Talk:Transcendent Pig

This page was proposed for deletion by The Land (talk · contribs) on 26 September 2006 with the comment:
there is no such a thing in Chinese mythology, the Chinese name given to it and the "references" are both sham, the whole thing seems meant to be a joke, pls don't hesitate to delete it
It was contested by AnonEMouse (talk · contribs) on 12:55, September 29, 2006 with the comment:
Removing PROD - Diane Duane and Barry Hughart each state they found the character in Larousse. That's hearsay, but it's clearly not a joke or a hoax.

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Untitled

Hmm... Is this somehow related to Zhu Bajie?

No. They do appear to be opposites though --Auric 22:33, 3 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Re-cat

We can keep this article, but let it be what it is, no more, no less. I'm sorry for having said that the article was meant to be a joke; now I think that it is based on some misunderstanding. I may not be trusted, but I have to say that there is no such a creature in Chinese mythology, not even in any hearsay; the Chinese characters are obviously made-up (ask anyone who knows Chinese); if there is a reference in the Larousse dictionary of mythology, the page number has to be cited. I am not a deletionist, but, alas, there is already too much false information on Wikipedia. :(--K.C. Tang 05:52, 3 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

To quote the Author

When I get home I set to doing some research, as I want to make sure I’m not stepping on anyone else’s creative toes, or unconsciously ripping off someone else’s character development, before I turn the Pig into something more solid than a casual one-sentence mention in So You Want to Be a Wizard. I check my own reference to the Pig, and then check the one in Barry Hughart’s Bridge of Birds, the only other work of literature I know of that mentions the being at all. I do a big old web search and another search at the main library at Trinity, and find hardly anything. Through a mutual acquaintance I get in contact with Hughart (who never made any use of the character beyond the one throwaway reference) to see if he knows anything more about the Pig. He gets back to me in due time and adds a little info from another source besides the Larousse, a large work on Chinese mythology, but there’s really very little data, and nothing to prevent me going in the direction I’m heading already.

So I write the Pig my way.

— Diane Duane, Meeting the Transcendent Pig

She also wrote this in the Errantry Wiki (currently off line)

The first references to him on Earth occur in a rare few Chinese documents of the late Han dynasty, where he is referred to as 卓越的豬 (the word “transcendent” can also be rendered as “remarkable”).

--Roguebfl (talk) 22:27, 11 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Sources

Searching for references lead me to this volume:

The Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology (1994)

Cattle are under the protection of the god of Cattle-breeding, aided by the King-of-Oxen and the Transcendent Pig.
— p. 398

There are some passing mentions in Hughart's Story of the Stone, and another mention in Bridge of Birds (line 32).

--Auric talk 23:53, 11 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The extended entry from Larousse with all mentions of the Transcendent Pig is:

Cattle are under the protection of the god of Cattle-breeding, aided by the King-of-Oxen and the Transcendent Pig. During their lifetime they were both dangerous giants. The King-of-Oxen, who terrified his enemies by his enormous horns and buffalo ears, was yet tamed by the lady Nu-kua, who threaded a miraculous rope through his nose. Equally ferocious and hideous, with his black face, the Transcendent Pig had the impudence to swallow Erh-lang, the nephew of the August Personage of Jade himself, but he regretted it, for Erh-lang slew him.

The Transcendent Pig is mentioned in each of Barry Hughart's Master Li novels. An exhaustive list:

Bridge of Birds (chapter 5): “Aiieee! Aiieee! Come closer, my children! Spread ears like elephants, and I shall tell you the tale of the great Ehr-lang, and of the time when he was devoured by the hideous Transcendent Pig!”
The Story of the Stone (chapter 13): and he flew down from Heaven and made Li Ling-chi eat every piece of the fallen fruit, and the emperor swelled up like the Transcendent Pig.
The Story of the Stone (chapter 19): “I pray to the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak! I pray to the Princess of Streaked Clouds! I pray to Kuan-yin and Kuan-ti and the Eight Immortals! I pray to Lady Horsehead and King-of-Oxen and the Transcendent Pig and Prince Millet and Hun-po Chao, patron deity of the armpits!”
The Story of the Stone (chapter 23): “Brother Pimple-Puss, who shall be granted his wish to be buggered by the Transcendent Pig!” the assistant bellowed.
Eight Skilled Gentlemen (chapter 7): "[...] With the protection of a puppeteer and a shamanka I’d travel into the den of the Transcendent Pig,” he said.
Eight Skilled Gentlemen (chapter 15): the puppeteer turned and smashed back through them like the Transcendent Pig on a killing spree

--Frentos (talk) 22:02, 24 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]