Serpents

And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover!

Serpents have had a bad rap ever since the Garden of Eden.

Hercules killed both serpents.

The Ogress knew the voice of the Queen and her children at once, and being furious at having been thus deceived, she gave orders (in a most horrible voice which made everybody tremble) that, next morning by break of day, they should bring into the middle of the great court a large tub filled with toads, vipers, snakes, and all sorts of serpents, in order to have the Queen and her children, the chief cook, his wife and maid, thrown into it, all of whom were to be brought thither with their hands tied behind them.

When lo! – the tale I shudder to pursue – / from Tenedos in silence, side by side, / two monstrous serpents, horrible to view, / with coils enormous leaning on the tide, / shoreward, with even stretch, the tranquil sea divide.

But lo! the serpents to Tritonia's seat / glide from their victim, till the shrine they gain, / and, coiled beside the goddess, at her feet, / behind her sheltering shield with gathered orbs retreat.

And Pharaoh called the wise men and the magicians; and they also by Egyptian enchantments and certain secrets, did in like manner. And they every one cast down their rods, and they were turned into serpents: but Aaron's rod devoured their rods.

As a professional cryptozoologist, I have collected Sasquatch droppings, mapped a nest of Chupacabras, and tracked sea serpents across the Indian Ocean.

She then dispatched two very fierce serpents, which came in the middle of the night to the room of Alcmena, where Hercules and his brother were sleeping.

So she sent two very fierce serpents; these in the middle of the night went into Alcmena's bedroom, where he slept with his brother Hercules.