IMP - I like your analogy of the waters. The trouble I have is when authors bottle the waters in shiny bottles with precious pink bows.
Now granted, I have not read the novel where this "winged unicorn" appeared, but the very image makes me cringe. Perhaps I am being "hasty". But I bet I ain't.
I'm a great lover - and defender of - the Animal Spirit in the world's mythologies. The Coyote Trickster of the Native Americans, the Russian fable of the Firebird, The extensive lore of Dragons, both wise and cruel, and on and on. Each plays a very important role. They are not portrayed as "pets", but as complex thinking beings, who still have a connection to the Natural World, which too many people throughout the ages have felt they have lost.
Tolkien acknowledged the importance of the Animal Spirit in Myth with his characters of the Eagles, Shadowfax, the Wargs, and the Ents. Not to mention Tuor's swans.
When Beagle chose a Unicorn for the hero of one of his stories, his inspiration was the sublime, beatific images of the Unicorn Tapestries at the Cloister Museum. When the above author (sorry, name thankfully not remembered) chose a "winged unicorn" for the hero of his novel, I fear his inspiration was My Pretty Pony.
[ August 08, 2002: Message edited by: Birdland ]
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