In the days of the Ice King, they say, there were many more magical people than there are now. It was not strange to come across a flower or a toadstool that was glowing with strange powers, or an enchanted animal that had been a person, or an enchanted person that had been anything else. The Ice King himself was enchanted, or so the story goes. But nobody knows now if he had been ice and was made a man or if he was a man and only half changed to ice. No matter. He is not the center of our tale.
There was a unicorn in the Dark Forest, and this is true, that everybody said had no horn. It looked just like an ordinary horse, but it was a unicorn, no doubt about it. How did they know? Well, nobody could catch it, for one thing. A horse you can catch, but a unicorn is something else. They say only the purest of heart can catch a unicorn, and only with great patience. There was a very pure and very patient girl in town and her name was Natanielle. She always had the brightest smile and the tinkliest laugh for everybody. And she did not even want to catch the unicorn, if truth be told, it was her mother who wanted it. For what purpose, only she knew. But want it she did. And one day she sent her Natanielle into the Dark Forest with the idea of catching that unicorn, with a little basket of fried pigeon legs and good book of fairy tales, and Natanielle had no clue that that was her purpose. If she knew, she would not be pure anymore, would she? Natanielle, good daughter that she was, thought she was being sent to gather wild mushrooms and pepper ferns, with a little lunch and something to entertain her while she rested.
She went into the forest early in the morning, unafraid of the dark shadows that lay there all day, no matter how bright the sun. It was hard work to gather what she had been sent for, as the season was not at its peak. Natanielle knew it and her mother knew it and Natanielle knew that too. What she did not know was about the unicorn. She had been told that her mother simply had to have Forest salad, and the mushrooms and ferns were absolutely essential ingredients. Natanielle was a daughter who was happy to help, even if it was difficult. Here and there she searched, pricking her fingers on sticker vines, plucking the last few green shoots of pepper fern, digging up the roots of the mushrooms, filling one pocket and then the other. Although she could not see the sun, after some time she felt it must be nooning, and that meant it was time to have a bite to eat. She carefully arranged the pockets to not crush them and opened her book on her lap. The fried pigeon legs waited in the basket at her side. No, it did not take too long to eat them all, and to finish a few more sparkling tales, full of more magic than even the Dark Forest held. Or so she thought.
Natanielle knew about the unicorn, of course, but she thought she was only meant to gather mushrooms and ferns. As she finished the last pigeon leg, rustling came from nearby. She listened closely. It was a large animal, perhaps as big as the unicorn was said to be. The tall trees with their thick leaves left all the forest in a gloom, not the best place to see things clearly. Natanielle could not tell which bushes and grasses were being pushed around, even looking straight at the direction of the sounds. She began to feel a little uneasy. She had just read a story about a hungry bear that roamed a dark forest much like...the Dark Forest. And suddenly a branch snapped to her left and her head snapped to see what was there.
"And it's just the shadows, isn't it my dear?" came the voice from her right. Natanielle spun back around, tripping over her own feet and the roots of the trees. She managed to push the pockets forward so they were not crushed in her fall. And there she sat on the ground looking up at the wolf. She was relieved. The wolf saw this and was perturbed. "Do you not know me, child?"
"Well, the wolves in the storybook only eat pigs and sheep and those things, so I am glad you are not the bear," replied Natanielle. It was not the answer the wolf was expecting. He pouted.
"I have been away for too long, and all my old friends have forgotten me."
"Oh, if you had come sooner you could have had a pigeon leg from my basket. I would not mind a friend from the woods."
The wolf eyed her with his eye and smiled with his lips. "Yes, I would like to have a new friend in town, too. But you truly do not know me, my sweet young one?"
"The only wolves in this country are in books, sir, the live ones left long ago."
"Yes, yes, longer than you know perhaps. But there was always one who stalked the wood, a wolf of power and influence."
"That I do not know. All we know is the unicorn that roams here. I was beginning to think I might see him pass by, since I might spend all day gathering what my mother asked of me."
The wolf frowned and stared off into the moist darkness, perhaps upset by the girl's answer. But then he smiled again, a great crescent moon of a smile with teeth that lit the forest floor. "Now there is some news, and that does not happen every day! I used to know everybody in these woods, and now you tell me there is a unicorn? How splendid! I would like to meet this imposter - er, this creature myself. Maybe you can tell, but I am an old neighbor of this land. It is just, I have been off on adventures and have neglected my ties here. That is why you do not know of me, certainly."
"That may be, dear wolf," said Natanielle brightly, "It may indeed."
The wolf drew near to her and he curled like a great cat and all his hairs bristled and jingled, although they did not make a sound. He breathed in and the forest shivered and he sighed and the forest fell bleached and wilted around him. Natanielle was not surprised. This was a time of magic, after all. She was a little upset about disturbing the great trees so much, they had done nothing to harm either of them. The wolf held his nose aloft and it quivered like a blob of blackberry jam and then he turned to Natanielle and said, "I think we can find this unicorn of yours, if you would like to join me." His face was a happy puppy's and Natanielle saw no harm in going. "Allow me to make you an offer," said the wolf as he trotted off, sure that the girl was following behind, "Not only will we see the unicorn, he will be yours, you pet forever and ever. I will see to it. Then you might do old Uncle a small favor?"
Natanielle replied, a little out of breath from keeping pace with the chipper wolf, "I do not want a pet unicorn, my mother would find it too much trouble-" (How little she knew her mother sometimes.) "but I do not mind doing small favors."
"So you say, child, but we shall see," called the wolf, gleefully.
It did not take long for them to come across a clearing in the forest, not very big, but with lush grass and a warm circle of sunlight. The wolf snuffled all around the edges before pointing his nose and the brightness and saying, "I would sit in the light if I were you, my dear, for unicorns do not spend much time seeking out their maidens. You should be easy to spot." Natanielle shrugged her shoulders and moved into the blessing of sun. She could not look up to the sky for the beams of light coming down, but she felt an embrace of the Forest that calmed every fear and stilled every nerve. This was a truly magical place. And then there was a yelp and a snarl that pulled her back to the shadows of the Dark Forest. The unicorn was there! He was...a donkey. A large, brown, floppy eared donkey. He stood with his backside to the wolf, back hunched, ready to kick. The wolf had all his hair up and his head down and his eyes were glowing like stars. "You dare? You are not even a unicorn by enchantment! You do not know who you challenge, you windy, flea-bagged-" and one foot went back to catch the wolf at the base of the neck. He choked and coughed, backing away and leaving a trail of drool. Like a street dog that sees only rocks will be thrown, and no chance of bread, he turned. But before the shadows swallowed him, his eye flickered back to Natanielle, and she heard a whisper in an unfelt breeze. "Tell them Uncle has returned."
The unicorn looked at Natanielle and she looked at him. She curtsied and he watched her. She stood and he watched her. Then, Natanielle said, "Well I must be getting home, but thank you for seeing me here in your forest," and she rather gaily tripped off towards the town, and she did not even know the unicorn had followed her until she came out of the Forest and the other children playing in the field stopped their games in surprise. The unicorn came home with her, and her mother was disgusted, as she expected, although not for the reasons she thought. They let it stay, though, since Grandmother insisted on it. Natanielle mentioned the wolf and what he said as he fled through the trees and Grandmother dropped her mug of mead on the floor. After some minutes of staring into the flames of the hearth, they managed to coax some words out of her: "May that unicorn keep us safe. For there is danger here again. Vlk returned, Vlk returned, would that I had not seen the day."
Natanielle kept the unicorn well, and never saw the wolf again. Although there were gray and stormy days when she was sure she heard a howling laugh from far, far away.
