The Riddle of the Sphinx

Al was feeling depressed, useless, and very hung over. The basic problem was the mead Bert had foisted on him the previous night. The hangover was definitely much worse than usual, and he couldn't even mention his misery lest Bert pounce on this as evidence of mead's superior potency. Life was rotten.

The hangover was really just half the problem, though. He was used to being one of the sharp guys, but Brian cracked puzzles like nuts, and even Bert had helped out. The basic problem was that Al was a language man - he loved word puzzles, puns, and all the vagaries of his native tongue (English, of course; there probably isn't such a remarkably capricious language anywhere else on the planet). Logic was well and good, but it really wasn't Al's forte.

The trio tramped along a narrow mountain path, with Bert and Brian trading puzzle arcana; all mathematical in origin, of course. Al moped.

So it went, until there was a mighty flapping, an unexpected battering blast of wind, and a great beast landed some feet in front of them. The donkeys would have bolted, if they had been able to believe their eyes; likewise the men. The creature was huge, the size of a horse, with a woman's head and breast, a huge tawny cat's body, and a pair of wings that curved gracefully around the rest. She faced them regally, perhaps daring them to peak at her all-too-apparent cleavage.

"Thou shalt not pass, until such a time as thou performest the task that I shall set thee to," intoned the being.

Being both cheeky and well-read, Bert asked "isn't it supposed to be a riddle? Something about walking on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?"

She looked down her patrician nose at him, and deigned to speak as if she had been born within the last three centuries.

"That is my sister's riddle. The Greeks always thought there was one of us, but that was wishful thinking. She was always rather wrong-headed. My challenge is far superior. After I give it to you, one of you must complete it and the others will stay here for surety. If you do not return in the allotted time, you are young and shouldn't be too stringy. Here is the challenge:

"In view from this spot there is a place, of which la is the middle, is the beginning, and the end.
There, on a hill, you will find a place most consonant with my intent.
If you should not see it at once, look in the place that is und both first and last.
There, among the three things from which, if you take two letters, one remains, you will find an amulet that I want returned.
You will recognize it, for it is printed with my name in gems on gold:
The first syllable addresses another, the second speaks of myself, and the third speaks of company."

Bert and Brian exchanged uneasy glances; however, Brian was not one to back down from a challenge. "By when must I return?"

"By that time that reads the same backwards, forwards, and upside down."

"But that is ambiguous!" protested Al, to the astonishment of the others.

The sphinx, who had been looking forward to an easy lunch, looked annoyed and replied grudgingly, "the longer of the two."

Al turned to his comrades and announced, "I will go. You have both done a great deal already, and frightening as it seems this . . . lady . . . and I seem to have like minds in this case. You can expect me back within four hours."

By when will he be back? What is the sphinx's name? Can you translate her challenge?

Less convoluted versions (in original form from Ralph Woods)
Solution