Descripton of the Mighty Unicorn

Unicorns are powerful steeds with their coats being of pure white hair. They also have long silky hair that flows from their mane, and also from near their hoofs. Their eyes are normally a deep blue or pink. Their horns usually grows to be 2-3 feet in length and has an ivory white hue. Males can be distinquished by a white beard under their chin. Unicorns are very evasive creatures...able to sence enemies that would harm them, or the forest they protect. They have immunity to death by normal means, and they have a resistance to poisons, but captured by human hands usually break their spirits, and they easily die...To avoid this, a unicorn has a special power to teleport itself to a safe place... usually 1-5 miles depending on its age and experience. They are able to do this up to 3 times a day. They let travelers pass through their guarded lands as long as they aren't killing the animals for sport or money, and as long as no evil is done to the forest. By violating either of these two conditions, brings down the immediate wrath of the unicorn upon the offenders. The fiercness of the attack is determined by the evil released in the forest. Sometimes it is by chasing the offender away, and then other times...killing. A lone unicorn occasionally allows itself to be tamed and ridden by a human or fairy of pure heart and good morals and personality. A unicorn that submits in this way and that is treated kindly will be loyal for the rest of her life, even unto death if need be.

Origin of the Mighty Unicorn

Part of the origins of the European unicorn, just like the ones of many other mystical creatures, lies in the Greek mythology. The Greek god Zeus was nursed by the she-goat Amalthea (which was later on transformed into the star "Capella" (Latin: "goat") because of the gratitude of the god). In one version, the god broke off one of her horns, which spilled forth an unlimited amount of food. In later times this horn became known as the "horn of plenty", which you can find on thousands of baroque and classic paintings and ornaments. Even Uncle Scrooge is searching for it in one of Disney's comic episodes, although it then "presents" not fruits but gold coins.

However, as the unicorn is "known" to mankind for serveral milleniums another explanation of the origins of this creature is more than likely. As it is widely known the human race hadn't lived in nice comfortable houses for ever. Once it moved in clans and hunted wild animals for food. At this time the domestication of wild cattle was a incredibly important step for the first settlers for they didn't need to move with the wild herds anymore to gain meat. Due to the importance of these wild ox for the people at that time, traces of several "ox cults" can be found in the history of Babylon, Burma, Egypt or Israel for example. Just remember the story of the golden calf in the Bible.

But that is not the only quotation in this book. In the book of Hiob a creture called Re-em was mentioned, a name that was later translated into monoceros or unicornis, then to unicorn. Well, there it was doubted whether you can make the Re-em stay and work with all its strenght and fury for you. Nowadays this might sound silly... but already for the people a few centuries later the cow was no more than a normal animal, a property. For them "Re-em" couldn't just be an ordinary cow, nor could that be that creature that could be seen gloryfied on the Ishtar Gate of Babylon. Therefore still facing these old oriental legends the Greeks and Romans started to believe that there had to be another mighty and fabelous creature (which made Re-em to monoceros in the Bible, too). For who would adore a cow?

And there was one other thing. Have you ever seen Egyptian paintings? Remember how the heads where shown without any "3rd. dimension"? Well, just like that some of the animals where painted "horn on horn". As well as in the ancient Corinth whoever looked on these paintings that were on walls or vases for example could see but one horn. As this way of painting vanished for the later peoples THAT became the unicorn. Therefore, it is easy to explain why the early form of the European unicorn looked almost like a goat and often was described having the same size.

One of the first reports of the existence of the unicorn in Europe is read by almost every Latin student in school. The later emperor of the Roman empire Gaius Iulius Cesar mentioned it in the "Bellum Gallicum" 50 B.C. :"It looks like a deer with a single horn on the middle of its fore-head right between its ears. This horn is longer and straighter than any horn we know of..."

In medieval times, the magical power of the horn was still believed in. A powder made from this horn was supposed to neutralize any kind of poison and the horn itself was said to bleed when poisoned food was brought near it. As a consequence of this, in these "glorious days" of assasins and intrigants the horn of a unicorn was highly desired by noble men and rulers and in the 15th century 40.000 gold pieces were offered for one (The actual horn, that was offered, often was the horn of the narwhale (lat.: monodom monoceros), which is also called "unicorn of the sea". The male narwhale has one twisted tusk on his "nose", that looks like a horn and which can be 1.5-5 (!) meters long.). The healing power its horn was supposed to have, made the unicorn a symbol of medicine. Even today you may find quite a lot old medicine stores with the picture or the name of the unicorn.

In fact, for the people who lived in medieval times, the existence of the unicorn was just as certain as the stories of the Bible. Everbody believed in it. Some even asked where this mysterious creature might have been as Noah built his arch, as it wasn't mentioned in the Bible among the animals that finally were said to be on it. Well, you CAN see the unicorn there on some old pictures, but some said, that the unicorn, as it is the guardian of the Tree Of Life, just wasn't allowed to leave its place then.

The unicorn stood for many things: most often virtues like purity and honesty ... lateron in Christanity virginity as a symbol of the Christian Virgin Mary. It was said, that the unicorn could only be captured by a virgin... before it could be killed to get its precious horn. Unicorns were so proud, that no one was ever able to hold them captive alive, so weavers "captured" these creatures in huge an expensive carpets for the rich to hang it on their walls. But the unicorn was a sacred symbol even before Christianity. As a symbol of the moon it also belonged to the Greek Artemis, (virgin) goddess of the moon and the hunt (the later Roman Diana).

The counterpart of the unicorn was the lion not only on various crests. Both were seen as the kings of the animals and once the sounds of their clashes echoed in the woods. HOW the lion came to Europe to be heard in the woods appears to be another mystery. Some time later as the unicorn represented the spring and the lion stood for the summer, the end of their clashes was said to influence the seasons of the year.