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Mercury - a story of a god by Liam
Mercury and cows
Cows shoes
Mercury used to play tricks
on the gods. When he was
very young he stole the
sacred cows from Apollo.
He made leather shoes for
the cows and made them walk backwards so that
no-one could track them.
Mercury playing a lyre
Lyre made from cow gut
Later, Apollo saw Mercury playing a new instrument called a lyre.
When Apollo looked closely at the lyre he saw that the strings were made with
cow-gut.
Furious Apollo
Happy Apollo
Apollo was furious with Mercury, but he thought the lyre was wonderful.
So they agreed that Mercury could keep the cows, and Apollo would get the lyre.
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Back to Roman Religion

Visit the Museum of Antiquities and find the
altar from Whitley Castle, dedicated to Apollo.
Look carefully for his lyre!