Colleen Houck

“I took hold of that scourge -filled ship and crushed it between my limbs, hurtling it into the second sun, the red one that gave me strength. But I was too late." Terraformer

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  • The love story of the Lion and the Unicorn

    February 13, 2017

    Image result for lion and the unicornLove story?  Aren’t the Lion and the Unicorn only unified on the English coat of arms in 1603? Well Colleen’s imagination created a devoted couple out of the below unification.

    In 1603 when Scotland’s King James VI became James I of England unifying the Scottish and English kingdom. The unified countries required a new royal coat of arms combining England’s lion and Scotland’s unicorns.  Note the poem of this union.

    Lion and unicorn coat of arms

    The lion and the unicorn
    Were fighting for the crown
    The lion beat the unicorn
    All around the town.
    Some gave them white bread,
    And some gave them brown;
    Some gave them plum cake
    and drummed them out of town.

     

    I had never heard this nursery rhyme until I studied about the unification of the English Kingdom.  It’s simple and has even been set to music.

     

     

     

     

    However Collen has re-imagined this relationship to be one of sacrifice and love. At the end of RECREATED  Nebu the golden steed takes Lily and Tia on a long journey.  Tia is uncomfortable on this journey and doesn’t trust him.  However she hesitantly listens as Nebu tells of the Unicorn and the Lion, or as Tia puts it the Lion and the Unicorn, making sure the Lion is credited first in the story.

    Nebu starts with describing the lovely young maiden who was a princess and was so bless by the gods with charm, beauty, kindness, and “heartbreaking purity.”  All men that saw her fell in love with her. She was so virtuous that those who came near felt a desire to become like her, her equal.  Many came from afar to woo her and prayed to persuade her to marry them.  However neither the rich nor poor, handsome prince nor peasant caught her eye. The maiden only cared about what was on the inside. She would take the hand of each man and look deep into his eyes all the way through to his soul.  If they flinched and could not endure her gaze they knew they were unworthy and left.

     

    Image result for maiden and lionAs the suitors dwindled the maiden felt lonely and despaired that she would never find a worth mate.  One day in the forest by a cool pond she dipped her feet, and a lion appeared.  He instantly fell in love with her, although she was frightened, she looked deep into his eyes and found no malice.  She found her match. The maiden took the new companion home to meet her father, the King.   He agreed to the marriage but not until the Spring which gave the couple time to get to know one another.  Those humans who used to fill her days now would not approach and risk their lives just to spend time with the maiden princess. Which the lion was fine with, since he liked to keep her all to himself.

     

    They were equal in most ways except one, that she did not eat meat.  The lion did, but only to satisfy his hunger.  This bothered the princess because she loved all creatures and knew that his hunger was sated by innocent creatures.  She cried over each kill and pleaded with the lion to stop.  As he complied, eating only fruits and vegetables he became weak, but he would continue to eat this way because he loved her.

     

    One afternoon they wen to the forest and had a picnic of strawberries, apples, and carrots.  The lion was still hungry but fell asleep.  Image result for maiden and unicornThe maiden went for a walk and came upon a home of a noble unicorn. (Tia rolled her eyes at this part)  The unicorn came out to meet the delicate human and loved everything about her.  This unicorn was pure, worthy, and a perfect match.  She was drawn to him as well, but this knowledge broke her heart.

     

    The princess stayed with the unicorn all afternoon and told him they could never be together since sheImage result for maiden and unicorn was already betrothed. She was not the type of person to break a promise.  He laid her head in his lap and decided to make the best of the stolen time they had together. As the sun set they knew their time was up.  She left telling him they would never see each other again.

     

    Image result for maiden and unicorn

    The princess was true to her word and never came back, but the unicorn could not erase her from his mind.  So he stole into the human world to see her.  Using his one power, which was the alicorn, or the horn on the top of his head he bargained with the lion offering the horn which would change the lion’s body so he could survive on grains, fruits, and vegetables and regain his strength.  The bargain was struck and the unicorn knelt down for the lion could cut the alicorn from the head of the unicorn unable to extract it himself.  Once the horn was extracted the unicorn became as a mortal horse loosing all his powers.  The lion was strong again and brought the horn to the princess.  The princess wept because of this act the lion became unworthily of the princess since he harmed another to selfishly benefit himself. The unicorn came to the princess asking if he could now be with her, but even though there was no malice in his heart-“the girl hesitated.”

     

    The lion felt tricked by the unicorn and a tribunal of the gods determined that they both would be rebuked.  In despair at the outcome the princess took the broken alicorn and plunged it deep into her breast.  After she died the lion and the unicorn didn’t care about what happened to them they only wanted to reunite with the girl they loved.  The angry tribunal didn’t grant their wish and punished all lions to the human world and sentenced them to always be a war with the humans.  The unicorns punishment was one of solitude.  They would be forbidden to show themselves to mortals, and were to live their immortal life without progressing to the afterlife.

     

     

    As you can see this is a story of sacrifice, love, despair, longing, and heartbreak.  Love can change us, but I hope it will change you for the better and bring you joy like my sweetheart does for me.

     

    Shara

    PS-  An interesting tidbit.  Do you remember when Kelsey and Kishan were in Shangri la and met the apple eating Lion?  I wonder if it’s the same lion?  Thoughts?Image result for shangri la

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

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    This entry was posted in Mythology.

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    Shara Lane

    I'm Shara, a wife, mother, bargain shopper, and I love to critique everything from food to mascara. I'm a sister of Colleen who lives in the desert of Arizona. My favorite time of day is when I pretend my kids are asleep upstairs, and I can catch up on my favorite shows with my handsome husband. Once Upon a Time, Dr. Who, Mythbusters (husband's choice), Big Bang Theory, Sherlock, and Castle. I turned 40 but feel around 30ish, and wonder where the time has gone. I love new clothes, new make-up, new food, and anything new to try out and critique. It's not mean, I promise, I just really like to figure out how to make things better :-)