Al-Mi'raj, the Horned Hare
On an island in the Indian Ocean lived a yellow hare with a single black horn. Every other animal fled from it.
What was reported
Al-mi'raj is a creature from medieval Islamic tales about Alexander the Great. In the stories, Alexander reaches an island in the Indian Ocean called the Island of the Dragon, where a huge dragon terrorises the people. He kills it, and the grateful islanders give him a strange animal as a gift.
It looks like a large yellow hare, with a single black horn, like a unicorn's, growing from its head. Other animals flee when they see it. The creature appears in medieval books of marvels and in illustrated manuscripts.
Explanations offered
The horned hare belongs to a long tradition of marvellous animals in travellers' tales. Some writers have suggested such legends were inspired by rabbits with a viral infection that causes horn-like growths on their heads, which may also lie behind the American 'jackalope'.
- When
- Told in medieval Persian and Arabic tales
- Where
- An island in the Indian Ocean, in the tales of Alexander
- Witnesses
- Medieval Islamic stories of Alexander the Great
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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