"You shall not pass into this city," the voice echoed from the sphinx.
An eerily deep and sultry human voice mixed with the growl of a lion. It was true, there was a beast with the head of a woman guarding the city. My party drew weapons, ready to slay the monster. I fear we had no chance. The wings of an eagle, the tail of a serpent and the body of a lioness. Never had I seen a better killing machine than I do now.
I call out, "mighty sphinx,” what must we do to pass?
"Answer a riddle," the sphinx said with a cunning smile full of ill intentions.
"That is fair, what is your riddle?"
"There are two sisters, one gives birth to the other and in turn, she gives life to the first. Who are these sisters," asked the sphinx while leaning in closer.
"Simple," one of my comrades explained. "The chicken gives birth to the egg, which gives birth to the chicken."
With one swift motion the Sphinx leapt forward from her perch and devoured the man. There were no more hurried answers after that. Several men turned the other way. They had lost hope of entering the city just as quickly as we had arrived. I contemplated my answer and stepped forward towards the perch.
"Night and day. They are the sisters." The sphinx smiles at my answer.
"Yes, but you had help. I shall ask another riddle. What creature walks on four legs in the morning. In noon it has two and by night it has three."
The others stand around, placing their faith in me. Several answers come to mind. Lots of animals can walk on two legs as well as four. It is the third leg that I ponder on. Eventually it hits me.
"The answer is man. We crawl, until we can walk and when we are old, we use a walking stick," I whisper in fear.
The Sphinx nods and flies high into the sky. We walk past its perch and towards the city. Suddenly the sphinx slams its body into her perch head first. Dead, the sphinx lay dead. No longer serving a purpose.
