A Magical Ride Through the Meadow

About this drawing

Only a storybook can show you a princess riding a unicorn, yet people once believed these animals were totally real. Ancient Greek writers described them as wild beasts living far away in India, more like a travel report than a fairy tale.

Medieval Europeans took the legend further. Their books of animals, called bestiaries, said a unicorn was too fast and fierce to catch. Only a gentle young woman could calm it. That explains why so many old paintings and tapestries show one resting beside a maiden. New York City's Cloisters museum has a famous set of them, the Unicorn Tapestries.

Then came the horns. Merchants sold long, spiraled tusks as genuine unicorn horn, and kings paid huge sums for them. Buyers believed the horn could detect or cure poison. Here is the twist: those treasures came from the narwhal, an Arctic whale with one extra-long tooth. Traders had every reason to keep that quiet.

Once explorers learned more about northern seas, the secret came out. Unicorns survived anyway. They moved from royal treasure rooms to birthday cakes, backpacks, and sticker sheets. Maybe that is the secret of their charm. Nobody has ever seen one, so everybody gets to decide exactly how it looks.

• unicorns
• princesses
• fantasy
• magical animals