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Unicorns evidently originated
in India.
The first known references
to them occur in Greek writings dating from 400 BC. However,
legends concerning this creature abound throughout the world,
from China (where the first Unicorn is supposed to have occurred
in 2697 BC) to America (the first European explorers to set foot
in Florida reported that the natives wore Unicorn horns around
their necks). As late as the 17th Century such "horns"
were among the prized possessions of Kings, Dukes, and even Popes.
One can be reasonably sure
that such beasts do not exist today, but one must not be so hasty
to ridicule the possibility of their existence at one time.
None other than Julius Caesar,
during his conquest of modern day France, actually saw one, and
wrote of it in his otherwise historically verifiable accounts
of his exploits in that region. He described a huge beast in
the form of a stag, from the middle of whose brow a single horn
protruded.
A Unicorn was sighted at Mount
Sinai in the 14th Century, and references may be found to this
fabulous beast in many Syrian writings, as well as the Bible
itself.
But who today would believe
it?
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