Mythic creatures' symbolism
Myth – is a story about superhuman beings of an earlier age taken by preliterate society to be a true account, usually of how natural phenomena, social customs, etc., came into existence. Myths were written by people of ancient times and are considered as literary heritage of certain country. There are myths that deal with gods, there are myths that deal with heroes and there are myths that deal with creatures and beasts that are only the product of humans' imagination.
Though, the images of those creatures are more than just pictures, those are an expression of ancient psychic and vision of the world. The mythic creatures and beasts are an implementation of fears and hopes of ancient people. Each creature is a perfect blend of features peculiar for one or another real creature. As it is so, the mythic creatures and beasts are the symbols created by ancient writers in order to express some thought or meaning.
Each of those creatures is not only a symbol but the symbol supported with broad and intricate history that is described in a number of myths. All mythic creatures may be divided into two groups. To the first group belongs creatures that are of positive meaning and of great help for heroes, and to the second group belong creatures that are of evil meaning and represented as obstacles on hero's way to their victory or else.
The most positive and kind creature among all mythic creatures is a Unicorn. The unicorn is a creature with the body of horse and a corn in his forehead. The unicorn is a symbol of innocence and good. They have no masters and they are absolutely free, they live on their own and no one is able to catch them. Though the temper of a unicorn it may be caught but only by a virgin an only with a help of golden bridle. According to myth a unicorn calms down and become resigned once it sees a virgin.
The gorgon is another mythic creature though unlike the unicorn the gorgon is an implementation of evil. It is a die-hard creature that is able to turn heroes into stones with her eye-look. That was the reason why no one managed to defeat the gorgon. Though, one hero was smart enough to kill it. He used his shield as a mirror and directed the eye-look of gorgon towards her and so she turned into stone. The gorgon is a symbol of the strength of evil and nowadays used as an implementation of something dangerous and evil.
There are also a great number of mythic creatures and beasts that are considered as symbols of one or another phenomenon of feeling. Those creatures are the product of imagination of ancient writers and so the reveal of their vision of world. So, the symbols of mythic creatures are of no informational value as they are rare used nowadays. Those may be valuable only from the point of view of literary heritage of certain nation.