King Midas wanted to be the richest man. He had always been a friend to the Phrygian satyrs. One morning one of King Midas' servants found an old satyr sleeping in the King's favorite bed. Midas decided not to punish the satyr and let him free. The old satyr was a follower of Dionysus, so the god granted Midas one wish. The King decided that he wished that everything he touched turned to gold.

A few days later the king was beginning to starve himself because every food that he touched turned to gold. King Midas was happy because he had the servants feeding him, but one day one of the servants touched him and turned to gold. When the other servants saw that the King turned the servant into gold, the other servants got scared and ran away. The king thought that they were just servants, but when his daughter ran in to give him a hug, she turned into gold. King Midas begged Dionysus to undo his wish. King Midas had always made poor judgment. When he wanted his wish undone he thought that Phrygian satyr was a better flute player than Apollo was a lyre player. When Apollo turned his lyre upside down he could still play the lyre, but when Phrygian turned his flute upside down, nothing came out. Once again the King made poor judgment, so Apollo made the king have the ears of a donkey. King Midas tried to keep it a secret, but when he went to get his hair cut, the hairdresser could not keep it a secret. After a couple of days the hair dresser could not keep the secret any more, so he whispered it into a hole. When he whispered it into a hole the weeds heard and spread the word around the world. King Midas was so embarrassed he ran away to live in the woods.

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