WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Were Unicorns Always Sweet?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Hey brain Stuff. I'm Louren Vogelbaum, and this is a

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<v Speaker 2>classic episode of the podcast. In this one, we trace

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<v Speaker 2>the history of depictions of the unicorn, a mythological beast

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<v Speaker 2>that's mostly associated with sparkles and rainbows today, but has

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<v Speaker 2>not always been so sweet. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbomb.

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<v Speaker 1>Here. In the nineteen twenties, archaeologists in South Asia unearthed

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<v Speaker 1>remnants of the Indus Valley civilization. It was a thriving

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<v Speaker 1>advanced culture in present day Pakistan and India that disappeared

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<v Speaker 1>around nineteen hundred BCE. Among its artifacts are seal stones,

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<v Speaker 1>which are tablets inscribed with symbols and drawings. The Indus Script,

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<v Speaker 1>which has yet to be cracked, but least one etching,

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<v Speaker 1>is easily identified. A four legged animal with a single

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<v Speaker 1>spiraled horn protruding from its forehead. The Indus unicorn isn't

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<v Speaker 1>the creature of modern fairy tales. It looks a lot

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<v Speaker 1>like a single horned bull. Some suggest it's actually a

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<v Speaker 1>regular two horned bull. Depicted in profile, the horn is

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<v Speaker 1>usually curved to some degree, and the hoofs and tail

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<v Speaker 1>are bovine. The carvings show folds of skin along the

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<v Speaker 1>face and throat, and a snout that is sometimes shortened

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<v Speaker 1>square and other times almost lama like, and it does

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<v Speaker 1>slightly resemble an extinct bull like single horned creature called

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<v Speaker 1>the Siberian unicorn. But whether it's based in myth or reality,

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<v Speaker 1>the last unicorn, it is not, but neither is it

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<v Speaker 1>the least graceful unicorn in history. Around thirteen hundred CE,

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<v Speaker 1>Italian explorer Marco Polo described seeing an animal with the

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<v Speaker 1>head of a wild boar, the hair of a buffalo,

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<v Speaker 1>the feet of an elephant, and a long black horn.

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<v Speaker 1>Few early versions of the unicorn resemble the luminous horse

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<v Speaker 1>like beings of modern myth. Descriptions of the creature go

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<v Speaker 1>back thousands of years in folklore, both Asian and European,

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<v Speaker 1>as well as in naturalist catalogs and by some Christian

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<v Speaker 1>translations the Bible. All of these unicorns have a single horn,

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<v Speaker 1>four legs, and a tail, and that's about it for

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<v Speaker 1>universal characteristics or near universal. One Indian myth tells of

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<v Speaker 1>a unicorn boy, the son of a human, and a

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<v Speaker 1>one horned antelope, but that's an out liar. The unicorn

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<v Speaker 1>myth may have originated in sightings or reports of exotic

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<v Speaker 1>animals like the rhinoceros or narwhales, or of typically two

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<v Speaker 1>horned animals that were just missing one. The American Museum

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<v Speaker 1>of Natural History hypothesizes that Marco Polo's unicorn was a

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<v Speaker 1>Sumatran rhinoceros native to Southeast Asia. A Roman naturalist plane

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<v Speaker 1>of the Elder, who described unicorns around seventy seven CE,

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<v Speaker 1>may have been describing the Indian rhinoceros. Early Asian unicorns

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<v Speaker 1>varied widely in physical appearance. In Chinese and Japanese folklore,

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<v Speaker 1>the unicorn often has a scaly or multicolored coat, a

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<v Speaker 1>flesh covered horn, the body of a deer, and the

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<v Speaker 1>tail of an ox. The head was sometimes dragon like.

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<v Speaker 1>In some myths, it's a harmless, solitary creature whose presence

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<v Speaker 1>portends good, it portends death, and the Japanese unicorn has

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<v Speaker 1>the mystical ability to detect evildoers and upon detection, drives

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<v Speaker 1>its horn through their hearts. Persian myths describe a unicorn

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<v Speaker 1>with three hoofs on each leg, varying legends, painted as

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<v Speaker 1>a shape shifter, a ferocious warrior resembling a rhinoceros or

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<v Speaker 1>a peaceful deer like creature. It can purify water by

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<v Speaker 1>dipping its horn into the liquid, at which point all

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<v Speaker 1>female creatures in the vicinity become pregnant. Versions of European

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<v Speaker 1>unicorns have a similar purification ability. Their horns were said

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<v Speaker 1>to detect and counteract poisons by contact, though no resulting

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<v Speaker 1>pregnancies are reported there. The horn was also thought to

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<v Speaker 1>heal and protect from disease. Beliefs like this led to

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<v Speaker 1>a strong European market for unicorn horns, and in the

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<v Speaker 1>Middle Ages, opportunistic sailors started selling narwhale tusks as unicorn horns.

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<v Speaker 1>Before that, according to the American Museum of Natural History,

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<v Speaker 1>European unicorns often had stubby or colored horns, but after

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<v Speaker 1>that the horns were long, white and spiraled like a

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<v Speaker 1>narwhal tusk. Western unicorn mythology brings us somewhat closer to

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<v Speaker 1>the modern myth. European unicorns often have white coats, a

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<v Speaker 1>horse's body, the hoofs and beard of a goat, and

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<v Speaker 1>the tail of a lion. These unicorns are nearly impossible

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<v Speaker 1>to catch, a trait credited to strength or general elusiveness,

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<v Speaker 1>but they do have a weakness. A virgin woman can

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<v Speaker 1>lure the European unicorn into the open. She seems to

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<v Speaker 1>entrance the creature, who may lay its head in her

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<v Speaker 1>lap by some accounts, suckle at her breast, leaving itself

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<v Speaker 1>vulnerable to capture by hunters waiting out of sight. This

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<v Speaker 1>association with the virgin, along with reported biblical mentions and

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<v Speaker 1>the abilities to heal and counteract poison, led the medieval

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<v Speaker 1>Christian Church to cast the unicorn as a christ figure.

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<v Speaker 1>The creature thus increasingly came to represent purity and nobility,

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<v Speaker 1>likely contributing to modern representations of the unicorn as benevolent, regal, graceful,

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<v Speaker 1>and white. How it became the sparkly, smiling creature of

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<v Speaker 1>popular culture, as seen in the works of Lisa Frank

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<v Speaker 1>My Little Pony and the Whole Unicorns Farting Rainbows meme

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<v Speaker 1>thing is not entirely clear, but it probably has to

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<v Speaker 1>do with commercial value. Kids are drawn to unicorns, their

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<v Speaker 1>parents by them. Unicorns. The single horned kimaras that impale

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<v Speaker 1>bad people with their horns likely wouldn't fly with the

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<v Speaker 1>six year old set, or at least their parents might objecked.

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<v Speaker 1>Where the Indus Valley unicorn fits into known unicorn legend

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<v Speaker 1>remains a mystery. That its image appears on more than

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<v Speaker 1>a thousand seals recovered by archaeologists suggests that it was

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<v Speaker 1>highly valued. It may have been sacred, It may have

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<v Speaker 1>even been real, But the Indus Unicorn will keep its

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<v Speaker 1>secrets until science finds the key to this ancient code.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode is based on the article the Unicorn Ain't

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<v Speaker 1>What It Used to be on how stuffworks dot Com,

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<v Speaker 1>written by Julia Layton. Brain Stuff is production of Iyhart

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<v Speaker 1>Radio in partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com, and this

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<v Speaker 1>episode was produced by Tristan McNeil and Tyler Klang. Four

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<v Speaker 1>more podcasts iHeartRadio visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

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<v Speaker 1>wherever you listen to your favorite shows