The unicorn has but one horn in the middle of its forehead. It is the only animal that ventures to attack the elephant; and so sharp is the nail of its foot, that with one blew it can rip the belly of that beast. Hunters can catch the unicorn only by placing a young virgin in its haunts. No sooner does he see the damsel, than he runs towards her, and lies down at her feet, and so suffers himself to be captured by the hunters. The unicorn represents Jesus Christ, who took on Him our nature in the virgin's womb, was betrayed to the Jews, and delivered into the hands of Pontius Pilate. Its one horn signifies the Gospel of Truth.
--Le Bestiaire Divin de Guillaume, Clerc de Normandic--
(Thirteenth Century)

I'll capture gentle zebras...for your steeds and fill the stable with every kind of unicorn.
--Love Song of Night and Day--

The best use for a unicorn's horn is to adorn a unicorn.
--Author Unknown--

Unicorns don't care if you believe in them any more than you care if they believe in you.
--Author Unknown--

It was a heavy-boned face, with ridges etched in darkest walnut instead of gleaming highlights, and with odd, icy eyes that abruptly reminded her that unicorns were not Tame. Wild magic, free always, of what man might intend or wish for it.
--Doranna Durgin--
(Touched By Magic)

"I thought unicorns were more ... fluffy."
"See clear! Don't let the glamour get you! See what's in front of your eyes! It's a damn great horse with a horn on the end!" said Granny.
--Terry Pratchett--
(Lords and Ladies)

A long time ago, when the earth was green
And there was more kinds of animals than you've ever seen,
And they run around free while the world was bein' born,
And the lovliest of all was the Unicorn.
There was green alligators and long-neck geese.
There was humpy bumpy camels and chimpanzees.
There was cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born
The lovliest of all was the Unicorn.
But the Lord seen some sinnin', and it caused him pain.
He says, "Stand back, I'm gonna make it rain."
He says, "Hey Brother Noah, I'll tell ya whatcha do.
Go and build me a floatin' zoo.
And you take two alligators and a couple of geese,
Two humpy bumpy camels and two chimpanzees.
Take two cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born
Noah, don't you forget my Unicorns."
Now Noah was there, he answered the callin'
And he finished up the ark just as the rain was fallin'.
He marched in the animals two by two,
And he called out as they went through,
"Hey Lord, I got your two alligators and your couple of geese,
Your humpy bumpy camels and your chimpanzees.
Got your cats and rats and elephants--but Lord, I'm so forlorn
'Cause I just don't see no Unicorns."
Ol' Noah looked out through the drivin' rain
But the Unicorns were hidin', playin' silly games.
They were kickin' and splashin' in the misty morn,
Oh them silly Unicorns.

The goat started goatin', and the snake started snakin',
The elephant started elephantin', and the boat started shaking'.
The mouse started squeakin', and the lion started roarin',
And everyone's aboard but the Unicorns.
I mean the green alligators and the long-neck geese,
The humpy bumpy camels and the chimpanzees.
Noah cried, "Close the door 'cause the rain is pourin'
And we just can't wait for them Unicorns."
Then the ark started movin', and it drifted with the tide,
And the Unicorns looked up from the rock and cried.
And the water come up and sort of floated them away
That's why you've never seen a Unicorn to this day.
You'll see a lot of alligators and a whole mess of geese.
You'll see humpy bumpy camels and lots of chimpanzees.
You'll see cats and rats and elephants,
But sure as you're born
You're never gonna see no Unicorns.
--Shel Silverstein--
(The Unicorn)

When God created the earth, He made a river which flowed from the Garden of Eden... Then God told Adam to name the animals... And the first animal he named was the unicorn. When the Lord heard the name Adam had spoken, he reached down and touched the tip of the single horn growing from the animal's forehead. From that moment on, the unicorn was elevated above other beasts.
--Nancy Hathaway --
(The Unicorn)

Of all the legendary animals of art, folklore and literature, the Unicorn is the one with the greatest hold on our imaginations. Other fabulous beasts are clearly inventions, existing only in a mythical landscape of our own collective creation. But the Unicorn strikes us as more than imaginary. It seems possible, even probable...a creature so likely that it ought to exist.
--Nancy Hathaway --
(The Unicorn)

Take this bone, this ivory,
This slender pyramid, this spear,
This walking stick, this cornucopia,
This twisted Instrument of fear,
This mammoth tusk, this pearly horn,
This mythic spike, this maiden's bier,
This denticle, this rib of time,
This alabaster harrow--here
We start the beast, we give it name,
That world will never be the same.
--Jane Yolen--

Herd was too ordinary a word for what they were,
Horses came in herds. And cows.
But unicorns...
There had to be special words for them all together.
Suddenly he knew what it was,
As if they had told him so in his wavery song.
He was watching a surprise of unicorns.
--Jane Yolen--
(The Boy Who Drew Unicorns)

The unicorn was white, with hoofs of silver and graceful horn of pearl... The glorious thing about him was his eye. There was a faint bluish furrow down each side of his nose, and this led to the eye sockets, and surrounded them in a pensive shade. The eyes, circled by this sad and beautiful darkness, were so sorrowful, lonely, gentle and nobly tragic, that they killed all other emotions except love.
--T.H. White--
(The Once And Future King)

If the unicorn does live among the snows held up forever on the line of the Equator then it is clear why the world should know so little about him.
--Odell Shepard--

God himself must needs be traduced, if there is no unicorn.
--Edward Topell--
(Historie Of Four-Footed Beasties)
(Seventeenth Century)

Nothing is more magical...As long as they roam the Earth, evil cannot harm the pure of heart.
--From The Movie Legend--

Touched it?! A mortal laid hand on a unicorn!?
--From The Movie Legend--

There are wild elephants in the country, and numerous unicorns which are nearly as big...
--Marco Polo--

I was bathing in a lake when I saw the unicorn.... It is an injustice to say merely that its coat was white. Oh, it was white, all right, but it was more than that. It was a white like I remember the best vanilla ice cream, but finer and smoother. Sometimes the sun hit it just right and bright rainbow crescents fanned out like light through a fine spray of water. The hooves were mirror bright- platinum or silver, I couldn't tell. A distant lighthouse beacon on a lonely night, the spiral horn rose from the noble head: milky white, warm and welcoming.... Eyes full of life and intelligence. Eyes I could fall into. Lover's eyes.... As it moved, the mane shimmered on its muscular neck like a road on a hot day.
--Steven R. Boyett--
(Ariel)

I left the door open part way and got dressed, trying to imagine our neighbor's reaction to having a unicorn bang on their door wanting to know where there's a good shopping center.
--Steven R. Boyett--
(Ariel)

You try reading fantasy books all your life - have a unicorn walk by your bus bench on a hot day, with everything you've ever wanted tied up in a neat bundle- and see if you wouldn't do almost anything to have it.
--Steven R. Boyett--
(Ariel)

In the night, night passed down the street.... She felt the terror of it, the magic, and the impossibility that it should be there or that she should go to it.
"What do you want?"
But the unicorn only moved through the village like the wind, silent, without music.
--Tanith Lee--
(Black Unicorn)

There was no violence, no speed. It moved to the rhythm of an elder dance, putting all the rituals of the world to shame. Black, silver, gold and moon-opal, night and sea, fire, earth, air and water.
--Tanith Lee--
(Black Unicorn)

The unicorns were the most recognizable magic the fairies possessed, and they sent them to those worlds where belief in the magic was in danger of failing altogether. After all, there has to be some belief in magic--however small--for any world to survive.
--Terry Brooks--
(The Black Unicorn)

The people that see them share some of the unicorn's traits - they're lonely...with virtuous hearts.
--From Ally McBeal--

The unicorn is a lonely, solitary creature that symbolizes hope.
--From Ally McBeal--

Wherever they may have come from, and wherever they may have gone, unicorns live inside the true believer's heart. Which means that as long as we can dream, there will be unicorns.
--Bruce Coville--

"The unicorn", she said, "was a marvelous beast, shining with honor, wisdom and strenth. Just to see him strengthened the soul."
--Megan Lindholm--
(The Unicorn In The Maze)

The hunt of the unicorn. The evaluation of our souls.
--Author Unknown--

...I can o'ersway him; for he loves to hear
That unicorns may be betray'd with trees,
And bears with glasses, elephants with holes,
Lions with toils and men with flatterers...
--William Shakespeare--
(Julius Caesar)

The Unicorn...the beautiful white horse with the magical horn that heals.
--Author Unknown--

Then God told Adam to name the animals. All the creatures gathered around... And the first animal he named was the unicorn.
--From The Hokham Bible--

...And from the heart of the blossom there appeared a unicorn...
--James Endicott--

"Unicorns," she whispered. Rahela nodded. "The most beautiful of all the Mother's children."
--Jennifer Roberson--
(The Court Of The Summer King)

Now I will believe that there are unicorns...
--William Shakespeare--
(The Tempest)

Each month the unicorns gathered at dusk to dance in a Circle under the full, dusky moon. They were the only race they knew of that did so. For when Alma made the world, she fashioned all the other creatures first, out of earth, wind, water, and air--then invited them to dance. But the pans turned wordless away from her, and the gryphons flew to find mountains to nest in, and the red dragons burrowed deep into the Smoking Hills, and the wyverns laughed.
So Alma created the unicorns after her own shape: sleek-bodied and long-limbed for swift running, wild-hearted and hot-blooded to make them brave warriors. Then she took from the cycling moon some of its shining stuff to fashion their hooves and horns and make them dancers. So the last-born and best-beloved of Alma called themselves also the moon's children, and each month danced the ringdance under the round, rising moon.
--Meredith Ann Pierce--
(Birth Of The Firebringer)

Dreams are the playground of unicorns.
--Author Unknown--

Like a lion, without fear of the howling pack; Like a gust of wind, ne'er trapped in a snare; Like a lotus blossom, ne'er sprinkled by water; Like me, like a unicorn, in solitude roam.
--Hymn Of Buddha--

There's unicorns all over everywhere, even Woodmont. You know that, I know that, maybe nobody else does. You look for them, you listen for the music, you listen for Shei'rah. It's somewhere, you'll find it, if you want to find it enough. You got time.
--Peter S.Beagle--
(The Unicorn Sonata)

Then what is magic for?
What use is wizardry if it cannot save a Unicorn?
--Peter S. Beagle--
(The Last Unicorn)

I have forgotten than men cannot see Unicorns. If men no longer know what they're looking at, there may be other Unicorns in this world yet, unknown. I'm glad of it.
--Peter S. Beagle--
(The Last Unicorn)

Unicorn. Old French, unicorne. Latin, unicornis. Literally, one-horned: unus, one and cornu,a horn. A fabulous animal resembling a horse with one horn.
--Peter S. Beagle--
(The Last Unicorn)

Toward noon we spotted an animal gazing down at us from a sterile mountain peak of red and black rocks... Our guide stated that the animal must certainly be a unicorn, and he pointed out to us the single horn which jutted from its forehead. With great caution we gazed back at this most noble creature, regretting it was no closer for us to examine still more minutely.
--Friar Faber, 1438 A.D.--

"Do you know, I always thought unicorns were fabulous monsters, too? I never saw one alive before!"
'Well, now that we have seen each other," said the unicorn, "if you'll believe in me, I'll believe in you."
--Lewis Carroll--
(Through The Looking Glass)

To this day, it is said, malicious animals poison this water after sundown, so that none can thereupon drink it. But early in the morning, as soon as the sun rises, a unicorn comes out of the ocean, dips his horn into the water to expel the venom from it so that the other animals may drink thereof during the day. This as I describe it. I saw it with my own eyes.
--Johannes Van Hesse Of Utrecht, 1389 A.D.--

A wise man never plays leapfrog with a unicorn.
--Tibetan Proverb--

In the midnight forest the dark oak trees are still under the stars. The pale wildflowers in the clearing have furled their petals for the night. Suddenly he appears, a milk white creature with the proud form of a horse. You may not notice his cloven hoofs or curling beard, but you see the curved neck, the silver mane, the graceful tail. Then he moves his head, and the moonlight runs like sea water along the pearly spiral of his horn. There is no sound, but at the next heart-beat the clearing is once again empty of all but the night.
--George McHargue--
(The Beasts Of Never)

The unicorn holds many secrets: the secrets of jungles and moonlight, the secrets which lie hidden at the roots of trees and conceal themselves in coral labyrinths beneath the ocean. I look deep into its amber eyes and see my own reflection, but altered in line and light, as if in a dream.
--Josephine Bradley--
(In Pursuit Of The Unicorn)

In the heart of the forest a unicorn is born. The trees hold gentle branches around it, the forest pools guard its secret; only the stars can see. Among the silent spaces of the trees it grows protected, nurtured...
--Josephine Bradley--
(In Pursuit Of The Unicorn)

The unicorn stands alone, still as frost. It keeps watch down the corridors of time. The past and the future meet in the presence of the unicorn; the darkness and light become one. Patient as a candle flame, inviolate, here is our guardian, keeper of the silent unknown.
--Josephine Bradley--
(In Pursuit Of The Unicorn)

Today it is said that the unicorn never existed. However, it is marvelously clear that when the unicorn was first described and centuries later when the tapestries were woven, everyone believed in unicorns.
--Marianna Mayer--
(The Unicorn And The Lake)

The unicorn legend is different from most superstitions in that it has lasted longer and has been shared by the most enlightened minds of all nations.
--Andrea Bacci, Botanist And Physician--
(Sixteenth Century)

The horn of the unicorn was supposed to be the most powerful antidote against, as it was a sure test of, poisons. He was therefore invested by the other beasts of the forest with the office of "water-conner," none daring to taste of fountain or pool until he had stirred the water with his horn.
--John Vinycomb--
(Fictitious And Symbolic Creatures In Art)

Their bodies are white, their heads dark red, and their eyes dark blue. They have a horn on the forehead which is about a foot and a half in length.
--Ctesias, 416 B.C.--
(Indica)

As men, to try the precious unicorn's horn,
Make of the powder a preservative circle,
And in it put a spider.
--John Webster--
(The White Devil)

I saw there two-and-thirty unicorns.
They are a cursed sort of creature,
Much resembling a fine horse,
Unless it be that their heads are like a stag's...
--Rabelais--
(Gargantua And Pantagruel)

The lion and the unicorn were fighting for the crown.
The lion beat the unicorn all around the town.
Some gave them white bread, some gave them brown.
Some gave them plum-cake and kicked them out of town.
--Old English Nursery Rhyme--

The shark is killed for its fin.
The rhino is killed for its horn.
The tiger is killed for its skin.
What price the unicorn?
--Author Unknown--

Jim: What kind of thing is this one supposed to be?
Laura: Haven't you notices the single horn on its forhead?
Jim: A unicorn, huh?
Laura: Mmmm-hmmm
Jim: Unicorns, aren't they extinct in the modern world?
Laura: I know!
Jim: Poor little fellow, he must feel sorta lonesome
--Tennessee Williams--
(The Glass Menagerie)

The wise man says these animals
Lust greatly after pretty girls.
This way to catch them is best,
A youth in woman's clothes is dressed
And then with dainty steps he flaunts
About the Unicorn's bright haunts.
For when this creature spies a maid
Straight in her lap he lays his head.
The huntsman, doffing his disguise
Saws off the horn and wins the prize.
--German Rhyme--
(Sixteenth Century)

We caught the beast called Unicorn
That knows and loves a maiden best
And falls asleep upon her breast;
We took from underneath his horn
The splendid male carbuncle stone
Sparkling against the white skull bone.
--Wolfram Von Eschenbach--
(Excerpt From Parzifal)

Like as a Lion whose imperial power
A proud rebellious Unicorn defies,
T'avoid the rash assault and wrathful stour
Of his fierce foe, his to a tree applies,
And when him running in full course he spies
He slips aside; the whiles that furious beast
His precious horn, sought of his enemies,
Strikes in the stock, nor thence can be released,
But to the mighty victory yields a bounteous feast.
--Edmund Spencer--
(Excerpt From The Faerie Queene)

In the age of Tang and Yu the Unicorn and the Phoeniz walked abroad.
Now when it is not their time they come
And what do they seek?
The Unicorn, the Unicorn, my heart is sad.
--Confucius--
(Sixth Century)

The deer untethered roams the wild
Where it wishes in search of food.
Seeing this liberty, wise man,
Fare solit'ry as the Unicorn.
Free everywhere and at odds with none
Content with what comes your way
Enduring peril without alarm,
Fare solit'ry as the Unicorn
Like a lion fearless of the howling pack
Like the breeze ne'er trapped in a snare
Like the lotus unsoiled by its stagnant pool,
Fare solit'ry as the Unicorn.
--Excerpt From A Buddhist Hymn--

The nightingale among them
Sang sweet and loud and long,
Until a greater voice than hers
Rang out above her song.
For suddenly, among the crags,
Along the narrow vale,
The echoes of a hunting horn
Came clear upon the gale.
The hunter stood beside me
Who blew that mighty horn
I saw that he was hunting
The gentle unicorn--
The Unicorn is noble;
He knows his gentle birth,
He knows that God has chosen him
Above all beasts of earth.
The Unicorn is noble;
He keeps him safe and high
Upon a narrow path and steep
Climbing to the sky.
And there no man can take him,
He scorns the hunter's dart.
And only a virgin's magic power
Shall tame his haughty heart.
What would be now the state of us
But for this Unicorn,
And what would be the fate of us,
Poor sinners, lost, forlorn?
Oh, may He lead us on and up,
Unworthy though we be,
Into His Father's kingdom,
To dwell eternally.
--German Folk Song--

I had from this most wealthy queen
A beast of proud and noble mien
That bears in his brow the ruby-stone
And yields himself to maids alone.
But few such unicorns are found
On this or any other ground,
And only such are ever captures
As pure virgins have enraptured.
No man yet of woman born
Endures the terror of his horn.
--Pfaffen Lamprecht--
(Excerpt From The Song Of Alexander)
(Twelfth Century)

In the sea, the fish have learned to fly,
On a moonlit night, on wings of silver,
As the enchanted stars sail serenely by.
Do they know?
Where do unicorns go? Where winged horses fly?
Narwhals lost at sea, and never seen again.
Go, go and ask the magpie,
"Where do unicorns go?"
In the trees, the birds have learned to speak,
Many colored, they keep their secrets,
In a parade of clouds, playing hide and seek,
Do they know?
Where do unicorns go? Where winged horses fly?
Narwhals lost at sea, and never seen again.
Does myth and mystery lie,
Where the unicorns go...?
--Jimmy Webb--
(Where Do Unicorns Go?)

When the last eagle flies...over the last crumbling mountain
And the last lion roars...at the last dusty fountain
In the shadow of the forest...though she may be old and worn
They will stare unbelieving...at the last Unicorn
When the first breath of Winter...through the flowers is icing
And you look to the North...and a pale moon is rising
And it seems all is dying...and would leave the world to mourn
In the distance hear her laughter...it's the last Unicorn
When the last moon is cast...over the last star of morning
And the future is past...without even a last desperate warning
Look into the sky where through...the clouds a path is formed
Look and see her how she sparkles...it's the last...the last Unicorn
--Jimmy Webb--
(The Last Unicorn)