Billina
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| Billina | |
|---|---|
| Oz character | |
 Billina illustration by John R. Neill | |
| First appearance | Ozma of Oz (1907) |
| Created by | L. Frank Baum |
| Portrayed by | Mak Wilson (Return to Oz) |
| Voiced by | Denise Bryer (Return to Oz) |
| In-universe information | |
| Alias | Bill |
| Species | Chicken |
| Gender | Female |
| Children | multiple Dorothys and Daniels |
Billina is a fictional character in the classic children's series of Oz books by American author L. Frank Baum. She is introduced in Ozma of Oz (1907).[1]
History
In Ozma of Oz, Billina becomes
A spunky, sassy and talkative chicken, Billina was originally named Bill because, she tells Dorothy, "no one could tell whether I was going to be a hen or a rooster". Dorothy insists on changing the hen's name to a feminine form. Billina endures several scares with the Kansas farm girl before they defeat the Nome King as only a hen can since eggs are poisonous to Nomes. At the end of the novel, Billina settles in the Emerald City in the magical Land of Oz.
In
Later books reveal that Billina has hatched many chicks (their father unknown). She names all of them Dorothy after her young friend. Gender confusion reappears, however, and the proud mother discovers that some of those chicks will be "horrid roosters"; she changes the males' names to Daniel.
One of Baum's earliest books described raising
Other adaptions
Billina appears in The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays (1908) with the credit "The Yellow Hen as Herself". Presumably a real hen was used in this lost film, as a real dog was used for Toto, also credited with playing himself.
In Disney's
Billina appears in Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz. She is depicted as a red hen whose clucking can be understood by Scarecrow and is often seen inside Tin Man's chest compartment.
