Midas

Midas was the son of King Kortius. When he was a tiny baby, an incident occurred to show he would be a lucky fellow indeed. He was sleeping in his cot when a row of ants dragging wheat grains approached his face and dropped them near his mouth. Naturally, Midas woke up and cried when he found his mouth full of wheat grains. All those who saw this exclaimed in one breath that he would be very fortunate in life.

When he grew to manhood, he was crowned King of Phrygia. He was not exactly a model king, but nobody minded. He was not a very bright fellow either but was an ardent gardener. He loved to grow lovely flowers in his garden. Above all, he was mad about gold. He always recalled the words of his mother who had said, “Son, you will have lots and lots of gold.”

Midas wanted a lot of gold, but how to go about it? He could not fight because he was a coward, and he could not trade, because he did not have the brains for it. So that left only miracles, and Midas resolved that he would learn magic and discover gold. But there were no magicians in his land. So he set out from his kingdom in search of magicians.

In a certain forest which he happened to pass, he found a tribal village, the elder of which welcomed him warmly. So he stayed there and made friends with them. He became especially friendly with a flute player whose music could charm even the wild beasts, so much so he boasted that he could play the flute better than Pan, the god of Music. The latter heard this and arranged a competition between the two to decide who could play better. Midas was appointed the judge. But Midas decided in favor of the tribal player and so incurred the wrath of Pan, who said, “Oh! foolish mortal, you have slighted me and my divine music by judging in favor of the tribal flute player. Though you have ears, yet they are deaf to divine music. Therefore, you should not have human ears. From this day on, only a donkey’s ears suit you.”

Poor Midas discovered to his horror that he was indeed the possessor of a pair of fine, long, ass’s ears. Ashamed to show them to his people, he wound a long cloth round his head and kept them covered. Next day his barber came to crop his head and discovered the hideous secret. The King gave him a lot of money and commanded him on pain of death not to reveal the secret to anybody.

The days merged into months, and the months into years. The barber was sorely tempted to reveal the king’s condition to someone. If he did that, the king would cut off his head. So finally in desperation, the barber went to a grassy knoll and kneeling amongst the grass whispered, “King Midas has a pair of donkey’s ears.” Then he returned home, relieved that his burden was gone.

The grass grew and waved its points in the air. As travelers passed by, they heard the swishing of the grass and the sibilant whisper which announced the truth about the king’s ears. Then everyone in Phrygia knew the dreaded secret of the king and laughed at his folly.

Ashamed, Midas decided to leave the kingdom to the care of his son and he went to northern Greece. There, nobody would notice his ass’s ears. He built a grand palace there and planted a lovely garden.

In that region lived a band of hunters. They knew the magic arts. Sometimes they would enter Midas’s garden and talk long and earnestly. The king tried to eavesdrop on them, but they always ran away when they saw him.

Midas decided to capture them through a simple trick. There was a fountain in his garden at which the hunters quenched their thirst. The king mixed some strong wine with the water. One day an old hunter drank the water from the fountain and promptly fell asleep. Midas carried him inside the house and kept him prisoner.

The old man, realizing there was no escape for him, regaled the king with stories of the law. He spoke of the wealth of gold that lay in the mountains. Midas’s eyes glinted with greed. He requested the old man to take him where the gold was; and finally the two of them set out and after crossing many rivers, mountains, and lakes came to the mountain king’s palace.

The king of the Hunters was very annoyed at Midas’s presence there, but did not show his displeasure. Instead, graciously he said, “Oh! King, how fortunate I am that you have come to my land. Now tell me what you wish. I can grant it, for I am also a powerful magician.”

Midas was waiting for just such an opportunity. So even before the other finished his words, he bounded up and said, “Whatever I touch must turn into gold.”

The mountain king smiled indulgently and said simply, “So be it.”

Midas rubbed his tunic in joy and hey! Presto! it turned into glittering gold. He ran all the way back to his palace to test further the power of his wish.

He came home and touched the walls, they turned into gold. He touched his flowers, they became golden. He touched his table, it became gold. He touched his chair, it became gold. Whatever he touched was transformed into gold.

Was he happy?

After all these exertions, Midas felt very hungry. So he sat down at the dining table and hungrily reached for his bread. But alas! that too turned into gold. He touched every other item of food in succession and everything became glowing, glittering, grand gold.

And then Midas realized the extent of his folly. No one can be happy with just gold. So back he ran to the mountain king, fell at his feet and implored him to take back his power.

The mountain king smiled indulgently and said, “Oh! King, I knew you would be very unhappy with the power I gave you. You seem to have learned your lesson well. Give up your greed for gold and untold wealth. Now, go and bathe in the mountain river and your power will leave you.”

You can be sure Midas ran in double haste and plunged into the river. The river became a glittering field of gold, but foolish and greedy Midas felt the power drain out of his fingertips. At last, he had become like other normal men again.