19 Second Device (Sandals and the theft of Apollo’s cattle) 65-96

His second device

Sandals and the theft of Apollo’s cattle

He went up to a lookout point,

out from the halls of his temple (aka. his crib)

—smoky-with-worshipper’s-incense—  [65]

feverishly turning over a many-layered scheme in his mind.

It would be done like the man says:

to cloak their deeds and purpose

thieves skulk around unseen

under blanket of night’s darkest hours,

So, he waited until

Helios had sunk down in the sky

with his blazing chariot

and even the last sun rays of his horses,

had vanished in the West.

Then, up

in the opposite direction,

went Hermes

to Pieria.

–now fully cloaked in the shadow of night–.

He ascended quickly into the mountainous domain of the Muses.  70

There,

the elite among the gods

held their mooing wealth

in closely guarded cattle fields:

where the herd could snack

in a spectral meadow on ethereal grasses,

untouchable by mortal hands,

tasting pure and

summoning intoxicating desire

–like unmixed wine–

There,

The-not-yet-acknowledged-son-of-Zeus,

–earning his future title of watchdog-slayer–,

easily dealt with the canine guards

and stealthily brought out fifty cows from the herd,

despite their loud moos.

[Recall now a famous story:

to aid his father Zeus’ desire and steal a more famous cow,

henchman Hermes was able

to sneak past and kill

even that greatest of guardians and watchdogs:

Argus

the terrible monster

with many-eyes,

the watchdog-on-the-threshold–[1]]

Evading Pursuit

[Always thinking about the future,

the god had many tricks to evade a potential pursuit

on the way back to his hideout:]

First, Hermes drove the cattle

along the sandy coast, off-the-main-road. 75

–[though we now call him “Road-Guardian”,]–

But his second trick was better:

even what little remained of their tracks

seemed to go backwards:

heading back to Piera!

Observe how the craft of deception is never far from his mind:

he had made the cows step backwards

back hooves in front

front hooves in back,

while he continued to walk forwards.

The Invention of Sandals

[Even more deceit:]

The invention of the first strapped sandals–

he accomplished this one

while waking on the sandy shore

without even halting his journey!–

He wove together this marvelous craft

–previously unknown and unimaginable– 80

by

fingering the sexy bush of the tamarisk tree and

jerking off some vigorous shafts of myrtle as he walked by —

[sacred plants which now bind and entwine Aphrodite

to her eager lover Hermes, in their temple–].

Following the lead of their future bondage,

he entwined the green branches together 

–by hand and spell —

into wide cradles 

And then tied the result onto his feet,

fastened securely

to further ensure that his deceitful escape

was accomplished securely.

Tada! Now they were

officially and recognizably

sandals

—light-soled

(albeit not yet flight-soled)–

Though, it must be admitted that

there were still some petals and greenery attached.

They remained,

just as they had appeared

when they were still alive

just as they had appeared

before being plucked, in haste

by the famous Watchdog-slayer

Thus: sandals!

They ultimately served many purposes:

a deception

contrived to better conceal his getaway from Piera, and 85

a useful invention for all

the hard road and long journey were hard on his feet, and

a useful example of his trademarked improvisation

the haste necessitated quick modifications to his plans.

The Watcher at Onchestos (I)

[And these marvelous, deceitful crafts

confirm his reputation as

the most glorious thief,

impossible to notice!]

But he was noticed then

by a Watcher near death,

digging in his vineyard,

vines on the cusp of bloom.

It happened

when Hermes left the plains of Boetia, and

and passed into broad-grassy-fields

right when he crossed over the threshold of

Onchestos,

[where the son of Leto had once journeyed on his own rite of passage].

[where lies the famous grave of Poseidon]

The son of that famous and unignorable goddess:

Maia

was the first and leading god to enter conversation

with this Watcher (but not the last)

“Hey, geezer!

[What a sight this must be, huh?]

Anyway, I can see that you are really busy

digging around in all of your –

uhh, let’s be charitable– twisting, dead vines.   90

[… so I do not want to take too much of your time.]

Hey, you know…

you could get pretty drunk off these dead grapes

if you just happened to have an unexpected visit

from the luck-bringer (hint, hint)

and all these vines somehow came back to life.

[Just something to think about.]

[Anyway, totally unrelated –]

here’s a riddle I hope you can solve:

how can you be sightless,

even though you have seen something

(if you catch my drift)

and clueless,

despite having heard something

and speechless,

even though you could make a speech

which would be about things that are none of your business.

(and are not doing any harm to you or yours. Yet.)

[I hope we understand each other!”]

[Sing with me another famous story:

the sad tale of a lying farmer:

he swore to Hermes, he would not reveal

–to anyone, even Hermes himself–

that he had seen the trickster god

but when tested, broke his oath to the god

and received just punishment.]

With such bribes threats riddles exchanged,

the massive head of

massive-headed cattle

was herded by the tiny-headed baby

over mountains

— purple, bathed in evening’s waning shadow,

through grottos

— waking the sound of surprised animals,  95

over wide plains

— baby and cattle skimming over the tips of blooming flowers

All were crossed by him:

Hermes

demonstrating his (future) title of

traveler.