Pigasus (literature)

The Pigasus was used by John Steinbeck as a personal stamp with the Latin motto Ad astra per alas porci (to the stars on the wings of a pig). The pigasus was supposed to symbolize Steinbeck as "earthbound but aspiring...not enough wingspread but plenty of intention."

Coincidentally, Pigasus was a character in the Oz books written by Ruth Plumly Thompson in the 1930s. Her Pigasus was also a winged pig. As with Pegasus, his riders gained the gift of poesy, being magically compelled to speak in rhyming jingles while on his back. The character first appeared in Pirates in Oz, and played a major role in the plot of The Wishing Horse of Oz.

John Steinbeck occasionally drew this on books that he signed at book signings.