Hermes was born in the morning, and by the evening, he was hungry for steak. (Such is the growth of god, you know.) So he sneaks out the house and steals the cows that belong to Apollo (his half brother).
Even though Hermes uses various tricks to cover up his crime, like forcing the cows to walk backwards, Apollo figures it out soon enough and storms to the cave Hermes lives with his mother. He demands Hermes to return the cows, or he'd send him to the underworld. (In other words, he'd kill him.) To this, little Hermes says, "Why do you bully on me, big brother? I didn't steal your cows. Do I look like a tough cowboy? I was born yesterday. I've never left this place. I don't even know what a cow looks like. Blah, blah, blah . . ."
Amazingly, they come to terms. Not only that, they become friends, and Apollo swears he'd love Hermes above all other gods. (It should be noted that tricksters are not just blatant liars like, say, politicians, or loser type criminals. Tricksters are smart, charming, and often bring good lucks.)
This doesn't happen in the dualistic "you are either good or evil," and "you are either my friend or foe" value system. This book is a great guide to the dynamic ways tricksters like Hermes work, breaking the static order of things and brining fresh changes. Hyde covers wide variety of world mythologies, from ancient Greek to old Africa, native Americans, etc.
He is insightful, too. For example, take the above story and assume Hermes was a local resident. Outside, there was a land which didn't specifically belong to anyone before, but recently, some new people had arrived and started farming. One day, hungry "Hermes" goes there and takes a cow. Is that a theft? By the logic of newly settling people, yes. However, when "Hermes" caught a rabbit in the same area before, it was okay. What's the difference? Is it possible that the settlers stole land from the unsuspecting residents?
Tricksters prompt us to review our values, not in order to reverse any situation but to bring further definitions. I think we want to pay more respect to tricksters.
I took one star off because I think the organization of the book can be greatly improved. Also, his application of the trickster archetype to real life figures (etc) feels forced.