The Last Unicorn

by Peter S. Beagle

“Oh, I could never leave this, I never could, not if I really were the only unicorn in the world. I know how to live here, I know how everything smells, and tastes, and is. What could I ever search for in the world, except this again?”

If men no longer know what they are looking at, there may well be unicorns in the world yet, unknown and glad of it.

“Death takes what man would keep,” said the butterfly, “and leaves what man would lose.

“Any woman can weep without tears,” she answered over her shoulder, “and most can heal with their hands. It depends on the wound. She is a woman, Your Highness, and that’s riddle enough.”