Sunday, 26 April 2020

Episode 131 - The Lion and The Unicorn


I’m quite a visual thinker, I love graphs and maps. I also love a good analogy. I think as a consequence I’ve always been fascinated by symbols; images chosen to represent something else. As a child I would stare at my book of flags for hours on end and I find the national animals of different countries endlessly entertaining. 


Now I don’t know how each of the countries in the UK and Ireland came up with their representative animals, but I like to think that they held a meeting that went something like this;

Ireland: We choose the Red Deer. It is a strong and majestic creature that perfectly portrays our land and none of you will find a better animal.

England: Okay, we’ll have a Lion.

Ireland: You can’t do that! You don’t have any Lions in England!

England: We are a mighty commonwealth which has annexed many foreign lands, some of which, have Lions.

Scotland: Okay then, we’ll have a Unicorn

England: A what?

Scotland: A Unicorn

Ireland: this is ridiculous

England: You can’t have a Unicorn

Scotland: Why not

Ireland: Yeah, why not if you can have a Lion?

England: Because there are no Unicorns in Scotland or any Country a Scottish  person has ever stepped foot in

Scotland: Unicorns are mentioned throughout our many cultural works

England: UNICORNS AREN’T REAL!

Scotland: Shut up.

England Have you ever seen a Unicorn?

Scotland: Have you ever not seen a Unicorn?

England: What? Come on Wales, help me out, tell Scotland that they’re…

Wales: DRAGON!

England: What!?

Wales: Dragon. We’ll have a DRAGON!

Scotland: Ooooh, good choice.

England: No. No, no, no. Nooooo, Not good choice. You can’t have a Dragon.

Wales: RAAAAAARRRRRRRRR! And it’s pronounced Draig.

Scotland: Then it’s settled.

Ireland: Your Lion looks a bit rubbish now doesn’t it?


So I know that it’s unlikely that’s how it happened, but I like to imagine it could be. Still, it makes you think doesn’t it? Why did each country chose as they did. What did they want to portray about their country for all the world to see and think about them? Were they accurate representations? If I were to choose an animal to represent to the world what I want them to think of me what would I choose? And how well does my life live up to it?

1 comment:

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