Comments on: Why kill the unicorn?

By: me ow

me ow — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 22:08:59 +0000

did you know Genghis Khan and his army was stop’t by a unicorn?
he was going to india and the unicorn stood in his path.
and the unicorn bow’d to Genghis Khan.
so he bows back. and turns back!
Unicorns and dragons are in history from england to japan.

By: gaill ann

gaill ann — Sun, 03 May 2009 14:52:17 +0000

Hi, just stumbled across your website and had a possible answer to your question.

The Freudian approach is easy to apply to our collective mythology… the unicorn actually represents a man’s attempt to woo or rape the maiden- you’ll note that the horn is very phallic and is often pointing directly at the maiden’s lap… and is killed by the maiden’s betrothed/ father/ brother/ etc. perhaps in dome instances it’s the maiden’s secret lover and in others it’s an attacker.

The man who is, or is attempting to, take the maiden’s virginity, is represented as a beast to represent his lowliness or his animal lusts.

The unicorn is chosen to represent him because it has one horn and can only be touched by a maiden (and only captured by gold), making it perfect euphemism material.

The opposite angle is that the unicorn was a creature made up to describe this situation.

By: Beastmaster

Beastmaster — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 03:33:07 +0000

The Unicorn Tapestries were produced around 1500, which is later than most bestiaries. Perhaps by that time the traditional unicorn hunt (one mail-clad soldier stabbing with a spear or sword) had become a kinder, gentler, more festive affair… or not, since there still seems to be a lot of spear thrusting going on, at least in that tapestry. One unicorn captured, one killed: still a net loss for the unicorn population.

By: Barrie Evans

Barrie Evans — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 01:48:19 +0000

What about the tapestries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Cloisters)? A majority of the tapestries do not show the unicorn being killed but being pursued. There’s also a suggestion that, like Christ, he rises from death.

I love the blog, however, and don’t think we have enough bestiaries even though there are plenty of beasts to fill them.

By: Hannah Kilpatrick

Hannah Kilpatrick — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:44:26 +0000

Hi,

I just stumbled across your blog and am very much enjoying reading the backposts! I just thought I’d comment on this because I have a very similar image on my hard drive – the same basic scenario, with some interesting differences – and thought I should link to it in case you hadn’t seen it. Besides, it has a cute grotesque in the corner.

I posted about it on my blog, with reference back to this post. Of course, if you prefer I not do that, I’ll delete the post.

(I do like the fact that many of those images you posted show the evolution of the unicorn from a goatish creature to something more horse-shaped!)

By: Victor

Victor — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 08:33:40 +0000

I was under the impression the hunters (poachers, black market dealers whatever you want to call them) merely sawed off the unicorn horn leaving the unicorn to go back to the wild and die naturally due to their lack of a protective weapon.

By: ursula

ursula — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:42:31 +0000

awesome work ….I’m researching for some artwork and this is a great resourse!!

By: mary-doll

mary-doll — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:40:42 +0000

they unicorns would be safe now, my judgement obtained by watching students tells me there are not many pure and charming maidens left out there

By: Chair

Chair — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 01:51:08 +0000

Hello! I just stumbled across your site and blog while researching what I could on-line on the medieval bestiaries for some artwork. (I’m madly in love with the Aberdeen Bestiary.)

I love your sense of humour (“Why you kill my unicorn?”) I’m also tickled to see you’re relatively local (I’m in central Alberta). I will certainly be stopping in regularly, thanks for the compilation of information and you’re thoughts on the subjects.

By: Anne

Anne — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:32:16 +0000

well im a pure madien too and id never let any one harm a unicorn i feel their bringers of love and peace and should be protected also theys comfort you through sadness and times of trouble God bless the unicorns