Irish Wolfhound Loyalty

Description

The Story of Gelert
Llewellyn, prince of Wales, is said to have loved the chase above all else but always took with him his Irish wolf- dog, Gelert. The prince had many hounds, but Gelert was his favourite and was always there for the morning hunt. However, one day Gelert did not turn up and eventually Llewellyn went off with his followers and the hounds but could not enjoy his day and in the end hurried back home to find out what had happened to Gelert. He was met by Gelert, giving his usual greeting, but Llewellyn was horrified to find that Gelert was covered in blood. Hurrying into the castle, he went to see his infant son but found the cradle overturned and empty, with no sign of the child, but with blood everywhere.

Concluding that Gelert must have killed and eaten the baby, Llewellyn drew his sword and plunged it into the hound. The stricken Gelert gave a long-drawn out howl as he died and this cry was followed by a child's wail. Llewellyn searched for the source of this sound and found his child under a pile of bedding from the cradle, completely unharmed, and close by was the body of a gaunt wolf, which had obviously been slain by Gelert after a bloody battle.

Horrified at what he had done, and stricken by remorse, Llewellyn had the body of Gelert buried with due pomp and the place was afterwards known as Bedd Gelert (the grave of Gelert), as was the town that grew up near to it.

It was said that Prince John (later King John) of England had made a gift of a hound to Llewellyn in 1210 and that this was Gelert. The Hon. W.R. Spencer wrote a poem about him, the first part of which is thus:

The flower of all his race
So true, so brave - a lamb at home,
A lion in the chase.
'Twas only at Llewellyn's board the faithful Gelert fed;
He watched, he served, he cheered his lord
And sentinelled his bed.
In sooth he was a peerless hound,
The gift of Royal John.0

Copied from http://www.irishwolfhounds.org/gelert.htm There is more to read there, too.

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We lost our dear Wheaton Brindle Irish Wolfhound to a rapid bone cancer Christmas time 2007. I painted this in memory of her. I recently scanned the original painting and added some computer graphic work.

This listing is for an 8" X 10" print on Kodak Supra Endura photographic paper which has an extraordinary color gamut and state-of-the art image stability.

All prints come signed by the artist, me, on the back.

Shipping is FREE. Please allow up to 2 weeks for delivery of your new print. Iprintfromhome.com is my printer.

If you would like a different size or a giclee print on stretched canvas or different paper, please send me a note. I am happy to make custom listings of various options for you for any print.

Added on Sep 22, 2009