In the Iliad, Zeus implies their marriage was some sort of elopement, as they lay secretly from their parents.Homer, the Iliad 14.295-299 Pausanias records a tale of how they came to be married in which Zeus transformed into a cuckoo to woo Hera. She caught the bird and kept it as her pet; this is why the cuckoo is seated on her sceptre.Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.17.4 According to a scholion on Theocritus' Idylls when Hera was heading toward Mount Thornax alone, Zeus created a terrible storm and transformed himself into a cuckoo who flew down and sat on her lap. Hera covered him with her cloak. Zeus then transformed back and took hold of her; because she was refusing to sleep with him due to their mother, he promised to marry her.Scholia on Theocritus' Idylls 15.64
