Hermes Cattle Lyre

myth:hermes_cattle_lyre

On the very day of his birth Hermes slips from his cradle, steals the cattle of Apollo, and drives them backward to confound their trail. Finding a tortoise, he strings its shell into the first lyre; and when Apollo tracks him down, the infant charms him with the new music and trades the lyre for the stolen herd and the god's friendship. The trickster's first day: a theft, an invention, and a deal. — Greek myth