Reading Diary B: Celtic Fairy Tales

The second unit of the Celtic Fairy Tales was great! I really liked the tone of the stories int this unit because even though some have a dark undertones to them, there is reasoning behind the actions and the actions seem more humane rather than other units in the past. For example, the story of Beth Gellert is about a Prince who had many dogs but he had a favorite named Gellert. One day, the Prince called his dogs to go hunting and all showed up except for Gellert. After a few times of calling his favorite dog, the Prince gave up and went hunting with the other dogs anyway. When he returned, he found his dog with blood in his fangs and all in on his coat. In fear of the worst, the Prince ran to his child’s room to find blood everywhere and there was no sign of his son. Thinking that Gellert killed the Princes son, he stabbed the dog in the side with a loud yell. That yell woke up the son that was under the cradle next to a dead wolf. The Prince then came to the realization that Gellert was trying to protect the baby from the wolf when the Prince was calling all the dogs to go hunting. Saddened, the Prince buried the dog outside the castle walls and to this day the area is now names Beth Gellert or the Grave of Gellert. There was logical reasoning for the Prince’s behavior, even though it was a bit rash to just assume in an instant without checking everywhere for his son. But after he killed the dog, he showed it respect and buried it beside the castle.

Italian Greyhound by Christina (2007).