Attempts to Capture and Tame a Unicorn: (8) The Loopy Ropey Trappy Thingy

A classic of film and television.  A staple of adventure and danger.  As seen in Time Bandits.

So simple, so delightful,  there was but one problem.  I couldn’t quite work out how to do it.  In the films it all just happens.  It’s set up - it does its job of work - men, women or animals are caught.  All automatically.

I arrived in the clearing early, about 7 o’clock in the morning.  Within ten minutes I was swearing and throwing things around in short bursts before remembering the need for quiet and calm. 

By ten I had something ready. A loop with a slippy style knot going on that would tighten around the unicorn and laid under a tree at the edge of the clearing.  I filled the space with oats to entice, hiding the rope itself in the mass of flowers.  Excess rope I trailed close to the trunk of the tree I was using before running it over a good thick branch.  If the unicorn got to the right place I would pull the rope and trap it, suspended in the air. 

I sat in the shadows all morning, ate lunch and waited longer.  About mid-afternoon I heard her approach from behind me.  She then circled around and appeared on the opposite side of the clearing instantly searching out the oats, finding them quickly and wolfing them down.

Now, I had made the loop pretty darn large - but not too large, cunningly pouring the oats so she would eat them half-in, half-out so that when I hauled on the rope it would slip around her arse and tighten around her middle. 

She was lighter than I thought she would be and I easily lifted her into the air, slowly rotating to face me.  She seemed unfussed by it all - just confused, I think, into silence, and simply stared at me. 

Once up, I began to tie the rope to a nearby tree so as to keep the unicorn suspended in midair.  As I tightened the knot, the unicorn seemed to come round.  Taking her eyes from me she jerked her head back until the horn stabbed the rope clean through, splitting it so that it quickly frayed, weakened, and broke, dropping the unicorn to the floor.  She landed lightly with a bend of the knee before turning and trotting away as I stood staring in disbelief.  

I hadn’t seen that coming.