Riddles of the Sphinx 4 - CLOSED

The Riddles of the Sphinx 4

Welcome to yet another Riddle of the Sphinx. As variety is the spice of life, I have another style of riddle for you.

This one is a little different, and it comes to you in the form of a story. If you think you know the answer, PM me (Duck the Duck) with the subject title “Riddles of the Sphinx 4”.

There will be a 40-point opening for the first person to PM me the correct answer, and anybody else that gets the answer right will receive 20 points for their house.

Good luck! Here is the riddle:

One day last week, when I was strolling down the lane near my house, I came across a deep, wide puddle.

‘How odd,’ I thought, ‘it’s not even raining.’

I peered into the swirling water; bent so close my nose almost touched it. It was peculiar - the myriad of different colours swirling in its depths were mesmerizing – purples and blues and reds and greens all mixing together to create a rainbow. It was too beautiful…and so I leant in furtherr, completely entranced by the sparkling spectrum.

And then I fell in. Now, you may be wondering how one could fall into a puddle, shallow as they are. But I fell in, and I felt myself tumbling through the air, and I found myself thinking that perhaps this is what Dr Foster felt like when he went to Gloucester, or what Alice felt like when she fell through the rabbit hole.

And then I landed, with a soft bump on long, wavy grass, and opening my eyes I saw that I was in a place that was most certainly not home. The sky was an oddly beautiful soft purple, the grass in the meadows and fields a weirdly magnificent red, and the leaves on the trees were an enchanting pink.

It was as though I was in a dreamland, floating in that space between deep sleep and wakefulness, teetering on the brink of morning. I could not quite believe what had happened to me – that this would be the result of falling in a puddle.

And then, something even more peculiar happened. On the horizon, I could see dark shapes moving against the harsh orange glow of the setting sun. They moved like nothing I had ever seen: a lurching gait that did not belong to any animal I knew of in the normal world – the world that I had come from.

As they approached, I could see that they were not of Earth – not the Earth I knew anyway. They had large, black wings…and an indescribable ugliness. I was scared – did they mean to harm me? They were fast approaching now…and just as I opened my mouth to scream, I found myself sitting on the dry, parched ground next to the curious puddle.

What had happened? Where had I gone? And why? So many questions were whirling in my head, but one was at the forefront: What were those curious creatures?

The answer to this slightly perplexing riddle was HARPY.

Well done to Mandragora who was the first person to PM me with the correct answer. She will receive 40 points for her house.

Well done also to the following people who will get 20 points for their houses:

Severus Snape
Running_swift
MarieC
WaterLily
Jennifer Williams
Streams of Silver
Just_Ginny
Kitkat
Etta

Look out for a new riddle soon!