![]() ![]() It is the only animal which ventures to attack the elephant, and so sharp is its nail of its foot, that with one blow it can rip the bellies of that beast. “The unicorn has but one horn in the middle of its forehead. In his book The Flight of the Unicorns, Anthony Sheppherd quotes the following from Le Besteare Divin de Garilllaume, clerk de Normandie written in the 13 th century: ![]() In later centuries, the Syriac-Greek legend was incorporated into Arabic literature, then passed on to the Europeans. When seen sideways from a distance, the Arabian oryx’s finely carved horns appear as the one spiral horn of the mythical unicorn. Perhaps, there is some merit in the confusion about that creature of fable. Travellers often wrote about that Peninsula and its animals from mythology inherited from previous civilizations. To the people in that epoch the legend was plausible since in these early centuries, Arabia was a land unknown. IC, the legendary unicorn had a horse’s body and a single long straight horn projecting from its forehead. In Greek mythology, which derived its facts from a Syriac tale according to Professor Leo Weiner in A History of Arabico-Gothic Culture, Vol. Writers, in the early ages, often identified this most graceful antelope on earth as the mythical unicorn of song and legend. The last few had retreated to the inaccessible barren sand of Rub c al-Khālī (the Empty Quarter). However, with the introduction of 20 th century transport and weapons this beautiful animal was, in the last few decades, hunted down until it was almost extinct. It roamed the Arabian Peninsula from its southern rim to its fertile crescent in the north. Before 1800, it was to be found in thousands in all the countries of what is now the eastern Arab world. On the other hand, in its original homeland, the Arabian Peninsula, it is known by its various Arab names: al-bawsulah, al-mahā or al-waḍahī. By: Habeeb Salloum/Arab America Contributing WriterĪ rare white middle-sized antelope, known in the West as t he Arabian oryx or oryx leucoryx, has been often labelled, in past centuries as the mythical unicorn. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |