IN WHICH HERMES TURNS HIS MOST BEAUTIFUL INVENTION INTO REALITY
Previously: Hermes has become the great-grandfather of a child called Odysseus. This boy seems to be sharp-witted but clumsy. Hermes is worried about him.
In order to set his mind at rest regarding the future of his great-grandson, Hermes threw little round pebbles in the limpid water and remained bent over the future life of Odysseus. When he stood up again, he had seen one of mankind’s most extraordinary adventures. He had discovered that his great-grandson would be one of the greatest heroes of all time. He would experience a strife which would pit thousands of men against one another for many years, the war of Troy. He would take part in an immense and long epic, which would take him to every sea, every ocean, and which would even come to bear his name: the Odyssey. He would emerge victorious from all the trials that awaited him and he would return to his homeland covered in glory. And it would be thanks to this scar caused by the wild boar that he would be recognized by his old nurse and recover his throne.
As he discovered this exceptional destiny, Hermes was filled with joy and with pride. He felt so very proud that he wanted to be certain that the entire world would hear of these adventures. But what could he do to keep a record of them? Men tell one another about the great events in their lives. Then those who have lived them die. Those who have heard the stories will retell them, but will also forget certain parts. Those who come after will forget even more parts. And so it goes, until death erases everything. And memory disappears. No, Hermes did not wish to allow the remembrance of the adventures that Odysseus would experience sink away into oblivion. He wished to see them recounted for centuries and centuries to come. He had to invent something which would allow their memory to be preserved for all eternity.
Suddenly an image stood out in his mind: the name of every human being was engraved in the cave where the Moirae spun the lives of men. The Moirae, then, had found a way of inscribing memory for ever and ever. This was where he had to draw his inspiration from.
Hermes had discovered fire; he had created the lyre with a tortoise and the flute with the help of a reed. On that day, it was the birds that helped him. He was lying on a beach and looking up at the sky. The light of the dying day tinged the clouds with pink hues. At that instant, he saw a majestic formation of cranes flying above. These graceful birds spread their long bodies in the air in a perfect geometric shape. Hermes slowly began to whistle through his teeth: “Fffff…” It was as though the shape that the birds had drawn in the sky had inspired in him the sound he was producing. “Fffff,” repeated Hermes, looking at the birds growing more distant. And at last he found what he was looking for.
He leapt to his feet, seized his caduceus and began to trace signs on the sand. A different sound corresponded to each sign he traced. And the sounds placed together formed words. Hermes began to draw and draw. His eyes ran across the signs. Little by little, the signs began to acquire meaning: each group of signs became a word. And the words strung together formed phrases. And the phrases put together told stories. Hermes let out a great shout of joy. He had just invented the alphabet. Never again would stories be lost to oblivion. And people would be able to speak to each other without seeing one another; understand each other without ever having met; love one another across the centuries. Drunk with joy, Hermes fluttered around as on that first day when he had just learnt to fly. It occurred to him that Prometheus would have been proud of him.
As he was flying above the earth, he caught sight of Mount Parnassus. Antalia, Roxanne and Pausania, the three old nurses of the babies of the gods, were there. He heard the white sheets that they were hanging out to dry flap in the wind. He smelt the scent of the soap flakes. The three nurses gave a great wave of their hand.
“Thank you on behalf of the men of today,” cried Antalia to him.
“Thank you on behalf of the men of tomorrow,” Roxanne cried to him.
“And thank you on behalf of the men of yesterday,” cried Pausania to him. Thanks to the alphabet, men would be able to read and write their present lives, their future lives and their past lives. Hermes turned three somersaults in the air and went away, bursting into enormous laughter.
THE END