WINGED WORDS WINDSDAY
Compiled & Edited by Rob Chappell
(@RHCLambengolmo)
Vol. 3, No. 12: January 17, 2024
Unicorns!
“The Unicorn”
By Rainer
Maria Rilke (1875-1926)
The saintly hermit, midway through his prayers
stopped suddenly, and raised his eyes to witness
the unbelievable: for there before him stood
the legendary creature, startling white, that
had approached, soundlessly, pleading with his eyes.
The legs, so delicately shaped, balanced a
body wrought of finest ivory.
And as he moved, his coat shone like reflected moonlight.
High on his forehead rose the magic horn, the sign
of his uniqueness: a tower held upright
by his alert, yet gentle, timid gait.
The mouth of softest tints of rose and grey, when
opened slightly, revealed his gleaming teeth, whiter than snow.
The nostrils quivered faintly:
he sought to quench his thirst, to rest and find repose.
His eyes looked far beyond the saint's enclosure,
reflecting vistas and events long vanished,
and closed the circle of this ancient mystic legend.
“An
Introduction to Unicornology”
By Rob
Chappell, M.A.
Adapted
& Expanded from Cursus Honorum VI: 8 (March 2006)
Recent decades have
witnessed a dramatic upsurge of interest in cryptozoology (the study of “hidden
animals” or fantastic beasts), as seen in a plethora of books, movies, video
games, and clothing featuring phoenixes, gryphons, dragons, etc. A perennial favorite
among these legendary animals is the unicorn, a creature that has captivated
the human imagination since prehistoric times. Possibly based on mistaken
sightings of wild oxen, or perhaps on ancestral traditions of an extinct
one-horned creature (see the illustration below), the unicorn remains a
perennial favorite despite continued scientific skepticism about its existence
in the “real world.”
Painting
of an Elasmotherium (ca. 1920) by Heinrich Harder (1858-1935) – a prehistoric
Siberian rhinoceros that might have given rise to the unicorn legend among
early human tribes. (Image Credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)
Traditionally, the
unicorn has been depicted by authors and artists as an untamable herbivorous
creature. It is like a snow-white horse in appearance, and its distinguishing
feature is a single horn protruding from the top of its head. Many alleged
“unicorn sightings” were reported by ancient Mediterranean historians and
naturalists like Ctesias of Cnidus, Aristotle, Pliny the Elder, and Claudius
Aelian, and their accounts greatly influenced medieval and modern depictions of
the unicorn. It was reported, for example, that the unicorn was a solitary
creature of the wilderness that would fight to defend its “territory” from
intruders – usually by charging its enemy (e.g., a dragon) and goring it to
death with its powerful horn. Whatever unicorns might have been in fact or
fiction, they were much sought after because their horns were highly prized by
alchemists and apothecaries for their alleged curative properties.
Ctesias of Cnidus (fl. ca. 400 BCE): Indica
Summary from Photius: Myriobiblon 72
In India there are wild asses
[i.e., unicorns] as large as horses, or even larger. Their body is white, their
head dark red, their eyes bluish, and they have a horn in their forehead about
a cubit in length. The lower part of the horn, for about two palms distance
from the forehead, is quite white, the middle is black, the upper part, which
terminates in a point, is a very flaming red. Those who drink out of cups made
from it are proof against convulsions, epilepsy, and even poison, provided that
before or after having taken it they drink some wine or water or other liquid
out of these cups. The domestic and wild asses of other countries and all other
solid-hoofed animals have neither huckle-bones nor gall-bladder, whereas the
Indian asses have both. Their huckle-bone is the most beautiful that I have
seen, like that of the ox in size and appearance; it is as heavy as lead and of
the color of cinnabar all through. These animals are very strong and swift;
neither the horse nor any other animal can overtake them. At first they run
slowly, but the longer they run their pace increases wonderfully, and becomes
faster and faster. There is only one way of catching them. When they take their
young to feed, if they are surrounded by a large number of horsemen, being
unwilling to abandon their foals, they show fight, butt with their horns, kick,
bite, and kill many men and horses. They are at last taken, after they have
been pierced with arrows and spears; for it is impossible to capture them
alive. Their flesh is too bitter to eat, and they are only hunted for the sake
of the horns and huckle-bones.
So did unicorns
really exist as they were depicted by the ancients? Their existence in Nature
(past or present) cannot yet be proved or disproved in an absolute sense. Until
then, here are some books on “unicornology” for those who would like to learn
more about these marvelous denizens of our imagination.
• The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle (1968) – This delightful and profound fantasy novel
was adapted into a classic animated film in 1982 with a memorable soundtrack
performed by “America.” Follow the ad-ventures of the last unicorn Amalthea and
her human friends as they go on a quest to find out why all the other unicorns
have vanished from the land – and watch as they wind up discovering their own
true selves in the process.
• Unicorns by Nancy Hathaway (1980) – Here is a splendid multicultural collection
of unicorn tales from across the centuries and around the world. Numerous color illustrations depict the
manifold types of unicorns within a global context – from medieval Europe to
East Asia and beyond. An original story about the constellation Monoceros (the
celestial unicorn, located next to Orion on the sky’s dome) appears at the end
of the book.
• The Lore of the Unicorn by Odell Shepard (1930) – This book guides the reader on a historical
journey through “unicornology” from antiquity to the twentieth century and is
well illustrated with reproductions of classic artworks. The author celebrates the unicorn as a
timeless symbol with many meanings and chronicles the scientific debate over
its existence with sympathy and good humor.
Here is
a star map showing the celestial Unicorn by Sidney Hall (Urania’s Mirror, 1825, plate 31).
The constellations pictured include Monoceros, Canis Minor, and (the now
obsolete) Atelier Typographique. (Image Credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia
Com-mons)
Biblical References to the Unicorn (King James Version)
In the Hebrew
Scriptures, a powerful horned quadruped known as a re’em was cited by the biblical writers as a superb warrior and as
a metaphor for God’s saving action on behalf of God’s people. The re’em is regarded by contemporary
biblical scholars as a wild ox, but the Greek and Latin translators of the
Bible who produced the Septuagint (in the 3rd century BCE) and the
Latin Vulgate (in the 5th century CE) rendered re’em as “monokeros” (in Greek) and “unicorn” (in Latin). The
unicorn therefore took its place beside the phoenix and the dragon as a
biblical animal, suitable for inclusion in books of zoological lore and in travelogues
penned by daring adventurers like Marco Polo and Sir John Mandeville.
Early English
translations of the Bible, including the King James Version, rendered this term
as “unicorn,” and thus the unicorn has been preserved as a denizen of the
biblical zoo for the last 400 years among the English-speaking peoples of the
world. Here are all the references to the unicorn in the King James Version, to
illustrate how this creature (whatever it was) came to be envisioned by
artists, musicians, and poets.
Numbers 23:21-23
He hath not beheld
iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. God brought
them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn. Surely there
is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against
Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What
hath God wrought!
Numbers 24:7-9
He shall pour the
water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king
shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. God brought him
forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat
up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them
through with his arrows. He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great
lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he
that curseth thee.
Deuteronomy 33:16-17
And for the precious
things of the earth and fullness thereof, and for the good will of him that
dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the
top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. His glory is like
the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns:
with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they
are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.
Job 39:9-11
Will the unicorn be
willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib? Canst thou bind the unicorn with
his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee? Wilt thou
trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labor to him?
Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy
barn?
Psalm 22:20-22
Deliver my soul from
the sword; my darling from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth:
for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns. I will declare thy name
unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
Psalm 29:5-7
The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. He maketh them also to skip like a calf;
Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn. The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire.
Psalm 92:9-11
For, lo, thine
enemies, O LORD, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish;
all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered. But my horn shalt thou exalt
like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil. Mine eye also
shall see my desire on mine enemies, and mine ears shall hear my desire of the
wicked that rise up against me.
Isaiah 34:6-8
The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of
lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.
And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls;
and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with
fatness. For it is the day of the LORD's vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.
The Prophet
Daniel’s Vision of the Unicorn
In this visionary
experience, the triumph of Alexander the Great’s (356-323 BCE) Greek Empire
over the Persian Empire is portrayed using animal symbolism in order to protect
the compilers and readers of Daniel
from persecution by the governing authorities of their time. Alexander the
Great appears in the vision as a unicorn who will butt heads with the Persian
Empire and defeat it once and for all.
Daniel 8 – Excerpts (King James Version)
[8:1-4] In the third
year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me
Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first. And I saw in a vision;
and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is
in the province of Elam; and I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai.
Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river
a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than
the other, and the higher came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward, and
northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was
there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will,
and became great.
[8:5-8] And as I was
considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole
earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his
eyes. And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing
before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. And I saw him come
close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the
ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before
him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was
none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. Therefore the he goat waxed
very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came
up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.
[8:15-17] And it
came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the
meaning, then, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man. And I
heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, “Gabriel,
make this man to understand the vision.” So he came near where I stood: and
when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, “Understand,
O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vision.”
[8:18-22] Now as he
was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground: but
he touched me, and set me upright. And he said, “Behold, I will make thee know
what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the
end shall be. The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media
and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that
is between his eyes is the first king. Now that being broken, whereas four
stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his
power.”
Alexander
the Great rides into battle on his trusty steed Bucephalus, who is depicted as
a unicorn in several medieval legends. (Image Credit: AI-generated artwork
created by the Editor in the Night Café Studio @ https://creator.nightcafe.studio)
Resources for Further Exploration: Unicornology
·
The Medieval Bestiary: Unicorn à http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast140.htm
·
Adrienne Mayor @ Stanford University à https://web.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Mayor.html
·
Unicorns à https://www.crystalinks.com/unicorns.html
·
The History of the Unicorn à https://www.unicorn-dream.co.uk/unicorn2.html
·
“The Unicorn” by the Irish Rovers (Music
Video) à https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG_RA_IKO6g
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