To have the Midas Touch is to have a golden touch – This is a common idiom used to refer to a person who is highly successful in anything he or she ventures into. Contrary to how we use the phrase in the current times, Midas’ touch was not a positive attribute to its namesake. His golden touch brought him nothing but misery.

Midas¹ was the King of Phrygia². He was a very wealthy king. He loved his daughter, but his greatest happiness came from gold. His favorite past time was counting his gold coins, and his only thought was to find ways to increase his wealth.

One day, King Midas’ servants found an old man lying unconscious in Midas’ rose garden. His name was Silenus, and he had lost his way. King Midas very kindly took Silenus to his palace and entertained him.

Silenus happened to be a friend and mentor of the Greek God of Wine, Dionysus³. When he recounted this incident to Dionysus, Dionysus was pleased with King Midas for being so kind to his mentor.

Dionysus wanted to show his appreciation to Midas for his excellent gesture. When he appeared in front of Midas, Midas could not believe his eyes.

Dionysus told him, “Ask me any wish, and it is yours.”

Midas was ecstatic. Without any thought, he said, “I would be delighted if my touch will turn objects to gold.”

Dionysus replied, “Are you sure? I want you to think carefully, for you might regret it later.”

Utterly confident, Midas said, “Of course. I want nothing more”.

Sighing at his foolishness, Dionysus said, “So be it. From now on, anything you touch will turn into gold”. Saying so, he left.

Midas was overjoyed. “Let me touch this chair and see if the wish has come true,” Midas thought and touched a chair near him.

It immediately turned into gold. Thrilled, he went about turning other objects into gold.

Finally, bored of playing this game, he sat down to eat. He called a servant and said, “All this excitement has made me hungry. Tell the cook to make all my favorite food items. My dreams have come true today and I want to celebrate it.”

Soon there was a massive feast that lay before him with many of his favorite items. First, he took a piece of apple and put it in his mouth. Immediately Midas felt a shooting pain and screamed. His teeth had broken because his touch had turned the fruit into gold and he had bitten a golden fruit.

Upset, he took a wine goblet and brought it to his mouth, but there was not even a trickle. The wine had turned into gold as well.

With no way to quench his hunger and thirst, Midas sat down dejected. Midas’s daughter, seeing her father sad, came running and hugged him. He hugged her in return and watched in horror as he saw his beloved daughter turn into a golden statue. He finally realized his gift had turned into a curse.

Tearfully, he went to Dionysus and asked him, “Please take back your blessing. In my greed, I didn’t realize how foolish I was. Not only have I turned my daughter into gold, but all this gold will also not stop me from starving to death.”

Dionysus, who had foreseen this happening, did not want to punish Midas any further. “Go and bathe in the river Pactolus and pray that you would lose this power of yours,” said Dionysus.

When Midas did as directed, he lost his golden touch, and the sands in the river Pactolus is said to have become gold after this incident. His daughter and all the objects that had turned into gold went back to normal.

From that day on, Midas learned his lesson. He stopped being greedy and began leading a simpler life.

1 Midas pronunciation: My-daas

2 Phrygia pronunciation: free-g-aa

³ Dionysus pronunciation: Die-oh-ny-sis