The UNICORN SERIES - Part THREE

The Unicorn Series
Part Three - The Unicorn and Fantasy

Discrepancy and fantasy. Did the unicorn have a divided hoof like the goat? Or a solid hoof like the bull? A goat's body with a horses head? Or a horse body with a goat's head? The goat's beard? Was that there too? Striated horns or not?

Welcome the Renaissance artists, who romanticised the unicorn and depicted it as a cloven-hoofed, goat-bearded, striated-horned, pure-white animal. It was shown solitary, without a mate, usually observed by humans or prostrating itself to the virgin maiden.

And then, the unicorn became a symbol upon heralds. It represented magic of all kinds. It represented chastity, purity and ferocity. It represented the tribes that could not be captured, those that would fight until the end.

Eventually the unicorn developed further. It developed a precious gemstone, a ruby or carbuncle at the base of its horn. This ruby, and the unicorn's red heart, were thought to cure almost any ill. The horn became known as the alicorn. It varied in colour, shape, pattern, size, striation etc. It even varied in stiffness.

The unicorn horn, according the Northern Europeans, was limp like a 'cock's comb' that could be stiffened (phallic anyone?) during combat.

The inside of the unicorn horn, when split, was thought to contain pictures of a man, fish and peacock against a black background. Al Damiri in the Book of Holy Things takes it further to say that not only were these found, but also pictures of trees, goats, birds etc.

Most unicorn horns were made of ivory and had a higher value than gold. The horn itself - good at detecting all poisons - enjoyed a better reputation than the stone ruby, also thought to be an anti-poisoning agent.

In one story the unicorn offspring are described as little fawns, but the mother is described as a monster, with fourteen heavy udders, and a horn sharper than any razor in the world.

The unicorn was thought to live in regions of the Upper Nile, in Abyssinia and Ethiopia. Indeed they were thought to reside in the same mountain range where the Queen of Sheba hid her treasure; in the Mountains of the Moon. The unicorn was also thought to reside in Tibet, where Genghis Khan was met on Mount Djadanaring by a beast which knelt three times to show his respect.

The unicorn was placed in South Africa, Mecca, the Court of Peju, Persia, India, Tartary, Scandinavia, Florida, China and the Canadian Border.

Whilst the Europeans were romanticising their unicorn, the Chinese concurrently had their ki'lin; the 'unicorn' that intermittently came from the heavens to present a fantastic omen, such as the birth of a new emperor. The ki'lin was commonly regarded as kingly as (but perhaps not important as) the dragon, and was often considered the King of Beasts. In Feng Shui, it replaced the tiger. It ate no living thing, not animal or vegetable, and would not tread upon a blade of grass or insect. It possessed a horn of twelve feet that was fleshy at the tip, a stag's body, a horse's head, and the tail of an ox. The ki'lin was not white, but pente-coloured. Its call sounded like chimes or a monastery bell.

The Chinese unicorn represented the element of earth, and was thought to spring from the very centre of the earth when needed. The ki'lin was gentle, harmless and did not kill with its horn. He was dignified, solitary, and would not tread on soil tainted with the human foot unless a mission dictates. He would not interact with his own kind. He was never hunted, and would voluntarily visit Kings should omens dictate. He was the King's equal and superior - a deity - rather than a beast to be tamed by deceitful hunters and virgins. The ki'lin has never had commercial value, as the ki'lin does not exist for medication or the edification of mankind.

In the East, the ki'lin in legend would one day appear in the form of a human, as a Messiah, to perform a mission on their benefit. Then he will walk the roads tainted by man, and it is thought that then he would save mankind.

Even in Western legend has the ki'lin thought to be a Messianic figure.

Anyway, the ki'lin was one of six other unicorns, who all derived from an original source. The other five are: King, Kioh Twan, Poh, Hiai Chai and the Too Jon Sheu.

In 1539 the unicorn was already being placed in America and Canada, as a creature with black eyes, and horn pieces were supposedly found around the necklaces of the natives of Florida. The American unicorn went by the name Souanamma.