Author: Patricia D.

Netzley

Power point by: Emily Dart

:The mystery library

UNICORNS

(Setting) HABITAT

✠ Most people thought they had lived in India (far east) ✠ Later on they were told they were mistaken and people argued that unicorns live in another world.✠ Marco Polo wrote stories about meeting a unicorn on the Indonesian Island now call Sumatra.✠ The most likely places for a unicorn to live was a thick dense forest, a desert, or a high mountain top. ✠ Julius Caesar believed that they lived in the European forests.

~India~

✠ Monoceros(Greek name)✠ Stag’s head✠ Elephant feet ✠ Boar’s tail and the rest of the body like a horse.✠ Makes a deep lowing sound and has a black horn two cubits long. (three feet)✠ Said to be unable to become captured.

✠ Donkey type horse. Larger than a horse or same size.✠ Head’s a dark red color ✠ blue eyes✠ Rest of the body is white✠ Horn in the middle of forehead 18 inches long✠ pure white, deep black, fiery red (horn color order)

UNICORNS

~China~UNICOR

NS✠ Head and body of a stag✠ Legs of a horse✠ Sometimes one 12-foot long horn, or up to three different horns on it’s forehead✠ born from the heavens, with the radiant colors of the sky through out the day and night (blues ,reds , yellows, white, and black.) and green scaly skin✠ called the Ki'-lin (chee-lin) and said to be pure, shy, and strayed away from civilization. ✠Even though the Ki'-lin was said to be pure and kind, it disliked the guilty and would strike those who had it with their horns. (called the sin-you in this state.)✠ In China unicorns are symbols of good fortune.

Sin-you

Ki'-lin

~Japan~UNICORNS

✠Resembled that of a deer or a goat.✠ Sometimes said to have a bull’s body.✠ Long curving tail like an ox.✠ Eyes that could strike fear into hearts and immobilize human souls.✠ Long horn (more like an antler than a curving horn) varying in size that protrudes from the middle of the forehead.✠ Kirin are said to fly, with or without wings.

Japanese Unicorn (also known as Kirin.)

OrMYTH? FACT?Many people believed that unicorns were just fairytales or stories to tell little kids to make them go to sleep. They couldn’t believe that there could be this pure animal that grants wishes and could strike fear into peoples hearts. They thought that people who did believe in unicorns were mistaken. It could have been another animal that they saw(rhino, goat, hoarse, ect.) , for no one had actually seen a real unicorn. Like the Chinese and Japanese, people would only think unicorns as a silly myth.

People like Gaius Plinius Secundus and Roman scholar, Aelianus believed unicorns to be real. Pliny thought that unicorns were on earth instead of the heavens. And he thought they were like any other creature described as black with a long black horn (like a rhino.) Both Pliny and Aelianus had written in journals about the unicorn and their beliefs on them. Even though none of them had seen one, they had heard stories from ancient Greek. People like those two had thought the same, most would not have believed if they had not sawn that ancient Greek had written about the unicorn in many journals. People believed that the reason they couldn’t see a unicorn wasn’t because they lived in the heavens or something, it was because they were very solitary animals

In some beliefs of the unicorn, it was said that if you had dishonor, instead of piercing you with the horn, the unicorn would use sharp prickles on it’s tongue to destroy you. The unicorn is very shy and not seen by many, but in self defense it will kill it’s opponent. Unicorns are said to be fierce creatures. Belief after belief followed one another with the unicorn. Another one was that people had thought that since unicorns were rare creatures, their horns were magical and brought good fortune. They also believed that the horn could be used as medicine to heal any disease. When people hunted for unicorns, they would pretend to be a maiden or use maidens to catch them. It was a myth that unicorns had a weakness for maidens and were always kind and gentle to them. It was said that maidens had the power to tame unicorns.

I learned…

I would recommend this book to people who are into myths and don’t find it too weird or childish to read about unicorns. Unicorns aren’t something that should be thought of as childish or for little girls only, they are actually pure animals and were thought to be descended from the heavens, to be seen only by the purest innocence of souls. That’s probably why they were thought to be only in little girl/princess fairytales because little children seem to be the most pure.

Recommendation

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