Blood on Ice fight their battle in the shadows beyond his world. To this end he will be granted a number of mighty artifacts and abilities, and be trained for a hundred days and nights by the old man. The first of these artifacts is a mighty sword (probably Tyrfing), forged in the dawn of the world, and the second given in a song is a mighty, eight-legged stallion ridden by 'his father's God' (Sleipnir, Odin's steed). He will also be guided by two ravens (Huginn and Muninn), and is granted a number of supernatural powers: first, the woodwoman, a witch, takes his
Eight-legged essay The following is a translation of an original eight-legged essay, written by Wang Ao (1450–1524), who was considered to be a master of the form. Essay Topic: "If the people enjoy sufficiency how could the ruler suffer from insufficiency?" 1. Pòtí: When the people below are rich, the ruler at the top will naturally be rich. 2. Chéngtí: This is so because the wealth of the ruler is something kept by the people. If the people are already rich, how can it stand to reason that the ruler alone is poor? 3. Qǐjiǎng: You Ruo spoke from profundity the idea