That is best answered in her own words - “I am Eilonwy, daughter of Angharad, daughter of Regat, daughter of - oh, it’s such a bother going through all that. My ancestors,” she said proudly, “are the Sea People. I am of the blood of Llyr Half-Speech, the Sea King.”

    Ah, but that doesn’t mean anything to you, I see. Well, I shall just have to start at the very beginning.

     Eilonwy is a character from the Prydain Chronicles, a five book series by Lloyd Alexander. The books are: The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer, and The High King. The main character of the series is Taran of Caer Dalben, also known as Taran, Assistant Pig-keeper, but Eilonwy is a major character, too. She’s headstrong, very practical, and has a somewhat sharp tongue, when annoyed, anyways. One of her trademark comments is, “Taran of Caer Dalben, I’m not speaking to you anymore!” (She always forgot that she was refusing to speak to him, however, so the threat was never very serious.) She’s very talkative, whatever. I liked her very much, and Mom thinks I’m kind of like her (I think that’s because I’m talkative) so I decided to try and get this domain name. I was actually very surprised no one else had taken it yet.

     You really ought to read the series - it has some good lessons included in the books. They are kind of fairy-tale books, I suppose - a medieval type of setting, with the typical good against evil, but the characters learn a lot along the way. For instance, Taran was always dreaming of being a hero and having adventures. But he discovered that what he thought heroes and adventures were, was a far cry from the truth. As Gwydion, Prince of Don told Taran when they met - “It is not the trappings that make the prince, nor, indeed, the sword that makes the warrior.”

     And on another occasion -

     ‘Gwydion looked closely at him. “Do you not know?” he asked. “Dalben has neglected your education. It was Coll,” he said. “Coll son of Collfrewr.”

     “Coll!” Taran cried. “Not the same...”

     “The same,” said Gwydion.

     “But...but...,” Taran stammered. “Coll? A hero? But...he’s so bald!”

     Gwydion laughed and shook his head. “Assistant Pig keeper,” he said, “you have curious notions about heroes. I have never known courage to be judged by the length of a man’s hair. Or, for the matter of that, whether he has any hair at all.”’

     And another of my favourite lines by Taran is, “At home....nothing ever happened. Now, everything happens. But somehow I can never seem to make it come out right.....”

     As for quotes by Eilonwy.....she had so many expressions that I would have to make a whole web site just for them, if I started listing them!

     I really love these books. They are full of loyalty, friendship and sacrifice, as well as just plain old good comradery.

     I would like to explain why I chose the names I did for my links on the main page. This one is fairly self-explanatory, I believe - I just wanted to introduce Eilonwy to you. As for the rest, they are as follows.

      The Free Commots were hamlets and villages in the east of Prydain. The people of the Free Commots were craftsmen - “master weavers, metalsmiths - from time out of mind their skills have been the Commot’s pride.” The land itself was “the sweetest in Prydain - fair hills and dales, rich soil to farm, and sweet grass for grazing. There’s iron for good blades and gold and silver for fine ornaments.” That seemed pretty fitting for a crafts page, so that’s why I chose it.

      Caer Dalben was Taran’s home, and Dalben took Eilonwy in after she rescued Taran, as she was an orphan. In the books Taran always associated it with his work - weeding gardens and making horseshoes and such, and it was here that Eilonwy worked (when she wasn’t off on adventures), so I thought it fitting to use it for my “Work” page.

     The House of Llyr was the name of Eilonwy’s family. So I used that as an “about me” link.

     And finally, Dalben’s Chamber .....Dalben was an ancient enchanter, and kept a lot of odds and ends and books of knowledge in his chamber....links to knowledge, so to speak.