Hey guys! This is my last blog post, so I’ve decided to talk about a classic mythological creature: the unicorn.
The unicorn generally symbolizes purity and grace. They are woodland animals, and in the 13th century people believed that they could only be tamed by maidens. If a unicorn saw a maiden, it would be forced to walk over to her and lay its head on her lap. It would then fall asleep, and once it woke up, it must listen to her commands. This relationship between a maiden and a unicorn was meant to serve as an analogy to that of a maiden and a man. A man is supposed to be attracted to a maiden in the same way a unicorn is. Granted, the analogy didn’t stem much further than this; in the 13th century it was the men who “tamed” their wives. This depiction was primarily meant to show that women are attractive because of their purity.
Unicorns are passive and gentle, but they are unapproachable by anyone who is not a maiden. This made them almost impossible to find, so it was the dream of every hunter to find and kill one. There is a famous depiction of a unicorn hunt called The Hunt of the Unicorn from the 14th century. The Hunt of the Unicorn is a series of seven tapestries that tell the story of a hunt through the use of pictures. The first tapestry shows a group of hunters that enter the woods. They take a maiden with her, who they use as a bait for the unicorn in a later tapestry. When the unicorn appears, they attack and kill it. The sixth tapestry shows body of the unicorn being taken to the castle, but in the seventh tapestry the unicorn is tied to a tree and no longer dead. Historians aren’t sure what that discrepancy means, but people do not believe that unicorns are immortal (if they exist in the first place).
I think unicorns are really majestic. They look really similar to a horse, but I imagine they would have a different sort of a presence. I imagine they would actually convey a sense of emotion when they looked at you, and that their movements would not be random. I bet they would be pretty fast, too.
Thanks for reading about these mythological creatures with me this semester! I had a lot of fun learning about all of these cool animals that I wish existed, so I hope you did too.