“Qilin xian shu” is a legendary tale told that once a “qilin”, a fabulous animal, delivered books to Confucius. “Qilin” was a Chinese legendary animal known as the Chinese unicorn by Western writers. It looked like a deer, but with a single horn on its head, large fish scales on its body, and a tail like that of an ox.

When Confucius laid hale asleep, he saw a red glow rise and stay indispersed at a certain spot in the distance. He was surprised and puzzled, wondering if there is some sage has appeared to give him enlightenment. Confucius had not become a famous scholar yet prior to this event. Although he had traveled to many places to pursue knowledge, he had not made any significant accomplishment. He saw this strange scene; he immediately got into a carriage and hurried in the direction of the light. The day was approaching dawn as they went toward the light. Suddenly, he saw on the riverbank a boy beating a unicorn hard with stones. When the boy saw someone approaching, he hid the unicorn in a stack of hay, and even lied to Confucius that the animal disappeared. Confucius walked directly to the stack and pushed aside the hay, where he saw the animal wounded and pitiably looking for help. Confucius took off his coat and carefully dressed the wound of the unicorn with it. The unicorn licked his hand as is it wanted to express its gratitude. While it was doing so, three books came out of his mouth. He believed that these must be books from heaven and the animal must be a divine. Then, he worked hard studying these books and eventually became the greatest sage and educationist in China.