Essays

James Thurber

The Unicorn in the Garden

James Thurber (1894–1961), American humorist and artist, began contributing in 1927 to The New Yorker, in which most of his work first appeared. His humorous essays and short stories are collected in such books as The Owl in the Attic (1931), My Life and Hard Times (1933), The Thurber Carnival (1945), The Beast in Me (1948), and Lanterns and Lances (1961). He also wrote the short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” several fantasies for children, and with Elliot Nugent, a comedy called The Male Animal (1940). “The Unicorn in the Garden,” a fable of hostile feelings between husband and wife, ends with a surprise twist.

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nce upon a sunny morning a man who sat in a breakfast nook looked up from his scrambled eggs to see a white unicorn with a gold horn quietly cropping the roses in the garden. The man went up to the bedroom where his wife was still asleep and woke her. "There's a unicorn in the garden," he said. "Eating roses." She opened one unfriendly eye and looked at him. "The unicorn is a mythical beast," she said, and turned her back to him. The man walked slowly downstairs and out into the garden. The unicorn was still there; he was now browsing among the tulips. "Here, unicorn," he said, "ate a lily." His wife sat up in bed and looked at him, coldly. "You are a booby," she said, "and I am going to have you put in the booby-hatch." The man, who had never liked the words "booby" and "booby-hatch," and who liked them even less on a shining morning when there was a unicorn in the garden, thought for a moment. "We'll see about that," he said. He walked over to the door. "He has a golden horn in the middle of his forehead," he told her. Then he went back to the garden to watch the unicorn; but the unicorn had gone away. The man sat down among the roses and went to sleep.

      As soon as the husband had gone out of the house, the wife got up and dressed as fast as she could. She was very excited and there was a gloat in her eye. She telephoned the police and she telephoned a psychiatrist; she told them to hurry to her house and bring a strait-jacket. When the police and the psychiatrist arrived they sat down in chairs and looked at her, with great interest. "My husband," she said, "saw a unicorn this morning." The police looked at the psychiatrist and the psychiatrist looked at the police. "He told me it ate a lily," she said. The psychiatrist looked at the police and the police looked at the psychiatrist. "He told me it had a golden horn in the middle of its forehead," she said. At a solemn signal from the psychiatrist, the police leaped from their chairs and seized the wife. They had a hard time subduing her, for she put up a terrific struggle, but they finally subdued her. Just as they got her into the strait-jacket, the husband came back into the house.

      "Did you tell your wife you saw a unicorn?" asked the police. "Of course not," said the husband. "The unicorn is a mythical beast." "That's all I wanted to know," said the psychiatrist. "Take her away. I'm sorry, sir, but your wife is as crazy as a jay bird." So they took her away, cursing and screaming, and shut her up in an institution. The husband lived happily ever after.

      Moral: Don’t count your boobies until they are hatched.

Suggestion for Discussion

1.     From what details do you become aware of the hostile feelings between husband and wife?

2.     What is Thurber’s attitude toward his characters, including the psychiatrist? Refer to the diction, the role of the unicorn, the setting, the details of the action, the twist at the end, and the moral.

3.     What other moral might be appropriate to append to this fable?

4.     What evidence can you find that the author is (or is not) detached from his subject?

Suggestions for Writing

1.     Write an imaginary description of the events leading up to the situation at the beginning of the fable.

2.     Write a fable depicting a domestic relationship.