Week 13 Story: Gellert the Brave

 

Photo by Mark Galer

I could smell that the intruder was near, possibly already inside my master's home. I ran as fast as could to the castle, tearing my way through the large wooden doors and towards the smell of the large predator that waited there. He must be in the wing where my master's little human was sleeping, stalking his way towards the child's room. I ran harder, ignoring the loud bellowing of the horn my master was blowing for me to join him on a hunt. 

I rounded the corner of the corridor and entered the child's room at full speed, jumping at the gigantic predator's throat with my teeth bared. It was a large wolf, probably twice my size, but I didn't care. He was after my little human and I couldn't let the intruder get to him. 

As the vicious fight between myself and the wolf ensued, the child cried and screamed, frighted of the loud battle going on in front of him. The wolf and I growled and ripped at each other with our sharp, exposed teeth. I fought hard, eventually taking the beast down with one last tear at his jugular. I step back from my kill, breathing heavy, and checking to make sure the frightened child was okay. He had crawled out of the crib during the fight and was now hiding under it. After seeing that he was okay, I ran outside to my master to bring him to the scene of the battle. 

When I made it to the edge of the woods and my master saw the evidence of the fight all over me, he ran in a panic to the child's room. I followed him, still on guard and watching for other threats. When we reached the bedroom my master saw the mess of blood all over the room and the large wolf dead on the ground. He immediately started to search for his son frantically but couldn't see that he was asleep under his crib. I ran forward ducking under the edge of the crib and licking the child's face to wake him up so the master would know he was okay. When the master saw that his son was unharmed he scooped him up and fell to the ground sobbing with relief. I laid there on the ground with them in comfort, happy that my precious humans were safe and sound once again. 

Author's Note:

The original of this story is very similar but it's from the perspective of the master. In the original, the master runs back and can't see the wolf or his son right away so he thinks his dog Gellert killed and ate his son. Thinking this, he kills Gellert right there on spot only to find out his son was fine and that his dog had protected him from a vicious wolf just seconds later. I really hated the fact that the amazing Gellert was killed over a horrible misunderstanding so I decided to write the story from Gellert's perspective and let him live in the end. 

Story source: Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1892).