The lion and the unicorn
Were fighting for the crown
The lion beat the unicorn
All around the town.
Some gave them white bread,
And some gave them brown;
Some gave them plum cake
and drummed them out of town.
And when he had beat him out,
He beat him in again;
He beat him three times over,
His power to maintain.
When I was a child my mother taught me this nursery rhyme. Apparently it was about England and Scotland but my mother told me it was about the Davidic House of Judah (southern Kingdom) and the House of Israel/ Ephraim (northern Kingdom). The "three times over" was connected to a verse in the Bible about the Davidic Throne being overturned three times. The three overturns my mother mentioned were from Jerusalem to Ireland, from Ireland to Scotland and then from Scotland to England and then I presume a fourth one in which the British Throne was to be restored to Jerusalem. It was all connected with the Stone of Jacob that was under the British Throne. She then also taught me this rhyme.
Unless the fates be faithless grown, And Prophet's voice be vain,Where'er is found this Sacred Stone The Wanderer's Race shall reign.
The breads and the plum cake also had some meaning but I can't remember now what that was. Did anyone else learn these rhymes from their mother?
I found the verses mentioned by my mother in Ezekiel:
Thus saith the Lord God; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high.I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him. (Ezekiel 21:26-27).
The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries from medieval France in which the Lion and the Unicorn are pictured with the Lady Fair, remind one of Lewis Carroll's Alice with the Lion and the Unicorn in "Alice through the Looking Glass". Did Lewis see those tapestries? There are six tapestries representing the five senses plus a sixth one entitled "My sole Desire". Does the Lady (Queen) represent the Shekhinah or Our Lady as the Woman of all Israel with her handmaiden (Princess) who will reunite Judah and Israel? In the breviary we have a Gaelic 11th century hymn called "It were My soul's Desire" as translated by Eleanor Hull in the 19th century.
1. It were my soul's desire
To see the face of God;
It were my soul's desire
To rest in His abode.
2. It were my soul's desire
To study zealously;
This, too, my soul's desire,
A clear rule set for me.
3. It were my soul's desire
A spirit free from gloom;
It were my soul's desire
New life beyond the Doom.
4. It were my soul's desire
To shun the chills of Hell;
Yet more my soul's desire
Within His house to dwell.
5. It were my soul's desire
To imitate my King,
It were my soul's desire
His ceaseless praise to sing.
6. It were my soul's desire
When heaven's gate is won
To find my soul's desire
Clear shining like the sun.
7. Grant, Lord, my soul's desire,
Deep waves of cleansing sighs;
Grant, Lord, my soul's desire
From earthly cares to rise.
8. This still my soul's desire
Whatever life afford,
To gain my soul's desire
And see Thy face, O Lord.
To see the face of God;
It were my soul's desire
To rest in His abode.
2. It were my soul's desire
To study zealously;
This, too, my soul's desire,
A clear rule set for me.
3. It were my soul's desire
A spirit free from gloom;
It were my soul's desire
New life beyond the Doom.
4. It were my soul's desire
To shun the chills of Hell;
Yet more my soul's desire
Within His house to dwell.
5. It were my soul's desire
To imitate my King,
It were my soul's desire
His ceaseless praise to sing.
6. It were my soul's desire
When heaven's gate is won
To find my soul's desire
Clear shining like the sun.
7. Grant, Lord, my soul's desire,
Deep waves of cleansing sighs;
Grant, Lord, my soul's desire
From earthly cares to rise.
8. This still my soul's desire
Whatever life afford,
To gain my soul's desire
And see Thy face, O Lord.
Taste
Through the Lady and her handmaiden the Lion and the Unicorn can purify their five senses that led them astray and into envy and then ascend to the higher sixth sense the metaphysical sense of Desire - to desire God's Will. By desiring to live in the Divine Will one's senses are trained to follow the Divine Will in all things. In "Touch" and "Sight" there is no handmaiden who represents faith or trust (emunah) who is the Lost Princess.
Touch
On another level does the Lady represent the Davidic Queen Mother or G'virah of Judah and the Lost Princess the Queen who is wife of the Israelite King? The Lion is thus the Davidic King of Judah and the Unicorn the Josephite King of the Lost Tribes of Israel. The unicorn was an emblem of the Josephite Tribe of Manasseh and the last King of Israel in Samaria was Osee or Hosea of the Tribe of Manasseh who escaped to the East beyond the reach of the Assyrians.
Sight
Others have proposed that the model for the Lady was the Catholic Tudor Princess and Queen of France (third wife of Louis XII) a sister of King Henry VIII Tudor. Did King James I of England know of these tapestries of his great-aunt and did this inspire him to take the Lion of the English heraldic shield and the Unicorn of the Scottish heraldic shield and use them for the new British heraldic shield of the United Kingdom.
Smell
Lewis Carroll associates the Lion and the Unicorn with the Red King and Queen and the White King and Queen. Was the original Red King Henry VII with his red rose of Lancaster and his wife Queen Elizabeth who was the legitimate heir to the throne the White Queen with her white rose of York. They were the parents of Mary Tudor Queen of France. Was this imagery further developed with Mary Tudor Queen of France and her husband King Louis XII as the White King and Queen and King Henry VIII and Queen Catherine as the Red King and Queen? Or alternatively the White King and Queen may have been associated with Mary's sister Queen Margaret of Scots and her husband James IV. Could the Lion and the Unicorn with the Lady represent the political pressure put on Mary Tudor Queen of France by England represented by the Lion and her brother Henry VIII and Scotland represented by the Unicorn and her brother-in-law James IV to marry according to their choice and give up her love for Charles Brandon?
