The Unicorn by Rainer Maria Rilke
The saintly hermit, midway through his prayers
stopped suddenly, and raised his eyes to witness
the unbelievable: for there before him stood
the legendary creature, startling white, that
had approached, soundlessly, pleading with his eyes.
The legs, so delicately shaped, balanced a body wrought of finest ivory. And as he moved, his coat shone like reflected moonlight. High on his forehead rose the magic horn, the sign of his uniqueness: a tower held upright by his alert, yet gentle, timid gait.
The mouth of softest tints of rose and grey, when
opened slightly, revealed his gleaming teeth,
whiter than snow. The nostrils quivered faintly:
he sought to quench his thirst, to rest and find repose.
His eyes looked far beyond the saint's enclosure,
reflecting vistas and events long vanished,
and closed the circle of this ancient mystic legend.
Since hundreds of year this mythical creature let’s our hearts beat faster. It’s innocent and beauty gives us hope and makes us dream of a better world.
The unicorn made its first appearance about 5000 years ago. It is most popular in Europe, middle east and far east, in middle-aged legends and animes. The appearance of the unicorn is the one of a white horse with a pointed horn on his forehead. Like many European mythological things, so has the unicorn its origin from Greek mythology.
The legend tells that Zeus tore off one of the horns of the goat Amalthea, who wet-nursed him, because it held magical power. Later that horn became known as cornucopia.
The believe of the magic power of this horn, was known till the late middle ages. Its powder was said to neutralize any poison immediately and the whole horn was said to start to bleed if a poisoned person got close to it. Therefore it was very wanted in the high time of intrigues and murderer of peers and royals. So it was nothing unusual that in the 15th century people offered up to 40’000 pieces of gold for one horn.
What often got sold as powder of a unicorns horn, was in real the powder of the horn of a narwhale, also known as ‘unicorn of the sea’.
For the people in the medieval times, to existence of the unicorn was as real as the genesis in the bible. Many asked why the unicorn wasn’t mentioned in the story of Noah’s ark when he brought the animals into the ark. Even thought not mentioned, there can be find images of the unicorn in many old paintings of the ark anyway.
