Sleipnir is Sleipnir, he is Odin's, he has eight legs." In chapter 41, High quotes the "Grímnismál" stanza that mentions Sleipnir. In chapter 42, Sleipnir's origins are described. Gangleri (described earlier in the book as King Gylfi in disguise) asks High who the horse Sleipnir belongs to and what there is to tell about it. High expresses surprise in Gangleri's lack of knowledge about Sleipnir and its origin. High tells a story set "right at the beginning of the gods' settlement, when the gods established Midgard and built Val-Hall" about an unnamed builder who has offered to build a fortification for
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"