Myths & Legends for the Dogs! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Wales

In reality, the legend of Gelert is similar to the idea of the "faithful dog" urban legend that has been circulating the globe since dogs were domesticated.

According to the old Welsh legend, Gelert belonged to Prince Llewelyn, Prince of Gwynedd, and is believed to have been a gift from King John of England. Prince Llewelyn's wife, the Princess, had a baby boy, and according to the legend, Prince Llewelyn and his wife, along with a band of hunters from the castle left to go hunting. The legends vary as to why Gelert didn't go, but ultimately, Gelert stayed at the castle. When Prince Llewelyn returned, he found Gelert with his jaws dripping with blood, and so ran to his child's room. When he couldn't find the baby, consumed with rage, he assumed that Gelert, his once faithful dog, had killed the baby, and so, in a rage, he drew his sword and killed Gelert. It was only once Gelert was dead, the Prince Llewelyn heard his baby's cry from under the cradle, along with the dead body of a wolf, which had tried to kill the baby, but had instead been killed by Gelert. According to some versions of the legend, Prince Llewelyn, overcome with grief and remorse for killing his faithful dog, never spoke again from that day onwards.

It is told that Gelert was buried in the village of Beddgelert by Prince Llewelyn in North Wales (Beddgelert is Welsh for "the grave of Gelert.")

Answer: 20 years

This is another tail of a wonderfully faithful dog. Argos was the first to recognise Odysseus (aside from those that Odysseus had already revealed himself to) after he returned from the Trojan War, despite the fact that Odysseus had disguised himself as a beggar. Once he was happy that he had seen his master again, Argos died.

"As they were talking, a dog that had been lying asleep raised his head and pricked up his ears. This was Argos, whom Odysseus had bred before setting out for Troy, but he had never had any enjoyment from him. In the old days he used to be taken out by the young men when they went hunting wild goats, or deer, or hares, but now that his master was gone he was lying neglected on the heaps of mule and cow dung that lay in front of the stable doors till the men should come and draw it away to manure the great close; and he was full of fleas. As soon as he saw Odysseus standing there, he dropped his ears and wagged his tail, but he could not get close up to his master. When Odysseus saw the dog on the other side of the yard, dashed a tear from his eyes without Eumaeus seeing it, and said:
'Eumaeus, what a noble hound that is over yonder on the manure heap: his build is splendid; is he as fine a fellow as he looks, or is he only one of those dogs that come begging about a table, and are kept merely for show?'
'This hound,' answered Eumaeus, 'belonged to him who has died in a far country. If he were what he was when Odysseus left for Troy, he would soon show you what he could do. There was not a wild beast in the forest that could get away from him when he was once on its tracks. But now he has fallen on evil times, for his master is dead and gone, and the women take no care of him. Servants never do their work when their master's hand is no longer over them, for Zeus takes half the goodness out of a man when he makes a slave of him.'
So saying he entered the well-built mansion, and made straight for the riotous pretenders in the hall. But Argos passed into the darkness of death, now that he had seen his master once more after twenty years." Taken from Homer, "The Odyssey," Book 17 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argos_%28dog%29]

Answer: He was the guardian of the dead

Anubis, while not "fully" dog, had the head of a dog on a human body (though some say it's meant to be a jackal, even though his head is black and jackals are a light brown colour.)

Anubis was most commonly portrayed as a man with the head of a black dog/jackal, with the reason being that Egyptians often noticed jackals and dogs skulking around the edge of the desert, and most commonly near cemeteries. Black, the Egyptians believed, was the colour of death, night and of regeneration, hence why Anubis always had a black head. As a dog, he would have had a marvellous sense of smell, which is why the ancient Egyptians insisted on mummifying their dead with sweet and "pure" smelling herbs, as they believed that Anubis would only allow souls that smelled pure into the Underworld. Anubis was also, according to some, considered by the Egyptians to be the go-between between the Egyptians and their gods.

Anubis was the guardian of the dead, who weighed their hearts against the feather symbol of Ma'at, who was the goddess of truth, who greeted them, and protected them in the Underworld. As his story got passed down from generation to generation, he eventually came to be known as the ruler of the Underworld

Answer: Greek

We would most commonly find Cerberus (or Kerberos, meaning "demon of the pit") in Greek mythology, with a small mention in Roman mythology.

Cerberus, in Greek mythology, was believed to be the offspring of Echidna and Typhon, and had Chimera as his sister, and the Hydra as his brother (all of these creatures also being monsters.)

Cerberus is the monstrous three headed dog who guards the gates to the Underworld. He stood on the bank of the river Styx, and would wag his tail at all dead souls that were trying to enter, but would snarl and bark viciously at all those who tried to leave. It was also his job to eat any living person who tried to enter into the Underworld.

There are several different ideas of how Cerberus was meant to actually look. The most commonly accepted idea is that of three heads. However, there are some who claim that Cerberus had 50, and sometimes even 100 heads! Another description of Cerberus says that he had the head of a lion, wolf, and a dog, with the tail of a dragon, and a mane of writhing snakes. The idea of the three heads possibly originates from the cycles of life; past, present, and future.

Dear old Cerberus crops up in quite a few Greek stories. For instance, Hercules' twelfth labour was to capture Cerberus, and when he carried him up to the earth and a little of Cerberus's drool (eww!) fell onto the earth, the first poisonous plants were born, such as aconite. Orpheus used his musical talent to lull Cerberus to sleep. Another story regarding Cerberus was when Psyche, the love interest of Eros, lulled Cerberus to sleep by giving him drugged honeycakes. Running parallel to this in Roman mythology, the Sybil of Cumae lulled Cerberus to sleep in a similar manner in order to permit Aeneas entry into the Underworld.

Cerberus has also managed to weasel his way into popular culture. There is a German rock group named "Cerberus," and the name also makes plenty of appearances in Anime and Video games. A "version" of Cerberus appears in Harry Potter, but this time, his name is Fluffy, and he is Hagrid's ferocious, but beloved three-headed dog.

Answer: Richard of Macaire

According to French legend, Aubry of Montdidier was a French courtier of King Charles V, and was murdered somewhere near Montargis. Aubry's faithful dog, Dragon, would always go beserk when he saw Richard of Macaire (although some sources claim that his name was Robert of Macaire, but the majority of sources agree that his name was in fact Richard), another nobleman, and would always snarl, bark ferociously and try to go for his throat. According to the legend, this got quite out of hand, and the King began to suspect that something was up, and so ordered for a judicial combat between Richard of Macaire and the dog.

The dog won, and Richard was killed, but not before confessing to the murder or Aubry of Montdidier, which the dog had known all along.

The legend differs slightly, as to whether Dragon actually killed Richard, or whether Richard was found to be guilty after his confession, and hanged. Either way, Dragon was an incredibly faithful dog, and a rarely used term "Aubry's dog" just means a very faithful dog.

Answer: Skye Terrier

Hailed by some as "the most famous Skye terrier of all time," Bobby really did exist, although the some of the stories surrounding him differ slightly.

Bobby was a small Skye terrier who lived with his master, John Gray, between the 1855 and 1858. John "Jock" Gray was a policeman who worked as a night watchman(some sources say he was a shepherd) who lived in Edinburgh at the time, with his faithful dog, Bobby. Unfortunately, John Gray passed away on February 15th, 1858 of tuberculosis. Gray was buried in Greyfriar's Kirkyard, the graveyard outside of Greyfriar's Kirk.

Bobby survived his master by 14 years, and is said to have sat at his master's grave EVERY day, keeping watch, and only leaving for meals, and according to some, to spend cold winters in houses.

Bobby died in 1872 at the age of 16 years. Unfortunately, he was not allowed to be buried in the Greyfriar's Kirkyard, due to the fact that it was consecrated ground, but was instead buried just inside the gate of the Kirkyard, nearby to his master's grave. His headstone states "Greyfriars Bobby - died 14th January 1872 - aged 16 years - Let his loyalty and devotion be a lesson to us all."

A street nearby to Greyfriar's Kirkyard has a small statue of Bobby on top of a drinking fountain, as a tribute to his memory.

Answer: Sirius

The star Sirius is located in the constellation, Canis Majoris, and is the brightest star visible from earth. It is called the "dog-star" because it is the biggest and brightest star in the "Big Dog" (Canis Majoris) constellation, and is also one of the nearest stars to earth.

There are several versions of legends surrounding Sirius, with the following being one of the Greek myths. According to this version of the legend, Sirius was one of the hunting dogs owned by the great hunter, Orion. Orion was in love with Merope (sometimes called Metrope) a King's daughter, but was never allowed to marry her. However, one day when he was drunk, he forced himself upon her, and her father asked Dionysis (one of the Greek gods,) to curse him. Orion lapsed into a coma, and discovered that he was blind when he woke up. He went to an oracle, in order to try and solve this problem, who told him to travel east. After having been told this, Orion moved to Crete, where Artemis (a Greek goddess) fell in love with him, so hard, in fact, that she forgot to light up the sky at night. The sun god, Apollo, became jealous of Artemis's love for Orion, and so devised a plan. He bet her that she couldn't hit a speck on the horizon with an arrow. Not knowing that the speck was in fact Orion swimming in the ocean, Artemis accepted this challenge, and shot her arrow, which hit Orion and killed him. When she realised that she had killed Orion, she was overcome with guilt, and placed him as a constellation up in the heavens. Now this is where Sirius finally comes in. Sirius was the faithful dog belonging to Orion, and when Orion was killed, he would not stop searching for him, and cried out for his master. So Artemis placed Sirius, the dog-star, at Orion's feet in the heavens.

Answer: Garm

Garm, in Norse mythology, is a bit like Cerberus in Greek mythology, in that he was the dog who guarded the gates to the Land of the Dead (Hel) although some sources claim that he was meant to be a wolf.

Garm sat alongside Hraesvelgr, the giant corpse swallower, and he lived in and was chained up in the cave called Gnipahellir, which was an overhanging cave over Hel.

There was an old Norse prophecy regarding Garm, in that, in the end times (Ragnarök) Garm and the god of combat and glory, Tyr, would kill each other, signalling the end of the world.

Garm is described as being a large dog or wolf, with a bloodstained chest.

Answer: He defended his master from a herd of wildebeest

Jock was a staffordshire bull terrier, and is the kind of stuff legends are made of! He really did exist, and there is a book, "Jock of the Bushveld," based on him and his travels and adventures during the 1880's in the Transvaal in South Africa, along with his master, Sir Percy Fitzpatrick (also the author of the book.)

Percy Fitzpatrick first met Jock when he saved him from being drowned in a bucket of water, as he was the runt of the litter, and after this, he knew that Fitzpatrick was his master, and was loyal to him until the end. Jock had many (mis)adventures with his master, including being forced to fight a baboon by another character in the book (Seedling) as well as being made deaf when he was kicked in the head by a female kudu. As for the answer, unless it was never documented, Jock didn't get round to saving Fitzpatrick from a herd of wildebeest :).

Sadly, Jock was killed by a farmer/ store owner (Barnett), as the man believed that Jock was the dog attacking and killing his chickens. However, before his death, Jock had already found the perpetrator, and killed him.

"Jock of the Bushveld" was first published in 1907, after Rudyard Kipling, rumoured to have been close to Fitzpatrick persuaded him to sit down and write his memoirs after hearing his accounts, which he told to his children as bedtime stories. It became an instant bestseller, translated into many languages, including Dutch, French, Afrikaans, Sotho, Zulu and Xhosa, and has also been distributed internationally.

Answer: 1925

Balto was a sled dog, more specifically a Siberian husky (despite Hollywood's attempts to convince us that he was part wolf) and it is believed that he was named after the Norwegian explorer, Samuel Balto.

In January of 1925, a deadly epidemic of diptheria broke out amongst the children of the village Nome, Alaska. And unfortunately, the only serum for it was many miles away, in Nenana. So, Norwegian musher, Gunnar Kassen, and his team of sled dogs, led by Balto, embarked on the long journey to retrieve the medicine for the people of Nome. Not too long afterwards, they returned with the medicine.

Kassen, at first, did not consider Balto to be a very good lead sled dog, but after the journey, he changed his mind about that. According to Kassen, Balto proved himself on the Iditarod trail, where he saved himself and the rest of his team from certain death in the Topkok river, and again, he was able to stay on the trail in whiteout conditions, which, according to Kassen, was impossible to see through.

There was a statue of Balto erected in Central Park in December of 1925, and in front of the statue is this inscription:
"Dedicated to the indomitable spirit of the sled dogs that relayed antitoxins 660 miles over rough ice, across treacherous waters, through Arctic blizzards from Nenana to the relief of stricken Nome in the Winter of 1925."

Hollywood has even gone so far as to make a movie about Balto! In 1995, Universal Pictures released the animated version of Balto, which is VERY loosely based on the events of January and February 1925 in Alaska.

Thanks for playing, and remember to appreciate your pooch!