"You Are now One of Us”

I compare the story of the invention of the χέλυς by Hermes, found in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes and other texts, with the story of the invention of the fændyr by Syrdon, which is part of the Ossetic Nartic sagas. I identify similarities in the main features of the protagonists, the core events and the epilogues of the two stories. In both Ancient Greek and Ossetic traditions, musical invention is connected with the capacity of preserving the memories of a collectivity and can allow the integration of an outsider into an established group.