Unicorns

I've been wondering about unicorns lately. A few days ago I heard a familiar old song, "The Unicorn," sung by the Irish Rovers. I hadn't known it was written by Shel Silverstein. It posits that there are no unicorns any more because they literally missed the boat; they were playing in the rain when Noah's ark set sail. I have to think that the upcoming film Noah will not include this part.

"You'll see green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty-backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born
You're never gonna see no unicorn"

So where did unicorns come from? I'd say they are the most recognizable mythical beast other than dragons. A quick look on the Internet reveals the legend probably began in India, or at least was taken from Greek writers discussing a one-horned beast from India. The Bible mentions unicorns, at least in some translations, as does Shakespeare. But what were all these people talking about? Marco Polo wrote about a one-horned creature, but was clearly describing a rhinoceros. How did an ugly old cuss like the rhino become the beautiful white creature in fantasy art?

The unicorn is part of the Scottish coat of arms, and was an animal that came to be representative of innocence and purity, and could only be captured by a virgin. I would say that today the unicorn is a symbol that is prevalent in art and literature favored by girls, or women who have a strong interest in fantasy, Wicca, and crystals. I'm kind of surprised Stevie Nicks has never written about unicorns.

I didn't find a really good answer on the Net for why. Of course young girls romanticize horses. There are many possible reasons for this, including a yearning to be free, or more crudely, one of sexual awakening. But a unicorn is no ordinary horse. Like fairies and princesses, many girls long for this kind of fantasy, which is largely nonviolent (vampires and werewolves have also been a more recent interest of teen girls, which I'm pretty sure is sexual).

For boys, I don't think there's a comparable interest. When I was a kid it was soldiers, cowboys, and monsters--but when I say monsters, I don't mean vampires like Edward in Twilight, I mean nasty brutes like Dracula and Frankenstein and The Wolf Man. When we played we used aggression--army men battling, cowboys and Indian or cops and robbers shooting it out. If we had purloined a sister's toy unicorn it would have been put to use in battle.

I'm not a child psychologist by any means, but it does make certain sense if one believes the biological instinct of women as nurturers and men as hunters is still in our DNA. The unicorn has become a symbol of benevolence--not necessarily a mother or child figure, but one that is in a certain symbiosis with the sensitive among us. A poster of a unicorn on one's wall certainly indicates an aspect of a personality far different than someone who has a poster of Call of Duty, for example.

The unicorn holds an appeal because it's imaginary, but could be real, and wouldn't it be neat if they were.