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A Dublin Unicorn

"...his virtue is no less famous than his strength,
in that his horn is supposed to be the most powerful
antidote against poison: inasmuch as the general
conceit is, that the wild beasts of the wilderness use
not to drink of the pools, for fear of the venomous
serpents there breeding, before the unicorn hath
stirred it with his horn.... and by the keen scent he
hath, he can detect a maiden afar off, and will run
to her, and lay down his head in her lap...."

ONE

Not by nature simple, as his end might
possibly suggest, the unicorn to
a large extent enjoyed his vocation:
such he called it, this holy business of

purifying the means of life for those
unable to perform it for themselves;
but otherwise he kept for the most part
to the desert, and lived solitary

near the tops of high mountains, feeding as
he found, and going as he liked; content
in knowledge that his life was not without
some use, and pleased to live the life he wished.

No thought of harm occurred to him that day
in the heavy forest when he saw the
virgin; homage came as naturally to
him as cleansing to the deep pools he stirred.

And it was natural, too, to lay his head
in the soft lap of this young virgin, and
look upward to her face in trust and peace:
and then the arrow juddered in his flank.

In that short pause between his dying and
his death, the unicorn made some attempt
to understand the virgin's betrayal:
but died, seeing her tears, still more confused.

TWO

When he asked her, it seemed so exciting:
a proof, too, of her purity: for though
they said virginity was more a state
of mind than physical intactness, it

could yet do a girl no harm to have some
positive proof; and especially since the
usual tests seemed to end in the loss of
that which they were calculated to prove.

Exciting, too, rising in the early
morning, and hearing the dogs barking near
the stables, and swaying through the heavy
forest on her mare, behind the hunter;

and even when she was sitting on the
grass, toying with leaves, and the hunter had
withdrawn, she was excited at thoughts of
the kill: but then she saw the unicorn.

Proudly and humbly it laid its silver
head and golden horn down in her lap, and
looked upward to her face in trust and peace:
and then the arrow juddered in its flank.

Her horror made her wish the arrow had
struck her instead, but it was unicorn's
blood upon her thighs; her tears were too late
now, and virginity was meaningless.

THREE

To the hunter, it was really just a
job: the church had ordered the destruction
of all mythical, unchristian creatures,
and doubtless those who gave the order knew

exactly what they were about. He was
engaged, he told himself whenever the
slaughter disturbed his simple peace, not to
question orders but to execute them.

And he took a certain pride in his work;
there were not many knew as well as he
the ways of unicorns and other beasts,
and none so consistent in their killing.

Now, in the heavy forest, he placed the
virgin where she might be clearly seen, and
where he judged the unicorn would seek her;
the hunter then withdrew, flighting a shaft.

Just as he had hoped, the unicorn laid
down its head in the virgin's soft lap, and
looked upwards to her face in trust and peace:
and then his arrow juddered in its flank.

Another unicorn! the hunter said,
Why do I neaer catch the rarer beasts?
Only the creatures of the forest mourned,
and the virgin, whose tears were too late now.