Cerys Matthews is well known worldwide as a successful singer / songwriter, author and broadcaster. Formerly the front woman of cult band Catatonia, she was a rock icon in the 1990's. She later returned to her folk roots and has recorded several successful albums. She currently presents her own show on Radio 6, as well as contributing to many television and radio programmes. She is well known for her talent with words, and as a mother of three, ideally placed to rework this Welsh legend for a young, contemporary audience. Her debut publication, Tales from the Deep, was published by Pont Books in 2011.
Gelert: A Man’s Best Friend is one of the best-loved traditional
tales from Wales retold by singer and broadcaster, Cerys
Matthews.
According to the legend, Gelert was medieval prince Llywelyn the
Great’s faithful dog and while his master was hunting, the hound
was responsible for guarding his baby son. One day a wolf appeared
and tried to attack the child.
Llywelyn returns home to find his baby’s cradle overturned and
blood around Gelert’s mouth. Believing that his faithful dog is
responsible for savaging his child, in his rage, Llywelyn kills
Gelert. He later hears his child’s cries and finds him unharmed and
realises that the dog had saved his son from the vicious wolf. The
mournful prince buries his faithful dog with honour.
When asked about the inspiration behind the book, Cerys said,“I
love folk lore, and was interested to find this particular story
repeated in cultures across the world.
“This is a centuries-old story and similar folk tales are also
found in other cultures. In India, for example, the black snake
takes the place of the wolf, and a mongoose, the dog; in Malaysia
the wolf is a tiger and the dog is a tame bear. These stories have
been told for generations to teach youngsters good lessons in life
as part of ancient fireside lore, this particular tale warning
against the dangers of jumping to conclusions and acting in
haste.
“I thought it would be fun to revisit this particular story for a
new generation and have the pleasure of reuniting with illustrator
Fran Evans.”
Cerys Matthews is well known for her talent with words and, as a
mother of three, is well placed to rework this classic Welsh legend
for an audience of contemporary children.
Fran Evans’ illustrations depict the story in vivid detail,
capturing the warmth of the relationship between Llywelyn and his
faithful dog. At the end, her final images offer another way of
thinking about the pain of loss, transforming the sad end to the
tale. Prince Llywelyn and his family see Gelert’s form in the stars
and are comforted to think that he is looking down on them.
*Publisher: Y Lolfa*
“..in the fireside lore of nearly every Aryan people” John Fiske,
Myths & Mythmakers,(1872). This description of the ‘faithful hound’
leitmotif, which even has a specific number in the scholarly
Arne-Thompson categorisation of folk tales(178A), might bring
disappointment to all those adults brought up to believe in the
unique Welshness of the tear-jerking legend of Gelert. Yet the
story has retained its excitement, its pathos and its cultural
integrity. It has been shared by countless generations of
children,in classrooms and homes across Wales and far beyond. This
simple version, told appropriately in rhyming couplets by singer
and songwriter Cerys Matthews, has a hint of the past in its
format. It echoes, perhaps, the Celtic bards wooing their princely
patrons with romantic tales of bravery, loyalty and chivalry,
accompanied by soothing music. This narrative form works well, as
the story unfolds, the rhythms complementing both the dialogue and
the descriptive text. An occasional blemish as the writer
apparently fails to find a true rhyme, provides a minor irritation,
and interrupts the movement of the verse. (This is particularly
apparent in the page-turn-over rhyme of 'cry'/'alive' – 'die' could
have been manipulated into the text quite easily.) Fran Evans, a
popular and accomplished illustrator for Pont Books excels at
detail, and this is very apparent in those frames where she allows
her skills to run wild; the departure for the hunt, with Siwan and
the baby in the high tower and the poultry man below feeding his
brood is delightful. The scene in the castle cellars where the
kitchen staff are preparing supper, innocently unaware of the
shadowy wolf on the stair case beyond, is bursting with attention
to period detail. The larger images, both of the grieving parents,
Prince Llywelyn and Siwan, and the canine protagonists, seem less
convincing. Although there is plenty of movement in the streaming
mane of the horse, its rider’s cloak and the sinewy legs of the
faithful hound in the opening images, this intensity and conviction
of presentation does seem to tire. The constellation of Gelert in
the night sky, which closes the book, hoping perhaps to soften its
sadness, only serves to heighten one reader’s unease. The
grey-silhouetted image of a modern boy on horseback, gazing upwards
at the stars from a field of detailed grasses, flowers and moths
does, however, appease the soul ... and the tiny hunting vignette
on the final page redeems all! There is so much more to explore in
the legend of Gelert that I am sure this entertaining
interpretation in picture book form will inspire children, parents
and teachers to reach for their laptops, tablets, and even
reference books! There they will discover earlier poetic
interpretations of the story, earlier illustrations (the Victorians
loved the subject) and some fascinating links with real history –
see the detailed notes on Beth Gellert in Celtic Fairy Tales by
Joseph Jacobs (1892). Indeed it’s a chance for readers and
researchers, of whatever age, to make up their own minds about the
historical validity of the story and its contribution both to the
Welsh folk legend canon and to Snowdonia’s tourist industry.
Beddgelert here we come!
*Chris S. Stephens @ www.gwales.com*
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