nfortunately, most of my books on this subject are in Canada, due to being either too old or too delicate to ship over with the bulk of my reading collection. Alex sent them to me lovingly many years ago as treasures from her childhood and I’ve been hesitant to put them in any sort of danger because of their dual sentimental value.
The Unicorn is undoubtedly one of the key figures in western mythology, though many countries have some sort of four-legged, hoofed, one-horned creature that can be more or less called a unicorn, depending on how you stretch your definition. I was never much enamored by them in my youth (unless you count My Little Ponies; I liked them before they were cool again, damnit!) as I much preferred dragons, but when Alex and I got a chance to see La Dame à la licorne (The Lady and the Unicorn) in Osaka, during one of the only two times they have ever left France, I jumped at the occasion. The first thing I noticed upon entering the museum was how few people were actually there. Granted the Art & Science museum was kind of out of the way, and the building itself was small, but these tapestries are ridiculously famous around the world. The second thing I noticed was the incredible scale of the tapestries, five in total. They are toweringly huge, truly meant to cover a large wall, floor to ceiling. The amount of time that went into the creation of each of them must have been staggering and indeed, touring the tapestries you can see how the artist’s skill evolved between each project. It was a lovely, insightful venture, and definitely one of the best museum trips we’ve ever taken together.
Diary of an Aspiring Writer 
Ah, unicorns – whimsical, beautiful, myths of our imagination! Thanks for this post!
I prefer dragons, myself. 🙂
I almost did U for Unicorn – there are a couple of them in Glasgow, one on a fountain and another I managed to sneak into one of the last posts. I’d love to have seen those tapestries. We have some recent Unicorn tapestries in Stirling Castle.
Stirling Tapestries
Oooo! Yes, those are also very lovely!
There’s a unicorn in… oh, shh… That’s a secret.
>.> …. alright then. 😛
Recently I noticed, the Unicorn had made a come back and My Little Ponies too. There is something about Unicorns…
I know know what it is, honestly. I mean horses are cool, but giving it a horn isn’t adding much.
Their blood gives you eternal life – at least in Harry Potter 😀 Nah, I have never been much into unicorns either. I was more into climbing trees and exploring as a kid.
I wasn’t so much into the climb trees thing, given that my crippling fear of heights kept be from even climbing the slide. The getting up into the tree wasn’t the problem. It was the getting own that was always the problem.
🙂
You’re so lucky to have seen those tapestries in person. I was excited the first time I even got to see decent PHOTOS of them.
“One monoceri
Cannot fit on a bus,
For one monoceri
Is two monoceros.”
*grin*
They are SO big! I don’t know what I was expecting before I went in, but not that they would be twice as tall as me!
I actually don’t think there are enough Unicorn stories. I liked them as a child.
Maybe. I don’t now, I never really sought them out.
When you think logically, a rhino is just a fat unicorn ..
However, a little secret. My daughter is 30 years old and a mother of three of my grandchildren. Just recently, her eldest daughter had to explain to her that unicorns aren’t actually extinct, they’ve never existed. So put out was she by being told such nonsense by a ten year old that granddad was telephoned to explain to said child how wrong she was.
I adore my children and the overwhelming majority of the time I look at them and think of them with deep affection and pride. There are times though…..
Oh my goodness, that’s priceless! I have fortunately never had to have an argument like that with my mother, but some of the arguments we -have- had…
The young granddaughters face, almost scornful behind her mother was a sight to behold.