How the Unicorn Came To Earth

by Matthew Pittman
(La Vernia, Texas United States)

The Unicorn in not like other mythical creatures who are born of earth, the Unicorn comes from the home of the gods, Olympus. It was there in the heavens that the Greek gods had a contest to see who could create the most beautiful horse, the Muses would then judge, for they are the goddesses of the arts.

Poseidon bragged about how he had made the first horse so there was no contest. Zeus and Hades quickly joined Poseidon's team in hopes to win. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades made three immortal horses named Xanthos. Zeus made the horses shine like the sun, Poseidon allowed them to be moved with strength of the sea and Hades gave them the beauty of a diamond, since he is the god of the wealth.

The three brothers bragged that nothing could best their creation.

Apollo, Ares, Dionysus, Hephaestus, and Hermes teamed up together and created Lampos, one of the two immortal steeds who drew the chariot of Eros. Their horse was a fiery red color to show Ares had blessed this horse for battle, Hermes made it able to move as fast as the wind, Apollo gave it the ability to sing a heavenly tune that would make everyone envious of it, Dionysus blessed the horse for where it stepped wine sprung up and Hephaestus place a solid gold saddle on it with reins so that the beauty was amplified. They were sure that nothing could beat their horse for who could beat six Greek gods?

The last group was made up of the goddesses; Hera, Athena, Hestia, Aphrodite, Artemis, and Demeter. Aphrodite, being the goddess of beauty, made a horse that she blessed with her beauty. Athena reached up to the sky and took down six stars, one for each goddesses, and turned the stars into a horn; placing it on the forehead. Artemis placed the moon beams on the head and rear of the animal so that it may shine like the moon and no harm would come to eyes of man. Demeter took dirt from the earth and made the hoofs, the earth would hide the creatures secrets and leave no trace of where it stood. Hera made the creature invisible to the eyes of man for it was men who had started the contest, only a woman of purity could see the creature since the goddesses who made it were pure and had not committed a crime. Finally Athena painted the creature with the whiteness of the clouds. The goddesses admired their work and deiced to name the creature the unicorn.

The other gods were amazed at what the goddesses had done. The Muses declared the team of goddesses the winners and that the creature would go down in history and would be forever remembered for all eternity, never to forget of how such a wonderful creature came to be. Zeus then ordered that two more unicorns be created so that they may populate the earth and spread their good magic across all lands and seas.