The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún claims that he desires only to avenge his father. The gold and the glory, he adds, are for Sigurd to keep. Twice Regin attempts to forge a sword for Sigurd, only to see the latter effortlessly break them. At last, Sigurd goes to his mother Sigrlinn and requests the broken pieces of Grímnir. Regin takes these and forges the sword Gram. Although Sigurd wishes to slay Fafnir then and there, Regin tells him he must have a horse. In response, Sigurd buys the horse Grani, who was sired by Odin's eight-legged steed Sleipnir, and goes forth to kill Fafnir. Later,
Eight-legged essay pluralistic ideology characteristic of the Tang Dynasty to a neo-Confucian ideology based on Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi's philosophy. The eight-legged essay came into existence under this background, coinciding with the shift in ideology and embodying the new orthodoxy. The essay format didn't become prevalent as a standard essay in the civil service examination until early Ming dynasty (1368-1644), when the composition of the essay was clearly specified. In the seventeenth century, Gu Yanwu stated that this form of essay-writing became standardized precisely during the 15th century, when the eight parts of the essay were determined. The term "eight-legged essay"