Context presentation

My group consisted of myself, Levi of the Lost Marbles, Nate the Enigma, and Tearful Tristan. We were assigned Kane's chapter on Context, the last chapter in his book. Our story was "To Hermes" which explains the birth of Hermes which is also the birth of music. The story explains how Hermes is born being able to walk and talk and he kills a turtle to make a Lyre (handheld harp). He then steals Apollo's cattle and when he is confronted he explains that he is just a helpless baby and then he farts in order to push Apollo away. However, the smell leads him to his cattle. Then Hermes plays the Lyre for Apollo and he takes Hermes to Mt. Olympus so he can be made into a God. Nobody trusts Hermes still so they appoint him the task of being messenger between boundaries.

My group mates and I decided that since it is a story of the birth of song we should put the story into a poetic song and play instruments, even though non of us are considered musicians. Levi chose an ancient drum, Nate played the sound board on his keyboard, Tristan had some finger cymbals, and  I had a thing that I call a finger dingy thingy (pieces of metal that are tuned differently). We split the story into 4 parts and wrote each part however we wanted. This was to demonstrate how each of our backgrounds and experiences can give different contexts. We also had not put it together until we were in front of the class so that we would not feel like we needed to 'fix' anything.

"The contexts through which myth is remembered are also the contexts in which myth is reinvented by each succession of peoples" (248).

Levi started the story, then Nate, then Tristan, and Me

             To Hermes
(Levi)

Maia of Kyllene was the mother of Hermes,

Zeus came at night to her

She was clean, beautiful, and free from venereal disease,

Little did Hera know

She was asleep all alone,

While Zeus was with Maia playing Barry Manilow

Ten moons later,

A child popped out

That looked like Darth Vader,

He came out walking and talking

Shooting craps with the men,

Picked up the lyre and by noon he was rocking

Mama put him a luxurious cradle,

But he slipped from the cave

Just as soon as he was able

He saw a tortoise outside,

And said “hey nice to meetcha”

“Why don’t you come inside so the birds they don’t eatcha?”

Hermes scooped up the turtle,

And carried him inside

The turtle said to Hermes,

“That was a hell of a ride”

The tortoise thought to himself,

“What a bit of good luck”

But as Hermes grasped his neck he screamed,

“Hey man! I can’t get unstuck!”

Then he killed the poor turtle,

And scooped out his innards

Set them aside and thought,

“I’ll have them for dinner”

Then Hermes strung up the shell,

With the guts of a sheep

They smelled kinda bad,

But hey, it was cheap

Then Hermes pondered again,

Where could more mischief be had

He saw Apollo’s cows,

And began to plot something bad

The small child began to drive them around,

In a gray Cadillac so they wouldn’t be found

Then an old man spied him,

With cattle and Caddy

And said to the boy,

“I’m going and telling your daddy”

The infant replied,

“Go ahead gramps”

“I’ll beat you so bad”

“That you poop in your pants!”

(Nate)

(Tristan)

(Angela)

Then on his lyre, Hermes played

To the Gods, songs of praise

He sang of etiologies

And each Gods mythologies

Apollo’s soul was filled with awe

At Hermes songs that had no flaw

“No one holds such a gift of song

Not even the muses with which they belong

Off to Olympus, where you will find fame

I promise you this, they will know your name”

Then crafty Hermes said “take up my art

Hold on to my lyre deep in your heart

This gift will help you find glories

And help you to tell future stories”

Then Apollo touched each string at a time

Nothing sounded so pure and sublime

They sat and watched the cattle graze

And played reed pipe for many days

Off to Olympus the brothers played

The songs were heard and joy was made

Then Hermes gave Apollo the pipe of reed

Apollo said “I think this is a trick to mislead

My house I am afraid you will steal

But I am willing to make you a deal

The art of prophecy is what the sisters taught

Go to them and they will tell you a lot

But promise me you will not come near

If you agree then we are clear

So Hermes became the lord of the earth

Between boundaries his messages show worth

With the heralds staff and sandals with wings

Either luck or tricks is what he brings.