  Fantasy
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Indulge me and ponder for a moment on the mythical unicorn, the white horse with the billy-goat beard, lion's tail, cloven hooves and singular spiraled long horn pointing forward. Was it merely a rhinoceros? A narwhal?
As a favored fantasy image, the unicorn has always been popular. The image of the unicorn appears in tapestries, banners, and in the royal arms of Scotland and the United Kingdom: two unicorns support the Scottish arms; a lion and a unicorn support the UK arms. The arms of the Society of Apothecaries in London have two golden unicorn supporters. Alicorn (the horn of a unicorn) was believed to have restorative powers against poisons. Was this the reason unicorns were idolized?
What is so special about the unicorn? Was it fierce? Intelligent? Mystical? Magical?
Chinese Kilin had the body of a deer, the lead of a lion, green scales and a long froth-covered horn. Legends say the unicorn sightings were omens of good times. One Emperor claimed to have been given the secrets of the written language by a unicorn. Legend says in 551 B.C., Confucius' pregnant mother met a Unicorn in the woods. It gave her a small piece of jade and placed its head in her lap. She realized the importance of the event and knew it was a good omen from the gods.
An inscription on the piece of jade told of the great wisdom her son would possess; and, sure enough, Confucius became the most respected of all Chinese philosophers. Even today, 2,500 years later, his prophetic words are still honored and revered. In his old age, Confucius reportedly saw the Unicorn for himself and knew that it meant he would soon die.
The Japanse Kirin (the word also means giraffe) had a shaggy mane and the body of a bull and was to be feared by criminals for it could detect guilt and would pierce the heart of the guilty with its horn.
An Arabian unicorn named Karkadann was supposedly endowed with magical qualities. Its horn was a good-luck charm against the scorpion, and eating its meat got rid of demons. Based on the description from ancient texts, experts now believe that the karkadann was actually an oryx, a large antelope that appears to have only one horn when seen from the side.
In early times in the Western world had its own recordings of the unicorn. Greek historian and physician Ctesias traveled to Persia and brought back fantastic stories from merchants who passed through India. Although he did not see one for himself, he described a creature he calls the 'wild ass of India' as being equal in size to a horse, with a white body, a red head, bluish eyes and a straight horn on the forehead, a cubit long. He described the lower part of the horn as being white, the middle black, and the tip red. As a physician, he was especially interested in the horn, which he heard was protection against deadly poisons. Drinking cups made from the horn were believed to possess the power of neutralizing poison when poured into them. Ctesias represented the unicorn as being extraordinarily swift of foot, untamable and almost impossible to capture.
The famous Greek philosopher Aristotle deduced that the Unicorn was probably a real animal, but he did not believe the stories of magical powers attributed to the horn. The respected historian Pliny the Elder also came to the conclusion that a Unicorn existed in India. Pliny's Unicorn is a ferocious beast with the body of a horse, the head of a deer, the feet of an elephant, the tail of a wild boar, and a single black horn two cubits long, standing out of its forehead. Both men reasoned that the accounts were plausible and that the animal could exist. In fact, there was no more reason to doubt the existence of a Unicorn than that of an elephant or giraffe. Just because they had never personally seen one did not mean it did not exist.
In some versions of the Bible (including the King James version), the re'em is mentioned, which some translate as the unicorn. Shel Silverstein wrote the song, "The Unicorn" containing the theory that unicorns went extinct because they didn't get on Noah's Ark. The Irish Rovers popularized the song.
With all these unicorns sighted, how did one catch a unicorn? The only way to capture one was for a virgin maiden to wait alone where unicorns were to be found. When he saw the maiden, the unicorn would run up and lay its head in her lap - at which point the hunters hiding nearby could easily take it. Perhaps its ability to evade capture raised the mythical value of the unicorn.
"...Well, now that we have seen each other," said the Unicorn,
"If you'll believe in me, I'll believe in you."
-- Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
I hope you've enjoyed this history on the unicorn. Perhaps one will weave its way into your next story. |
Excerpt: "As long as you believe I will and shall always appear."
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Excerpt: She smiled as she heard the distant echo of the golden hooves of the beautiful, gentle beasts she had come to love, strained to catch the first glimpse of the silver horn of their leader, Krandekor.
Excerpt: Standing before her was a silver white unicorn. Its body glistened like fresh snow and the golden horn shone brighter than the lights of a million stars together. The hooves were like pure gold and the mane and tail the softest shade of blue she had ever seen.
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Excerpt: Rearing steed framed in radiance...
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Excerpt: The wind whipped through my hair as I rushed on through the dark night. On and on, endlessly, fighting against time. As the desert rushed beneath our feet, my mind went back to the evening before. Valien and I had spent the day hunting game. As we returned, pleasantly tired from our excursion, we saw palace guards running toward us. “Hurry,” they said, “Kilorne has kidnapped the princess Liana.”
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Excerpt: “No,” the Unicorn replied, loud enough to echo through the glass. Ea had never heard her speak in voice before. He wasn’t aware that she could actually speak outside of Psi at all. He quickly checked the panel beside him as something appeared in a blip.
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Excerpt: As Timmy played in the woods near his home, he did not know that two large blue eyes were watching every move he made.
Excerpt: “There is a place,” I said, my voice growing young with the anticipation of the words, “a magic place. A place where you can stand against all Time and call a unicorn.”
Excerpt: Yes, she thought, it’s a good day for unicorns. She remembered the days of her childhood, when she would run to the library after school to read up on the one horned wonder. It was her only escape from the world. Could she flee from her life if she found a unicorn?
Excerpt: There stands a unicorn, tall and regal,
With a mane flowing like the wings of an eagle.
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This month's question: Do you think it is right to take creative license and change the attributes of a unicorn?
Last month's question: What are some of your favorite twists of the ordinary in fantasy?
Once upon a WellToasted...  replied: Some of my favorite twists when reading fantasy stories almost always involve an element of natural occurence, and by that I mean a sort of coincidence, such as a frantic little boy fleeing across an aging bridge that only seconds after he crosses collapses just as a burly evil pursuer steps onto it, and so forth, yada yada. One concrete, if simple, example is the snowfall covering the kids' tracks in the Lion, Witch and Wardrobe story.
Marguerite says: I love the idea that any everyday item - a train, a wardrobe, a rabbit hole, a mirror - could be a passageway to a fantastic adventure!
Strange Wulf answers: A good NL. Covers all the basics of good fantasy writing, and touches on a couple topics of how to make good writing better.
As for twists, how about a wizard with no beard? Read the "Sword of Truth" series to find one. =P It's worth the read.
schriske comments: One of my favorites would be in Terry Goodkinds 'Sword of Truth' series building are built in the design of spell forms. Next there was a Dragonlance tale that turned a dagger into the lead role of the story. The dagger originaly was just a plain old dagger in the original books, but in the tales books it brought it to life. A very differant point of view. And of course who can forget all the differant punish creatures in Piers Anthony's xanth series...to many to mention and 'The Game' in his Adept series.
Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicorn
http://www.allaboutunicorns.com/ |
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Fantasy: July 12, 2006 Issue [#1141]
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