Listen for a terrible cry of ruin. With an old, gay, terrible cry of ruin, the unicorn reared out of her hiding place. -- Peter Beagle, The Last Unicorn (1968) When on the run from pursuers, a unicorn may sound as if it is falling to pieces. In the eighth century, St. John Damascene described a rampant unicorn's "terrible bellowing" that was beyond human endurance (Barlaam and Loasaph). Other accounts of unicorns' ruinous cries in literature include: In this waveform of a unicorn's ruinous cry, the sound grows haphazard and literally breaks down at the end.