Word: unicorn
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...reign of greatest popularity of the unicorn came during the Middle Ages. At this time a favorite pastime of Italian politicians was serving lethal wine to unwary rivals. During this era an office seeker's only hope of becoming the incumbent was to poison his rivals or to fortify himself with unicorn's horn powder...
Shrewd traffickers in this early potent medicine waxed fat. Going further than mere powder-selling they purveyed unicorn horn cups, elaborately carved, which would guarantee living to a ripe old age. Horn walking sticks or wands were still more powerful. The latter, which in today's money were worth well over $100,000, were manufactured from walrus and elephant tusks. Most great cathedral treasuries owned one; they were necessary adjuncts to a monarch's wardrobe...
...unicorn, early writers said, was unconquerable by ordinary huntsman's methods. The best method was virgin-baiting. A maiden, preferably pretty, necessarily young, was undressed, turned loose in a field. The "vapours" of her virginity, explained zoologists, were what attracted the animal, dissipated his fighting spirit. Docilely the unicorn would approach the maiden, fondle her. Putting his head in her lap he would go to sleep. Then she would summon the huntsmen who would dispatch him. Also, claimed authorities, this was a valuable test 'for virginity. The unicorn, on discovering a hoax, would summarily run the lady through with...
This practice, a product of Italian commercial ingenuity, is stoutly condemned by Dr. Shepard. Says he: "The girl always plays her detestable role, drawing the unicorn to his death by acting on his highest nature, without the slightest compunction. . . . One feels that the supernal charm of chastity might be dispensed with if we could have a little more sense of fair play in its place...
Besides his ability to purify wine, which was the unicorn's greatest function in man's eye, he could also purify water for the forest animals. Upon discovering that a snake had poisoned a pool by spraying it with venom, all animals would await the arrival of a unicorn. He would touch the water with his horn, cleanse...