Riddle of the Sphinx

Face of femme fatale, she soars across the sky, lionhearted warrior, asking all who catch her eye, ‘Tell me the creature, with only one voice, on all fours from morning, two feet by noon and three at night.’ Those that failed to answer, served up as supper, unable to see the monster, they recognise as man. Oedipus, saved from first fate, finds another riddle, still stands in his way. ‘A tale of two sisters, one gives birth to the other, who, in turn, bear's life to the first.’ ‘Two lives entwined, old as night and day, speak no more of riddles, with your life you shall pay.’ The woman of three kinds, defeated in her quest, relinquishes her post, falling to her death.