Unicorns Essay, Research Paper

In ancient Greek and Roman mythology, a mystical animal known as the unicorn made many visual aspects. As described throughout much of literature, the unicorn is reputed to look slightly like a white Equus caballus, although it has a long, distorted horn stick outing from its forehead.1 The earliest description of the unicorn was by Ctesias ( 400 BC ) ( The New Book of Knowledge, Vol. U-V 19: 391 ) . Unicorns have cloven hooves that are slightly xanthous in colour ; some are said to hold a lion-like tail. Male unicorns can be distinguished from their female opposite numbers chiefly in portion of the goat-like face fungus beneath the mentum. Besides, the females are more elegant and have a slimmer musculus frame. The typical European unicorn has a coat of hair that is pure white, and has eyes that are either deep sea blue or fiery pink. Long and satiny strands of white hair manus down from its mane and forelock. In his book, The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle describes this fabulous animal as looking nil & # 8220 ; like a horned Equus caballus & # 8230 ; [ as she was ] smaller and cloven-footed & # 8221 ; ( 1 ) . In his book, Beagle & # 8217 ; s unicorn was the & # 8220 ; colour of sea froth & # 8221 ; when it was immature ; as it aged, its colour changed to the & # 8220 ; colour of snow falling on a moonlit dark & # 8221 ; ( 1 ) . A unicorn & # 8217 ; s horn is white, Ag, or aureate in colour, is approximately two to three pess in length, and is said to hold particular mending powers.

Throughout clip, there have been many varied descriptions of the unicorn. In Asia, for illustration, reference of the animate being dates back every bit far as 26 century BC.1 The animate being described is far more different than the European unicorn. Rather than looking like a Equus caballus, the Asian unicorn, known as the k & # 8217 ; i-lin, appears more like a firedrake, although it has cloved hooves.1 The K & # 8217 ; i-lin & # 8217 ; s organic structure was made predominately of shimmery fish graduated tables that shone in every colour of the rainbow, and its horn was besides thought to incorporate charming healing powers.1 The K & # 8217 ; i-lin is reported to hold wandered through the castle of the emperor Huang-ti in 2697 BC, and was honored as the male monarch of all the land animals.1

Of the two, the European is the more widely known unicorn, and therefore, more information is readily available on that type of unicorn. In Beagle & # 8217 ; s book, he states that & # 8220 ; it is their nature to populate entirely in one topographic point: normally a wood & # 8230 ; & # 8221 ; ( 1 ) . As they are conceited animals, they prefer to populate in lone topographic points where there is a shallow pool of H2O nearby were they can see themselves clearly ( Beagle, 1 ) . They usually dwell merely in temperate forests, off from human activity. They are herbivorous animals, populating chiefly off of stamp foliages of the forest and its grasses.

Although unicorns are immortal, they do hold enemies and can be killed. Its enemies include the vixen, firedrake, and Chimera ( Beagle, 95 ) . Not much is known about the unicorn & # 8217 ; s generative wonts, merely that it seldom of all time couples ( Beagle, 1 ) . However, it is believed that when they do, it is for life. As the unicorn & # 8217 ; s horn was reputed to hold mystical healing powers, unicorn Hunts were popular throughout the Middle Ages. Since babe unicorns were about non-existent, if one could catch a babe, he was even more amply rewarded.

The unicorn & # 8217 ; s horn was thought to be a curative beginning. It was claimed to bring around many diseases and ward off many others, such as epilepsy and different tummy unwellnesss. It was besides believed to a neutralizer against poison.3 The horn was continuously sought after to be given to pharmacists ; they would crunch up the horn to do a toxicant neutralizing pulverization. Besides, the horn was said to shed blood if toxicant was brought near it.3 For these grounds, over 40,000 gold pieces were offered for the horn of a unicorn ( which about ever turned out to be the horn of the narwal, or & # 8220 ; unicorn of the sea & # 8221 ; ) . Although it was a therapist of lesions, the unicorn was a ruthless, barbarian combatant when cornered. & # 8220 ; She had killed firedrakes with it [ the horn ] , and healed a male monarch whose poisoned lesion would non shut & # 8230 ; & # 8221 ; ( Beagle, 1 ) . Beagle clearly shows that the unicorn & # 8217 ; s horn was its agencies of protection, every bit good as its healing strength. He clearly emphasizes the utmost alteration in the unicorn & # 8217 ; s temperate, traveling from slayer to healer. In ancient Greek and Roman myths, unicorns were an emblem of pureness. As such, they were placed among virgin saints whenever they were mentioned in a myth.2 In mediaeval society every bit good, the unicorn was a symbol of pureness and artlessness. It was fabled that a unicorn would merely let an & # 8220 ; untouched & # 8221 ; individual of pure bosom to touch it. From this came the tradition a princess fiancee would hold to travel through in order to get married. Before a prince and a princess could be married, the princess would hold to travel into the forest in hunt of a unicorn. The princess would hold a bridle of gold waiting, and would name quietly to the unicorn to come and put its caput on her lap ( Beagle, 73 ) . In most cases, the princess would wait until a good sum of clip had passed and would so travel back to state them that she had satisfied the tradition ( Beagle, 73-74 ) . This tradition had come about chiefly to turn out that the immature miss about to be married was still pure and untasted.

The unicorn was besides revered in society as a symbol of honesty.3 In the Middle Ages, many upper-class household crests contained an image of the unicorn for this ground. The unicorn & # 8217 ; s counterpart

was the king of beasts, as they were both considered male monarch of all animals.3 In many instances, both the unicorn and king of beasts were placed on the crests as symbols of honestness, pureness, and strength. In clip, the unicorn came to be seen as an emblem of the spring season, and the king of beasts stood for summer.3

As the unicorn was a symbol of celibacy and pureness, it was claimed that it could merely be captured by a virgin & # 8217 ; s touch.3 Because of this, a virgin was about ever included in the unicorn Hunts that were organized. Finally, it was realized that it was impossible to capture a existent, unrecorded unicorn. Therefore, many people turned to weavers to & # 8220 ; gaining control & # 8221 ; them on tapestries.3 Some of these tapestries, known as the Unicorn Tapestries, now hang in museums across the universe. Hanging in the Cluney Museum in Paris are two of the most celebrated of the tapestries.2

Subsequently, with the revival of the Christian faith, the unicorn became a symbol of the Virgin Mary. It was besides believed to be the defender of the Tree of Life in the Bible.3 However, before it of all time became a Christian symbol for pureness and virginity, the unicorn was a symbol of the Moon. As such, it was a symbol of the virgin goddess of the hung, Artemis, besides known as the Roman goddess Diana. 3 Throughout much of literature the unicorn has made its just portion of visual aspects. Peter S. Beagle devoted an full book, The Last Unicorn, to this fabulous animal. In many cases, he wrote of the animate being as if it were an aeriform animal. & # 8220 ; & # 8230 ; Her [ the unicorn ‘s ] cervix was long and slender, doing her caput seem smaller than it was, and the mane that fell about to the center of her dorsum was every bit soft as blowball fluff and every bit all right as cirrhus. She had pointed ears and thing legs, with plumes of white hair at the mortise joints ; and the long horn above her eyes shone and shivered with its ain seashell light even in the deepest midnight. She had killed firedrakes with it, and healed a male monarch whose poisoned lesion would non shut, and knocked down mature chestnuts for bear greenhorn & # 8221 ; ( Beagle, 1 ) . Beagles writes of the unicorn as if it were a sort, giving animate being who, when needed, could besides be unsafe and endangering. The combination of the colour of the horn and its ability to reflect with its ain visible radiation even in the darkest of darks lends the unicorn an ethereal, about celestial quality.

Subsequently in his book, Beagle relates to the belief of the symbolic significance of the unicorn. & # 8220 ; ? Unicorns are for beginnings, & # 8217 ; he [ Schmendrick the Magician ] said, ? for artlessness and pureness, for newness. Unicorns are for immature misss & # 8217 ; & # 8221 ; ( Beagle, 70 ) . In this transition, Beagle clearly alludes to the beliefs of the Middle Ages where the unicorn was thought to be a symbol of pureness and virginity. By doing mention to unicorns being for immature misss, Beagle indirectly hints at the belief that lone pure, untasted misss were allowed to be near it. In pages 72 through 74 of Chapter Five of The Last Unicorn, Beagle makes mention to the tradition environing princes and princesses who are to be married. He has a immature princess who unsuccessfully tries to entice the unicorn out of concealing so that she can put the aureate bridle on it, as a manner of turn outing herself to be pure and untasted. It is understood that the unicorn will non look, and after a few futile attempts, the prince tells the princess to go forth it be, that she has satisfied usage and they can now be married ( Beagle, 73-74 ) . This is a distinguishable mention to the tradition behind the matrimony of princes and princesses.

Beagle besides tries to compose of the unicorn in an about Christ-like manner. & # 8220 ; With an old, homosexual, awful call of ruin, the unicorn reared out of her hiding topographic point. Her hooves came cut downing down like a rain of razors, her mane raged, and on her forehead she wore a plume of lightning. The three bravos dropped their stickers and conceal their faces, and even Molly Grue and Schmendrick cowered before her. But the unicorn saw none of them. Mad, dancing, sea-white, she belled her challenge once more & # 8230 ; [ as ] & # 8230 ; the Red Bull came. He was the colour of blood, non the jumping blood of the bosom but of the blood that stirs under an old lesion that ne’er truly healed. A awful visible radiation poured from him like perspiration, and his boom started landslides fluxing into one another. His horns were every bit pale as cicatrixs & # 8230 ; & # 8221 ; ( Beagle, 94-95 ) . In this transition, it is apparent that Beagle puts his unicorn in a & # 8220 ; God V. The Devil & # 8221 ; state of affairs. Where the unicorn is described in a manner that portrays her as an angel combat for her people, Beagle depicts the Red Bull as a Satan figure. Whereas the unicorn is & # 8220 ; sea-white & # 8221 ; , the bull is blood ruddy. Where the unicorn is surrounded by a white ( perchance stand foring good ) lightning, the bull is enveloped in a & # 8220 ; awful & # 8221 ; visible radiation. Throughout the full transition, Beagle contrasts the unicorn and the bull in a mode that can merely be described as good versus immorality.

& # 8220 ; Unicorns & # 8221 ; . Hypertext transfer protocol: //www.geocities.com/Area51/Shadowlands/1272/unicorn.html. March 11, 2000.

& # 8220 ; Unicorn Myths and Legends & # 8221 ; . Hypertext transfer protocol: //members.tripod.com/ % 7Ewaterdragon/origins.html. March 11, 2000.

& # 8220 ; Origins of the Unicorn & # 8221 ; . Hypertext transfer protocol: //stud-www.uni-marbug.de/~Vigier/unicorn.html. March 14, 2000

Beagle, Peter S. The Last Unicorn. New York: Penguin Publishing, 1991

& # 8220 ; Unicorns & # 8221 ; . The New Book of Knowledge, Volume U-V 19. Grolier Incorporated, 1982.