These operations are compounding ( or the addition of one idea onto another, such as a horn on a horse to create a unicorn ); transposing ( or the substitution of one part of a thing with the part from another, such as with the body of a man upon a horse to make a centaur ); augmenting ( as with the case of a giant, whose size has been augmented ); and diminishing ( as with Lilliputians, whose size has been diminished ).

The book entertains the possibility that some legendary creatures ( like the sirrush, the unicorn or the cyclops ) might be based on actual animals, through misinterpretation of the animals and / or their remains.

The unicorn also which only permits itself to be captured in the lap of a pure virgin is a type of the Incarnation ; the pelican that sheds its own blood in order to sprinkle its dead young, so that they may live again, is a type of the salvation of mankind by the death of Christ on the Cross.

Gilt statue of a unicorn on the Council House, Bristol

Cosmas Indicopleustes, a merchant of Alexandria, who lived in the 6th century, and made a voyage to India, and subsequently wrote works on cosmography, gives a figure of the unicorn, not, as he says, from actual sight of it, but reproduced from four figures of it in brass contained in the palace of the King of Ethiopia.

The Japanese version ( kirin ) more closely resembles the Western unicorn, even though it is based on the Chinese qilin.

As soon as the unicorn sees her, it lays its head on her lap and falls asleep.

Interpretations of the unicorn myth focus on the medieval lore of beguiled lovers, whereas some religious writers interpret the unicorn and its death as the Passion of Christ.

In heraldry, a unicorn is often depicted as a horse with a goat's cloven hooves and beard, a lion's tail, and a slender, spiral horn on its forehead ( non-equine attributes may be replaced with equine ones, as you can see from the following gallery ).

Golden coins known as the unicorn and half-unicorn, both with a unicorn on the obverse, were used in Scotland in the 15th and 16th century.

The " unicorn " figures on the seals have been interpreted as representations of aurochs — a type of large wild cattle that formerly inhabited Europe, Asia and North Africa — or derivatives of aurochs.

One suggestion is that the unicorn is based on the extinct animal Elasmotherium, a huge Eurasian rhinoceros native to the steppes, south of the range of the woolly rhinoceros of Ice Age Europe.

Elizabeth I of England kept a " unicorn horn " in her cabinet of curiosities, brought back by Arctic explorer Martin Frobisher on his return from Labrador in 1577.

The book also contained pictures of animals seen on the journey, including a crocodile, camel, and unicorn — presumably an oryx, which they could easily have seen on their route.

It is recovered by a unicorn who bestows it on Random, who is then accepted as the new King.

a chimera, the figure of a unicorn rearing as on a heraldic coat of arms or perhaps the work of some oriental decorative artist to whom the human form is forbidden and who, wishing to be reminded of woman, has drawn the delicious arabesque?

| Supporting the shield on either side are the English lion and Scottish unicorn, which are also the supporters of the UK coat of arms.

The Scottish unicorn has a gold horn, a gold mane, gold hooves, and around its neck a gold, chained coronet of crosses and fleurs-de-lis ; it holds a lance flying the three gold fleurs-de-lis of royal France on a blue background.

The broken chain on the unicorn symbolizes the unicorn's resistance to oppression.

A bust of John Hunter stands on a pedestal outside the main entrance to St George's Hospital in Tooting, South London, along with a lion and unicorn taken from the original Hyde Park Corner building.

Often these can have local significance, such as the fisherman and the tin miner granted to Cornwall County Council, or a historical link, such as the lion of England and unicorn of Scotland on the two variations of the Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom.

The rearing unicorn on a golden background stands for Kaiserebersdorf and comes from the coat of arms of the Herr von Hintperg-Ebersdorf, who originally founded the settlement.

* " A truly wise man never plays leapfrog with a unicorn.

* Muhammad is said to have visited heaven aboard the steed / unicorn with wings or Buraq, in the Isra wal-Miraj, ( the Night Journey ), from Mecca and then to heaven from Jerusalem's Temple Mount, then back to Mecca.

The unicorn is a legendary animal from European folklore that resembles a white horse with a large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead, and sometimes a goat's beard and cloven hooves.

Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow?

* " But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of the unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil.

Instead, the Tahash animal ( Exodus 25, 26, 35, 36 and 39 ; Numbers 4 ; and Ezekiel 16: 10 ) was thought to be a kosher unicorn with a coat of many colors that only existed in biblical times.

Though the qilin (), a creature in Chinese mythology, is sometimes called " the Chinese unicorn ", it is a hybrid animal that looks less unicorn than chimera, with the body of a deer, the head of a lion, green scales and a long forwardly-curved horn.

Virgin Mary holding the unicorn ( c. 1480 ), detail of the Annunciation with the Unicorn Polyptych, National Museum, Warsaw | National Museum, Warsaw

Wild woman with unicorn, c. 1500 – 1510 ( Basel Historical Museum )

They bring the animal to bay with the help of a maiden who traps it with her charms, appear to kill it, and bring it back to a castle ; in the last and most famous panel, " The Unicorn in Captivity ," the unicorn is shown alive again and happy, chained to a pomegranate tree surrounded by a fence, in a field of flowers.

Another famous set of six tapestries of Dame à la licorne (" Lady with the unicorn ") in the Musée de Cluny, Paris, were also woven in the Southern Netherlands before 1500, and show the five senses ( the gateways to temptation ) and finally Love (" A mon seul desir " the legend reads ), with unicorns featured in each piece.

The arms of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries in London has two golden unicorn supporters with horses ' tails.

File: British Airborne Units. svg |< center > Airborne Units, Great Britain ( actually a winged unicorn, with pegasus features )

Guericke's so-called unicorn had only two legs, and was constructed from fossil bones of a woolly rhinoceros and a mammoth, with the horn of a narwhal.

Shakespeare scholars describe unicorns being captured by a hunter standing in front of a tree, the unicorn goaded into charging ; the hunter would step aside the last moment and the unicorn would embed its horn deeply into the tree ( See annotations of Timon of Athens, Act 4, scene 3, c. line 341: " wert thou the unicorn, pride and wrath would confound thee and make thine own self the conquest of thy fury "

* Crest: A unicorn salient, ermine, in front of the sun in splendour.

), but more long-legged and with palpi that are held together in front of their carapaces like the horn of a unicorn.

The lion and the unicorn are both standing on their hind legs reaching up to pennants that frame the lady on either side.

Just as on all the other tapestries, the unicorn is to the lady's left and the lion to her right-a common denominator to all the tapestries.