There Actually Was a King Midas, Even if He Lacked the Golden Touch
In Greek mythology, King Midas of Phrygia helped out a drunk satyr – a male nature spirit with a horse’s tail and ears – who rewarded Midas by granting him a wish. Midas’ wish to turn everything he touched into gold was granted, but it ended up backfiring on him. While that supernatural boon made Midas fabulously wealthy in the short term, it was not a superpower that he could turn on and off at will. It remained permanently on, and everything that Midas touched turned into gold, whether he wanted it to or not. That included his beloved daughter, who was killed when Midas inadvertently turned her into a golden statue by touching her. His food and drink was also turned into gold, causing Midas to die of thirst and starvation – although another version of the myth has the god Dionysus lifting the curse after Midas learned his lesson.
No Golden Touch, but an Influential Myth
The experience made Midas hate wealth and riches, so he left his palace and moved to the countryside, to follow the simple life as a worshipper of Pan, the god of the wild. Some time later, Pan challenged the god Apollo to a musical contest, and Midas was one of the judges. All the judges and witnesses declared Apollo the winner, except Midas, who sided with Pan. A ticked-off Apollo stated that Midas “Must have the ears of an ass!“, and promptly turned the king’s ears into those of a donkey. While the preceding mythological Midas stories never actually happened in real life, there were several ancient kings of Phrygia, in modern Turkey, who answered to that name.