Hen Wen

Hen Wen is a white sow featured in Lloyd Alexander's The Chronicles of Prydain. She is an oracular pig - that is, she has the ability to prophesy about future events and reveal hidden information. Originally she belonged to Coll, but most of her maintenance was delegated to Taran when he received the title of Assistant Pig-Keeper in The Book of Three.

Plot

Coll was originally unaware of Hen Wen's powers. But when Arawn Death-Lord learned of her, he stole her away to his fortress at Annuvin. Coll followed after her and eventually found her in Annuvin, where her sheer terror from being Arawn's prisoner had made her unable to tell him what he wanted to hear. Coll rescued her and together they returned to his farm.

Unknown to Coll, his farm was maintained by the enchanter Dallben in their absence. He offered to use his powers to protect Hen Wen in exchange for permission to live on the farm, and Coll agreed. From then on the farm was known as Caer Dallben. During this time Dallben devised three letter sticks - rods of ash wood with symbols carved on them, which he used to communicate with Hen Wen.

Years later, on the same day when Taran was dubbed Assistant Pig-Keeper, Hen Wen sensed the approach of Arawn's new war leader, the Horned King, and ran away from Caer Dallben in a panic. She was followed by both Taran and the Horned King's men; she was narrowly saved from the latter when a group of Fair Folk rescued her and conducted her to their underground realm far to the north. She was eventually discovered by Gurgi and Taran, who had happened upon the Fair Folk's realm by accident and took her with them.

Within days of being reunited with Taran, however, Hen Wen ran away from him again. Though Taran believed she ran away because the Horned King was near, she had actually sensed the presence of Prince Gwydion, the only man able to match the Horned King's power. She knew the secret of how to defeat the Horned King: his true name. Gwydion had the ability to understand the speech of animals, and thus needed no letter sticks to understand what Hen Wen told him. After defeating the Horned King, Hen Wen was reunited with Taran and returned to Caer Dallben, where she remained throughout each subsequent story.

At the beginning of The High King, Taran and his companions watched Hen Wen communicate with Dallben for the first time through the letter sticks. The sword Dyrnwyn had been stolen, and Dallben asked for Hen Wen's prophecy concerning its fate. At first she refused to approach the letter sticks, something she had never done before when they were shown to her. Taran eventually coaxed her to action, but her pronouncements about Dyrnwyn's future were discouraging and the sticks shattered before she completed her prophecy. Dallben later surmised that she was about to predict the end of all enchantments in Prydain, and the sticks were unable to withstand such a self-destructive prophecy.

Taran thought of her often throughout his travels. Eilonwy apparently did as well; while she was away on the Isle of Mona she embroidered Hen Wen onto a green cloth. She initially tried embroidering Taran next to the pig, but gave that up when the results proved unsatisfactory and started anew with just Hen Wen. However her portrayal of the pig was imperfect; she gave the pig blue eyes when they were really brown. Intended simply as a keepsake for Taran, it soon found use as his flag when Gwydion sent Taran to raise an army among the Free Commots.

During that winter Hen Wen stayed close to Dallben. She sensed the approach of King Pryderi, sent by Arawn to kill Dallben and take The Book of Three to Annuvin, but kept herself hidden during the king's encounter with the enchanter. At about the same time, a wild boar who lived in the surrounding forest became drawn to the safety of Caer Dallben. Hen Wen had six piglets with him - five white and one black - which were born the next spring just before Taran returned to Caer Dallben.

By that time, Hen Wen's oracular powers were gone. They had begun fading after the letter sticks broke, but Dallben suggested she was relieved to be an ordinary pig. "Power is a heavy burden, for men as well as pigs," he explained. Her piglets had no magical powers either.

Because of the oracular powers she had possessed, it was expected that Hen Wen would journey to the Summer Country with Taran and Dallben. But when Taran chose to remain in Prydain she was allowed to stay with him, since she was happiest living under his care.

Other media

Hen Wen appears in Disney's 1985 animated film The Black Cauldron.