RVA Guide: Recent Episodes
Neil Meyers
Midas was a king of great fortune who ruled the country of Phrygia, in Asia Minor. He had everything a king could wish for. He lived in luxury in a great castle. He shared his life of luxury with his beautiful daughter. Even though he was very rich, Midas thought that his greatest happiness was provided by gold. His greed was so out of hand that he used to spend his days counting his golden coins and sometimes he would bathe in gold objects. Gold was his out of hand obsession.
One day, Dionysus, the god of wine, passed through Midas’s kingdom. One of his companions, a satyr named Silenus, lost his way after drinking a little too much wine the night before. Silenus got tired and decided to take a nap in the rose gardens surrounding the palace of king Midas. He was then found by the king, who recognized him instantly and invited him to spend a few days at his palace. After that, Midas took him to Dionysus. Dionysus was very grateful to Midas for his kindness and decided to grant Midas any wish he wanted. Midas paused and then said I hope that everything I touch becomes gold. Dionysus warned the king to think of the consequences of his wish, but Midas's mind was not gonna be changed. Dionysus could do nothing else and promised the king that from that following day everything he touched would turn into gold.
The next day, Midas, woke up excited to see if his wish would become true. He reached out his arm and touched a small table that immediately turned into gold. Filled with excitement, he began to touch every object and they all turned to gold until he was so exhausted he had to rest. As Midas sat down to have breakfast, he took a rose between his hands to smell it’s fragrance. When he touched it, the rose became gold. I will have to smell the fragrance without touching the roses, I suppose, he thought in disappointment.
Without even thinking, he ate a grape but it also turned into gold The same happened with a slice of bread and a glass of water. Suddenly, he started to sense fear and realized that his gift may not be a gift after all and, at that moment, his daughter entered the room. When Midas hugged her, she turned into a golden statue. Tears began to appear in his eyes. Despaired and fearful, Midas prayed to Dionysus to undo his wish.
Dionysus heard Midas and felt sorry for him. He told Midas to go to the river Pactolus and wash his hands. Midas ran to the river and washed his hands and was astonished to see gold flowing from his hands, leaving behind a stream of shimmering gold. When he returned home, everything Midas had touched had become normal again.
Midas then returned to his castle where he hugged his daughter and left her in charge of his kingdom. He realized that all the riches in the world would no longer make him happy. He then left for the forest where he would become a follower of Pan and would live a simple life.
The story of King Midas is a classic case of, “Be careful what you wish for!” Midas was a greedy king who believed that wealth was the key to happiness and it was only when he lost the one person that he truly loved, his daughter, that he realized he didn’t need wealth to live a happy life.