King Midas's golden touch turns his daughter into gold.
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Since I’ve discussed “Achilles heel“, “Pandora’s box“, and “Gordian knot“, I might as well make another reference to ancient Greek literature with the term “Midas touch”.
Midas 弥达斯 was a king who lived in Asia Minor (what we call Turkey today). He was the adopted son of King Gordias (see “Gordian Knot“) in the city of Phrygia.
According to the myth, the Greek god of wine, Bacchus, discovered that his schoolmaster, Silenus the satyr, was missing. Silenus had gone on a drinking binge and was very drunk. Some Phrygian peasants brought him to King Midas who recognized him.
Midas showed Silenus hospitality for ten days before returning him to Bacchus. Being grateful, Bacchus offered Midas to grant any wish he made. Midas decided that he wanted to change anything touched into gold.
Great idea, right? That’s one way to get rich!
Well, Midas overlooked that fact that he shouldn’t touch his daughter. She turned to gold! When Midas became hungry, he had to touch food and that food turned to gold. This became his bane! He couldn’t eat.
Realizing his blunder, Midas prayed to Bacchus to have this “gift” removed. Bacchus told him to wash in the river Pactolus and the “gift” that was actually a curse was gone.
When we say that someone has the “Midas touch”, it means that this person has the knack for making money, seemingly with very little effort or with great success.
“When it comes to really useful and elegant high tech products, Steve Jobs has the Midas touch“.
A satyr is a half-goat/half-man Greek diety.
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