Hermes the Storyteller (aka Mercury) From the day of his birth, the mischievous playful god Hermes was always on the move… born in the early morning hours, he invented the musical instrument called the lyre at noon, stole the cattle of Apollo in the evening and was already back and safely nestled in his cradle by nightfall. Stories The stories and myths surrounding the playful god, Hermes, are innumerable… Hermes was the youthful messenger, storyteller, and herald of the chief god, Zeus… and as such Hermes frequently traveled the heavens, the ends of the earth, and the lowerworld… Hermes also served as a psychopomp for mortals - guiding the souls of the departed across the fiery River Styx… He then, at one point or another, became known for being the guide of dreams and was given the title "Oneirospompos." Freeing Io The tour de force which originally so endeared Hermes to the god, Zeus (chief Olympian god), was the deed Hermes accomplished in regard to freeing one of Zeus' favorite female companions, named Io. Zeus' wife, Hera was a jealous woman (I wonder why…) and she in particular wanted to keep the beautiful maiden, Io, away from her wandering husband. At one point Zeus had even transformed the maiden Io into a cow in order to fool Hera… but even that hadn't worked. So Hera had then placed beautiful Io under the guard and watchful eye of Argos for the specific purpose of keeping Io away from wandering Zeus. I suppose I should say watchful EYES (plural) of Argos, since Argos had 100 eyes and NEVER had them all closed at one time. Even in his very deepest, deepest sleep, Argos only closed 50 of them at one time. So Hermes, sent by Zeus, came before Argos and introduced himself. Hermes immediately began regaling the unsuspecting Argos with his many exciting stories - and when Hermes had begun to gain Argos' confidence, he pulled out his shepherd's pipe and began playing beautiful music for Argos. Slowly, but surely with Hermes playing such sweet music, Argos began to fall asleep. And one by one - each of his 100 eyes began to fall shut. Finally the final eye drooped and fell shut…. And Hermes immediately slew Argos, released Io, and led her away…. As sort of a memorial, Hera placed the 100 eyes of Argos onto the tail-feathers of her favorite bird, the peacock. back to Mercury