BLACK UNICORN HORN Cast frm top of Actual NARWHAL TUSK

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Name: Cast of the Upper Section of a NARWHAL / UNICORN TUSK  Time: c. 1978 Location: Arctic Circle Culture: Inuit Indians

UNICORN LEGEND: 
The legendary unicorn is usually portrayed as a slender, white horse with a spiraling horn on its forehead, although its appearance and behavior differs, depending on the location. In the west it was usually considered wild and untamable, while in the Orient it was peaceful, meek and thought to be the bringer of good luck. There it is usually depicted as a goat-like creature, with cloven hooves and a beard. In Japan it is called Kirin, and in China Ki-lin.  The word "unicorn" is thought to be based on the Hebrew word re'em ("horn"), in early versions of the Old Testament translated as "monokeros", meaning "one horn", which became "unicorn" in English. Physical evidence from medieval treasuries show that what was believed to be 'unicorn horn' was in fact the ivory tusk from a narwhal, the rare marine mammal with one long spiraled tusk.  The only creature in the world that developed a spiral tusk or tooth (see below for more information)

In the West the narwhal was first mentioned by the Greek historian Ctesias in 398 BCE. According to him they lived in India and he described them as 'wild asses which are as big as a horse, even bigger. Their bodies are white, their heads dark red and their eyes are deep blue. They have a single horn on their forehead which is approximately half-a-meter long.' This description was based on the tales of travelers, and is a mixture of an Indian rhinoceros, the Himalayan antelope, and the wild ass.

The unicorn is mentioned in the Bible in several verses.  The Palm Sunday tract in the Roman Catholic missal reads, 'Deliver me from the lion's mouth, and my lowliness from the horns of unicorns'.  Saint Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan
in the fourth century, considered the unicorn a symbol of Christ as he wrote, 'Who then has one horn, unless it be the only begotten son, the unique word of God, which has been next to God from the very beginning?'  Saint Augustine considered the horn of the unicorn to be a symbol of the unity of the faith of the Church.

The BLACK UNICORN: 
Interestingly several of the early records describe the unicorn as having a black horn.  Again Ctesias describes the horn itself is white at the base, black in the middle and with a sharp, red tip. It is believed to possess healing abilities. Dust filed from the horn was thought to protect against poison, and many diseases. It could even resurrect the dead. Amongst royalty and nobility in the Middle Ages, it became quite fashionable to own a drinking cup made of the horn of an unicorn, not in the least because it was supposed to detect poison.

Pliny, the Roman naturalist, out of whose account of the unicorn most of the modern unicorns have been described and figured, records it as "a very ferocious beast, similar in the rest of its body to a horse, with the head of a deer, the feet of an elephant, the tail of a boar, a deep, bellowing voice, and a single black horn, two cubits in length, standing out in the middle of its forehead." He adds that "it cannot be taken alive"; and some such excuse may have been necessary in those days for not producing the living animal upon the arena of the amphitheater.  Note that the Unicorn is not a part of Greek mythology since they believed it to be a wondrous, but real, animal.

The Black Unicorn has found a place in our modern world.  It appears in everything from books (e.g. Terry Brooks's The Black Unicorn) to Dungeon & Dragon adventures.  In one such D&D adventure the Black Unicorn is described thus "He is feared and shunned by the greater part of the New Races. No temples stand to give glory to his name, no multitudes gather to sing his praises. His judgments are untarnished by mercy, his punishments untainted by pity. His horn is death, his hoof is damnation, his voice is doom eternal. He is Phyrrus, the Black Unicorn,  often aloof, irritable, and sullen; in any event, the meaning is brutally clear: trifle with me at your own peril! Yet despite his attitude, those who are basically decent and good have nothing to fear from him."
 

The NARWHAL: 
The name "narwhal" is Old Norse in origin.  Derived from a word meaning "corpse," it refers to the color of adult  narwhals (Monodon monoceros), which are white-grey with blotches of dark gray.  The body length of males may reach 15 feet, while the tusk adds another 5 to 9 feet, and weigh up to 3000 lbs.  Narwhals are relatively reclusive whales about which not a great deal is known.  They are seldom seen  south of the Arctic Circle.  It is estimated that there are only approximately 10,000 to 45,000 narwhals alive today.

The "horn" is an extremely elongated, hollow tooth which always spirals counter-clockwise from the left side of the skull.   There have been sightings of narwhals with two tusks present.   Almost exclusively seen in males, there are only scattered reports of females developing a tusk.  Narwhals have no other visible teeth in their jaws.  As the tusk grows, it forms a continued solid spiral, a pattern faithfully reproduced by ancient artists trying to capture the likeness of the unicorn. Why this twisted growth should occur is a question that has long had no good answer and the function of the tusk is still open to debate.  Although many have speculated that it may be used for defense or for securing food, it is most likely a secondary sexual characteristic.   Behavioral and anatomical evidence suggests males use it in aggressive encounters when trying to obtain mates.

Ancient Vikings, with whom the term 'narwhal' originated, used to trade the horns to Europeans as Unicorn horns. A tusk often weighed up to twenty-two pounds, even today are considered rare and valuable treasures, with some ancient superstitions still attached. Vikings considered killing a Narwhal for its tusk unlucky, while finding one washed ashore was believed to be a sign of great fortune.  Narwhals have never been a target for commercial whalers, although tusks were regularly traded.  They are preyed upon by killer whales and Greenland sharks, but their main enemy is man.  Since some still believe their tusk possess almost magical healing and aphrodisiastic properties, they are still illegally hunted today.  They are protected by both national and international laws. 

MERGING TRUTH and LEGEND
During the Middle Ages Europeans heard incredible, mystical stories from China, viewed first hand drawings from Africa of fantastic wildlife, including horse-like antelopes with beautiful horns such as the Ibex and Oryx, and were shown by the Vikings actual great spiral "horns", 8 or 9 feet long which gleamed with an inner fire.