As expected, the old man is not reliable. To punish him, Hermes turned him into a stone.
Then, Hermes let the cows walk backward into a cave and hid them inside so that no one could find them. He returns to his mother's cave home and climbed into his cradle.
Apollo soon found out that some of his cows were lost. He immediately became suspicious of his crafty brother, Hermes. Apollo came to Hermes' cave, where the baby was pretending to be asleep.
The baby asked Apollo:' How could a newborn with feet soft as melted butter steal the cattle of the great Apollo?' Apollo was irritated and carries Hermes up Mt Olympus to demand a judgment from Zeus. Zeus saw through the deceit and told the baby to bring the cows back.
Without ant choice, Hermes led Apollo to the cave. When Apollo is counting the cattle, the baby took out his turtle=shell lyre and played. The music was so enchanting that Apollo, the god of music, was attracted. He offered to exchange the sacred cows for this instrument.
Finally, Hermes got the cows. Because he owned the leading one, the rest of the cows soon came and stayed with Hermes.