tdr1nka
Taking the biscuit
- Location
- SE London, Bandit Country
Arch said:
Tea? (Part 1)
- Thread starter LordoftheTeapot
- Start date
- Status
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
Landslide
Rare Migrant
- Location
- Called to the bar
Tea up!
Unfortunately I'm all out of lunchtime comestibles...
A trip to the shops for me!
Unfortunately I'm all out of lunchtime comestibles...
A trip to the shops for me!
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
tdr1nka said:
indeed. To her credit, she did go very red when her class mates pointed out that the unicorn was mythical.More usually, we get asked if a bone belongs to a dinosaur (not our department). Or the kids are astonished when they find out how big a pig really is.
Night Train
Maker of Things
- Location
- Greater Manchester
Arch said:
Landslide
Rare Migrant
- Location
- Called to the bar
Night Train said:
What? Next thing we know you'll be telling us you're an actual real person and not just an elaborate AI experiment interacting with all us other AI constructs!
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
Night Train said:
Mostly mythical then....
Anyway, the skeleton would be all wrong for a unicorn. a) it had no horn and
many Medieval illustrations show the unicorn with cloven hooves, like cows.
Night Train
Maker of Things
- Location
- Greater Manchester
Unicorns are also much smaller, about the size of a large goat with cloven hooves and a chin beard.
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
muller said:
No, not necessarily. See the Cluny tapestries:
I seem to remember that unicorns could only be captured by a maiden, which the unicorn would trust and wander up to...
See the beard, as mentioned by our resident expert...
Night Train
Maker of Things
- Location
- Greater Manchester
The 'maiden' thing I suspect would be a reference to innocence ie. someone who has not reached puberty. I figure that if you send a child into the woods to look for evidence of a Unicorn they would come back having seen stuff. A grown up would not see anything.
Also, from what I can gather, to capture a Unicorn a maiden would be used as an innocent child would want no more then to meet the Unicorn and so the Unicorn would feel safe approaching it. A grown up usually wants to capture the Unicorn for its mythical powers and so the Unicorns would hide.
Unicorns don't love long in captivity and so any that were taken would die rapidly and fade away. Unicorns will spend time with people and other creatures but only out of their own choice with the freedom to come and go, usually they are loyal to other wild creatures. They also cannot be made to show loyalty against their will hence on coats of arms the only way the Unicorn can be made to stay, as a symbol of those arms, is with a heavy chain and collar around its neck.
Also, from what I can gather, to capture a Unicorn a maiden would be used as an innocent child would want no more then to meet the Unicorn and so the Unicorn would feel safe approaching it. A grown up usually wants to capture the Unicorn for its mythical powers and so the Unicorns would hide.
Unicorns don't love long in captivity and so any that were taken would die rapidly and fade away. Unicorns will spend time with people and other creatures but only out of their own choice with the freedom to come and go, usually they are loyal to other wild creatures. They also cannot be made to show loyalty against their will hence on coats of arms the only way the Unicorn can be made to stay, as a symbol of those arms, is with a heavy chain and collar around its neck.
tdr1nka
Taking the biscuit
- Location
- SE London, Bandit Country
I've often thought a unicorn would be really useful for retrieving kites and footballs stuck in the lower branches of trees?B)
tdr1nka
Taking the biscuit
- Location
- SE London, Bandit Country
The Unicorn has a place in timely modern fables too......
James Thurber.
This is an old fave of mine.B)
James Thurber.
This is an old fave of mine.B)
Night Train
Maker of Things
- Location
- Greater Manchester
I quite like, and have, The Midnight Unicorn by Neil Reed.tdr1nka said:
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
muller said:
I'll let you off, assuming you've never seen a new born calf or lamb...
No, dear. Horns grow later.
Was at the Yorkshire Museum on Sunday, and not only did they have a stuffed weasel labelled as a stoat, they had a card in one display expaining that antler was the horns of a deer. NO NO NO! Antler is antler. Deer don't have horns! Horn is completely different to antler! <bangs head on table>
Anyone got a cuppa, I've got a headache. And I've run out of milk.
Anyway, the idea of the horn of the unicorn is probably based on the tusk of a narwahl, which is a tooth, and another type of tissue altogether.
- Status
