In Spain I understand they use the powdered horn of the unicorn to cure this malady, or the crushed shells of a certain insect, though I have never had need of such things myself.

Each of them must be equipped with the powdered horn, a belt of the hide, and a hoof or two for luck.

Rhino penises can fetch as much as $700 on the open market, while powdered horn is prescribed for everything from high blood pressure to fevers, nose bleeds and insomnia.

"Where did you get the powdered horn you blew in my face, daughter of evil but idiotic ifrits?"

And really, she would have almost paid for the opportunity to see Hafiz's face when he realized what the powdered horn was.

The trigger appears to be the growing belief in Thailand, Vietnam and China that powdered rhino horn can cure cancer and several other serious diseases; a shift from the previous and equally preposterous belief that powdered horn serves as a reliable aphrodisiac.

For example, when the Duke of Buckingham was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Society on June 5, 1661, he presented the Society with a vial of powdered "unicorn horn".

He had to sit in bitter idleness as Akko collected the ivory, the feathers, the parti- ally cured leather and the powdered horn of the rhinoceros, so valuable in trade to the east: it enabled old men to marry young girls.