A Delicious Bass

For your birthday, T, please accept my birthday wishes and some fascinating tidbits regarding the mystical unicorn.

What is a Unicorn?

The unicorn is a legendary creature like a horse, but with a slender, usually spiral, horn growing out of its forehead. The popular image of the unicorn is that of a white horse differing only in the horn.

In medieval lore, the spiraled horn of the unicorns was called the alicorn, and was thought to neutralize poisons. In popular mythology, unicorns were hunted for their horns, which were said to protect one against diseases, or, if made into a cup, would protect one from any poison that might have been added to one's drink. This belief is derived from Ctesias' reports on the unicorn in India, where it was used by the rulers of that place for anti-toxin purposes so as to avoid assassination.

People sold what they purported to be unicorn horns at this time, but were actually selling narwhal horns (narwhals are whales with large, horn-like tusks that swim in cold water.)
Traditionally, the unicorn had a billy-goat beard, a lion's tail, and cloven hoofs. Ironically, this perception was more realistic, as only cloven-hoofed animals have horns. Unicorns were once thought of as nasty, easily provoked creatures, unlike the gentle perception we have of them today. They were thought to have deep, bellowing voices. As Ctesias, the ancient Greek physician, said:

"The unicorn was native to India, the size of a donkey, with a burgundy head and white body; it had blue eyes, a single horn that was bright red at the top, black in the middle, and white at the bottom; the horn was also eighteen inches long."

Julius Caesar also described the unicorn, saying, "It had a deer's head, elephant's feet, a three-foot long horn, and a boar's tail." It was not until the middle ages that the unicorn began to take on its present form.

A widespread legend is that, when Noah gathered two of every kind of animal, he neglected to gather the unicorns, which is why they do not exist today.

The quilin, a creature in Chinese myth, is sometimes called "the Chinese unicorn," but is not directly related to the Western unicorn. The quilin has the body of a deer, the lead of a lion, green scales and a long froth-covered horn. In Japanese, the word kirin (written with the same Chinese ideograms) is used to designate both the giraffe and the mythical creature. Although the Japanese kirin is based on Chinese myth, it more closely resembles the Western Unicorn than does the Chinese quilin.
And no birthday is complete without a cheesy poem befitting of the birthday unicorn.

I Believe in Unicorns


Magical Creature - serving light,
Untamed Power - Graceful Might.
Symbol of Love, Truth and Purity,
Majestic, Proud, Wild and Free.



Stronger than a raging river,
More graceful than the seas.
Swifter than the fleeting winds,
You shall live forever.



No saddle would you ever accept,
No bridle could sustain you.
'Tis the Unicorn destined to roam,
No rein can ever tether.



And yet, the frailest ribbon,
Tied by the virgin hand,
Captures you with bonds of Love,
That you shall ne'er escape.



I listen with my Heart,
To hear you when you call.
'Tis the voice of the Unicorn,
It teaches - Love is all.

Happy Birthday, T!



You‘re like a unicorn. I can’t see you, but I know you’re there somewhere, destined to roam and more graceful than whatever is thought to be graceful. My mind has gone blank, so feel free to fill in the voids. This morning I listened to Neil Young’s Keep on Rockin’ in the Free World. Those are definitely words by which to live. That last sentence is awkward, but it was the only way to do it without ending it with a ghastly prep. You know how much I hate to end my sentences with prepositions!! Eek!

N