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An old Norse riddle, quite an easy one when you think of it.

A dragon with one wing and 24 legs, sheds its scales on the sand.

What is it?

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    $\begingroup$ Hello! Don't give the answer yet, take the tour (puzzling.stackexchange.com/tour) to find out how the site works and don't hesitate to check other posts $\endgroup$ – Saeïdryl Mar 22 '18 at 9:42
  • $\begingroup$ Sorry about this, I shall remember this for any future posts! Thank you for the edit $\endgroup$ – James Dicken Mar 22 '18 at 10:38
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Is it

A ship

A dragon with one wing and 24 legs, sheds its scales on the sand.

The ship could be seen as a dragon with the sail as wing. The viking boats (it's a Norse riddle) had a sculpture on the bow which might be a dragon. It has 24 rowers, so the oars could be seen as legs.
As for the scales, I guess when the vikings disembark on the sand, they take with them their shields which on the boat were used to protect the sides of the ship so they look like dragon scales.

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  • $\begingroup$ @Rubio Thanks for the edit. I couldn't find straight away the English word. $\endgroup$ – rhsquared Mar 22 '18 at 10:11
  • $\begingroup$ You are indeed correct! $\endgroup$ – James Dicken Mar 22 '18 at 10:28
  • $\begingroup$ @JamesDicken In this case you can mark my answer as correct. $\endgroup$ – rhsquared Mar 22 '18 at 10:37
  • $\begingroup$ @rhsquared ACKCHYUALLY marking the first and only answer as accepted will spoil the popularity of the riddle and prevent users to post their answers. Waiting a little more before accept could be a good idea to give visibility and chances to everyone (even if the answer was disclosed) $\endgroup$ – Saeïdryl Mar 22 '18 at 10:45
  • $\begingroup$ @Saeïdryl Good point. I didn't think of that. $\endgroup$ – rhsquared Mar 22 '18 at 10:53

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