The mongoose tore the snake to pieces and then devoured it.

Such is the stuff of legends, which folklorists regard as stories that people believe to be true (or that people tell as if they believe them to be true). In contrast, narrators and listeners generally don’t believe in the events of folktales—known in popular parlance as “fairy tales”—even though the principles and lessons of folktales usually are regarded as valid and vital. And whereas folktales tend to take place in nebulous, far-off locations, legends usually become “localized”; that is, no matter how far they travel by word of mouth, the events are usually set in some known and relatively nearby location. This phenomenon explains in part how the same basic story can be identified with different places and characters.

The legend of the brave hound has long been known in Britain. Inevitably, it is set in south Wales and associated with the thirteenth-century historical figure of Prince Llewelyn. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, as the empire grew, the Industrial Revolution became full-blown, and urbanization became more rapid, the legend seemed to take on special significance. It touched a respondent chord in the Victorian mind, and the Welsh village of Bedd Gelert—“Gelert’s Grave”—became something of a pilgrimage site. People who heard of the great dog’s bravery and Llewelyn’s grief-induced haste believed that the events of the story were true, and many of them came from throughout the isles to pay their respects to the gallant hound.

Tourists weren’t new to Bedd Gelert, which lies at the confluence of the Colwyn and Gwynen rivers. Since the previous century, in fact, the town had attracted visitors, initially because of its remote location and natural beauty. Then at the beginning of the 1800s, David Prichard became landlord of the Goat’s Head hotel. A newcomer to Bedd Gelert, he recalled the legend, as he had learned it in his native south Wales, and decided to turn it to profit, tying the legend of Prince Llewelyn and Gelert to the name of the town itself. He even went so far as to claim that a nearby ancient burial mound was Gelert’s grave, erected by the repentant Prince Llewelyn.

At the end of the century, D.E. Jenkins created controversy and scandal with his book Bedd Gelert: Its Facts, Fairies, and Folk-lore. He pointed out that there are better linguistic explanations for the name of the town and claimed that there was no reason to believe that the grave was in fact that of Llewelyn’s hound. Archaeological evidence suggested rather that it was the grave of a Welsh monk named Celert, or of an Irish warrior prince.