~ END OF PREVIEW ~
We hope you have enjoyed this fully-illustrated e-book preview of
A Field Guide to Identifying Unicorns by Sound. To read more, see the "Search Inside" feature at
Amazon.com.
"Percussions"
cymbals, bells, xylophone, chimes, and drums
"Stray types"
organ, music box, and piano
In his book Cube Route (2003), Anthony explains
that unicorns sound their instruments through
their horns. The reclusive sea-unicorn (commonly
known as the "narwhal") similarly transmits acoustic
signals through its spirally twisted tusk. "When a
captive bull narwhal vocalized, strong vibrations
corresponding to the sound could be felt running
down the tusk" (Ted Kerasote, Bloodties: Nature,
Culture, and the Hunt, 1994).
Unicorns' musical tones can actually form common
words. In Juxtaposition (1982), Anthony says that
unicorns "almost speak in musical notes, making
them sound like yes, no, maybe, and assorted other
words." Note that these examples of unicorn
vocabulary convey the full range of opinions, and
varying degrees of decisiveness, of which these
complex creatures are capable.
Accounts of unicorns' orchestral voices in literature
include:
The unicorn shuddered, sending out music
that filled Emily's head with fragmented and
off-key chords and words that were little more
than broken cries.
-- Rachel Roberts, Avalon: Web of Magic 4:
Secret of the Unicorn (2002)