Hermes

**Hermes **

 Who is Hermes? Hermes is the Harold of the gods, also known as the merriest of the Olympians. He is god of the shepherds, travelers, merchants, thieves and everyone else who live by their wits. His family consists of Maia his mother, Zeus his father, and his brother Apollo.  Hermes was very mischievous. Even as a young baby he was thinking of mischief to cause. One night when his mother had fallen asleep, he slipped out of his blanket and went to the pasture in which his brother Apollo kept a huge herd of white cattle. Hermes picked fifty of the best cattle to steal, but he didn’t want Apollo to find out that it was he who stole the cattle. To solve this problem, he wrapped their hooves with bark to disguise their prints and tied brooms to their tails so they would sweep away their own tracks. He also tied bundles of sticks to his feet to make it look like a giant stole the cattle. To further confuse Apollo, he led the cows out backwards. He hid the stolen cattle in a grove and sacrificed two of them to honor the twelve Olympian gods. With the sacrificed cows, he made a musical instrument called a lyre. Being very pleased with himself, he went home, jumped into his cradle and pretended to be asleep. However he didn’t fool his mother who was very angry and ashamed that he had stolen Apollo’s cows. Hermes told her that he had done it so they wouldn’t have to live in their dark cave forever. Then he pulled out his lyre and played until his mother was fast asleep.  In the morning, Apollo discovered his cattle missing and suspected Hermes of stealing them. He stormed into the cave, took Hermes from his crib, and commanded that he give him back his cattle. But Hermes was clever saying, “How could I have stolen your cattle? I’m just a baby.” This made Apollo very angry, and he chased Hermes out of the cave and all the way up to Olympia. Once there, Apollo asked their father, Zeus, to make Hermes give him back his cattle. Hermes had to obey his father’s orders so he led Apollo to the woods where the cattle were hidden. After counting his cattle, Apollo became enraged because two of them were missing. Hermes had expected this, so he quickly pulled out his lyre and played. Apollo, being the god of music, had to have that lyre. So he told Hermes he would trade him all of his cattle and his magic wand for the instrument. From then on, the brothers were the best of friends. And Hermes, even though he was the god of the thieves, never stole or lied again. But he didn’t always tell the whole truth either.