But is the unicorn a falsehood? It’s the sweetest of animals and a noble symbol. It stands for Christ and for chastity; it can be captured only by setting a virgin in the forest, so that the animal, catching her most chaste odor, will go and lay its head in her lap, offering itself as prey to the hunters’ snares. »

« So it is said, Adso. But many tend to believe that it’s a fable, an invention of the pagans. »

« What a disappointment, » I said. « I would have liked to encounter one, crossing a wood. Otherwise what’s the pleasure of crossing a wood? »

Umberto Eco