{Prometheus and Man} {Pandora's Box} {Apple of Discord} {Achilles' Heel} {The Trojan Horse}
{Echo} {Golden Touch} {Sisyphus's Stone} {Labors of Hercules} {The Man Who Loves a Statue}
The
Golden Touch
金手指
Midas, son of the Great Goddess of Ida, by a satyr whose name is not remembered, was a pleasure-loving King of Macedonian Bromium, where he ruled over the Brigians and planted his celebrated rose gardens.
One day, the debauched old satyr Silenus, Dionysus's former pedagogue,
happened to straggle from the main body of the riotous Dionysian army as it
marched out of Thrace into Boeotia, and was found sleeping off his drunken fit
in the rose gardens. The gardeners bound him with garlands of flowers
and led him before Midas, to whom he told wonderful tales of an immense
continent lying beyond the Oceans stream--altogether separate
from the
conjoined mass of Europe, Asia, or Africa--where splendid cities abound,
peopled by gigantic, happy, and long-lived inhabitants, and enjoying a
remarkable legal system. Midas, enchanted by Silenus's fictions,
entertained him for five days and nights, and then ordered a guide to escort
him to Dionysus's headquarters.
Dionysus, who had been anxious on Silenus's account, sent to ask how Midas wished to be rewarded. He replied without hesitation: "Pray grant that all I touch be turned into gold." However, not only stones, flowers, and the furnishings of his house turned to gold but, when he sat down to table, so did the food he ate and the water he drank. Midas soon begged to be released from his wish, because he was fast dying of hunger and thirst; whereupon Dionysus, highly entertained, told him to visit the source of the river Pactolus and there wash himself. He obeyed, and was at once freed from the golden touch, but the sands of the river Pactolus are bright with gold to this day.
米達斯（Midas）是伊達山大女神和一位姓名不詳的山林之神的兒子。他是馬其頓勃洛彌恩的好尋歡作樂的國王，他統治勃里亞人民，種植遐邇聞名的玫瑰花。
一天，歡天喜地的達奧尼塞斯酒神（Dionysus）和追隨者從色雷斯出發去波澳提阿。達奧尼塞斯酒神（Dionysus）以前的老師，沉緬酒色的森林之神老西勒諾斯不巧跟隊伍走散了，他喝得醉薰薰的，躺在米達斯（Midas）的玫瑰花園裏酣然大睡。園丁發現了他，用花鏈捆綁他，把他領去見米達斯（Midas）。他給米達斯（Midas）講述有關大洋河彼岸的、與連成一片的歐羅巴、亞細亞或亞非利加完全脫離的一個大洲的奇妙的故事。大洲上座落著神奇的城市，居住著身材高大、幸福而常壽的人民，擁有值得讚頌的法律制度。西勒諾斯的故事使米達斯（Midas）聽得如癡如狂。他盛情款待老山神五天五夜，然後派嚮導護送他回到達奧尼塞斯酒神（Dionysus）的大本營。
達奧尼塞斯酒神（Dionysus）一直在為西勒諾斯擔心。現在，他派人問米達斯（Midas）有什麼要求，他應該怎樣報答他。米達斯（Midas）毫不遲疑地回答他說：「請恩准使我摸到的一切東西都變成金子。」 然而，變成金子的不僅僅是石塊、花朵和屋內的陳設。他坐下吃飯時，他吃的食物和喝的水也變成了金子。過了不久，米達斯（Midas）懇求達奧尼塞斯酒神（Dionysus）使他從他那願望中解脫出來，因為他饑渴交加，快死了。達奧尼塞斯酒神（Dionysus）逗弄米達斯（Midas），開心得很。他叫米達斯（Midas）前往帕克托羅斯河的源頭，在河裏洗個澡。米達斯（Midas）依法行事，立即解除了點金術，但帕克托羅斯河的沙子至今因含金而閃閃發光。
註：the Midas touch (米達斯的觸摸) 指某些人天生有賺錢的本事，作生意或投資都會成功，好像手碰到就變成黃金似的。