arden
at the Roof of the World
Bestiaries were filled with impossible nightmares such as griffons and hippogrifs and the one mythical beast which inspired people both then and now to write stories of a spiritual journey: the unicorn.
Unicorns were thought to be unable to abide people who were not chaste, and though naturally ferocious, would become tame in the presence of a virgin. The touch of a unicorn's horn would cure one of poison or illness. Like the dragon, stories of unicorns transcend place. A unicorn is credited with saving Tibet from being over run by the Mongol horde, and unicorns figure prominently in Arabic lore.
There were three great mytholical cycles: the Carolingian, the Arthurian, and the Roman. The enigmatic figure Nimuë was figured in two of them. She was the lover of Merlin and the reason for his removal from the Arthurian court.
Another enigmatic figure of medieval myth was Lilith. Jewish myth portrays her as co-equal with Adam - perfect and without sin, but the stories also tell of her refusal to submit to Adam's will, her exile from Eden and how she became the mother of monsters. Medieval Jewish women would hang a medallion over the cradles of uncircumcised boys to protect them from her.
