The god could reason, at least. That was something, even though his chain of thought appeared to be based on the false assumption that she had chosen her shapes. She had not; it was the way she had been born, just like her mother had been born with the heads of a lion and a goat and with a serpent for a tail.

"So, is that your final answer, then?" the Sphinx asked. "If it is, I should inform you that it is too unspecific for me to accept. I will also not accept 'mammal' or 'fish'. Or 'animal', for that matter."