Unicorns

Traveller's Tales

In his travels, Marco Polo notes in Sumatra:


"They have wild elephants and plenty of unicorns, which are scarcely smaller than elephants. They have the hair of a buffalo and feet like an elephant's. They have a single large, black horn in the middle of the forehead. They do not attack with their horn, but only with their tongue and their knees; for their tongues are furnished with long, sharp spines, so that when they want to do any harm to anyone they first crush him by kneeling upon him and then lacerate him with their tongues."

Clearly a rhino!

The question which a number of sites ask is how the mythological representation came to be. It could be:

1) derived from a misunderstanding of Mesopotamian art and some cave paintings, which often showed creatures and people in profile (so only one horn showing in a horned beast).
2) an extinct species.
3) a garbled rhino or other creature (which is what Marco Polo latches on to to make sense of the unicorn). - the traveller's tales (or Chinese whispers) explanation
4) a creature of fantasy, revealing mythological truths.

Do I believe in Unicorns?

I think that misunderstanding of profile perspective may have played a part (1), as did (3), but that did only because people already had some idea of what a unicorn was in order to make sense of what they were seeing. This is much as archaeologists have been prone to see the "goddess" or "venus" figure in female statuettes, bringing their own interpretation to what they see. I think the idea of a unicorn predates that, although some aspects of unicorn behaviour, especially in the Middle East, may derive from that.

Yet some aspects of a unicorn seem to derive from (3) quite clearly.

"Powdered rhino horn is regarded as an aphrodisiac by many people from Africa and the Orient. The rhino's prolonged sex act, which may last for more than half an hour, probably gave rise to this strange belief."(http://www.mpumalangahappenings.co.za/kruger_national_park.htm)

And powdered unicorn horn was also supposed to have similar properties, which is a coincidence so close as to suggest some derivation from tales of a rhino.

It is noteworthy that the elephant carved on a seat in Exeter Cathedral has tusks, a trunk, but also hooves, which shows that misrepresentation could certainly take place.

There is no clear evidence for (2) in the archeological record, although it is unclear how much would survive. As noted (http://www.archaeology.eu.com/weblog/2005_11_01_archaeologyeu_archive.html), regarding decay:

"Very few ancient Roman ivory objects have survived to the present day because ivory is a biodegradable material. Those that have not withered away over the last 2,000 years are mostly tomb decorations and small plaques."

But is clear that whatever their derivation, unicorns gathered a cluster of mythological features.

Of those, the astronomical link is certainly interesting, especially as a number of myths seem to have astronomical and religious features. Recently Mithras has been re-evaluation as again providing (http://www.well.com/~davidu/sciam.html) an

"astronomical code with strong religious implications....In addition to Mithras and the bull, the tauroctony contains a number of other figures: a dog, a snake, a raven, a scorpion and sometimes a lion and a cup. It cannot be coincidence that each has a parallel among the constellations: Canis Minor, Hydra, Corvus, Scorpio, Leo and Crater; the bull is paralleled by Taurus." (see also http://www.well.com/~davidu/mithras.html)

I think that part of the reason for the unicorn acting as a "mythological attractor" is the fact that there is no physical unicorn to be seen (apart from 3), and so the imagination can find its own paths. What happens here (as with other mythology) is a form of story telling that tells us how people understood the world; it is a mirror of their psyche, revealing what might not otherwise appear, rather like a mirror.

I find the same thing with Tarot cards. A "good reading" is one which mirrors and reflects back fears and hopes; it does not preduct the future, but it does open up perceptions that might not be so easily accessible.

Peter Berger's masterpiece "The Last Unicorn" is a fantasy about a Unicorn which shows how even today the idea of the unicorn can cast a spell; it is a many-leveled work, and so deep and complex is its mythology that it is hard to put into words; the main plot arc has only a tangential relationship to the impact of the story on readers.

So to say that "unicorns do not exist" is to some extent reductionist, but also fails to understand the way in which they do exist. They are creatures of the imagination, and they do exist there, and the materialist ideology that privileges the material world over the world of the imagination is a barren desert that assumes imagination means imaginary. Rather, they allow us to speak of what cannot otherwise be said.

Confucius is supposed to have written:

In the age of Tang and Yu the Unicorn
and the Phoenix walked abroad.
Now when it is not their time they come
And what do they seek?
The Unicorn, the Unicorn, my heart is sad.


Richard Dawkins does not believe in Unicorns. I think he is missing a lot. I don't think they exist in the same way as a horse, for instance. But they have been around people for a very long time, and I think will be there for a long time to come. We are impoverished if we just dismiss the Unicorn as a fiction.

If I was asked to say where we would find them, I could do no better than to use the phrase made so memorable by Rod Serling, and say they do exist - in the Twilight Zone:

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call "The Twilight Zone".

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Different Unicorns around the World

The site http://www.allaboutunicorns.com/legends.php has a fascinating amount of detail. One of the most interesting things is how unicorns and unicorn myths differ from around the world. The basic form (a unitary horn) is the same, but within that, descriptions vary widely, as do features of the creatures alleged behaviour. Here I list some of the types shown here, and classify them by the above.

China: - Type 4

"A miraculous creature called the Ch'i lin (or K'i lin), a "great unicorn," that radiated exquisite colors, had a voice like a thousand wind chimes, avoided fighting at all costs, lived for a thousand years, and had a horn twelve feet long. It was said that Ch'i lin walked so softly its hooves made no sound. Some believed this was because it was so soft-hearted it did not want to crush the blades of grass beneath its feet.... Huang Ti was also known as the Yellow Emperor or the August Sovereign. He became one of the most revered of all Chinese rulers. There is a record in the Bamboo Books of the appearance of a Ch'i lin at his palace in 2697 BC, shortly before his death. The Ch'i lin walked silently, majestically into the palace, roamed its halls and vanished. The unicorn carried in the middle of its forehead a long, straight, tapered and helically grooved ivory horn."

What is remarkable about the Chinese unicorn is the way it enters both mythology (Chinese letters are a gift from a unicorn), but also enters into their historical narratives. Even by the time of Confucius, they are still dotted around, and Confucius sees a dead one and comments on it.

East Africa - Type 3

"When sailors aboard the Chinese Emperor's jewel ship arrived in East Africa in 1415, they were told stories about the horned creature they knew as the Ch'i lin. They were very surprised since Africa and China are totally different and they did not expect this animal to be known there. The Africans described the animal as having the body of a deer, a long neck and a single horn. It was gentle, graceful, rarely spoke or made noises and was said to be 18 feet tall. According to the reports, it would hide among the mimosa. The Chinese crew was able to capture one of these creatures and returned with it to China. There was much excitement in the Emperor's Court when it was reported they were bringing home a Ch'i lin. As it turned out, the Somali word for the animal was girin, which had confused the expedition's leader. In fact, the African "unicorn" turned out to be the giraffe!"

It is interesting that the pecular nature of the giraffe meant its "horns" were seen as being of one piece. We see it clearly as having two horns, but either through misunderstandings, or an idea that the prongs came from one root, the Africans saw it differently. Perhaps the tufts of hair on the female's head made it difficult to see quite was up there.

Middle East - Type 3 (with some of 4)

"In Persia and Arabia, the unicorn was called Karkadann, a beast so ferocious it could attack and kill an elephant. It was a violent, warlike unicorn, born in blood and vehement in battle. It had the body of a rhino and a tail like a lion. Each leg had three hooves, one in front and two in back. From its forehead rose a single black horn, curved like a crescent. Unlike the western unicorn, it was dreaded by all living creatures and left alone... It could be mild and tender hearted though, drinking the morning dew from green plants. And when it put its head in water, the water would become pure and fruitful, opposites would unite, and all female creatures in the water would become pregnant. Any evil within the water would die and be cast out upon the shore. As in western unicorn lore, the Karkadann was extremely fond of women, who were used as lures to capture the beast. However, in the eastern tradition, the women did not have to be virgins."

Here is something akin to a rhino, but the idea of purity - strong in the Western depiction - comes here. The idea of the savage beast being tamed by women would give Freud a field day! The Unicorn brings blessings when tamed.
Japan - Type 4

Japan's version of the unicorn, the Kirin or Sin-you was depicted with sinews more like those of a lion. Although the Kirin was normally a shy creature, taking large detours to avoid confrontations, the Sin-you unicorn was not so timid. It was known for its ability to know right from wrong and was often called upon to determine the guilt or innocence of individuals. If an individual was determined to be guilty, the Sin-you would fix its eyes upon him and pierce the guilty person with its horn.

Here a Unicorn is an augury, a kind of prophetic creature.

Western - Type 4

In Western unicorn lore, the Lion and the Unicorn have traditionally been considered rivals and natural enemies destined to fight. But in all of the tales of this rivalry, there is no suggestion that they represent good and evil. At best they are complimentary, at worst they are incompatible. At times both have been called the lord of all beasts, but their styles of sovereignty are totally different. The extrovert and the introvert, one fiery and one cool, they represent opposite principles which are fine in and of them so long as they are not in competition.... The Lion is a well established solar symbol in astrology. The Unicorn is not quite as widely accepted as a symbol for the moon. However, the association has been there and was commonly accepted by the time of England's James I.... [Here is] a drama we witness in the heavens every month: the new moon chases the sun across the sky, falling ever further behind but waxing as it does so, until finally it is charging towards the sun from the opposite direction, its crescent horn growing ever more slender and sharp. Then the sun devours it and for a few days and nights the moon disappears from the sky--to await rebirth. On the occasion of a solar eclipse, the tables are turned and it is the sun that briefly dies in the sky.

This links the Unicorn to the Astrological speculation of the Middle ages, and one part of the myth to a story about the heavenly chase.