Heracles throttled a single snake in each hand and was found by his nurse playing with their limp bodies as if they were child's toys. A few months after he was born, Hera sent two serpents to kill him as a he lay in his cot. Heracles was named in an unsuccessful attempt to mollify Hera. Hera turned her into a weasel and forced her to give birth by laying eggs through her mouth. She would have permanently delayed the birth had she not been foiled by Galanthis, her servant, who told Hera that she had already delivered the baby. Once the oath was sworn, Hera hurried to Alcmene's dwelling and slowed the birth by sitting crosslegged with her clothing tied in knots. While Alcmene was pregnant with Heracles, Hera, who was already informed of Zeus' adultery, persuaded Zeus to swear an oath on the night Heracles was to be born that the child born that night to a member of the House of Perseus would be High King. A major factor in the tragedies surrounding Heracles stem from Hera's hatred of him as the wife of Zeus she often hated his mortal offspring because they were living proof of Zeus' constant affairs, and she especially hated Heracles.
