Noted for his impish character and constant search for amusement, Hermes was one of the more colourful gods in Greek mythology. Besides being credited with the actual invention of the lyre made from a tortoise shell, whilst still a baby, he stole his half-brother Apollo's herd of 50 sacred cattle from Pieria, cleverly reversing their hoofmarks by adding bark shoes to make it difficult to follow their tracks.

Hermes, therefore, became associated with thieves and he managed to keep the stolen herd of cattle until the satyrs finally discovered it in a cave in Arcadia. After a hearing before Zeus and the Olympian gods, Hermes was permitted to hold on to the herd (now down to 48 as he had already sacrificed two of them) if he gave Apollo his lyre.

In this piece, I attempt to evoke the stealth, trickery & thieving of baby Hermes, using intricate cross-rhythms between the steady finger-plucked tones in the left hand and the crisper, syncopated plectrum-plucked tones produced by the right hand.