One of the early kings of Lydia, along the western coast of Anatolia, was Midas, known as the man with the golden touch.

When Midas was a young man, the faun Pan was his friend and favorite musician. One day Pan challenged Apollo to a musical contest. Apollo was a notable performer on the lyre. Midas, certainly not an impartial observer, insisted on judging the contest. Even though Pan, blowing his thin pipes, was no match for the great Apollo, Midas declared him the winner. Midas, who had evidently not heard how unwise it was it was to cross Apollo, awarded the prize to Pan. Although Apollo was obviously the better musician, Apollo punished him for his bad judgment by giving him a pair of donkey's ears (PJ Criss, 1997).

Midas was completely humiliated. How could a king appear in public with long, hairy ears? Finally, afraid that he would be a laughing stock to all his people, he called in a barber. The barber, a simple fellow, was surprised to find his king with his head tied up in a big bandage.

"Have you had an accident, Sire?" he asked.

"Yes" said Midas, curtly, "and I want you to help me. First, you must swear by all the gods that you will never tell a living soul what I am going to show you."

The barber promised. Then Midas unwrapped his head and showed his ears.

"What am I going to do about these?" he demanded. "You'll have to fix my hair to hide them."

"How did it happen, Your Majesty?" the barber inquired.

"Never mind that," said Midas. "Now get to work."

After a great deal of experimentation with wigs and the King's own hair, the offending ears were covered and the barber allowed to go, after being warned that if he ever mentioned the King's ears, he would lose his head. The barber, like others of his profession, was a sociable, talkative fellow. He had to keep close watch over his tongue because the wonderful secret was almost more than he could keep to himself. As he shaved his customers, he'd find himself saying, "I saw the strangest thing in the King's palace the other night." Then he'd have to invent some other story so as not to tell about the ears. Finally, unable any longer to keep silent, he went out into a field and dug a deep hole. Into it he told the story ending with, "Our King Midas has donkey's ears!" Afterwards he felt relieved and went about his work happily again (Parada, 1997).

Reeds grew up around the hole. As the wind blew through them, an echo from the hole murmured the last words of the barber's story; "Our King Midas has donkey's ears." People who passed told what they had heard, and soon everybody knew Midas's secret. What happened to the barber? No one has ever heard.

Criss, PJ. The Book of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes and Other Characters of Mythology. April 18, 1997. http://www.cybercomm.net/~grandpa/grkmyth.html#midas

Parada, Carlos. Midas-Geneology Guide. September 18,1997. Greek Mythology Link. http://hsa.brown.edu/~maicar/Midas.html