v1.1: Fully spellchecked by reb, 2003-12-30 – corrected a few spelling mistakes; in particular, have fully proofread all poems – file seems completely error-free and perfectly formatted – congrats to original proofreader Flyleaf: _A Fine and Private Place_, Peter Beagle's first book, was written before he was twenty. "A most unusual novel," Virgilia Peterson said in her review, "by a young man who seems to be a genuine nonconformist… armed already with the wryness of experience but brave enough still to venture where many of his elders might well fear to tread." In his second novel this inventive, original writer – still under thirty – ventures still further, into the literally fantastic, literally fabulous world of fairy tale, myth, dream, nightmare. True to tradition, _The Last Unicorn_ is the story of a quest, the search by the unicorn – immortal, infinitely beautiful – for her lost fellows. Early on, she is joined by Schmendrick the Magician – a name pointing to the low comedy that surprisingly (though also traditionally) coexists here with terror, pathos, tenderness, paradox, and wit, and frequent passages where the prose bursts into song and into poetry itself. A kind of upside-down Merlin, Schmendrick is looking for something for himself too, his life perhaps. Molly Grue, the third of the travelers, seems simply to embody every womanly trait. After a richly entertaining variety of adventures – with splendid, quirky characters – the search reaches its climax at the castle of evil King Haggard, where the terrifying Red Bull is encountered and where the handsome Prince Lнr plays his predestined role. Like Tolkien's _The Lord of the Rings_, this odd, evocative, and brilliant book utilizes an imaginary world to connect profoundly with the real questions and aspirations of thoughtful and sensitive readers. _The Last Unicorn_ may well join that widely read masterpiece as a book that speaks with a mysterious but tangible resonance to a receptive audience. Copyright 1968 by Peter S. Beagle. All rights reserved. First published in 1968 by The Viking Press, Inc. 625 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022 Published simultaneously in Canada by The Macmillan Company of Canada Limited Library of Congress catalog card number: 68-16075