A couple of years ago, we told you about the Perth Museum, which, despite its name, is in Scotland. Perth, Scotland, to be exact. The museum will open on March 30 with an exhibit on Scotland's national animal, the unicorn.
This raises the question: why does Scotland have a national animal that doesn't live there and never has? Or anywhere else, for that matter? They could have chosen the Scottish wildcat, the Scottish terrier, or the wild haggis. But the designation wasn't put to a vote. King William I, or William the Lion, put the unicorn on his royal coat of arms in the 12th century. It was kept by later monarchs as a symbol of "purity and power." Today, the unicorn has many connotations, which the museum exhibit addresses. Read up on what the unicorn means to Scotland and see a preview of some of the museum exhibits at Smithsonian.
(Image credit: Thomas Nugent)
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I went to Edinburgh a few months ago, and the walking-tour guide explained it: There USED to be unicorns, but they didn't want to get into the ark. Noah threatened them, but they were too stubborn and didn't want to listen to authority. Noah warned them that big rain was coming, but they weren't afraid of it. They went extinct during the flood. Centuries later, Scotland chose the unicorn as its symbol because it's the animal that most represents the attitude of Scottish people: stubborn, resistant to authority, and accustomed to being rained on every day.
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