I spent much of Yesterday writing this on Tumblr, so I might as well share it here, too.

[capri0mni]

[Image description: “The Unicorn is Found” or “The Unicorn at the Fountain”. The second tapestry in The Hunt of the Unicorn series, from circa 1495 -1505.

A tall ornamental fountain with lion-mask spigots is spilling water into a forest stream, where animals (a lion and lioness, a leopard, a weasel, a wolf, a stag, a pair of pheasants, a pair of goldfinches, and a pair of rabbits) have gathered to drink, while a pair of ducks swim past in the stream itself.

A unicorn is kneeling on the far side of the stream from the viewer, dipping the very tip of its horn into the water (a cure for all poisons), which makes the water safe to drink.

Behind the bushes surrounding the fountain are a dozen hunters with long pikes over their shoulders, along with their hunting dogs. They are talking and gesturing to each other, discussing exactly how to kill the unicorn, so they can bring it back to the king and queen.

The towers of the royal castle can be glimpsed in through the trees in the far distance (in the upper left corner of the tapestry). Description ends.]



When I was a tiny thing (maybe I was still in kindergarten/infant school) my parents took me to see the original Unicorn tapestries in the museum, and I got to see them ultra up close (like less than a couple feet away) -- and this one is nearly 12 and a half feet (3.78 meters) tall ... almost life sized (!).

Naturally, the experience made an impression. And the tapestry I posted here made the biggest impression of all: this is what “unicorn” means to me. Throughout the rest of my childhood, I was bitter and salty about all the “rainbow-sparkle/magic glitter” unicorns with Kewpie doll eyes that were absolutely everywhere (and well-meaning friends kept giving me, "’Cause she loves unicorns!”). ...And frankly, I still am.

Why I Wish This Tapestry Were the “Famous One”:

(Rant follows -- wherein I absolutely do spoil the story [plot wise] that these tapestries tell, and where I hope to spoil [popularity-wise] the most famous medieval tapestry of them all)

(The links behind the cut lead to The Metropolitan Museum of Art's online display of each of the Tapestries)

The story of 'The Hunt of The Unicorn' narrated -- warning: there is violence, gore, and more than one animal death:

The first tapestry just shows the hunters walking through the forest, so the story hasn’t really started yet.

The second tapestry is the one I describe here -- it’s the last moment the unicorn is living peacefully in the wild. The human hunters have the ‘courtesy’ to wait until after the unicorn has purified the water for the other animals -- but not enough courtesy to leave the unicorn alone; they still intend to kill it, so the king can have the magic horn all to himself.

The third tapestry is a few minutes later, with the unicorn, panting heavily, trying to run away, swimming across a different part of that same stream. He is surrounded on all sides, and several hunters are aiming their pikes right at him.

In the fourth tapestry, the unicorn fights back, goring one of the hounds with his horn, and kicking out with his hind legs (and no, the dog is not all right).

The fifth tapestry only exists as a pair of fragments, but that’s the scene where the unicorn is “Tamed by a virgin” (i.e. comes to take a rest in the lap of someone who is just sitting quietly; i.e. an allegory for how women use their wiles to sap men of their strength; i.e. an allegory for Holy Spirit coming into the womb of the Virgin Mary)

The sixth tapestry actually shows two scenes (like double panels on a comic book page). The upper left corner shows the scene where the unicorn is killed at last -- two hunters thrusting their pikes into his neck and chest while a dog leaps onto his back and bites down. And the rest of the panel shows the dead unicorn being brought back to the castle, its limp body draped over the saddle of a horse, while one of the hunters holds its horn out of the way; the dogs are sniffing at its dripping blood, while the courtiers gather around and point and gawk at the spectacle.

The seventh tapestry (the famous one) shows “the unicorn alive again” -- happy ending, right? Except according to the notes on the museum’s web page, it may not even have been woven as part of the series. It may be a stand-alone piece that just has a unicorn as its subject matter. And anyway, the unicorn is in captivity. There’s a collar around his neck. That collar has a chain; that chain is looped around the trunk of a tree. The unicorn is surrounded by a fence.

Yeah, sure: the fence is low enough for the unicorn to leap over. And yeah, the collar isn’t even buckled all the way. So on the museum web page for this piece, the explanation is that the unicorn could escape if it really wanted to, therefore, must be happy in captivity (an allegory for marriage and sexy times, the museum’s explanation says -- cue modern-day “ball and chain” marriage imagery).

My inner six year-old and my outer curmudgeon both say “Pffft!” to that. How is captivity happy compared to freedom? If anything, the unicorn is resigned to captivity. That’s not the same thing.

Like I said at the beginning, “The Unicorn at the Fountain” is what “unicorn” means to me. Unicorns are wild and fierce -- able to kill you as easily as slice through butter (if they must, in self-defense). But the unicorn’s first impulse is to use their magic for the good of others -- to protect all the creatures of the forest, even though doing so makes them vulnerable to attack -- even though the powers of the State polluted the stream in the first place -- even though the powers of the State wanted to steal all that magic, and keep it for itself. Unicorns still take that risk.

With great power, comes great responsibility.

And then, with great responsibility, comes great kindness.

How is that not the most radical thing of all?

Comments

[meridian_rose]

What the hell is that fence? That's like keeping a goldfish in a bowl like in the cartoons where it's barely big enough for the fish to turn!

[capri0mni]

I'm glad that angers someone other than myself!

And the argument that: "Well, it's low enough for the unicorn to jump over, if they wanted; they're not really confined!" does not convince me. 'Cause there is such a thing as learned helplessness.

Unfortunately, that's the only tapestry with any related material (post cards, prints, embroidery patterns, etc.) in the museum's gift shop. So that's the only tapestry most people are familiar with.

...And I think that contributed to the "Fluffy unicorn" trope, where the unicorn is happy to wear a bridle and saddle, as long as they're made of gold.

Grr.