by Nick Addey

Created on: October 16, 2009   Last Updated: October 19, 2009

Of course fantasy creatures exist! Only not on this earth, which is why they will remain forever in the realm of fantasy. No fossilized bones of the Unicorn to cloud the evolutionary trail, thank you very much, no skeletal remains of the Loch Ness Monster to muddy the waters. These legendary, un-bodied beasts are thoroughbred survivors of a calamitous event that overtook their world several hundred years ago.

Let's take the Unicorn, for it is probably the most well known, most loved and most easily recognisable of all those otherworldly denizens. There can be no mistaking its characteristics; a small (or not so small) white horse (or is it more like a goat?) with a single, spiral horn twisting out of its forehead (that's a cert). There can be no mistaking the Unicorn's favourite habitat either, for it is well signposted in the stars - Monoceros (which is what the Greeks called the 'One horn').

Monoceros (or Unicorn) is a nondescript constellation close to the wonderful Orion. However, seekers of the Unicorn will have no joy if they should err and search amongst those stars for, like McCavity the Mystery Cat, he's not there. The Unicorn is not far away though, fiercely fighting the Lion for the Crown. Remember that old nursery rhyme? 'The Lion and the Unicorn were fighting for the crown. The Lion beat the Unicorn all around the town' and so on. This is an account of one of the greatest mythical fights that ever took place. Indeed, it is still taking place right above our heads, for the stars trace the events of that cosmic clash.

The calamitous event that heralded the Unicorn's disappearance may seem to have nothing to do with fantasy at all, yet that is exactly what it was. For the introduction of another belief system, one that would shut out the stars, did for the Unicorn what a meteorite did for the dinosaurs. The only difference being that fantasy has a habit of returning unscathed, thus the Unicorns (there are several, including the two messing about in the waves while Noah's Ark sails away) are all still there, waiting for us to see them again. It is simply a matter of knowing where they still live and of having the patience to wait for them to reappear.

Like many heroes of old they are destined to aid us in our hour of direst need. Hold on, then, for here they come since winter is a very good time for Unicorns. There is the fighting Unicorn of Canis Major and Orion; the first beaten Unicorn is in Ursa Major and another, thoroughly whipped beast in Cygnus. The totally defeated Unicorn is back in Orion again - all around the town/sky/horizon - as told for centuries. But don't take my word for it, spend time out there, under the stars, and you will soon see how all this really does happen in a land far, far away. And if you can't see them...

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