68 pages • 2 hours read
Peter S. BeagleThe Last Unicorn
Peter S. BeagleFiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1968A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
The unicorn lives in a beautiful forest where it is always spring. She is very old and immortal, like all unicorns. She has been alone for a very long time. She can recall the last time she’s seen another unicorn, but she isn’t sure how long ago that was. Time is irrelevant to her. She enjoys watching the other animals of the forest live their lives, growing, having young, and dying; it’s interesting to her.
One day, two hunters ride through the forest on horseback. The unicorn watches them, keeping out of sight as she listens to their conversation. The older hunter speculates that a unicorn lives in the forest because it’s always spring there. He wants to hunt elsewhere because they won’t find any game in a unicorn’s forest. The younger one believes all unicorns are gone because he’s never seen one. The older hunter hasn’t either, but his great grandmother once saw a unicorn and wept when she spoke of it. The hunters decide to go elsewhere to hunt. They speculate that the unicorns are gone because of how times have changed. As they leave, the older hunter calls out a warning to the unicorn to stay where she is because she is the last and the forest needs her protection.
The unicorn is disconcerted by this news. She was content being alone but only because she knew more of her kind were out there. She wonders if it’s true that she is the last. She does not want to leave her forest, but she wonders if they are waiting for her somewhere. She grapples with the decision to find them until she cannot take it anymore and sets out on her journey. She promises the creatures of the forest that she will return soon.
Seasons go by as she travels, but she never once spots another unicorn. One day, a farmer spots her on the road and wants to capture her. The unicorn is pleased that he recognizes her. He uses his belt to try to capture her, but she sidesteps him easily, wondering what he plans to do with her. The farmer cannot hear her and calls her a mare, which angers her. She uses her horn to rip the belt from his hands and then runs off. The unicorn speculates that there could be other unicorns out there, but men do not recognize them. Several others try to capture her along the way. Though the men see her as a mare, their horses always know she’s a unicorn.
One day a butterfly joins the unicorn on her journey. The unicorn asks him if he knows her name, but he speaks only in rhymes and lyrics. Butterflies only know what they’ve heard in songs and poetry. The unicorn is sad the butterfly cannot answer her question, but she understands the nature of butterflies. As night falls, she bids farewell to the butterfly, but he surprises her by finally answering her question. He knows she’s a unicorn. She asks if he’s seen others like her. He tells her of the Red Bull, who chased all the unicorns to the ends of the earth. Before departing, he tells her she can find them if she’s brave.
The unicorn continues, considering the butterfly’s information. She misses her forest and worries about the passing seasons. She stops to rest at the side of the road and dreams of home. A caravan of wagons traveling silently stops next to her. The wagons read “MOMMY FORTUNA’S MIDNIGHT CARNIVAL” (17). An old woman hops out of the front wagon and summons two of her men: a tall magician and a short man named Rukh. She gestures to the unicorn and asks what they see. Rukh says it’s a dead horse. The magician can tell what she is, but he agrees that she’s a horse. Mommy Fortuna knows the magician is lying. She commands the men to capture the “horse” for her carnival. She warns them not to touch the horse, however, instructing them to take apart and rebuild one of her cages around the creature. They finish the task close to daybreak. As they return to their wagons, the magician looks back and sees the unicorn awaken in her captivity.
Chapter 2 Summary
In the daylight, the cages are arranged in a field. Rukh leads a crowd through, describing each captive to the onlookers. The cages contain legends like a manticore, a dragon, a satyr, Cerberus, and the World Serpent. The magician stands near the unicorn’s cage despite Fortuna’s warning to stay away from the unicorn. He believes he makes Fortuna nervous with his power. He asks the unicorn to take a closer look at the creatures in the cages. The unicorn can see through Fortuna’s magic. The satyr is an ape, the manticore is a lion, and Cerberus is a regular dog. All the creatures of the midnight carnival are under Fortuna’s spell to appear as the great creatures they are advertised to be. Fortuna can disguise the creatures, but she cannot create or change them.
The unicorn realizes that the magician understands her and knows she’s a unicorn. He introduces himself as Schmendrick the Magician. His face is “frighteningly young for a grown man” (27). Schmendrick acknowledges that the unicorn will not have heard of him. She wants to inform him that she would not have heard of any magician, but the sadness in his voice keeps her silent. Schmendrick’s job is to perform magic for the crowd before the show begins. He knows the job is modest, but he believes he’ll have a better job someday. Schmendrick’s disheartened voice makes the unicorn “feel as though she were trapped forever” (27).
Rukh takes the crowd to a cage with a spider within it. He introduces the spider as Arachne of Lydia, who lost a weaving battle to Athena and was transformed into a spider. The spider is different form the other creatures because she truly believes she is Arachne, which bolsters Fortuna’s magic. A harpy sits in a cage near the unicorn’s. The unicorn observes the creature, feeling a cold terror emanating from the cage. The harpy is called Celaeno, and she is real as well. Fortuna caught the harpy sleeping, just like the unicorn. The harpy’s power weakens Fortuna’s spells. Rukh, Schmendrick, and Fortuna know they cannot hold the harpy much longer. Rukh tells the onlookers about how Celaeno and her sisters tormented King Phineus. Schmendrick warns the unicorn not to be around when the harpy inevitably frees herself. The unicorn fears the iron bars around her—iron is said to repel magical beings, and this iron is further enchanted to keep supernatural beings at bay—and her horn cannot reach the enchanted lock to free herself. Schmendrick reassures her but flees when Rukh and the crowd draw near .
The crowd stands in awe of the unicorn. The unicorn takes in their homage. She thinks of the hunter’s great grandmother and wonders “what it must be like to grow old, and to cry” (31). After the unicorn, Rukh leads the crowd to the final cage, which is concealed under a black curtain. He advertises the cage’s contents as “destructive,” “monstrous,” and “hideous” (31) before unveiling the cage to reveal a very old woman named Elli. Elli represents old age. The old woman in the cage is frail and sings a haunting song to herself. The crowd is terrified of Elli. Even the unicorn feels a strange sensation of aging, ugliness, and mortality that makes her recoil. When the crowd leaves, Fortuna steps out of the cage, having disguised herself as Elli.
Rukh warns Fortuna that the harpy is close to escaping, but Fortuna is confident in the spell that holds it when she checks all the enchantments of the cages. She warns the harpy that it will still belong to her even if it kills her. When she approaches the unicorn, she mocks how the unicorn was frightened by Elli. The unicorn warns Fortuna not to boast because the harpy will be her death. Fortuna agrees but is content to know where her death is at least, and she knows where the unicorn’s death is as well, but she saved the unicorn from that fate, so the unicorn should be thankful. The unicorn asks about the Red Bull. Fortuna says the bull belongs to King Haggard, but that he won’t have the unicorn if she is captive in the carnival. The unicorn asks for freedom for herself and the harpy, but Fortuna refuses. Fortuna rants about her life, knowing the midnight carnival is not what she dreamt of doing when she was a young witch. She also tells the unicorn that she had to use a spell so people would recognize the unicorn, adding a fake horn to the unicorn’s head. She wants the unicorn to be grateful for the recognition.
Chapter 3 Summary
Schmendrick returns to the unicorn just before dawn. The unicorn asks why Schmendrick didn’t tell her that she was under a spell. Schmendrick thought the unicorn knew about the spell, but he is charmed that she would never wonder why people could recognize her. The unicorn says there has never been a world where she wasn’t known. Schmendrick muses about the amount of misjudgment in the world, adding that he is a friend to the unicorn, but she takes him for a clown. The unicorn agrees that he’s her friend and asks for help. Schmendrick agrees.
The animals of the carnival slowly awaken, except for the harpy, who did not sleep. Schmendrick reiterates that the harpy will kill them if she frees herself first. Rukh calls to Schmendrick, so Schmendrick flees, promising to return that night.
The unicorn watches as Schmendrick entertains a new crowd of people with “a growing uncertainty [...] of his craft” (41). As Rukh leads the guests through the cages, he hurries past the harpy this time, omitting his usual tale of King Phineus. The unicorn sees the harpy smile, but no one else does. When the crowd gazes upon the unicorn, she wonders what would happen if Fortuna’s spell dissolved, and they could not see her as a unicorn anymore.
As night falls, Fortuna makes her rounds. She again reminds the harpy that her time to free herself is “not yet,” but Fortuna sounds unconvinced of her own words. When Schmendrick returns, having busied Rukh with a riddle, he attempts to free the unicorn using his magic. He declares Fortuna a fool for mistaking his abilities, adding that he’s older than he looks. His first attempt to free the unicorn creates an illusion of the unicorn back in her forest, but it fades. His second attempt awakes an unseen horror that the unicorn feels approaching. It will break the bars, but it will also kill the unicorn. The harpy stirs in her cage and the figure disappears. Schmendrick acknowledges that he isn’t powerful enough to handle that creature and that they owe the harpy their lives. He worries the harpy will come for that debt. Schmendrick’s third attempt shrinks the cage around the unicorn, and it takes all his effort to stop it.
Defeated, Schmendrick admits that he is not a great wizard and reveals that he’s pickpocketed the keys from Rukh. He frees the unicorn while the enchanted lock mocks his abilities. When the unicorn steps out, she has a vision of her forest, ruined from her time away from it.
Rukh finds Schmendrick near the empty cage, but the unicorn hides in the shadows. Enraged, Rukh threatens to fetch Fortuna, but Schmendrick jumps on Rukh, attacking him, and instructs the unicorn to flee. Instead, the unicorn walks from cage to cage, using her horn to break every lock, freeing the animals within from their spells and their captivity. Rukh and Schmendrick wrestle on the ground while Rukh insults Schmendrick’s magic abilities. At the spider’s cage, the unicorn tries to convince her that freedom is better than the false life she lives. The harpy beats her wings, restlessly gathering strength.
Rukh and Schmendrick pause their fight to watch the harpy as the unicorn approaches her cage. The harpy tells the unicorn that she’ll kill the unicorn but beckons the unicorn to free her anyway. The unicorn does so, and the harpy bursts from her cage into the night air. The harpy swoops at the unicorn, claws out, but misses. The second time the harpy swoops, she passes the unicorn and heads right toward Fortuna, who has emerged to see what’s happening. Fortuna cries that the harpy and unicorn could have never freed themselves alone. The harpy lands on Fortuna and attacks her, killing her.
Schmendrick cries for the unicorn to run, but she refuses, walking slowly. She instructs Schmendrick to come with her and tells him that they must walk to not draw the harpy’s attention. As they leave, they hear Rukh cry out, becoming the harpy’s next victim. The final sound they hear as they leave the midnight carnival behind is that of the spider weeping.
Chapters 1-3 Analysis
Two of the novel’s themes are introduced in the first three chapters of The Last Unicorn: The Fear of Mediocrity and The Tragic Inevitability of Aging. The Tragic Inevitability of Aging is explored through the immortality of the unicorn and her interactions with mortals. Part of the unicorn’s introduction comes through the description of her forest in Chapter 1, where “It was always spring [...] because she lived there” (2). The forest is a representation of the way time does not affect the unicorn as it does mortals. The unicorn “was very old, though she did not know it” (1). Because of the unicorn’s immortal nature, she has no concept of time in the same way mortals do. The unicorn is introduced to this concept when she overhears the hunter tell of his great-grandmother, who wept when she spoke of her encounter with a unicorn. The hunter adds that “she was a very old woman then, and cried at anything that reminded her of her youth” (4). The idea that aging and death are tragic sticks with the unicorn. She recalls this story of the hunter’s great-grandmother while she is in captivity at the midnight carnival. However, the unicorn cannot fully understand these things. She “wondered what it must be like to grow old, and to cry” (31) when she is faced with an awe-struck audience. Finally, the unicorn gets a glimpse of this feeling when Mommy Fortuna’s spell emanates from Elli’s nearby cage. Elli as a figure represents the inevitability of aging for mortals. Rukh describes Elli as “more destructive than the dragon, more monstrous than the manticore, more hideous than the harpy, and certainly more universal than the unicorn” (31). The onlookers behold Elli in terror, for they understand that old age will come for them all. Fortuna’s spell is so powerful that it touches the unicorn, making her feel “herself withering, loosening, [...] her beauty leaving her with her breath” (33). The spell “ravaged her mind with remembrance of what she had once been” (33). This powerful emotion terrifies the unicorn, for she has never had to fear aging or mortality before. Elli’s presence as well as the interactions the unicorn has with the mortals around her stress the horrifying and destructive nature of aging and the way time passing universally affects mortals.
The Fear of Mediocrity is closely linked to mortality and is explored through characters like the spider, Mommy Fortuna, and Schmendrick as well as the way others misconceive the unicorn. The link to mortality is emphasized when the unicorn leaves her forest. She understands the effect she has on the forest will diminish. She “heard autumn beginning to shake the beech trees the very moment that she stepped out onto the road” (16). The unicorn understands that the forest lives in an endless, glorious spring with her presence and fears the autumn, a season that represents a winding down of livelihood, has set in to claim her home. Though other forests experience the changing seasons, the unicorn sees these changes in a negative light and wishes to save her forest from the cycle of life and death the changing seasons bring. Along her journey, the unicorn encounters men who perceive her as a mare. The unicorn is insulted by this perception. Though this misconception saves her from fates similar to that of the midnight carnival, the unicorn is angry at being perceived as something less majestic and less important than she is. This angry reaction stems from a fear of mediocrity. The unicorn knows she is special and cannot bear the thought of others not recognizing her as such.
This fear of mediocrity is explored much more in Chapters 2 and 3 as the setting shifts to Mommy Fortuna’s Midnight Carnival. The unicorn recognizes that the spider in one of Fortuna’s cages is unlike the others. Fortuna has cast a spell, not on the spider but on the spider’s webs, making them appear more elaborate and mystical. The spider “sees those cat’s-cradles herself and thinks them her own work” (28). Because the spider believes she has woven such intricate and beautiful designs, the spider struggles when freedom is presented to her. The unicorn tries to convince the spider that she deserves freedom, remarking “Weaver, freedom is better, freedom is better” (50). With the destruction of the midnight carnival and the death of Mommy Fortuna, the spider is freed from the spells. Upon knowing that she did not create such beautiful works of art, the spider weeps. The spider is no more special than any other spider, and with freedom she must face the reality of her mediocrity.
Fortuna also grapples with the fear of mediocrity. When the unicorn asks Fortuna to free her and the harpy, Fortuna devolves into a rant about her life. She asks, “Do you think I chose this meager magic, sprung of stupidity, because I never knew true witchery?” (36). This reveals that Fortuna’s career is not the life she dreamt of as a young witch. She understands that a carnival disguising ordinary animals as extraordinary creatures is not the greatest or most influential path a witch can take, and she is sensitive when confronted with her own mediocrity.
Finally, and most significantly, Schmendrick the Magician embodies the fear of mediocrity. From his introduction, Schmendrick laments that he is not a great wizard, but he has hope that he can change that. When Schmendrick introduces himself to the unicorn, he adds “You won’t have heard of me” (27) acknowledging his mediocre place in the world of magicians. The unicorn notes “something sad and valiant in his voice” (27). Schmendrick describes his job as an entertainer, performing “[m]iniature magic, sleight of hand” and adds that he has “had worse, and I’ll have better one day” (27). Though Schmendrick believes in his ability to move up in his field, “the sound of his voice made the unicorn feel as though she were trapped forever” (27). When Schmendrick returns to free the unicorn, he declares that Fortuna made a mistake when she took Schmendrick “for a mountebank like herself” (43), meaning he believes himself greater than what Fortuna sees in him. However, upon three failed attempts to free the unicorn with magic, Schmendrick’s “voice trailed miserably away, and his eyes were as defeated as his hands. ‘The witch made no mistake in me,’ he said” (46-47). Schmendrick grapples with the concept of mediocrity, understanding that he is not a great wizard but wishing his magic were more useful and grander than what he can conjure. He acknowledges that the unicorn “[deserves] the services of a great wizard” (47) when conceding that he is not such. He adds that “mortals [...] take what they can get” (47). Schmendrick’s struggle with his own skills emphasizes the fear of mediocrity within those pursuing a skillset.
The plot of The Last Unicorn follows the formula of the hero’s journey and incorporates several character archetypes. In Chapter 1, the unicorn, who fits the hero archetype, begins her story in her forest, which fits the ordinary world setting of the hero’s journey. She has never had any reason to leave her forest until she hears from the hunters. The hunters act as the herald character archetype, whose role is to inform the hero of a need for change. The hunters relay that the unicorn is the last of her kind, which acts as the call to adventure for the unicorn. Following the standard hero’s journey formula, the unicorn initially refuses this call, believing she “would know if all others were gone” (6) and musing that she “could never leave this [...] not if I really were the only unicorn in the world” (6). However, she becomes restless at the thought and eventually crosses the threshold from her forest to man’s world, setting out on a journey to find the other unicorns. Shortly after leaving, the unicorn meets the butterfly, who fulfills a combination of the trickster and the mentor archetype. The butterfly brings comedy, unable to answer questions in anything but song and poetry, but also eventually informs the unicorn of what she must do, relaying the information about the Red Bull. This character helps to move the story along by giving the unicorn something to pursue.
The Last Unicorn, as a fantasy story, makes many allusions to other hero stories as well as mythologies. This is most prominent at the midnight carnival, where Mommy Fortuna’s magic disguises ordinary animals as figures from these stories and mythologies. The Midgard Serpent, a snake in disguise, is a figure from Norse mythology. Elli is also a figure from Norse mythology. Cerberus is a three-headed dog said to be the keeper of the underworld in Greek mythology. Arachne is also a tale from Greek mythology. Additionally, the harpy Celaeno is originally from Homeric poems, as is the character King Phineus, whom Rukh refers to. These mythological figures and the works they originate from contribute to the fantasy setting of the story as well as emphasize the hero’s journey formula.
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