St. Guinefort

By Crusader1307

A popular 13th Century French tale, involved a Knight and His Dog (named Guinefort). A loyal canine, The Knight's Fa,ily loved the dog. One day, The Knight and Family left His Castle, leaving His young Son under the protection of Guinefort. When He returned home, He found the Child's room totally wrecked and blood splattered throughout. The Knight found Guniefort, His paws covered in gore. Search as The Knight and His Family could, they could not find the Child. In anger, The Knight assumed Guinefort killed His Son and slew Him. Soon after, The Knight hear crying coming from under the Boys bed. There was His Son......and the mangled body of a Viper. It seems Guinefort defended The Child from sure death. Saddened by His error, The Knight buried Guniefort in an unused well and sealed it with stones. Soon after a beautiful tree grew from the rocks. From that point forward, if anyone had a pet or animal with injury, they brought it to the well and it was healed. So popular was this belief, even The Church examined what locals now identified as ''St. Guinefort''. The Church was not too happy with a dog being so referred to and broke up the Cult by the 16th Century. Although all trace of The Well was destroyed by The Church, some still say that if one can find the spot (supposedly near Lyons), their sick animal will be healed.