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| Royal Mail Stamps Mythical Creatures Issue |
The Royal Mail commissioned artist Dave McKean to produce a set of six stamps based on mythical creatures.
The first stamp depicts a fire breathing dragon.
The Welsh flag has its own creation story.
There are no known sightings of 'living' unicorns in the UK or Ireland, though two unicorns feature in the Royal Coat of Arms of Scotland (selected by Robert III as a symbol of strength and purity), and one in the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (representing Scotland, with a lion symbolising England).
The horn of the unicorn, known as an alicorn, was once heavily sought after by the rich and powerful, and unsurprisingly, is much more common than its former owner. The Horn of Windsor was owned by Queen Elizabeth (valued in her life time as being worth £10,000), and was presented to her in 1577 by Martin Frobisher who found it on a dead fish (most likely a narwhal).
The church is also said to hold several alicorns, including one at Chester Cathedral.
Pixies, or Piskies, are almost exclusively found in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset within the UK. Dartmoor is thought to be a particularly popular place, with a sighting in 1897 of a small figure wearing red and blue clothing - he quickly vanished when he realised that he had been spotted.
Like other fairy folk, pixies were mostly benevolent, although their sense of humour and trickery sometimes went beyond what mankind found acceptable. Their acts of kindness were often spoken about, helping tidy homes and in Haytor, tending to a roadside grave.
According to Holinshed's Chronicle, the giant Albion once ruled over Britain, before being defeated by Hercules at Hartland Point, Devon.
Contrary to its portrayal in recent films, the mermaid is quite a malevolent creature. Several pools and rivers in the UK are said to be home to a mermaid, and children were once warned to stay away from the areas, as the creature would drag them under the water to drown.
Mortal men would often become infatuated once seeing a mermaid, with fatal results. One Lancashire sailor who fell in love with a mermaid died on the day he was due to elope with her. Two brothers in the Shetland Islands tried to swim to the North Pole to win the heart of a mermaid, with obvious results.
One of the more documented merfolk case occurred at Orford, Suffolk. Around AD 1169, a hairy man was caught in the sea and brought to the Castle. He was unable to speak (even when hung upside down and tortured), and ate raw fish. He remained in the castle for six months before escaping back into the sea.
A recent fairy sighting occurred in 1979 at Wollaton Park, Nottingham. A group of school children encountered up to sixty gnomes who drove around them in small silent cars.
