Transcendent Pig facts for kids
The Transcendent Pig is a very special character found in fantasy books. It appears in Diane Duane's popular Young Wizards series. This mysterious pig is also mentioned in Barry Hughart's Master Li and Number Ten Ox books, like Bridge of Birds.
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The Transcendent Pig
The Transcendent Pig is not just any pig. It's a powerful and ancient being. In the Young Wizards books, it seems to be everywhere at once. This means it can be in many places at the same time. The pig often talks about things that happened long ago as if they are happening right now.
Where Does the Pig Come From?
The idea of the Transcendent Pig comes from Chinese mythology. In these old stories, there were powerful, giant creatures. One of them was the Transcendent Pig. It was described as fierce and had a black face.
According to the myths, this pig was so bold it even swallowed Erh-lang. Erh-lang was the nephew of the Jade Emperor, a very important god. But the pig soon regretted this! Erh-lang was able to defeat the pig from the inside.
The Pig in Young Wizards
In the Young Wizards series, the Transcendent Pig is first mentioned in the very first book, So You Want to Be a Wizard. However, readers don't actually meet the pig until the fifth book, The Wizard's Dilemma.
Even the most powerful beings in the Young Wizards universe, called "The Powers that Be," don't know where the Transcendent Pig came from. They didn't create it, which makes the pig even more mysterious!
The Big Question
Wizards in the books are given a special instruction. As soon as they meet the Transcendent Pig, they must ask it a huge question: "What is the meaning of life?" They hope the pig might accidentally give them the answer.
The pig knows this is what they are trying to do. It's usually quite friendly and good-natured about it. But so far, it hasn't slipped up and revealed the secret!
