 |
|
 |
 |
|
Are All Mythic Creatures Scary?
While many mythic creatures are man-eating monsters or evil spirits, others, like unicorns, are powerful and peaceful. Both the pearly white unicorn of European lore and the benevolent Asian unicorn avoid contact with humans, preferring to remain unseen. When humans do encounter unicorns, the creatures cause them no harm, a favor that is not always returned. Indeed, countless stories tell of humans hunting European unicorns and luring them into traps.
Mythic Unicorn
In modern fairy tales and other stories, the mythic unicorn looks like a white horse with a single long horn on its head. But in older stories, this fantastic creature had a short, colored horn and the body of a goat.
European Unicorn
Once upon a time, a hunter in the forest saw a brilliant white unicorn in the distance, emerging from a river and gleaming like the moon. Enchanted by the sight, the hunter called together his friends and gave chase. But the unicorn knew that men could never catch him, so he playfully waited for the hunters to draw close before bounding out of view. After a while, the unicorn came to a stop in front of a beautiful young maiden sitting under a tree. She reached out, combed his curling mane and rubbed his horn until he lay his head in her lap. But it was a trap! Looking up at the maiden, the unicorn saw her brown eyes were filled with tears and realized her deceit too late—the dogs and men suddenly seized him and carried him away. Afterward, the maiden remained in the woods, despondent. As she leaned down to wash away her tears in the stream, a movement in the distance caught her eye: she couldn't be sure, but she thought it was the shining horn of a unicorn disappearing into the night.
—Adapted from medieval European folktales; Greek authors told similar stories over 2,000 years ago
Continue >>
|
|
|
|
