Midas and the golden touch

Artemis

Member
In which mythology is Midas and the Golden Touch Included? As a child, I was entertained by this story and found it very funny. Later on, I realized how stupid he was, as I was enlightened by the moral of the story.
 

Nadai

Active Member
Bacchus offered King Midas a gift of his choosing, Kind Midas asked that whatever he touch be turned to gold. Midas was ecstatic when he began to touch his possessions and they all turned to gold, but he soon realized what Bacchus had failed to tell him, he'd made a grave mistake. When he went to eat, the food and wine turned to gold so he began to starve. He went to Bacchus and begged him to take away his "gift". Bacchus told him to wash in a river and when King Midas was finished, the "gift" was taken back.
King Midas also had asses ears which he received-I've heard tell-from Apollo for picking a satyr over the god in a lyre playing contest. He covered his head so that no one would know and the only one who ever saw them was his barber. He made the man swear to never reveal that his king had asses ears under penalty of death. Eventually the secret became too much for the barber to bear so one day he went down to the beach and dug a hole and burried his head in the sand. There he whispered, "King Midas has asses ears". Eventually a flower (or tree, or weeds) grew and whenever the breeze would blow on this "plant" it would whisper, "King Midas has asses ears".
 
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