The Unicorn's Secret: The Horn

“Leah,” said Marge to her teenage daughter. ”It is getting late. You’re still reading about unicorns?”

“Yes, for a paper I am working on. Unicorns aren’t real, are they, Mom?” asked Leah, with a broad smile.

“I know the secret of the unicorn,” replied Marge, smiling back at her. “It’s a story passed on to me by my mother.”

Leah gazed into mother’s gentle face with amazement.

“Then, you can tell me too because I’m your daughter,” Leah replied. “What’s the unicorn’s secret, Mom?”

“I will tell you exactly what my mother told me when I was about your age."

"Great!" replied Leah. "I can't believe that Grandma actually told you about unicorns."

"Yes, she did. The Bible talks about unicorns in a number of different places like Psalm 92:10, which says, “By my horn, shalt thou exalt, like the horn of an unicorn.”

“The Bible really talks about unicorns, too?” Leah was astonished. "I didn't know that."

“The word unicorn is only found in some translations of the Bible. Know what an allegory is?” Marge asked her daughter. Leah was in her third year of high school and old enough to understand the meaning of the word.   

“That’s when a symbolic figure represents or relays a message about something to someone.”

“That’s correct. In the early Christian church, the unicorn imagery is an allegory. The unicorn is a strong, fierce animal. It is caught and tossed at a virgin, as she is the only one who can ever catch it. As the story goes, she catches it in her lap, nurtures it and leads it to the king’s palace.”

“Interesting story!” said Leah. "Wow!"

“Allegorically, it was like Jesus being born of the Virgin Mary and becoming the horn of salvation for humankind.” 

“So that’s why mothers tell that story to their daughters?”

“Exactly,” replied Marge, thankful that Leah had understood.