Ch6-The Hunt of the Unicorn

CHAPTER SIX The Hant of the Vnicorn There were seven tapestries in all. Each was almost as high as the wooden ceiling. Jack read aloud from a sign on the wall under the first one: The Hunt of the Unicorn Tapestries woven in the Netherlands

at the end of the 1400s The first tapestry showed hunters and hounds searching for the unicorn. The second showed the unicorn being found. The other tapestries showed the unicorn trying to escape, leaping from a stream, chased by hounds, then captured and slain by the hunters' spears. Oddly, the last tapestry showed the unicorn alive again. He was sitting in a garden of flowers surrounded by a wooden fence. There was a wide blue and gold collar around his neck, and he was chained to a tree. "That's him," Annie said softly.

"How can it be him?" said Jack. "He's a picture in a tapestry." "Read Merlin's poem again," said Annie. Jack unbuckled his briefcase and pulled out the parchment scroll. He read aloud. The very last unicorn Is now hidden well By those who have put him Under a spell. "The unicorn is hidden in the tapestry," said Annie. "The people who wove it must be the ones who put him under a spell." "Hmm…," said Jack. He read on.

Four centuries, four decades From that afternoon, At the end of November, Before the blue moon… "Stop, do the math," said Annie. "Right," said Jack. He took out his notebook and pencil. "Okay, four centuries is four hundred, and four decades is forty. Add 'em up, you get four hundred forty. Then if you subtract four hundred forty from 1938, you get… 1498." "It works!" said Annie. "The sign says the tapestries were woven at the end of the 1400s! And it's the end of November, and Mr. Perkins said there's a blue moon tonight!" "Oh, man," whispered Jack. He kept reading.

He will wake once more And be free to go home If you call out his name: Divine Flower of Rome. Annie looked up at the tapestry. "Divine Flower!" she called. Nothing happened. "Divine Flower of Rome!" Jack called. Jack and Annie watched and waited. Nothing changed in the tapestry. It looked exactly the same. "Maybe he's not the right unicorn after all," said Jack.

"Maybe it's just not the right name," said Annie. "Read the rest." Jack read more of the poem. You must coax him to stand Once his name is spoken. His chain will break And the sipell, too, be broken. "He is the right unicorn!" said Annie. "See? There's the chain!" She pointed to the chain in the last tapestry. "Yeah, but why didn't calling his name work?" said Jack. "Why didn't he wake up?" "I don't know," said Annie. "What else does the poem say?"