Unicorn
Magical one-horned forest creature

A glimpsed brightness on a distant hill, a flash of white in the depths of a wood; that is all most people can hope to see of the fabulous unicorn... and even then the odds are long. Elusive and reclusive, this rare magical beast shuns all (well, almost all; see below) contact with coarse, brutish humanity, preferring to stay hidden in deep woodlands.

One place where you can find unicorns in great number is on the coats-of-arms and banners of noble families and royal houses, symbolizing purity and strength. This popular image of the unicorn -- basically a powerful white horse with one golden horn -- is a bit misleading. In reality, unicorns seem to have as much in common with goats as horses. Generally smaller than a horse, the unicorn is bearded and shaggy, sporting tufts of hair at its knees and around its hooves. Western European unicorns are exclusively white, with a long, twisted horn of yellowed ivory, but as one travels farther to the south and east variations in color and shape appear. Some North African unicorns, for example, have been reported as having black and even red coats, and in Russia and the Near East unicorns have been reported with forked horns. By the time the traveler reaches India and east Asia, true unicorns are almost entirely displaced by such local species as the flying k'i-lin.

The most distinctive feature of unicorns is of course their famous horn, which they use for attack and defense. Driven by the unicorn’s powerful muscles, the horn can penetrate even elephant hide easily, and the beast is nimble enough to use its wicked weapon to parry human hunters’ spears and swords. The horn has marvellous medicinal properties, too, which is probably why those hunters are there in the first place. By itself, the beautiful ivory spike can purify toxic water and spoiled food and render anyone holding it immune to all poison and disease, while in powdered form unicorn horn is a key ingredient in countless love potions and elixirs of immortality. Over-hunting for the horn trade is largely responsible for the unicorn’s extreme rarity in all but the most remote corners of Europe.

You might wonder how human poachers manage to corner and kill a lightning-fast beast that can sense danger a mile off. Unfortunately for the unicorn it has, like so many monsters, a well-known weakness for beautiful young maidens. Unlike more vicious creatures, the unicorns don’t mean any harm to the girl, but are drawn hypnotically by her aura of purity. The poor lovestruck creature will walk right up to a maiden set as bait and lay its head in her lap, allowing spearmen to kill it at their leisure. The only thing the hunters have to worry about is the possibility their delicate bait might lure a less gentle creature of the forest before it lures a unicorn...