I love Unicorns! Ever since I was child, unicorns have been a part of my life! I would love
to see a unicorn...I truly do believe...in "Unicorns"!
"Magic Creatures"
Gold-toned silver bells
ring out across the land.
As their music swells,
magic creatures form their band.
Wee folk peer from logs,
faerie Lords dance in rings,
dwarves strike fire from gems,
phoenix spreads crimson wings.
Golden haired princess
runs through the glade.
Unicorns prance there.
Dragons seek shade.
Elves with longbows fire
arrows at the gargoyles' den.
Mystic legends join
to welcome believers in.
Those who cannot see
hear not the shining song;
Wise as children are fools
rush in where they belong.
"What is a Unicorn?"
The unicorn is a legendary animal. 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
west 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. In Japan it is called Kirin, and in China Ki-lin. The name is
based on the Hebrew word re'em, in early versions of the Old Testament
translated as "monokeros", meaning "one horn", which
became "unicorn" in English. The creature is probably based on
the rhinoceros or the narwhal, a marine creature with one horn.
In the west it was first mentioned by the Greek historian
Ctesias in 398 BC. According to him they lived in India and 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 is a mixture
of an Indian rhinoceros, the Himalayan antelope, and the wild ass.
The horn itself is white at the base, black in the
middle and with a sharp, red tip. It is believed to possess healing abilities.
Dust filed from the horn was thought to protect against poison, and many
diseases. It 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 an unicorn, not in the least because it was supposed to
detect poison.
The belief in the healing abilities of the horn is
probably based on a medieval story. In this particular tale, many animals
once gathered around a pool in the midst of night. The water was poisoned
and they could not drink from it, until a unicorn appeared. He simply dipped
his horn in the pool and the water became fresh and clean again.
Another medieval story tells of the capture of a unicorn
by a maiden. The unicorn was far too fast and wild for the man that was
hunting him. He could only be tamed by a maiden who sat lonely underneath
a tree in the woods. Attracted by the scent of purity he would lay his
head on her lap and she would rock him to sleep. Then she would cut of
his horn, and leave him for the hunter and his dogs.
There have been attempts to give these tales a Christian
interpretation. In the first tale the horn symbolizes the cross and the
pool the sins of the world. In the second story the maiden was Maria, the
unicorn Jesus Christ and the horn a representation of the unity of the
Father and the Son. Jesus, embodied in the unicorn, was killed for sake
of a sinful world.
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