"What is that which is fourfooted, three-footed and two-footed?" That horrendous bogey, the ancient Theban Sphinx, who had the face of a woman, the feet and tail of a lion, and the wings of a bird, ate up the Thebans who could not guess her riddle.* Smart Oedipus answered her: Man, who goes on allfours as a baby, on two legs as an adult, on two legs and a cane in old age. Whereupon the vexed Sphinx threw herself from a mountain.
Few U. S. parents could have answered the Theban Sphinx, for like...
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