recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Gregory I

Pope **Gregory I**

#### Latin original

Rhinoceros iste, qui etiam monoceros in Graecis exemplaribus nominatur, tantae esse fortitudinis dicitur, ut nulla venantium virtute capiatur; sed sicut hi asserunt, qui describendis naturis animalium laboriosa investigatione sudaverunt, virgo ei puella proponitur, quae ad se venienti sinum aperit, in quo ille omni ferocitate postposita caput deponit, sicque ab eis a quibus capi quaeritur, repente velut inermis invenitur. Buxei quoque coloris esse describitur, qui etiam cum elephantis quando certamen aggreditur, eo cornu quod in nare singulariter gestat, ventrem adversantium ferire perhibetur, ut cum ea quae molliora sunt vulnerat, impugnantes se facile sternat. Potest ergo per hunc rhinocerotem, vel certe monocerotem, scilicet unicornem, ille populus intelligi qui dum de accepta lege non opera, sed solam inter cunctos homines elationem sumpsit, quasi inter caeteras bestias cornu singulare gestavit.

#### English translation

This rhinoceros, which is called also the ‘monoceros’ in Greek copies, is said to be of such great strength, as not to be taken by any skill of hunters. But, as those persons assert, who have striven with laborious investigation in describing the natures of animals, a virgin is placed before it, who opens to it her bosom as it approaches, in which, having put aside all its ferocity, it lays down its head, and is thus suddenly found as it were unarmed, by those by whom it is sought to be taken. It is also described as being of box colour, and whenever it engages with elephants, it is said to strike with that single horn, which it bears on its nostrils, the belly of its opponents, in order to easily overthrow its assailants, when it wounds their softer parts. By this rhinoceros, or certainly monoceros, that is, the unicorn, can therefore be understood that people, who when it adopted, not good works, but merely pride among all men, at its reception of the Law, carried, as it were, a singular horn among other beasts.

## External links

* Facsimile in BibliotheksVerbund Bayern
* Facsimile in Technische Universität Darmstadt
* Translation in Lectionary Central
Plutarch

#### Greek original

λέγεται δέ ποτε κριοῦ μονόκερω κεφαλὴν ἐξ ἀγροῦ τῷ Περικλεῖ κομισθῆναι, καὶ Λάμπωνα μὲν τὸν μάντιν, ὡς εἶδε τὸ κέρας ἰσχυρὸν καὶ στερεὸν ἐκ μέσου τοῦ μετώπου πεφυκός, εἰπεῖν ὅτι δυεῖν οὐσῶν ἐν τῇ πόλει δυναστειῶν, τῆς Θουκυδίδου καὶ Περικλέους, εἰς ἕνα περιστήσεται τὸ κράτος παρ᾽ ᾧ γένοιτο τὸ σημεῖον: τὸν δ᾽ Ἀναξαγόραν τοῦ κρανίου διακοπέντος ἐπιδεῖξαι τὸν ἐγκέφαλον οὐ πεπληρωκότα τὴν βάσιν, ἀλλ᾽ ὀξὺν ὥσπερ ὠὸν ἐκ τοῦ παντὸς ἀγγείου συνωλισθηκότα κατὰ τὸν τόπον ἐκεῖνον ὅθεν ἡ ῥίζα τοῦ κέρατος εἶχε τὴν ἀρχήν.

#### English translation (Bernadotte Perrin, 1916)

A story is told that once on a time the head of a one-horned ram was brought to Pericles from his country-place, and that Lampon the seer, when he saw how the horn grew strong and solid from the middle of the forehead, declared that, whereas there were two powerful parties in the city, that of Thucydides and that of Pericles, the mastery would finally devolve upon one man,—the man to whom this sign had been given. Anaxagoras, however, had the skull cut in two, and showed that the brain had not filled out its position, but had drawn together to a point, like an egg, at that particular spot in the entire cavity where the root of the horn began.
Lamprecht

**Lamprecht the Priest** (der Pfaffe) was a XII century German poet.

## Text

### Alexanderlied

#### German original

Di kuninginne rîche

sante mir ouh ein tier,

daz was edele unde hêr,

daz den carbunkel treget

und daz sih vor di magit leget.

Monosceros ist iz genant.

Der ist luzzil in diz lant.

Dar zô ne frumet nehein jaget:

man sol iz vâhen mit einer magit.

Sîn gehurne daz ist freisam,

dâ ne mac niwit vor bestân.

Und dô di gâbe was brâht,

dô was di frowe des bedâht,

daz si zô mir sante einen man,

der was alsô getân,

daz er konde mâlen.

Der mâlede zô dem mâle

an einer tabelen mînen lîb.

Niht nist sô listic, sô daz wîb

unde ouh ir kint.

Des quam ih in grôz angist sint.

#### English translation (Odell Shepard, 1930)

I had from this rich queen

A beast of proud and noble mien

That bears in his brow the ruby-stone

And yields himself to maids alone.

But few such unicorns are found

On this or any other ground,

And only such are ever captured

As stainless virgins have enraptured.

No man of woman born

Endures the terror of his horn.
Avengers

“*Avengers, Assemble!*”
―Captain America

A team made by SHIELD to protect the world from any threat, alien, mystical or otherwise.

## Members

* Captain America (Steve Rogers)
* Iron Man (Tony Stark)
* Thor
* Black Widow (Natasha Romanov)
* Hawkeye (Clint Barton)
* Tigra (Greer Grant-Nelson)
* She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters)
* Hulk (Bruce Banner)
* Hercules
* Falcon (Sam Wilson)
* War Machine (James "Rhodey" Rhodes)
* Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers)
* Spiderman (Peter Parker)
* Ant-Man II (Scott Lang)
* Wasp II (Hope Van Dyne)
* Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff)
* Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff)
* Vision - Was supposed to be Ultron's last body, but became sentient. In possession of the Mind Stone.
* Black Panther (T'Challa)
Gerolamo Cardano

**Gerolamo Cardano**

#### Latin original

Asinum Indicum refert Aristoteles solipedem esse, & tamen talum habere & cornu. Ego monocerotem esse dicerem, si non constaret, hunc bifidam habere ungulam. Iustius ergo forsan orix uocabitur: nam hunc unicum cornu habere refert, & tamen bifida ungula. Porrò in bifidis quadrupedibus duntaxat, dum lacte uiuunt, coagulum hæret omaso, cùm tertius sit hic uenter, cuius causam se Aristoteles explicasse docet alibi, non tamen ubi hoc docuerit inuenitur. Coagulatur ergo lac ob crassitiem, uelut in leporum fœstibus, & cornigerorum: non igitur in primo uentre, quoniam nutritioni ineptum fuisset, & etiam quoniam niis aquosum est, nec in ultimo: fungitur enim loco ieiuni inteltini, ut inanis esse debeat: neque in secundo qui reticulus uocatur, cùm in maioribus natu tot uentres necessarij essent, ut cibus ille crassior & pauci nutrimenti melius concoqueretur (dictum est autem suprà, cur tali cibo Animalia hæc utantur) reticulus uerò non possit tam magnam uim contentricem habere, neque enim expediret animali, ob alimenti duritiem: quamobrem ad omasum pertinet retinere. Vbi autem retentio, ibi etiam coagulum fit.

## External links

* Monoceros in the Internet Archive
* Monocerotis cornu in the Internet Archive
Abath

**Abath** is a name of an Indonesian creature regarded to be a unicorn. Edmund Barker, a member of James Lancaster's crew travelling to East India, reported that in the kingdom of Iunsalaom (Junkceylon, now Phuket Island in Thailand) they purchased 2 or 3 horns of abath, which is thought to be a female unicorn. The creature has one horn in its forehead, brown-gray in color and prized as a great remedy against poison.

This abath is certainly Sumatran or Javan rhinoceros, in Malay called بادق‎ bādaḳ. The qaf is usually silent, so the word "bada" was coined by Portuguese travelers. Ending in "a", it seemed feminine to their ears and was assigned the feminine article, "la bada", and sometimes misinterpreted as "l'abada" (see: abada). "Abath" is a variant of this word.

Indonesian rhinoceroses had been mistaken for unicorns for a long time. Marco Polo, traveling through the kingdom of Basma, reported numerous unicorns living there, however he pointed out that those ugly, mud-wallowing brutes are very different from unicorns from European stories.

## References

1. ↑ Hakluyt, Richard. *Principal Navigations...*, vol. 11
2. ↑ Scott, C.P.G. *The Malayan words in English*
3. ↑ Polo, Marco. *The Travels of Marco Polo*
Unicorn Cookbook

The **Unicorn Cookbook** is an April Fools joke by British Library. On 1 April 2012 the British Library announced the discovery of a long-lost medieval cookbook by Geoffrey Fule (a wordplay on "fool"), containing, among others, a recipe for a unicorn. Beginning with "Taketh one unicorne", it calls for the animal to be marinated in cloves and garlic and then roasted on a griddle.
Wolfram von Eschenbach

## Text

### Parzival, b. IX: Trevrezent

#### German original

daz moht uns niht gehelfen sus.

ein tier heizt monîcirus:

daz erkennt der meide rein sô grôz

daz ez slæfet ûf der meide schôz.

wir gewunn des tieres herzen

über des küneges smerzen.

wir nâmen den karfunkelstein

ûf des selben tieres hirnbein,

Der dâ wehset under sîme horn.

wir bestrichen die wunden vorn,

und besouften den stein drinne gar:

diu wunde was et lüppec var.

#### English translation (Jessie L. Weston, 1912)

A strange beast, the Unicorn, liveth, and it doth in such honour keep

The heart of a spotless maiden that it oft at her knee will sleep.

And the heart of that beast we took us, and we took us the red-fire stone

That lies 'neath its horn, if the king's wound might its healing virtue own.

And we laid on the wound the carbuncle, and we put it the wound within,

Yet still was the sore empoisoned nor aid from the stone might win!

#### English translation (Odell Shepard, 1930)

We caught the beast called Unicorn

That knows and loves a maiden best

And falls asleep upon her breast;

We took from underneath his horn

The splendid male carbuncle stone

Sparkling against the white skull-bone.

## External links

* Original in Bibliotheca Augustiana
* Translation in the Internet Archive
Jednorożec (village)

**Jednorożec** is a village in Poland, Mazovian Voivodeship, the seat of a rural gmina with the same name. The founding legend of the village has it that a beekeeper once saw a unicorn when removing honey from the hives in the royal hunting reserve. The owner of the forest, Prince Janusz III of Masovia ordered a hunting lodge to be built in that spot, named "Jednorożec" ("Unicorn").

Inspired by the legend, the coat of arms of the gmina shows a unicorn rampant argent, armed, craned and unguled or, with two honeybees in the upper corners. The field is vert.

## References

1. ↑ *Głos Jednorożca*, gmina Jednorożec Regional Council newspaper, #2, 2006, p. 8.
2. ↑ Iwona Choroszewska-Zyśk, Maria Samsel et al. *Legendy i podania Kurpiów*. Ostrołęka 2008
Aristotle

**Aristotle**

#### Greek original

Ἔστι δὲ καὶ τὰ μὲν κερατοφόρα τῶν ζῴων τὰ δ' ἄκερα. Τὰ μὲν οὖν πλεῖστα τῶν ἐχόντων κέρατα διχαλὰ κατὰ φύσιν ἐστίν, οἷον βοῦς καὶ ἔλαφος καὶ αἴξ· μώνυχον δὲ καὶ δίκερων οὐδὲν ὦπται. Μονοκέρατα δὲ καὶ μώνυχα ὀλίγα, οἷον ὁ Ἰνδικὸς ὄνος. Μονόκερων δὲ καὶ διχαλὸν ὄρυξ.

Καὶ ἀστράγαλον δ' ὁ Ἰνδικὸς ὄνος ἔχει τῶν μωνύχων μόνον·

#### English translation (D. W. Thompson, 1910)

Furthermore, of animals some are horned, and some are not so. The great majority of the horned animals are cloven-footed, as the ox, the stag, the goat; and a solid-hooved animal with a pair of horns has never yet been met with. But a few animals are known to be singled-horned and single-hooved, as the Indian ass; and one, to wit the oryx, is single horned and cloven-hooved.

Of all solid-hooved animals the Indian ass alone has an astragalus or huckle-bone;
Julius Solinus

**Gaius Iulius Solinus** was a Roman grammarian and compiler, probably from the 3rd century. The content of his greatest work, known as *De mirabilibus mundi* (The wonders of the world) is gathered from earlier writers, like Pliny the Elder and Pomponius Mela. Solinus's entry on the monoceros was often included verbatim in medieval bestiaries.

## Text

### De mirabilibus mundi 52

#### Latin original

Sunt praeterea boves unicornes et tricornes, solidis ungulis nec bifissis. Sed atrocissimus est monoceros, monstrum mugitu horrido, equino corpore, elephanti pedibus, cauda suilla, capite cervino. Cornu e media fronte eius protenditur splendore mirifico, ad magnitudinem pedum quattuor, ita acutum ut quicquid impetat, facile ictu eius perforetur. Vivus non venit in hominum potestatem et interimi quidem potest, capi non potest.

#### English translation

Besides that, there are one-horned and three-horned oxen with solid hooves, rather than cloven. But the fiercest is the unicorn, a monster that bellows horribly, bodied like a horse, footed like an elephant, tailed like a swine, and headed like a stag. His horn sticks out of the middle of his forehead, of a wonderful brightness about four feet long, so sharp, that whatsoever he pushes at, he strikes it through easily. He is never caught alive; killed he may be, but taken he cannot be.
John Tzetzes

**John Tzetzes** (Ἰωάννης Τζέτζης) was a byzantine poet from the XII century.

## Text

### Chiliades, vol. V, ver. 399

#### Greek original

ΠΕΡΙ ΜΟΝΟΚΕΡΩΤΟΣ.

Θηρίων ὁ μονόκερως τυγχάνει φιλευῶδες,

Ἒν κέρας μόνον ἄνωθι φέρων τοῦ οφοῦ μετώτου.

Οἅτω δ' αὐτὸν θηρεύουσιν ἐντέχνως εὐωδίαις.

Νεόν τινα τῶν κρατερῶν στολίσαντες ώς κόρην,

Πρώτως ἀρωματίζοναιν ἀσμαῖς εὐωδεστάταις,

(cont.)

#### English translation (Konstantinos Ramiotis)

Concerning the Unicorn

The unicorn is a scent loving animal

And has a horn on its forehead.

They hunt it down by luring it with nice odors.

They dress up one of the most handsome your lads as a woman

And smear him with the most wondrous perfumes.

They place him just outside the beast's lair

And then hide. When the wind blows

It draws the beast out.

The young man opens his arms wide

And the splendid odor emanates; he then embraces the animal.

While it is stunned by the scent,

The hunters emerge and cut off its horn,

Which induces resistance to poison

And the beast then runs off half-horned.

## External links

* Original in the Internet Archive
* Translation in the Internet Archive
Camphruch

The **camphruch** (also called **camphur** by Paré and **camphurch** by Aldrovandi) is an amphibious creature similar to a unicorn, living in Maluku Islands in Indonesia, first described by André Thévet.

Camphruch is similar in size and shape to a stag. Its neck is covered in thick greyish wool. Its two front legs are like those of a deer, but the hind legs are webbed, like the legs of a goose, providing mobility in water. The creature feeds on fish, which it pierces with its single horn on the forehead. The horn is three feet and a half in length and as thick as a human arm in its widest. The animal can move it like an Indian cock its crest. The locals say the horn is an excellent remedy against poison.

"Campur" generally means "to mix" in Indonesian languages, possibly providing an etymology to the name.

A similar amphibious creature with a single moveable horn, according to Garcia de Orta, can be found in the southern part of Africa, between Cape of Good Hope and Cape Correntes.

## Gallery

In Ulisse AldrovandiCapricornus Marinus in John JonstonMonoceros seu Unicornu Iubatus in John Jonston
Alexander Robert Forbes

#### English original

**Unicorn** (see also Monster).—Aon-adharcach, aon-bheannach; Beisd or biasd-na-scrogaig (Skye), buabhall or buabhull.

This beast of the towering horn was said to be peculiar to Skye under the name "Biasd na sgrogaig," and indeed to the Outer Hebrides generally, having, as it is generally portrayed, one horn on forehead, and dwelling in certain sea lochs (some accounts add long legs, clumsy and inelegant, tall and awkward). Now it is shrewdly surmised to be a narwhal strayed from the Arctic seas, and which is called in some places the "unicorn of the sea," having the horn shown in that animal.

The unicorn is the right hand supporter of the MacGregor arms. See also Isaiah xxxix.
Álvaro Cunqueiro

**Álvaro Cunqueiro**

#### Galician original

O gatipedro é un gato branco que ten na cachola un corno mouro; o gatipedro vén polas noites ás casas, e párase nas habitacións nas que hai nenos durmindo. Entón o gatipedro ponse a verquer auga polo seu corniño, e o neno, en soños, escoitando o pingar da fontiña aquela, soña que mexa, e de verdade mexa na cama.

Para espantar o gatipedro abonda con botar unhas areas de sal á porta do cuarto e ó pé da fiestra. O gatipedro anda apoiándose, ademais de nas catro patas, na ligua, e probando con esta o sabor do sal, o gatipardo dá a volta e prosegue a súa nouturnia viaxe, deixando os nenos da casa en paz.
Hydro-Cryokinesis

**Hydro-Cryokinesis** is the ability to freeze water and all things that contain water.

With this power, mermaids can cool down and freeze water, from
water molecules to human body. The best known mermaid who has this power is Emma Gilbert. It can be combined with Hydrokinesis, to create a variety of things (ice balls, ice sculptures, etc), but that would eventually melt or break. The hand movement for this power is a stiff "stop" sign, similar to the English sign language for the letter "B". This may symbolize that when Emma is doing this she's slowing down and stopping the water molecules.

If a mermaid with this power is in the Moon Pool during a special planetary alignment on a Full Moon, it could be enhanced to Cryokinesis.
Bernhard von Prittwitz

**Bernhard von Prittwitz** (Polish: Bernard Pretwicz) was a Silesian nobleman serving under the Polish king Sigismund I. He protected the southern border of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from Tatar raiders. Known as "Terror Tartarorum", he often launched sorties deep into enemy territory. In 1530, on one of those sorties, he claimed to have hunted down a unicorn and sent its horn to the king. In the royal treasure inventory from 1532 the horn is described as being very thick.

In 1540 the king gifted the horn to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. The Emperor ordered a handle for the horn, enabling him to use it as a scepter. On the handle, there was engraved a poem, in which the unicorn praised the virtues of its horn. After the Emperor Ferdinand's death, his successor, Maximilian II, declared in a special document that although the horn was private property of the ruler, on account of its enormous value and unique properties, it would be excluded from the Emperor's estate and placed in the treasury of the House of Habsburg. The horn is now stored in Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

## References

1. ↑ Rafał Jaworski. *Polskie Tropy Jednorożca*. mowiawieki.pl
Bulan

**Bulan** (Arabic: بلان) is a little-known unicorn from Turkestan. According to Mahmud al-Kashgari, it lives in the country of the Kipchak. It has a single horn, at the tip of which is a deep hole, where snow and rain accumulate. When the male is thirsty, the female kneels down and lets him drink from her horn; when the female is thirsty, he does the same for her.

The word "bulan" (бұлан) means "elk" in Turkic languages. It may also be interpreted as "one who finds" (bul + an).

## References

1. ↑ Ettinghausen, Richard. The Unicorn: Studies in Muslim Iconography. Freer Gallery of Art. Occasional Papers 1. p. 67.
Johannes Witte de Hesse

#### English translation

Four days from Sinai is the *Campum Helym*; there are no venomous animals in it; near it is a river called Marach, the water of which is very bitter. Moses struck it with his rod and made it sweet. It is said that in these days, the water is poisoned by noxious animals before sun-rise, so that no good animal can drink of it, but in the morning after sun-rise, the unicorn comes and puts his horn into it and expels the venom out of it, so that it may be drunk during the day, and this I saw.

## External links

* Original in Google Books
* Translation in Google Books
Felix Fabri

#### English translation (Aubrey Stewart, 1893)

About noon we saw a beast standing on a mountain-top, looking down at us. When we saw it, we thought that it was a camel, and wondered how a camel could live all by itself, and a question arose among us as to whether there are wild camels. But Calinus came and said that the beast was a rhinoceros or unicorn; moreover, he pointed out the single horn growing out of its forehead. We gazed most earnestly upon this exceeding noble beast, and grieved sore that he was not nearer to us that we might have viewed him more narrowly. This beast is most singular in many respects. In the first place, they say that it is an exceeding fierce beast, and hath a horn set in the midst of its forehead, four feet long, and so sharp and strong that, whatsoever it butts at, it either tosses into the air, or else runs him (*sic*) through, and pounds him against the rocks. His horn is wondrous brilliant, and the bone thereof is reckoned as costly as the most precious stones, and is set in gold and silver. He is so strong that he cannot be taken by any art or strength of those who hunt him; but it is said by writers on natural history that they place a young virgin in his way, who opens her bosom as he runs toward her, where at he puts away from him all his fierceness, and lays down his head (in her lap), and is held thus entranced and, as it were, disarmed until he be taken and slain by the shafts of the huntsmen. If he be caught alive, he cannot be held against his will; and if he be forcibly held in fetters, he straightway dies of vexation, because he is an untameable animal. He is so strong, that in Holy Scripture (Numb. xxiii. 22) God's strength is likened to his; and so untameable, that in Job xxxix. 9, etch., we are asked 'Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow?' etc. David also, in the Book of Psalms, mentions the unicorn both in a good and a bad sense. He is a great beast, with the body of a horse, the feet of an elephant, the tail of a swine, and is of the color of box-wood. His roaring is terrible. He wages war with the elephant, whom he overcomes by goring him in the softer parts of his body with his horn; and, as heath been said, he shows a strange reverence for virgins.

Pompey the Great brought a unicorn to Rome for a show, as we read in Albertus *De Animalibus*. So we made a long half at the foot of the mountain whereon the beast stood, and it seemed to us that as the sight of him was pleasing to us, even so was the sight of us to him; for the beast stood still, and did not flee away until after we left him.
Francis Galton

**Francis Galton** was a British scientist and explorer.

#### English original

As the Bushmen learnt to understand our Hottentot a little better, we had some long talks about the animals on the river that joins the western end of the lake; that there are many there quite new to the Hottentots is beyond doubt, as several carosses were stolen by the Kubabees and brought back south, and the skins that many of these were made from were quite unknown to them. The Bushmen, without any leading question or previous talk upon the subject, mentioned the unicorn. I cross-questioned them thoroughly, but they persisted in describing a one-horned animal, something like a gemsbok in shape and size, whose horn was in the middle of its forehead and pointed forwards. The spoor of the animal was, they said, like that of a zebra. The horn was in shape like a gemsbok's, but shorter. They spoke of the animal as though they knew of it, but were not at all familiar with it. It will indeed be strange if, after all, the creature has a real existence. There are recent travellers in the north of tropical Africa who have heard of it there, and believe in it, and there is surely plenty of room to find something new in the vast belt of *terra incognita* that lies in this continent.
James Nisbet

#### English original

Under the designation of "The Unknown," comes the unicorn, one of the supporters of Britain's shield. A rare little book, entitled, 'Thomæ Bartholoni de Unicornu Observationes Novæ,' Amsterdam, 1678, would have afforded to Mr. Gosse some curious traditional particulars. We remember that when we placed it in the hands of Dr. Livingstone he evinced considerable interest in it, and specially directed our attention to the figure of a long, straight horn. Dr. Andrew Smith, an able and sober zoological investigator of South Africa, has collected considerable information about a once-horned animal as yet unknown to Europeans, and which appears to occupy an intermediate rank between the massive rhinoceros and the lighter form of the horse. A singular and new animal of Kordofan, having a long horn on its forehead, and termed the A'nasa, was reported by M. Antoine d'Abbadie in our own columns, and is cited by Mr. Gosse. The unicorn cannot, therefore, be pronounced a fable, although our national representation of it may prove to be fanciful.
John Brand

#### English original

The original word rem, translated unicorn in our version of the book of Job, xxxix. 9, is by Jerome or Hierome, Montanus, and Aquila rendered rhinoceros; in the Septuagint, monoceros, which is nothing more than "one horn." I have no doubt but that the rhinoceros is the real unicorn of antiquity. The fabulous animal of heraldry so called, is nothing more than a horse with the horn of the pristis or sword fish stuck in his forehead.

## Analysis

This short snippet earned an honorable mention in Odell Shepard's "The Lore of the Unicorn" for the most "dense and audacious error". The author has probably confused several marine animals. "*Pristis*" is another name for a sawfish; the swordfish is called "*xiphias*". The horn of the unicorn looks nothing like the parts of those creatures. Brand would have been partially correct if he mentioned a narwhal (*Monodon monoceros*) instead.

The original identity of the re'em is a more complicated matter; most scholars agree that it is of bovine nature.
Abada

**Abada** is one of the names given to a supposed unicorn living in Africa. Giovanni Cavazzi, when travelling in Portuguese Angola, heard about a creature similar to a horse but larger and having a head similar to a deer. It had two horns, one on the forehead and another on the nose, both of them of great virtue. He also mentions another creature called abbada (ndemba in the Congo language), which is the African cousin of a "true" (Indian) rhinoceros and has three horns – on the nose, on the forehead and on the back.

Girolamo Merolla also writes about the unicorn called abada living in Congo. It is the size of an ox, but has only one horn on the forehead. Only the males are endowed with it.

It must be noted that the word "abada" itself is an old Portuguese designation for a rhinoceros, taken from Malay بادق‎ bādaḳ (see: C.P.G. Scott). It was used as a given name for the second rhinoceros in Europe since ancient times, gifted to the King Sebastian I of Portugal in 1577. As reported by Juan González de Mendoza, European public was very impressed by the animal and rumors started about it being the real identity of the unicorn.

Jerome Lobo differentiates the unicorn and the abada, a creature with two crooked horns, explicitly calling the latter a rhinoceros.
Giovanni Cavazzi

**Giovanni Antonio Cavazzi da Montecuccoli**

Jean-Baptiste Labat translated this work to French.

#### Italian original

Nel sudetto Regno, e sua Commarca, trouasi vn' Animale chiamato ABADA, ò ALICORNO somigliante nella corporatura benche maggiore, ad vn Cauallo tuttauia le fattezze della testa pare s'accostino più à quelle del Ceruo; porta due corna, vno in fronte, l'altro nella commissura delle narici, amendue di molta virtù.

ABBADA, ò NDEMBA chiamano i Mocicongi vn' altra Fiera, che nelle Prouincie più mediterranee del Congo propriamente annida; riferiscono essere come il Rinocerote dell' India, e perche non la vidi, se non dipinta, dirò ch' ella è armata di vn corno nella punta delle narici; laonde non hauendo li trè corni disposti, vno sù'l naso, l'altro in mezzo alle spalle, e 'l terzo sù la schiena, nè meno le grandi, e robuste squame, delle quali scorgesi armato il vero Rinocerote, m' induco à dubitare che sia più tosto vna specie di Vacche seluatiche dotata di qualche naturale proprietà simile à quelle del sudetto: raccontano gl'Indiani, & anco gl'istessi Conghesi lo confermano, che la pelle ridotta in poluere, e distemperata in acqua, guarisce le dissenterie; che arrostita al fuoco purga le piaghe, tergendole con l'infusione della sudetta poluere: il medesimo asseriscono di quella delle vnghie, per mitigare le febri, e per ageuolare alle Donne il parto: che il sangue liquefatto in vino, fermi ogni flussione, applicato alla parte inferma, e che ristagni le violenti emissioni delle emmoroidi, e delle narici, e che il Corno sia perfettissimo contraueleno.
Thomas Dekker

**Thomas Dekker** (c. 1572 – 25 August 1632) was an English writer.

#### English original

You see likewise, that the Lyon, being the king of beasts, the horse, being the lustiest creature, the Unicorne, whose horne is worth halfe a City; all these go with no more clothes on their backes, then what nature hath bestowed upon them
Luduan

**Lùduān** (甪端) or **jiǎo duān** (角端, also **chio-tuan** or **kioh twan**), is a Chinese legendary animal looking like a deer with green coat, a horse's tail and a single horn. It can travel a distance of 18,000 li in a day (6000-9000 km or 3600-5500 miles) and speak in languages of foreign countries. Luduan appears in the time of an enlightened rule and presents the monarch with a message. A luduan once appeared to Genghis Khan and convinced him to abandon his efforts to conquer India.

According to the biographies of Wuhuan Xianbei, the Mongols use the horns of jiao duan for the production of compound bows, called "unicorn bows" (角端弓 *jiǎo duān gōng*)

## Genghis Khan and the unicorn

 *For another version of the legend, see Tibetan unicorn.*
In 1218, after Genghis Khan occupied Beijing, many Chinese joined him, willing to fight against the Jin dynasty, which ruled in Northern China. Among them was a Buddhist monk Yelü Chucai (耶律楚材). He was the last living member of the fallen Khitan dynasty of Liao, destroyed by the Jin a century before. Having heard about this, Genghis Khan said to him:

>
> Liao and Jin have been enemies for generations; I have taken revenge for you.
>
>
>
>

To which Chucai answered:

>
> My father and grandfather have both respectfully served the Jin. How can I, as a subject and a son, be so insincere in heart as to consider my sovereign and my father as enemies?
>
>
>
>

The ruler liked this answer and was so impressed with the scholar, he quickly made him his personal secretary and advisor. The Mongols planned to raze the whole of Jin to the ground and slaughter the population to make room for pastures for their horses. But Chucai argued it would be more profitable to give the people protection instead, tax them and draft into army, fueling further conquest. In everything he did, he tried to protect the people and to civilize his cruel masters.

In 1224 the Mongol army had just subdued the Khwarezm Empire and was preparing to pursue its ruler, Sultan Jalal ad-Din into India. But when they were nearing the mountain pass called the Iron Gate, they were approached by a strange creature. It looked like a deer but had green coat, the tail of a horse and a single horn on its head. It spoke to the Khan's bodyguards:

>
> You shall proceed no further. Go back! Go back!
>
>
>
>

Genghis Khan summoned his trusted advisor to explain the event. Yelü Chucai answered:

>
> This animal is called jiao duan. It travels 18,000 li in a single day and knows the languages of the four yi. It is also gentle and abhors bloodshed. Your Majesty, for four years you have been waging war in the west. Doubtlessly, the Heavens take no pleasure in the suffering of so many people and have sent this messenger to express you their will. If you conform, you will grant life to so many unhappy people and obtain boundless felicity.
>
>
>
>

Genghis Khan immediately gave signal to return.

## References

1. ↑ Geoffrey Humble. Genghis Khan versus the Unicorn. 29 March 2016
Gervaise

**Gervaise**

## Text

### Le Bestiaire de Gervaise

#### French original

Une beste est, ço n'est pas fable,

Qui auques est a boc sanblable

Cele beste aime pastre en mont.

Une corne a en mi le front.

Por ce que ele n'a que .j. corne

Est apelée unicorne.

Tant se set la beste desfandre

Que venerres ne la puet prandre.

Fors est et de grant ardement.

Il la prenent per argument:

L'on quiert une juine pucele,

Bien atornée, jovene et bele;

El desert la fait l'on aler

Lai ou la beste sot ester.

Soule remaint, chascuns s'e part;

Et la beste vient cele part.

Quant la pucele voit si coie

Sachiez que mult li fait grant joie:

A la pucele vient devant,

Si se couche en son devant.

La pucele l'enbrace et tient.

Li venerres cele part vient;

Quant la beste voit endormie,

Tant tost la prent et si la lie

Et puis l'a au roi presentée;

En son palais li est portée.

Li psalmistes ou sautie dist,

Quant il parla de Jhesu Christ:

"Mes cors sera autories,

Cum unicorne exauciez."

Extendre poez per la beste

Que .j. soul cor a en la teste

Crist qui dist au pueble commun:

"Je et mes peres sume un."

Dés est chiés et Jhesu est cors

Que d'enfer bota ses genz fors.

Ains rien ne li puet contrester

Ne riens ne le puet arester.

La pucele nos senefie

L'especiaul Virge Marie

En cui Dex prist humanité;

En sa char fu pechié dampné.
Classic of Poetry

**Classic of Poetry** (詩經, **Shijing**)

## Text

### Classic of Poetry, Odes Of Zhou And The South

#### Chinese original

麟之趾、振振公子。

于嗟麟兮。

麟之定、振振公姓。

于嗟麟兮。

麟之角、振振公族。

于嗟麟兮。

#### English translation (James Legge, 1879)

The feet of the Lin:

The noble sons of our prince,

Ah! they are the Lin!

The forehead of the Lin:

The noble grandsons of our prince,

Ah! they are the Lin!

The horn of the Lin:

The noble kindred of our prince,

Ah! they are the Lin!
John Bell

**John Bell** was a Scottish traveler.

#### English original

One of these hunters told me the following story, which was confirmed by several of his neighbours. That, in the year 1713, in the month of March, being out a hunting, he discovered the tract of a stag, which he pursued; at overtaking the animal, he was somewhat startled, on observing it had only one horn, stuck in the middle of its forehead. Being near this village he drove it home, and showed it, to the great admiration of the spectators. He afterwards killed it, and eat the flesh; and sold the horn to a comb-maker, in the town of Tara, for ten alteens, about fifteen pence Sterling. I inquired carefully about the shape and size of this unicorn, as I shall call it, and was told it exactly resembled a stag. The horn was of a brownish colour, about one archeen, or twenty eight inches long; and twisted, from the root, till within a finger's length of the top, where it was divided, like a fork, into two points very sharp.
André Thévet

#### French original

En la Prouince qui est le long de la riuiere de Plate, se trouue vne beste que les Sauuages appellent *Pyrassouppi*, grande comme vn Mulet, & sa teste quasi semblable, velue en forme d'vn Ours, vn peu plus couloree, tirant sur le fauueau, & ayant les pieds fenduz comme vn Cerf. Ce *Pyrassouppi* a deux cornes fort longues, mais sans ramures, hault esleuces, & qui approchent de ces Licornes tant estimees: desquèlles se seruent les Sauuages, lorsqu'ils sont bleçez & mords de bestes ou poissons portans venim, les mettans dans de l'eau par l'espace de six ou sept heures, & puis la faisans boire au patient, qui s'en trouue incontinent tout allegé.

### La Cosmographie Universelle, vol. 1, liv. 12, chap. 5

#### French original

Les autres de ces isles ne sont point si dignes que cestui là:car celuy de Moluque, nommé Camphruch, vit comme un pourceau, sans cognoissance de religion; aue par fantasie: & lequel, outre sa femme, tient deux ou trois cens ieunes filles, desquelles on luy fait present, & de plusieurs en a des enfans. Ce nom de Camphruch, est le nom d'vne beste Amphibie, qui participe de l'eauë & de la terre, comme le Crocodil. Or ceste beste est de la grandeur d'vne Biche, ayant vne corne au front, mobile, comme pourroit estre la creste d'vn coq d'Inde, & est de longueur de trois pieds & demy, & sa plus ronde grosseur est comme le bras d'vn homme, pleine de poil autour du col, qui est tirat à la couleur grisastre. Elle a deus pattes, qui luy seruent de nager dans l'eauë doulce & salee, faites comme celles d'vne Oye (& vit la plus grand part de poisson) & les autres deux pieds de deuant faits comme ceux d'vn Cerf ou Biche. Il y quelques vns qui se sont persuadez que c'estoit vne espece de Licorne, & que sa corne qui est rare & riche, est tresexcellente contre le venin. Le Roy de l'isle porte volontiers son nom.

## External links

* Monoceros in Gallica
* Horn of the unicorn in Gallica
* Pyrassouppi in Gallica
* Camphruch in Gallica
Jean-Baptiste Labat

#### French original

On trouve dans le même Royaume un autre animal appellé Abada ou Alicorno. Il est de la taille d'un grand cheval, mais sa tête approche de celle du cerf. Il a deux cornes, l'une sur le front, l'autre au-dessus de narines. On attribue de grandes vertus à ces deux cornes. Mon Auteur n'en dit pas davantage.

Il y a une autre espece d'Abada, que les peuples de Congo appellent Ndemba, qui ne se trouve gueres que dans le Provinces qui sont au centre de ce Royaume. Mon Auteur avoüe n'avoir point vû cet animal, & n'en parle que sur le rapport d'autrui. Il a quelque rapport avec le Rhinocéros des Indes; mais il n'a qu'une corne au-dessus des narines; au lieu que le veritable Rhinoceros en a trois, une au-dessus des narines, une autre sur le front, & une troisiéme sur le dos. Celui d'Afrique n'est point couvert d'une peau épaisse relevée en maniere d'ecailles comme l'autre: de sorte qu'on peut plûtôt le mettre au nombre des vaches sauvages, que dans celui des Rhinocéros.

L'on est persuade dans le pays, que sa peau sechée & reduite en poudre, & trempée dans l'eau guérit la dyssenterie: que rôtie au feu, elle nétoye les playes & les ulcers. On dit encore que la pudre des cornes de ses pieds, prise en infusion, quérit la fiévre: & aide aux accouchemens des femmes; & que le sang de cet animal mis dans du vin & appliqué sur les parties attaquées de fluxions, est un remede souverain, & pour les hemoroïdes qui coulent trop violemment, & pour le hémoragies. On assure enfin, que sa corne est un excellent contre-poison.
Franz Xaver von Zach

#### French original

Un esclave des environs de *Koldagi* m'a raconté de son propre mouvement que dans son pays il y avait un animal de la grandeur d'une vache, qui avait la forme svelte d'une gazelle, la peau garnie d'un poil court et jaune, tirant sur le rouge; une raie blanche sur le front et le nez, et dont le mâle porte sur le front une corne longue et droite; la femelle n'en a pas. On appèle cet animal dans le pays *Nilukma*. J'ai plus d'une raison d'ajouter foi au récit de cet esclave, lequel au reste n'avait jamais été questionné sur l'existence de la licorne. Ce même esclave me fit aussi une description très-fidèle et très-exacte de l'oie de Gambia, qui est fort commune dans son pays.
The Lion and the Unicorn (nursery rhyme)

**The Lion and the Unicorn** is a popular British nursery rhyme that refers to the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom and the legendary enmity between the two animals.

## Text

### A Nursery Rhyme Picture Book by L. Leslie Brooke

#### English original

The Lion and the Unicorn

Were fighting for the Crown;

The Lion beat the Unicorn

All round about the town.

Some gave them white bread,

And some gave them brown;

Some gave them plum-cake,

And sent them out of town.

### Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll

#### English original

The Lion and the Unicorn were fighting for the crown:

﻿The Lion beat the Unicorn all round the town.

﻿Some gave them white bread, some gave them brown;

﻿Some gave them plum-cake and drummed them out of town.

## External links

* Leslie Brooke's A Nursery Rhyme Picture Book in the Gutenberg Project
* The Nursery Rhyme Book, ed. by Andrew Lang in the Gutenberg Project
Unicorn (disambiguation)

**This article is a disambiguation page for Unicorn (disambiguation)**

The following is a list of links to pages that might share the same title.

Please follow one of the disambiguation links below or search to find the page you were looking for if it is not listed. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

The word **unicorn** can refer to the following:

* Legendary creature similar to a horse or an antelope with a single horn on its forehead.
* (Obsolete) Indian rhinoceros, *rhinoceros unicornis*.
* (Obsolete) Sea-unicorn, narwhal, *monodon monoceros*.
* A real but very rare hooved animal.
	+ African unicorn, okapi.
	+ Asian unicorn, saola.
	+ Siberian unicorn, elasmotherium
* The vertical shaft of the cross.

>
> For of the antenna, which is a part of a cross, the ends are called horns; while the midway stake of the whole frame is the unicorn.
>
>
>
> —Tertullian, 'Five Books Against Marcion,' Book III, Chapter 18
>

>
> But Christ was therein signified: 'bull,' by reason of each of His two characters, — to some fierce, as Judge; to others gentle, as Savior; whose “horns” were to be the extremities of the cross. For even in a ship’s yard — which is part of a cross — this is the name by which the extremities are called; while the central pole of the mast is a 'unicorn.'
>
>
>
> —Tertullian, 'An Answer to the Jews,' Chapter 10, p. 297 ECF
>

>
> Now, no one could say or prove that the horns of an unicorn represent any other fact or figure than the type which portrays the cross. For the one beam is placed upright, from which the highest extremity is raised up into a horn, when the other beam is fitted on to it, and the ends appear on both sides as horns joined on to the one horn. And the part which is fixed in the center, on which are suspended those who are crucified, also stands out like a horn; and it also looks like a horn conjoined and fixed with the other horns.
>
>
>
> —Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter 91
>

* A company valued at over 1 billion USD. The term has been coined by Aileen Lee on 2 November 2013 in an article at TechCrunch.com.
* An 18th- and 19th-century Russian cannon.
Filippo Picinelli

* Finish the transcription and check for errors

**Filippo Picinelli** (1604 - c.1679) was an Augustinian monk living in Milan. He believed that the world is a symbolic book to be read and learned from. He wrote *Mundus Symbolicus*, an encyclopedia of symbols.

## Text

### Mundus Symbolicus 5,34

#### Latin original

Monoceros, dum cornu suum aquis, bufonum aut serpentium venedo infectis, immergit, mox salubres illas ac suaves reddit. Unde cornu intra aquas tincto, epigraphen habet; NOXIA PELLIT. Certe Christus, intra turbidas ac venenatas passionis suae undsa mersus, omnem ab ea malignitatem sustulit; adeo ut nulli non sit suavissima, ac summe defideranda. Theofridus, Abbas Esthernacerisis, ait, De amavitudine sua amarissima dulcissimam dulcedinem tranifudit in omnia acerbissima Sanctoru cuius eunque supplicii genera, et carnis, per illustrationem Spiritus Sanctificare, quantacunque et qualracunque supplicia, in corporum et animarum suavissima et saluberrima transtulit oblectamenta et remedia; ut quasi immutato et converso natura ordine, omnes cruciatuum materia, electorum corporibus adhibitae ardentius appelantur, quum exquisitissime epulae, quam opulentissima totius mundi delitiae. Eodem plane argumento P. Columbus aquis, a Monocerote contactis, inscripsit; SINE NOXA BIBUNTUR.

1. ↑ Christus patiens.
2. ↑ Theofrid. Abb.in Epitaph.Sanct. 4. 4. s. 4
Philippe de Thaon

**Philippe de Thaon**

## Text

### Bestiaire

#### Anglo-Norman original

Monosceros est beste, un corn ad en la teste,

Pur çeo ad si à nun, de buc ad façun;

Par pucele est prise, or oez en quel guise.

Quant hom le volt cacer e prendre & enginner,

Si vent hom al forest ù sis repairs est;

Là met une pucele hors de sein sa mamele,

E par odurement monosceros la sent;

Dunc vent à la pucele, e si baiset sa mamele,

En sun devant se dort, issi vent à sa mort;

Li hom survent atant, ki l’ocit en dormant,

U trestut vif le prent, si fait puis sun talent.

Grant chose signefie, ne larei ne l’ vus die.

Monosceros Griu est, en Franceis un corn est

Beste de tel baillie Jhesu Crist signefie;

Un Deu est e serat e fud e parmaindrat;

En la virgine se mist, e pur hom charn i prist,

E pur virginited pur mustrer casteed;

A virgine se parut e virgine le conceut,

Virgine est e serat e tuz jurz parmaindrat.

Or oez brefment le signefiement.

Ceste beste en verté nus signefie Dé;

La virgine signefie sacez Sancte Marie;

Par sa mamele entent sancte eglise ensement;

E puis par le baiser çeo deit signefier,

E (?Que) hom quant il se dort en semblance est de mort

Dés cum hom dormi, ki en la cruiz mort sufri,

E sa destructiun nostre redemptiun,

E sun traveillement nostre reposement,

Si deceut Dés Diable par semblant cuvenable;

Anme e cors sunt un, issi fud Dés & hom,

E çeo signefie beste de tel baillie.

#### English translation (Thomas Wright, 1841)

Monosceros is an animal which has one horn on its head,

therefore it is so named; it has the form of a goat,

it is caught by means of a virgin, now hear in what manner.

When a man intends to hunt it and to take and ensnare it,

he goes to the forest where is its repair;

there he places a virgin, with her breast uncovered,

and by its smell the monosceros perceives it;

then it comes to the virgin, and kisses her breast,

falls asleep on her lap, and so comes to its death;

the man arrives immediately, and kills it in its sleep,

or takes it alive and does as he likes with it.

It signifies much, I will not omit to tell it you.

Monosceros is Greek, it means one horn in French:

a beast of such a description signifies Jesus Christ;

one God he is and shall be, and was and will continue so

he placed himself in the virgin, and took flesh for man's sake,

and for virginity to show chastity;

to a virgin he appeared and a virgin conceived him,

a virgin she is, and will be, and will remain always.

Now hear briefly the signification.

This animal in truth signifies God;

know that the virgin signifies St. Mary;

by her breast we understand similarly Holy Church;

and then by the kiss it ought to signify,

that a man when he sleeps is in semblance of death;

God slept as man, who suffered death, on the cross,

and his destruction was our redemption,

and his labour our repose,

thus God deceived the Devil by a proper semblance;

soul and body were one, so was God and man,

and this is the signification of an animal of that description.

## External links

* Manuscript in Kongelige Bibliotek
* Manuscript at Oxford University
Shuowen Jiezi

**Shuowen Jiezi** (說文解字) is an ancient Chinese dictionary.

#### English translation (James Hsü, 1999)

The zhi is the jiezhi animal. It looks like an ox with one horn. In ancient times, in a lawsuit, it was commanded to touch the guilty. The character is a pictograph.

#### Chinese original

薦：獸之所食艸。从𢊁从艸。古者神人以𢊁遺黃帝。帝曰：「何食？何處？」曰：「食薦；夏處水澤，冬處松柏。」

#### English translation (James C. H. Hsü, 1996)

Jian: It is the grass eaten by the zhi animal. The graph is composed of zhi and 'grass.' In ancient times a deity gave the zhi animal to the Emperor Huangdi, and the Emperor asked 'What does it eat and where does it stay?' The reply: 'It eats jian. In summer it lives in marshy areas. In winter it stays where evergreens and cypresses grow.'

### Shuwen Jiezi, vol. 11, sec. 鹿

#### English translation

Lin: It is a large female deer. The character consists of components: semantic "deer" and phonetic "lin".

#### English translation

Qi: It is a benevolent animal. It has the body of an elk, the tail of an ox and one horn. The character consists of components: semantic "deer" and phonetic "qi".

#### English translation

Lin: It is a female qi. The graph consists of components: semantic "deer" and phonetic "lin".

## External links

* 角 at Chinese Text Project
* 馬 at Chinese Text Project
* 𢊁 at Chinese Text Project
* 鹿 at Chinese Text Project
Midrash Rabba

#### Hebrew original

יוסף - שוהם וצבע מפה שלו שחור עד מאד ומצוייר לשני נשיאים אפרים ומנשה מצרים על שם שהיו תולדותם במצרים ועל מפה של אפרים היה מצוייר שור על שם: "*בכור שורו*" זה יהושע שהיה משבט אפרים ועל מפה שבט מנשה היה מצוייר ראם על שם "*וקרני ראם קרניו*" על שם גדעון בן יואש שהיה משבט מנשה.

#### English translation (1917)

The color of Joseph's banner was of a deep black, and had the following pictures: Egypt, then an ox representing Ephraim, and a unicorn to represent Manasseh.