à son cou ; 'à' hcre, round

il en prit les cordons ; in French en + les = English possessive adj., hcre — its. This construction must be used if the word to which it refers in the preccding sentence is not the name of a person ; compare —

Achille est un héros, j'admire sa bravoure. Paris est un belle ville, j'en admire la splendeur.