Touching Gold: The Story of King Midas, pt. 2

Earlier in the week, we discussed the Greek myth about King Midas. After an act of kindness, Midas was granted the ability to turn anything he touched into gold. At first Midas rejoiced because he was thinking about the value of gold and about all of the riches and cash for gold he would have once he was able to continuously sell gold. What he hadn't considered was that when the Greek gods granted a wish, they didn’t get into all of the little details. Midas gold-making power was absolute and it did not go away when he wanted to touch something and NOT have it turn into gold, like his food for instance.

Midas sought help from the god Dionysus, the one who bestowed the gift in the first place. Dionysus took pity on him and told him to wash in a river to get rid of the power to touch things and make them gold. The river where he washed was known to contain a lot of gold, so perhaps this myth was a way to explain just why this was so.

Now that he was disillusioned with the idea of wealth and riches, Midas became a follower of the god Pan.  Midas was there when Pan challenged the mighty god Apollo to a music contest. When it came down to deciding who won, Midas took the side of Pan. This was a mistake since Apollo did not like to be opposed. Because he felt that something was amiss with Midas's ears for thinking that Pan's music was better, Apollo turned Midas's ears into donkey ears.

Once again, Midas’s did not think enough about his response. Thinking more before asking Dionysus to grant him the power to turn all that he touched into gold would have spared him some grief. And thinking about what was at stake might have made him reconsider voicing his opinion about Apollo’s music.