24. M.S. Note of Yule.) Compare what is said of
the tongue of the Yak, I. p. 277. - H.C.] The Chinese have the belief, and
the Jesuit Lecomte attests it from professed observation of the animal in
confinement. (Chin. Repos. VII. 137; Lecomte, II. 406.) [In a Chinese
work quoted by Mr. Groeneveldt (T'oung Pao, VII. No. 2, abst. p. 19) we
read that "the rhinoceros has thorns on its tongue and always eats the
thorns of plants and trees, but never grasses or leaves." - H.C.]
The legend to which Marco alludes, about the Unicorn allowing itself to be
ensnared by a maiden (and of which Marsden has made an odd perversion in
his translation, whilst indicating the true meaning in his note), is also
an old and general one. It will be found, for example, in Brunetto Latini,
in the Image du Monde, in the Mirabilia of Jordanus,[6] and in the
verses of Tzetzes. The latter represents Monoceros as attracted not by the
maiden's charms but by her perfumery. So he is inveigled and blindfolded
by a stout young knave, disguised as a maiden and drenched with scent: -
"'Tis then the huntsmen hasten up, abandoning their ambush;
Clean from his head they chop his horn, prized antidote to poison;
And let the docked and luckless beast escape into the jungles."
- V. 399, seqq.
