The tail was in reality white. Fearful of losing her bet, Kadru called her offspring to her. She asked them to coil themselves around the horse’s tail so that the tail would seem to be black. Some of the snakes refused to aid Kadru in her untruthful act. They were cursed by their mother that they would be destroyed in a yajna known as sarpa sata. (You will of course remember Brahma’s curse that the snakes would be destroyed by their own mother. King Parikshit was bitten to death by a snake and his son, Janmejaya, performed the sarpa satra so as to destroy all snakes. This yajna is referred to in some Puranas, but is described in greater detail in the Mahabharata.)

Having lost the bet to Kadru, Vinata became her slave.

Meanwhile, Vinata’s other egg hatched and a being who was half-bird and half-man was born. This being was Garuda. His eyes and claws were like birds of prey, his face was white, his wings red and his body golden. Garuda obtained a boon from Indra that snakes would be his food.