How the Rhinoceros Got its Horn

How the Rhino Got Its Horn

The rhinoceros lay on her side, breathing heavily, waiting for the pain to pass again. She wondered how long this was going to go on as she stood and shook herself then walked around in a large circle, constantly on the lookout for any nearby predators. She offered up thanks to whoever was responsible for the gift of a long flowing mane and tail, the tail that she used mercilessly to swat the large biting flies from her smooth white, glossy coat. The mane and long forelock protected her tiny eyes and sensitive nose and face from the sun as well as the flies. Another thunderbolt of pain hit and she threw herself on the ground groaning and gave in to the urge to push out whatever it was that had been growing inside her expansive belly for months.

She pushed and pushed for what seemed to her like hours before there was a sudden gush of fluid from between her legs and instant relief from the terrible pressure she’d been trying to push away. She raised her head and looked around to see what had happened. There was a small wriggling thing wrapped in a membrane that it was managing to wriggle out of, making a tiny bleating sound.

“What is that?”, she puzzled as she struggled to her feet and turned to sniff and lick clean this creature who somehow instantly filled her heart with love and a fierce feeling of self-sacrificing protectiveness as soon as she smelt it.

She spoke to her baby and reassured it as she nuzzled it and licked the membrane and mess from its skin. She instinctively knew that she had to get her baby to stand and be able to walk immediately. Lots of pushing with her smooth white nose and words of encouragement combined to get the little rhinoceros to its feet. Somehow this beautiful baby girl found its way to her mother’s teat and suckled hungrily. This made the mother rhinoceros’s heart swell with even more love if that was possible.

Another instinct kicked in and she knew they would have to get moving as soon as she had eaten the placenta and her baby had finished suckling, leaving as little evidence as possible that there was a young defenceless animal in the area.

Checking out her surroundings, she could see herds of the other soft skinned, smooth haired prey animals, giraffes, zebras, various antelope and wildebeest. She also saw a herd of the the oft maligned unicorns with their hard, thick grey skin and silly little tails grazing on the dry grass between her and the other animals. She’d been taught by her mother not to trust a unicorn, she was told that they were sly and selfish and always looking for a deal that would elevate them in the hierarchy of the the African plains.

She knew as soon as she heard the rustle in the bushes next to her that she had spent too long looking at the other animals and daydreaming.

Before she had a chance to scream at the baby to run with her a huge lioness came charging out of the long grass, her face distorted in a terrifying snarl showing all her enormous teeth. The lioness leapt forward with her powerful front legs outstretched towards the baby rhinoceros, her claws extended.

The mother rhinoceros screamed and ran at the lioness, swishing her long mane and tail to appear larger and more threatening. The lioness didn’t even spare her a glance, she was too hungry. She jumped on the baby and grabbed it by the head with her jaws and clumsily tried to run away.

But the other animals had heard the mother rhinoceros scream. Some of them bolted away as fast as they could, some stood in shock staring, some started to move towards the ruckus to better see what was happening.

“Help, help, help!!! The lion has my baby, my little baby. Help, please, help!!!” screamed the mother rhinoceros. She ran as swiftly as she could after the lioness, sobbing and screaming. She was concentrating so hard on trying to catch up to the lion that she barely noticed the thundering of hooves coming up behind her. Something grey flashed past her as she ran, something with much longer legs than her, something running really fast and quickly catching up with the lioness.

The unicorn reached the lioness and said,

“Drop that baby evil queen or I will gore you with my horn!”.

He had run so fast that he was right next to the predator and overtaking it.

The lioness tried to ignore the unicorn and kept running as fast as she could but the unicorn sidled even closer and pushed her with its hard grey muzzle. “Let go of the baby!”.

The lioness lost speed and tripped but regained her footing and sped up again.

“Drop the baby or I won’t just push you! You’ve been warned.”

The mother rhinoceros was following as quickly as she could on her huge stubby legs but had no hope of catching up with them. What could she do anyway? She had no way of making the lioness drop her baby other than maybe trampling her but no way of getting close enough to do that.

The unicorn was running gracefully on its long grey legs and had no trouble keeping pace as it again warned,

“Let the baby go lioness! Give the baby back to its mother!”.

The lioness had run out of puff and came to a stop, dropping the baby on the ground and holding it there with one huge paw. She tried to haggle with the unicorn.

“Nothing to see here unicorn, turn away now, I too have babies that have to be fed. This rhino would be a fine meal for them.”

The unicorn slid to a halt, its silly little tail flicking back and forth in anger, its thick grey hide covered with leaves and blossoms from the bushes it had trampled to catch up with the lioness.

“No way lioness, I will see you dead before you harm another baby animal. Take your paw off the rhino and run away now.”

The lioness’s eyes narrowed as she calculated how far she’d have to go to be rid of the unicorn if she just picked up the baby in her mouth and ran as fast as she could.

“No unicorn, I can’t do that, just let me go and I promise I’ll not take another baby animal”, she snarled as she opened her mouth to once again take the crying baby rhinoceros and run.

“I don’t believe you” growled the unicorn as he charged at the lioness and with no further ado rammed her body with his horn and impaled her, ending her life instantly.

He was busy snuffling the baby rhinoceros and trying to calm her down as the mother rhinoceros slid to a halt next to him. She looked up at the unicorn with tears running down her wide short face and sobbed.

“Thank you unicorn, thank you with all my heart. My baby lives because of your brave actions. How can I ever repay you? Anything, anything.”

She nuzzled and licked her beautiful baby who could now stand and she pushed her to the teat to suckle.

The unicorn was standing with the setting sun behind him. Looking at him, the rhinoceros was in awe of what a majestic creature he was, especially as she couldn’t see his thick and ugly grey hide with the sun blinding her.

“Please think of how I can repay you, I owe you my life for saving my baby!”

The unicorn looked at her. The sun was dazzling him as it reflected off her white silky coat. Her long flowing mane and tail were blowing in the cool early evening breeze. He thought to himself,

“Why does such an ugly, misshapen, clumsy beast deserve such a beautiful coat and magnificent mane and tail? Why do I have no mane, just a stupid excuse for a tail and this ugly grey leathery hide and a horn in the middle of my forehead? I am a magnificent animal, everyone the world over knows of me and how magical I am, how much better would I look being as white as snow with a flowing mane and tail?”

He nonchalantly walked over to stand under a tree. He made a great show of thinking hard. His eyes narrowed as he turned his head and said to the mother rhinoceros,

“I really can’t think of anything I need or want and I really expect no reward for being so brave and gallant and saving your baby from the lioness”.

The mother rhinoceros, still shedding tears of shock and gratitude, exclaimed,

“But you must think of something, such a feat of heroism deserves a payment of some sort, please think of something.”

“No, really, I can’t think of anything.”

The rhinoceros was becoming desperate, she was adamant.

“I cannot let this deed go unrewarded, anything, anything, I will give you anything for saving my baby.” She knew that if she didn’t reward the unicorn he would surely think of some way of making her pay, possibly even turning all the other animals against her.

The unicorn opened his eyes wide, feigning a sudden thought.

“Perhaps you could swap your white coat and mane and tail with me. I would of course have to sacrifice my thick protective grey hide and whip-like tail but I would be willing to do that. I would of course be doing you another favour really, that white coat attracts flies and is like a target to predators, and the mane and tail must get caught on every bush you walk past.” He took a sideways look to see her facial expression and noticed she looked absolutely crestfallen.

“Oh no unicorn, I couldn’t possibly do that, I have powerful legs to help protect me from predators and I really like the way I can swish my mane and tail to keep away the flies. Please don’t ask that of me.”

“Oh well, I was only suggesting it for your benefit, you did say you wanted to thank me after all.”

“Yes, of course I want to repay and thank you. That brave deed must not go unrewarded. But please don’t ask me to give up my coat and mane and tail. You do have that magnificent horn to swish around ……… “

“What if I offered you that horn? That’s on top of the unselfish dangerous act of saving your poor defenceless baby’s life. Would you then give me the coat and mane and tail? You will love my tough grey armour-like hide and I promise you won’t miss your snowy white coat and useless mane and tail.”

What choice did the poor rhinoceros have? She desperately wanted to show her gratitude to the graceful unicorn. And so she relented and said yes. She then watched as the now stunning unicorn galloped off, running like the wind, now an elegant horse, the mane and tail flowing behind like a white vapour trail, his coat dazzling, his head slender and graceful without the horn.

She placated her baby who was confused at the change in his mother. She became frustrated at the long horn being in the middle of her forehead and getting in the way of everything when she tried to tend to her baby. She was so angry, she felt like she had been duped but knew it was worth it to have her baby alive and next to her. She bent forward to nuzzle her daughter and the horn became stuck in an old tree trunk. In a fit of frustration she twisted and yanked and the horn snapped off and what was left of it slid down to between her nostrils.

“That’s better”, she said.

And that my friends is how the rhinoceros got its horn (and of course why we no longer see unicorns!).