Aitareyabrahmana 3.26

3.26

Those gods said to the gāyatrī:
‘Do thou bring this King Soma to us.’
She said, ‘So be it; but do you bless me with every formula for safe passage.’
‘So be it [they said].’ She flew up. The gods blessed her with every formula for safe passage:
‘Go forth and [return]!’ This indeed is every formula for safe passage, namely ‘Go forth and [return]!’
Therefore, him whom one holds dear, one should bless with this:
‘Go forth and [return]!’ Safely indeed does he go, safely does he return.
She, having flown and having frightened the guardians of Soma, seized King Soma
with her two feet and with her beak; and what syllables the other two metres had abandoned, those also she seized.
Aiming after her, Kṛśānu, the guardian of Soma, shot off the nail of her left foot.
That became a porcupine; therefore is it like a nail.
The fat that flowed became a barren cow;
therefore is it like a sacrificial offering. Then what was the arrow-head, what was the point, became a biting snake,
a boa constrictor.
The feathers became the manthāvala-worms, the sinews became earthworms,
the shaft became the blind snake.
So did that arrow become in this manner.