Although there is no verifiable evidence that unicorns have ever existed, they have, nevertheless, pervaded human art and thought as perhaps no other animal has. With all our attempts to confirm or deny its existence, the unicorn remains a haunting presence treading delicately through the mists of our dreams and legends, appearing in many forms throughout the myths and legends of many lands.

The unicorn appears in early Mesopotamian artworks, and was referred to in the ancient myths of India and China. The earliest description in Greek literature of a single-horned (Greek: monoceros; Latin: unicornis) animal was by the historian Ctesias (c.400 BC), who related that the Indian wild ass was the size of a horse, with a white body, purple head, and blue eyes; on its forehead was a cubit-long horn colored red at the pointed tip, black in the middle, and white at the base. Those who drank from its horn were thought to be protected from stomach trouble, epilepsy, and poison. It was very fleet of foot and difficult to capture. Unicorns have been mentioned in historical accounts in every era, and are referred to in Talmudic and Jewish folklore—even in the Bible. They played their most prominent role during the Middle Ages, appearing routinely in paintings, tapestries, and folklore, continuing to be sighted from time to time, though never allowing themselves to be led into captivity. Unicorns became a common symbol for the Church as engravings on altars, illustrations in manuscripts, heraldic symbols for bishops and other Church leaders and its image was used for sermons and moral teachings.

Because unicorns have been used so frequently as allegorical beings, there are many different stories about them. I personally believe there is no one "true" version of the unicorn legend. Unicorns are the embodiment of centuries of stories and tales told around campfires and handed down from one generation to another. I feel it is for each of us to believe in unicorns for what they represent to us personally.

What Is A Unicorn?

Unicorns And Women

Where Are The Unicorns?

In Search Of Unicorns

If you were asked to make a list of what you know or have heard about unicorns, what would be on that list? How much do any of us know about this mystical creature? Here's mine based on what I've read and how the unicorn has been depicted over the many years of its known existence to humanity:

• Milky white, horse-like, but more delicately built

• Cloven hooves like a deer

• Wispy beard

• Long silky mane

• Long silky tail—OR a tasseled tail like that of a lion

• A horn that stands out straight from the center of its forehead

• Deep blue eyes that seem full of stars

• Mystical aura of calm, gentle wisdom

• Able to converse with humans in a strange telepathic way without words

• An audible voice that's rarely heard, except for a cry of rage when driven beyond endurance

• Has a scream so dreadful it can destroy the sanity of any aggressor

• Generally placid and gentle; not easily provoked

• Fiercely guards its life and independence; would rather die than submit to captivity

• A natural friend of most other animals

• It's horn can dispel poison, so the other animals let it drink first from the spring (for this reason, all pure-hearted animals will shield it from enemies if they can)

• Often called the Lord of Beasts

• Solitary by nature; even staying away from others of its own kind except after mating when couples live together to tenderly raise their young

• Occasionally gathers in herds or assemblies

• Shy and elusive

• Has a fierce side to its nature; capable of terrifyingly violent action

• Journeys once a year to the site of the Garden of Eden

• Is attracted to maidens

• Believed by the Chinese to be one of the four sacred beasts of the world

• Its appearance is considered a sign of good fortune

So...then what is a unicorn? It's a horse with a horn in the middle of its forehead. Right? Well...the answer is a lot more complicated than a simple yes or no.

Some accounts give them white bodies and red heads, with a short, three colored horn. Others give them elephant's feet, and a boar's tail. Some of the Medieval illustrations and descriptions I've come across depict them as being closer to a large greyhound, or even like a long-legged deer, with no mane at all. While writers through the ages may disagree on exactly what a unicorn looks like, most artists portray them in much the same way:  an animal much like a horse, but lighter and more graceful, with many goat-like qualities.

As for me, I believe they are much more than horses with a horn. While they share many equine qualities, I believe "true unicorns" have cloven hooves like a deer, a beard, and a long tail with a tassel like a lion. And, however they are described, unicorns are far more magical than either a horse or a goat.

During the Middle Ages numerous legends were told of unicorns, depicting them as marvelous and indomitable creatures, symbols of power and virility. Too swift and fierce to be captured by hunters, the unicorn could only be lured by a virgin seated alone under a tree in the forest.

These legends may have been derived from earlier Celtic stories and rites in which the male counterpart of the fertility goddess was a horned god. The patriarchal culture's preoccupation with virginity as chastity breaks with earlier traditions that recognized the virgin as one who was self-possessed and independent, not necessarily sexually inexperienced.

The unicorn's trust in maidens is thought by some to be due to its associations in pagan times and lands with cults of the moon and their virgin priestesses. With the coming of Christianity, this bond was said to have been extended to nuns, who in most cases were said to guard the unicorn's faith as well as their predecessors.

Another possible reason for the association of maidens with unicorn capture is suggested by Fray Luis de Urreta, a Jesuit writer of the early 16th Century. According to him, along the Upper Nile of Africa, there lived a fierce animal (which could have been either the Karkadann or the rhinoceros) which could only be captured by taking a trained female monkey into an area where the beast was to be found and releasing the monkey while still a safe distance away. The monkey sought out the beast and approached it by dancing and cavorting to distract it. Finally the monkey would be able to jump on the back of the creature and begin to scratch and stroke its skin, which gave the animal a great deal of pleasure. While in this reverie, the beast relaxed and stretched out on the ground to fall asleep. Only then was it safe for the hunters to approach closely enough to shoot the beast with arrows or muskets and kill it. This story may relate to the Karkadann or it may be a result of the frequent confusion with the rhinoceros; there's no way of telling. In either case, it seems fairly certain that accounts such as these filtered into Europe, where they influenced many medieval European attitudes about unicorns, including the magical properties of its horn, and the attraction between maidens and unicorns (making the leap from female monkey to female human), and the methods by which unicorns could best be captured.

The commonly held idea that a virgin was required in order to capture a unicorn did not originate with the Christian Church. In the ancient Greek bestiary known as the Physiologus, once believed to be the work of Physiologus, a naturalist from the 5th Century AD, the unicorn is described as a small, but strong and fierce animal which can be caught only if a virgin maiden is thrown before it. Men lead a virgin to a place where the unicorn resides and leave her there alone. The virgin's purity as well as her scent attract the unicorn. As soon as he sees the virgin he runs and lays his head in her lap. She fondles him (or suckles him in some versions) and he falls asleep. Then the hunters approach, capture him and lead him to the king's palace.

The virgin image was widely employed by the Church throughout the Middle Ages and used to teach morality. The notion that without chastity Christians could not know Christ became a means to motivate the lay people toward sexual purity and even a monastic life.

There were even debates about whether a unicorn could be captured by true virgins or pretend virgins—whether purity and chastity were of the heart or of the body. The mystic Hildegarde de Bingen wrote that the virgins should not be mere rustics, but had to be well born. Statements like this reveal much about how the Church mislead and misused the unicorn image for its own benefit.

In spite of the Church's influence and efforts, strong sexual undertones remained with the unicorn's image. It has the phallic born, but is only captured and tamed by a maiden. On one level this reflects animal nature being tamed by a higher, spiritual nature. On another level, it could reflect the union of male and female—the sacred marriage of the unicorn and the maiden. The head of the unicorn with its phallic horn resting upon the lap (or womb) would symbolize this marriage.

The implicit erotic aspects of the virgin capture of the unicorn also show up in medieval art. The unicorn was frequently depicted with women in sexual poses and in various degrees of undress.

In another example, in the engraving "Rape of Persephone" by Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), he depicts Pluto riding on the back of a unicorn carrying a naked Persephone off to the underworld.

Conversely, there are also numerous depictions of the unicorn with the Madonna. This dichotomy is a reflection of the Western tradition of separating sexuality from spirituality. The Christian ethic concerning sex is riddled with guilt. It taught that the sexual act was only for the purpose of creating children, not for pleasure, thus separating the flesh from the spirit and encouraging suppression and denial of sexual feelings.

NOTE:  The individual holding the dogs represents the Angel Gabriel about to proclaim the Annunciation and Conception while God looks down from heaven

Whatever its origins, the myth that only a maiden with a "pure heart" can lure a unicorn into coming close enough to be captured continues to be the one with which most people are familiar. Thus, the unicorn has been closely associated with virgins, purity and goodness. Does this explain why they are almost always depicted as white, perhaps? Or did our association of the color white with virginity and purity result from the myth that unicorns are white?

Despite its worldwide fame, there are those who believe there are no more unicorns. One reason people give for their disappearance is that when Noah built the Ark, the unicorns didn't make it on board, either because they were too large, or too silly—playing games and frisking about until Noah couldn't wait any longer.

Others think they were simply hunted into extinction.

Still others believe that the unicorns left when the world became less sympathetic to the old magic, fleeing to someplace better suited to their strange beauty.

Saddest of all are those who believe there never were any unicorns to begin with.

Where did they come from, where have they gone, were they ever here at all?

The truth is, no one knows for certain.

But here's what I believe; wherever they may have come from, unicorns live inside the true believer's heart.

Which means that as long as we can dream, there will be unicorns.

--- Bruce Coville, "The Lore Of the Unicorn," The Unicorn Treasury. Compiled and Edited by Bruce Coville (New York: Doubleday, 1988)

Personally, I agree with Mr. Colville's statements - more or less. While I believe that unicorns live inside the heart of true believers, I also think they have kept themselves hidden from view because of their innate innocence and beauty. They know humankind would try to exploit them and they need to remain outside the realm of such influence in order to retain their magical properties. The more we believe in them, the stronger they grow and the more they are able to bring their grace into our lives. If they came out of hiding, much of the magic and mystery would disappear, we would start to take them for granted and they would lose the power to heal and strengthen our spirits.

So it is for our sakes they remain out of sight. We all need some type of magic to believe in—unicorns provide such magic. If we continue to believe in them without definitive proof of their existence, their existence is assured. For, as Terry Brooks writes in The Black Unicorn:  "After all, there has to be some belief in the magic—however small—for any world to survive."

All they ask of us is that we believe in them as much as they believe in us.

...unicorns can thrive anywhere that the heart and imagination are receptive to them.

--- Paul and Karin Johnsgard, Dragons and Unicorns: A Natural History

Is the unicorn reality or fabrication, a rare, unclassified species or a figment of our imagination? For those who would capture it, it always slips just out of view. And, even if we could know once and for all, would we really want to? Are unicorns elusive? Unquestionably! It may be their very elusiveness that makes unicorns so appealing to so many of us; they embody a spirit of mystery and magic, dwelling just beyond our grasp. And if we choose to believe that unicorns are real, who can say with any certainty that we are wrong? In a world where so much that is magical has been lost, perhaps it is enough that a few poets, artists, and other visionaries bring us glimpses of them from time to time.

"Myth must be kept alive. The people who can keep it alive are the artists of one kind
or another. The function of the artist is the mythologization of the environment and the world."

--- Joseph Campbell

Unicorn is a god. He demands servitude and sacrifice. He stands out of reach, as fixed and brilliant as the stars. Serried ranks of unicorns keep guard like anthracite statues on the outer edges of our universe. Starlight catches on their horns; their molded flanks glisten with power.

Hail, Unicorn!  God of knowledge, a dark ghost on the fringes of man's consciousness, a pewter shadow in the leafless deserts of the mind.

--- Josephine Bradley, In Pursuit Of The Unicorn (1980)