Sleipnir distinguished Muria dies, and provides a verse: Davidson adds that the representation of Odin's steed as eight-legged could arise naturally out of such an image, and that "this is in accordance with the picture of Sleipnir as a horse that could bear its rider to the land of the dead." Ulla Loumand cites Sleipnir and the flying horse Hófvarpnir as "prime examples" of horses in Norse mythology as being able to "mediate between earth and sky, between Ásgarðr, Miðgarðr and Útgarðr and between the world of mortal men and the underworld." The "Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture" theorizes that Sleipnir's eight
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