The Last Unicorn

As they walk together, Schmendrick weeps at Mommy Fortuna’s fate. The unicorn remarks that she cannot feel regret. She can feel sorrow, but it isn’t the same as regret. Schmendrick asks where the unicorn is going, and she explains her quest and asks if Schmendrick has seen the other unicorns. He has never seen a unicorn, but there were supposed to be a few left when he was a boy. The unicorn wants to find King Haggard and the Red Bull and asks Schmendrick where they are. Schmendrick recites a poem about the destitute lands of King Haggard’s kingdom. The unicorn asks if he has any poems about the Red Bull, but Schmendrick doesn’t. He tells her more about King Haggard, who is stingy, heartless, and “rules over a barren country by the sea” (56). The Red Bull has much conflicting information. It isn’t known how the bull is related to King Haggard. Some speculate that one belongs to the other, King Haggard is a prisoner of the bull, or King Haggard is the bull. 

The unicorn offers Schmendrick a boon for freeing her. Schmendrick asks for her to take him with her, offering to help along the way.