ONCE upon a time there was a Gwent story-teller called Daniel Morden...

It may be just like the start of a fairytale but this story has a real-life happy ending too with Mr Morden the new winner of a major book prize.

Daniel scooped the 2007 Tir Na Nog award, thanks to his tales of giants, dragons, castles and fairies.

His book Dark Tales from the Woods is a re-telling of Welsh gypsy tales collected from north Wales during the 1920s from the family of Abram Wood.

Mr Morden, who is the brother of Newport East MP Jess Morden, said: "I'm thrilled. I was proud of Dark Tales but I didn't expect to win because there was stiff competition."

The award is organised by the Welsh Books Council and is awarded to what the judges consider is the best book written for children in the Welsh language.

"In the following months I am going to use the prize to talk about the book and try to get it around the country.

It is great to get the approbation saying it is the best book written for children in the Welsh language."

Mr Morden, who lives in Abergavenny with wife Marion and sons Benjamin, three, and Joseph, one, has written four other books.

His latest book started after he discovered the collection of stories at St Fagan's, Cardiff.

"The stories were fantastic fairytales with dragons, castles and giants but old fashioned because the language was out of date," he said.

His love for mythology and folk law spurred him on to re-tell the story.

"I re-told the story in a way modern children will be able to enjoy and I chose bits I thought would grip children today and get them into books. I found them terribly exciting - there's lots of danger and moments of suspense."

Mr Morden, 42, says story-telling and reading is vital for children.

"That is why I work in schools reading with children as well as public venues," said Mr Morden, who gave readings at this weekend's Blaenavon Booktown Spring Festival.

"It gives children a chance to have stories read to them when maybe they don't outside of school."

Mr Morden takes away a cheque for £1,000 as part of his prize and said he could not wait to spread the word of the Welsh tale.

"I would like to thank Academi for giving me a bursary so I could spend time researching the stories and creating the book," he said.