Unicorns (2 page)

The Chinese unicorn is called the
ki-lin
(KEE-lin). It was a beautiful animal, but strange-looking.

It had scales like a dragon. It had a beard and a long mane and tail. Its coat was a rainbow of bright colors—red, blue, yellow, black, and white. Its long horn was made of pure silver.

Ki-lins
were kind.
Ki-lins
would never fight with other animals. They never even stepped on an ant. In fact, a soft piece of skin grew over the tip of their horns so that they could never harm anyone, even by mistake.

The great emperor Fu Hsi stared into the Yellow River. A
ki-lin
splashed out of the water. The emperor was amazed! The
ki-lin
knelt down in front of the emperor. On its back was a scroll. The emperor spread out the scroll and saw a map of his kingdom. Strange marks were drawn next to the rivers and towns.

The emperor stared at the marks for a
long time. Finally he figured out that they were writing. The
ki-lin
had given him a written language. Now his people would be able to write down and remember everything that happened to them.

Whenever a
ki-lin
was seen, something wonderful happened. They were often seen before the birth of a great man. If an emperor saw one, the next years would be happy ones for him and his people.

A pregnant woman was walking in the forest. A
ki-lin
came up to her. She stroked its head. It gave her a beautiful piece of green jade.

Soon the woman lay down and fell
asleep. When she woke up, the
ki-lin
was gone. Was it a dream? No, the jade was still in her hand. It had words carved on it.

The words said that she would give birth to a son who would be an important man. When her baby was born, the woman named him Confucius (kun-FEW-shus). He became a great teacher.

In ancient times, Chinese women hoped to see a
ki-lin
before their babies were born. They drew pictures of the god of childbirth riding on a
ki-lin.
They hung the pictures on the walls of their houses.

The
kirin
(KEE-rin) was a Japanese unicorn.
Kirins
were many sizes. Some were as small as goats. Others were as big as bulls. A few looked like lions. They were gold in color and had thick manes and big paws.

All
kirins
had bristly eyebrows and fierce eyes. People who looked into the eyes of a
kirin
sometimes became so scared that they couldn’t move at all. They felt
as if they had been turned to stone.

A
kirin
had a special power. It could tell good from evil. Long ago, Japanese judges let a
kirin
decide if a person was guilty of a crime.

The
kirin
was brought into the courtroom. It stared at the person on trial. If the
kirin
decided the person was guilty, it stabbed him through the heart with its horn.

Kirins
were scary. But another kind of unicorn was even more frightening!

In Arabia and Persia long ago, there were lots of wild animals to watch out for. Wolves. Tigers. Snakes. But the most scary animal was a unicorn called a
karkadann
(KAR-kuh-dan).

What did a
karkadann
look like? It was as big as a rhinoceros. It had three hooves on each leg and the tail of a lion.
When it bellowed, other animals ran away. Birds flew into treetops.

A
karkadann
would fight anything. Most animals would hide when they saw it coming.

Could anybody tame a
karkadann
?

Philip was a famous king. One of his subjects gave him a wild baby
karkadann.
His soldiers tried to ride it. The
karkadann
threw them all off.

Alexander, Philip’s son, asked if he could try. The soldiers laughed because the boy was only thirteen. They began making bets. Could Alexander stay on the
karkadann?

King Philip said to go ahead. Alexander
walked up to the
karkadann.
He spoke to it softly. He patted its mane.

The
karkadann
let him climb on its back. They rode off. Everyone cheered. King Philip was proud. He gave the
karkadann
to his son.

The boy in this story grew up to be Alexander the Great, a mighty warrior. His unicorn grew up, too. It became big and fierce. Alexander always rode it into battle. Together they won many lands.

Alexander’s enemies were jealous. They thought his
karkadann
helped him win. They all wanted one. But nothing was harder than catching a unicorn.

People were always trying to capture unicorns. Most were caught when they were young and small. Alexander tamed his
karkadann
when it was still a baby.

If a unicorn was attacked, it fought back. A unicorn was a good fighter. It was smart and quick. It ran faster than the fastest horses and hunting dogs.

Sometimes hunters could trap a unicorn if a young girl helped them.

The huntsmen and their dogs wait in a garden filled with flowers. They see a unicorn. The hunters blow their trumpets and gallop toward it. The unicorn kicks out. It swings its horn to defend itself.

It gets away. But it sees a girl in the woods. The unicorn stops and puts its head in her lap. She strokes it gently.

The hunters ride up. They capture the unicorn and put it in a pretty fenced garden.

This story is shown in a set of seven tapestries. They were woven over five hundred years ago. They hung in a house in France. In the 1700s, peasants broke into the house. They took the tapestries. They used them to protect fruit trees from frost and to cover potatoes in their barns.

Many years later, the owners got the tapestries back. Today they hang in a museum in New York City. Thousands of people see them every year.

The story that the tapestries tell seems strange. Why would anyone want to hunt a unicorn?

The answer is that people wanted unicorn horns. They believed that these horns had strange and magical powers.