Of all the Legendary creatures, none captives the imagination as does the unicorn. Perhaps this is because we feel that a beautiful horse-like animal with a single horn really could have existed long ago, in a faraway place. To people of  an earlier age, these animals were not ordinary, they were quite real. Reports of unicorn sightings go back as far as the fourth century B.C., but it was apparently in medieval times that belief in the folklore about unicorns reached their peak . These exotic creatures  represented purity, chastity, or  innocence. This portrayal is in the second tapestry  of famous "Unicorn Tapestries", produced around 1500 and now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Here the unicorns are shown in a forest clearing where a fountain plays and spring flowers bloom, even though the rest of the world is clothed in autumn. The scene also highlights another legend concerning the unicorn that of his horn's magic powers. In the tapestry, various wild animals wait by a  stream while the unicorn dips his horn into the water to purify it of poison. Because the horn was also thought to prevent plague, epilepsy and other diseases, powders said to be made of unicorn horn were in great demand. According to legend, the unicorn was a fearless animal, swift and strong. So great was his courage and daring that hunters could not capture him in the chase. Only a pure maidenhead the power to ensnare a unicorn. Symbolic in the purity of himself, he was attracted by her innocence, and meekly came to kneel before her and place his head in her lap. Captured by such a ruse and killed by hunters, the purity of the unicorn triumphed, for the indestructible creature returned to life again, living contentedly in captivity.

" Author - Unknown "