A Little Background on the Lion and the Unicorn

Fight it out, boys. source

"The Lion and the Unicorn" is not as nonsensical a chapter as one would believe. It refers, in fact, to the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, which features – what would you know! – a lion and a unicorn reaching up for a crown.

The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom

The fanciful design harks back to the unification of England and Scotland under the rule of James I: the lion represents England and the unicorn, Scotland. One of the partitions inside the crest shows a harp to represent Northern Ireland. 

The fighting between the pair in Through the Looking Glass, thus, can be a cheeky reference to that centuries-long rivalry between England and Scotland.

The motto of the English monarchs, 'Dieu et Mon Droit,' means 'God and my right' in French. The motto of the Order of the Garter, Honi soit qui mal y pense, is French for 'Shamed be he who thinks ill of it.'

The unicorn is chained because the mythical beast was considered wild and dangerous. Why both animals have tongues sticking out of their mouths is beyond me, though.

The lion's tongue flashing reminds me of this

But my favorite thing about this episode in Through the Looking Glass is John Tenniel's decision to model his drawings of the lion and unicorn on the two most bitter political rivals of the time: Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone.

 Can you spot the resemblance?

In the center, the illustration in Through the Looking Glass by John Tenniel; on the sides, caricatures of Disraeli and Gladstone that Tenniel created for the political journal 'Punch.' 

Disraeli was considered quite the dandy during his time, so it is unsurprising to see the unicorn so impeccably dressed!

Both may have been Prime Minister at respective moments, but their rivalry was truly the stuff of epic telenovela proportions! So much so that Richard Aldous published a book on it, referencing their 'Alice' cameos in the very title.

Nice, no? I'll close this post with a nice old nursery rhyme inspired by the coat of arms, and no doubt known to Lewis Carroll himself.

End of the chapter, when Alice hears the loud drums: "If that doesn't drum them out of town," she thought to herself, "nothing ever will!"

UPDATE: Our classmate Laura Gibbs has uncovered an obscure Aesop fable about the Lion and the Unicorn and posted it in her blog