Here is what mine looked like. It is the brown and green thing in the middle of the table. (If you click on the picture it will enlarge.)
And the string side.
Everyone had fun making lyres but most of the kids were too little to want to hear the story. Oh well.
But for you, here it is. I adapted my version of the story from Homer's Hymn to Hermes. I know, I know, I don't really like to give the impression that the Greek gods and Roman gods are interchangeable, but Ovid's paragraph long account of Mercury stealing Apollo's cows just didn't do it for me. It's not often that Ovid lets me down, but I guess when you create a sprawling mythological work like the Metamorphoses some stories are bound to fall through the cracks.
When Mercury was first born he walked outside of his cave and found an empty turtle shell lying on the ground. He said to himself, "This shell provided a strong and safe home for the turtle when it was alive. But now it can make music!" He took the turtle shell back into the cave and stretched strings across it. He tuned the strings so that each played a different note. He had just invented the lyre!
After a little while, he got tired of playing with his new toy. He hid it under the pillow in his crib and went out exploring. Soon he came to a large field that contained a herd of cattle. The field and the cattle happened to belong to his older brother Apollo.
Mercury started herding the cattle down the road. At first he brushed away their tracks but then he came up with a new plan. He made the cows walk backwards. As he was walking, he was also leaving behind footprints so he decided should disguise those, too. He wove himself sandals out of grass. He made the bottoms of the sandals very large so that he made monster-sized footprints.
As he was herding the cattle down the road backwards, and wearing his new sandals, he saw an old man working in his vineyard. Mercury called out to him, "There is no need for you to mention what you have seen here."
Mercury led the cattle all the way down to the ocean. He played with them on the beach until he got tired. Then he went home for a nap. When he got inside his cave he crawled into his crib and wrapped himself tightly in his blankets.
Soon, Apollo returned home and discovered that his cattle were missing. He searched all around and at first he could find no sign of them. Finally he discovered the backwards footprints. What was more, he saw that the creature herding the cows was enormous!
As he followed the footprints down the road, he came to the old man working in his vineyard. "Did you see who was driving these cattle?" Apollo asked him.
The old man answered, "I have lived a long time and seen many strange things, but I have never seen anything as strange as a baby wearing giant sandals driving a herd of cattle backwards."
Apollo remembered that he had a new baby brother, and if any baby could steal a herd of cattle, he was surely a son of Jupiter.
He hurried to Mercury's cave and woke him from his nap.
"Where are my cows?" He asked.
Mercury looked up at him sleepily. "How could I steal your cows? I'm just a baby."
Apollo pressed on. "I have a witness. I know it was you."
"I was only born today. Maybe I have heard stories about cows, but I've never seen one." Mercury answered.
Apollo was getting angry. He walked over to the crib, picked Mercury up, and glared at him.
Mercury did something very stinky in his diaper, and since Apollo was not used to babies doing stinky things while he was holding them, he dropped him.
Mercury looked up from the floor and said, "I think we should talk to Dad."
So, Apollo and Mercury went up Mount Olympus to see Jupiter.
"Dad," Apollo started, "Mercury stole my cows."
Mercury looked up at Jupiter innocently. "How could I steal his cows? I'm just a baby."
"I have a witness. It was him."Apollo continued.
But Mercury denied it again. "I was just born a few hours ago. I have never even seen a cow."
At this point Jupiter started laughing. "You know, from up here on Mount Olympus I can see everything. I saw you steal his cows. You are very bold to lie not only to your father but also the king of the gods. Now show Apollo where you put the cows."
Mercury finally had to give in. He took Apollo to the sea shore where he had hidden the cows. And he also decided that there should be no animosity between brothers so he gave Apollo the lyre as a peace offering.
Apollo now possessed a musical instrument like no other. And Mercury established himself as the patron god of thieves and tricksters.
If you haven't figured it out from the story and pictures, we made our model lyres by coloring paper bowls to look like turtle shells, and then stretching strings across the opening.
1 comment:
a trickster tale to start the new year - i like it better than black eyed peas! mumsie
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