Fact or Fiction – Are Unicorns Real?

What do we know that we can for sure believe in these days? With so much knowledge at our fingertips and in our collections of experiences, how can we not know what’s what at this point? Of course, perception is a big part of our knowledge. And so many people love to thrust lies and half-truths our way, so what - and who - can we believe in anymore? Being absurdly contrary today, I'm dealing with a fantasy notion to create my point.

For instance, the wondrous world of fantasy has conjured many creatures for our enjoyment. Some frightfully scary and some quite delightful. Of the delightful type, unicorns must come in at the top of the favorites scale. They have been in mankind’s imagination since early civilization – over 2,000 years. They were originally depicted as either a horse-like or goat-like animal. Some said the horns were black. Others said the horns were red tipped, black centered and white at the base. Some said their coats were reddish brown. One account said it was horse-like, but had the feet of an elephant and the tail of a boar. All accounts say they were extremely powerful and had one horn. One account sounded like they could have been rhinoceroses, but others didn’t at all. A number of historians, including Aristotle and Pliny the Elder – who gave the unicorn its name – attested to the reality of unicorns, and Julius Caesar claimed that unicorn-type animals could be found in ancient Germany. Greek historian, Ctesias, was the first to document a unicorn-like animal in his writings on India. These earlier accounts said they were ferocious, swift, impossible to capture, and had a magical horn with healing properties. Later, they acquired significance as a symbol of purity, grace, protection and chivalry, and eventually they were given religious connotations as an allegory for Christ. In fact, did you know that unicorns are referred to as real animals in the Bible? The pertinent scriptures say they were animals of great strength, but untamable for pulling a plow. Does that make them real? During these early years, some people clearly believed they were real.

Unicorns being in the Bible (which, if you don’t believe in it otherwise, has been proven to be of historical worth) is pretty exciting for those of us who want to believe there were once unicorns roaming the earth. Well, okay, so the bits I googled that said unicorns were in the Bible left out the fact that it depends on the translation you are reading (for you Bible readers: the original King James Bible is one of them – if you have one, I dare you to look. Try Numbers 23:22). Some Alexandrian scholars translated the Old Testament from Hebrew to Greek and replaced the Hebrew word re’em meaning wild ox, with the Greek word monoceros, which in turn was translated in some English translations to “unicorn”. What I found in the New International Version Bible translation was that all the googled scripture references said “wild ox” – aurochs (extinct, large, wild cattle) or oryx (large, straight-horned antelopes – yes, these have two horns). The references say the wild oxen were a traditional image symbolizing strength. Next to the elephant and rhinoceros, the wild ox was the largest and most powerful animal of the Old Testament world. So, too bad. Sounds like wild ox? (I use a question mark, because I'm one of the people that was hoping they once roamed the earth.) :-)

So, what is all this unicorn meandering about? Is it that we shouldn’t believe everything we hear? Or is it that we should give everything a chance to be believable – question it, search it out, let it be at least somewhat believable until it can be proven false? Or is this about having some fun. Believing in the impossible? I think it’s more than okay to want to explore and believe in the unbelievable. I think it’s necessary; for our sanity, for the growth of our knowledge, our faith, our joy - to think there’s so much more to learn and discover – real or make-believe. If you consider our scientists, we’d still be in the dark ages if many of them had not believed in the unbelievable, the un-seeable.

Elbert Einstein, that amazing, brilliant scientist who knew so much more than so many of us, said: “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” And “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.” And, lastly, “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”

We don't want to be foolish or unwise, or let every notion rule us, but let’s be curious. Let’s be open minded. Maybe unicorns never existed, but, wow, what fun we’ve had creating a place for them in our history!

Unicorns are the national animal in Scotland (does that count toward real?).