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The unicorn is
truly a mystical creature of many legends. It is usually portrayed as a
slender, white horse with a spiraling horn on its forehead, although its
appearance and behavior differs, depending on the location. In the western
world it was usually considered wild and untamable, while in the Orient it
was peaceful, meek and thought to be the bringer of good luck. There it is
usually depicted as a goat-like creature, with cloven hooves and a beard.
The word "unicorn"
is based on the Hebrew word re'em ("horn"), which in early versions of the
Old Testament was translated as "monoceros", meaning "one horn". This
became "unicorn" in English.
In the west the
unicorn was
first mentioned in 398 BC by Ctesias, a Greek physician and historian of
Persia and India. He traveled to the Persian court and remained there
working as a physician for 17 years under two rulers. Upon his return to
Greece in 398, Ctesias began writing his Persicha, a history of
Assyria-Babylonia totaling 23 books and
covering the period of the ancient Assyrian monarchy, the founding of the
Persian kingdom, and the history of Persia down to 398 BC. Although his
material was gathered from Persian archives and state records, its
credibility is dubious because of its legendary quality and the fact that
Ctesias was writing expressly to contradict the chronology of the Greek
historian Herodotus. Ctesias' work no longer exists, except in an abstract
compiled by the patriarch Photius of Constantinople (c.860). Ctesias also
wrote a history of India based on reports of Persian visitors and of
Indian merchants and envoys to the Persian court. Although legendary and
based solely on the accounts of others rather than direct observation, it
was the only systematic account of India until
Alexander the Great invaded
that country.
According to
Ctesias, unicorns lived in India. He described them as "wild asses which are as
big as a horse, even bigger. Their bodies are white, their heads dark red
and their eyes are deep blue. They have a single horn on their forehead
which is approximately half-a-meter long." This description was based on
the tales of travelers, and seems to be a mixture of an Indian rhinoceros,
the Himalayan antelope, and the wild ass.
The horn itself has
been described as white at the base, black in the middle and with a sharp,
red tip. It was believed to possess healing abilities. Dust filed from the
horn was thought to protect against poison, and many diseases and could
even resurrect the dead. Amongst royalty and nobility in the Middle Ages,
it became quite fashionable to own a drinking cup made of
the horn of a
unicorn because it was supposed to detect poison. |
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The question of historicity and actuality with regard to gods
and unicorns is a relatively trifling matter which may be left to antiquarians and biologists, for both the
god and the unicorn had a business to perform greater than any mere existence
in the flesh could explain or provide a basis for.
— Odell Shepherd, The Lore of the Unicorn (1982)
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At this moment, the
Unicorn sauntered by them with his hands in his pockets . . . when his eye
happened to fall upon Alice; he turned around instantly, and stood for some
time looking at her with an air of the deepest disgust.
"What—is—this?"
he said at last.
"This
is a child,"
Haigha replied eagerly,
coming in front of Alice to introduce her . . .
"We only found it today.
It's as large as life and
twice as natural!"
"I always thought they
were fabulous monsters!" said the Unicorn.
"Is it alive?"
"It can
talk," said Haigha solemnly.
The Unicorn
looked dreamily at Alice, and said "Talk
child."
Alice could not help her
lips curling up into a smile as she began: "Do you know, I always thought Unicorns were fabulous
monsters too? I never saw one alive before!"
"Well, now that we
have seen each other,"
said the Unicorn,
"if you'll believe in
me,
I'll believe in you. Is that a bargain?"
"If you like,"
said Alice.
—
Lewis
Carroll, Through the Looking Glass (1946)
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