The golden touch myth. King Midas And His Golden Touch 2019-01-08
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King Midas Summary
The King sprinkled the golden food, and to his great joy it turned back to real bread and real butter. He thought himself the luckiest of men. Pan had achieved such ability on the flute that he dared to challenge none other than the great god to see who was the best player of the two. Feeling as if he were choking, he took a sip of water, and at the touch of his lips even this became liquid gold. She loved the feel of the wind in her hair, roses and bird songs, the light in the sky at dusk and dawn, the scent of wood smoke and lilacs. The bed turned to gold.
Finally, he touched his daughter and she turned into a gold statue. Midas asked to be able to turn everything he touched into gold. Midas immediately recognized Silenus, right-hand satyr to the god Dionysus, and ordered him set free. Tmolus turned toward Apollo, to listen, and all his trees turned with him. Tmolus consented to be the judge. I have come to grant you any wish you make.
Pan and Apollo Have a Musical Battle and Midas is a Donkey Midas discovered that he did not need unlimited wealth and often spent his days outdoors and became a devoted follower of the god of nature. Silenus explained that he and his master had just returned from the East where they had been engaged in spreading the cultivation of the grape. And so the secret was spread abroad. Now, could have asked for almost anything, but he opted for a somewhat strange though, at first sight, also imaginative thing: he asked that he should be able to turn into gold everything he touched. For his wish, Midas asked that whatever he touched would turn to gold. Happy to have his old teacher back at his side, the god wanted to thank the gesture and gave Midas a wish. Everything looked and smelled so good that King Midas did not wait for his daughter to show up for lunch.
He ran around the room, touching everything he could see. The King hated his golden touch so much that he sprinkled even the chairs and the tables and everything else that the fairy's gift had turned to gold. Midas indeed went to Paktolos river and washed himself; according to the myth the gold settled in the sand of the river and was carried to another country of the East, Lydia, that became one of the richest countries of the antiquity. In one, Midas a child adopted by King Gordias and Cybele. After that he felt better, covered the hole, and returned home. One last time, the king's wish was granted.
Apollo came with his lyre. Immediately the branch became the richest gold, with all the little acorns as perfect as ever. A great fear crept into the King's heart, sweeping all the joy out of his life. So Midas was punished by the gods a second time for his foolishness. This someone was to be. He was sometimes seen, playing on his pipe, or dancing with the forest nymphs. But Midas often neglected his child, for he spent all his time admiring his treasure rooms and counting his gold.
According to him, Midas was the son of Gordios, a poor peasant, and a maiden of the prophetic race. Passing out in random gardens is definitely a no-no. He could not eat anything, for everything he touched turned to gold. Dionysus instructed Midas to bathe in the headwaters of the Pactolus River, and the wish would be washed away. Midas recognized him and treated him hospitably.
Whereas the villains demonstrated all of the vices and were killed or punished by the gods. On the eleventh day, he brought Silenus back to Dionysus in. But how much myth and how much reality is there around this character? A widow, hearing that her only son had been chosen to cut the king's hair, begged the king not to kill him, and he agreed, so long as the barber kept his secret. Long ago, when the mother of Bacchus had died, and when Mercury had brought the infant Bacchus to this mountain and put him in the care of the nymphs, Silenus had acted as nurse and teacher to the little wine-god. He suddenly realized that it was all but impossible to satisfy them: both his food and his drinks turned into gold as well, the minute they touched his mouth, his teeth, or his tongue. It was said that he had more gold than any other king in the world. God Dionysus was pleased with Midas and his decision not to punish Silenus, thus asked Midas what he wanted the most from his life — in order to return the favor.
Teaching Activities for King Midas & the Golden Touch
Now that Silenus had grown old, Bacchus in turn took care of him. He laughed triumphantly at that, and then he touched a small stone, which lay on the ground. This made Pan's pipe, which consisted of seven pieces of a hollow reed lightly joined together, look very simple and rustic. Take everything, my gold, my kingdom for a hamburger sandwich! Midas washed his 'golden touch' away in the river Pactolus. Although one of the most known kings of his time, a fanatic lover of the Arts and Culture, creator of a gorgeous rose garden, Midas was known to be extremely greedy, trying to accumulate the largest amount of money and wealth in the known world. King Midas really had the Golden Touch! So a day was appointed for the contest. Start with the same premise -- King Midas is greedy and obsessed with money, turning everything he touches to gold -- but ask your class to come up with other objects he might have touched and problems those actions would have created.
