Sleipnir man sings a prophecy, and takes Hadingus back to where he found him on his horse. During the ride back, Hadingus trembles beneath the old man's mantle, and peers out of its holes. Hadingus realizes that he is flying through the air: "and he saw that before the steps of the horse lay the sea; but was told not to steal a glimpse of the forbidden thing, and therefore turned his amazed eyes from the dread spectacle of the roads that he journeyed." In book II, Biarco mentions Odin and Sleipnir: "If I may look on the awful husband of
Eight-legged essay the form's adoption was blamed for the decline of classical poetry and prose during the Ming Dynasty. The critic Wu Qiao wrote that "people exhausted themselves on the eight-legged essay, and poetry was only composed with their spare energy." Writing at the same time, the political theorist and philosopher Huang Zongxi echoed these sentiments. Also, the essay did not allow for any personal opinion and was completely impartial. As a result, it led to the gradual narrowing of people's innovative thinking and consequently their minds, thus achieving a constraining effect on Chinese people and the nation. The eight-legged essay has