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Welcome to Monstropedia, the original open-source bestiary!

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mon·ster n.

1. a. A creature, usually legendary or imaginary, such as a centaur or harpy, that combines parts from various animal or human forms. 1. b. A creature having a strange or frightening appearance. 2. An animal, plant, or other organism having structural defects or deformities. 3. A very large animal 4. One who inspires horror or disgust.

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Unicorn

Description

Unicorn.gif

The Unicorn is a mythical creature. Strong, wild, and fierce, it was impossible to tame by man. Pliny, the Roman naturalist records it as "a very ferocious beast, similar in the rest of its body to a horse, with the head of a deer, the feet of an elephant, the tail of a boar, a deep, bellowing voice, and a single black horn, two cubits in length, standing out in the middle of its forehead." Also known as : Re’em, Ki-lin, Kirin

Powers

It was traditionally believed that only a naked virgin sitting beneath a tree could lure and tame the unicorn, which craves purity. It would be irresistably drawn to the girl and lie down with its head in her lap. While it slept, the hunter could capture it. If, however, the girl was merely pretending to be a virgin, the unicorn would tear her apart.

Throughout the mythology of the unicorn, its horn, the alicorn, was believed to have great medicinal powers. In Ctesias’ writings, the dust filed from the horn was supposed to protect against deadly diseases if mixed into a potion. Or, if you drank from the hollowed horn, you would be protected against any poison. Often, a narwhale tusk was sold as an alicorn, and it was commonly ground up and used for its magical properties.

Symbolism

Its white coloring made it a natural symbol for purity, chastity and virginity. The horn of the unicorn was the weapon of the faithful and of Christ. The mythological unicorn was a symbol of chivalry with qualities befitting this status, proud and untamable.

In heraldry, a unicorn is depicted as a horse with a goat's cloven hooves and beard, a lion's tail, and a slender, spiral horn on its forehead. Whether because it was an emblem of the Incarnation or of the fearsome animal passions of raw nature, the unicorn was not widely used in early heraldry, but became popular from the fifteenth century. Though sometimes shown collared, which may perhaps be taken in some cases as an indication that it has been tamed or tempered, it is more usually shown collared with a broken chain attached, showing that it has broken free from its bondage and cannot be taken again.

It is probably best known from the royal arms of Scotland and the United Kingdom: two unicorns support the Scottish arms; a lion and a unicorn support the UK arms. The arms of the Society of Apothecaries in London has two golden unicorn supporters.

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