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One of the oldest book accounts of the unicorn describes him as
such: "... But the cruelest is the Unicorne, a Monster
that belloweth horriblie, bodyed like a Horse, footed like an eliphant,
tayled like a Swyne, and headed like a Stagge. His horne sticketh out of
the midds of hys forehead, of a wonderful brightness about foure foote
long, so sharp, that whatsoever he pusheth at, he striketh it through
easily. He is never caught alive; kylled he may be, but taken he cannot
be."
The next description was written by Lodovico de
Varthema of Bologna and was translated in 1576 by Richard Eden. The
description is of two unicorns in Mecca from a second hand account.
"...The one of them, which is much
hygher than the other, yet not much unlyke to a coolt of thyrtye moneths
of age, in the forehead groweth only one horne, in maner ryght foorth,
of the length three cubits. The other is much younger, of the age of one
yeere, and lyke a young coolte: the horne of this is of the length of
four handfuls. This beast is of the coloure of a horse of weesel coloure,
and hath the head lyke an hart, but no long necke, a thynne manne
hangynge only on the one side. Theiyr legges are thyn and slender, lyke
a fawne or hynde. The hoofes of the fore feete are divided in two, much
lyke the feet of a Goat. The outwarde part of the hynder feete is very
full of heare. This beast doubtless seemeth wylde and fierce, yet
tempereth that fiercenesse with a certain comelinesse."
In the 1607 book "Historie of Foure-Footed Beastes"
by Edward Topsell comes one of the last accounts of the unicorn: "...These
beasts are very swift.... They keep for the most part in the desarts, and
live solitary in the tops of the Mountaines. There was nothing more
horible than the voice or braying of it, for the voice is strained above
measure. It fighteth both with the mouth and with the heeles, with the
mouth biting like a Lyon, and with the heeles kicking like a Horse. It is
a beast of an untamable nature, and therefore the Lord himself in Job
saith, that hee cannot bee tyed with any halter, nor yet accustomed to any
cratch or stable."
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