Beth Gellert

The Grave of Gellert
an old Welsh story I first heard from a friend, Major Mustard.

1. Prince Llewelyn / favourite dog – Gellert – best hunting dog / big – brave – faithful / prince – trust Gellert to guard baby son / when baby sleep – Gellert lie on floor in front of cradle

2. Prince – want – go hunting / prince – hear of dangerous wolf – had killed men / tell Gellert – “must guard my son”

3. Prince – leave castle / prince ride horse – bow and arrow / not find wolf – come home / find – cradle turn over / see blood on cradle / blood on floor / blood on walls / blood everywhere / not find baby

4. Prince – call for Gellert / dog come into room – was covered in blood / prince – be very angry / Gellert – look up at prince / prince – only see blood on dog / prince – draw sword / prince, "you – kill my son" / prince – kill Gellert

5. Prince – hear noise in next room / go into room / there be – huge dead wolf / find son alive and well

6. Prince – feel so bad – know Gellert – be faithful / know Gellert had killed wolf / prince – dig grave – bury Gellert – build monument: Beth Gellert (The Grave of Gellert) / you can still see Beth Gellert in North Wales today

Teaching activity
Use this worksheet to help you write the story.
    Use:
  • the simple past to tell the story
  • "direct speech" with different tenses when the prince is speaking (“You have killed my son”)
  • adjectives and adverbs to make your story more interesting
  • linking words to make your sentences more interesting
  • good vocabulary to show how much vocabulary you are learning
  • favourite mistakes to practise your own grammar
When you have written the story, you can draw / paint pictures for the scenes.
Here are picture stories of this tale created by students in Hong Kong and some more created by students in one of my 7th classes in Germany.
Although the tale is now firmly anchored in the Welsh town of Beth Gellert, the memorial there to the faithful dog is from the 19th century. Indeed, it was only then that the story first came to be associated with the town in a clever piece of tourist promotion!
However, the story motif is found in various countries, going back to Sanskrit India - clearly a tale which needs to be told.

Top