapsed to the ground. Once he saw Gellert's lifeless corpse next to the wolf, Prince Llewelyn heard his son's cry and realized the horrible mistake he had just made. 

The baby next to the dead wolf: Beth Gellert from Wikipedia

Authors Note:

This is a retelling of Celtic Fairy Tales: Beth Gellert. The events of the story are very much the same as the original story, except I told it from Gellert's perspective. I thought it would be interesting to write about how Gellert protected the infant from the wolf.

Celtic Fairy Tales: Beth GellertThis story is part of the Celtic Fairy Tales (1) unit. Story source: Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1892).