The gifts of the Gods are not always what they seem.  Take warning from the tale of King Midas, who thought himself wise.

Midas had been tutored in the mysteries of the god of wine, Dionysys, by the poet Orpheus. So when one day some peasants brought before him an old, drunken satyr, bound with chains of flowers, Midas recognized him as Silenus, a companion of Dionysys.

Midas feasted Silenus for ten days and nights, and in return, Silenus told him many strange things.  He told of a terrible whirlpool beyond which no traveler could pass. Beside it, two streams flowed.  By the first grew a tree whose fruit caused those who ate of it to waste away. By the second grew a tree whose fruit made men young again.  One bite took an old man back to middle age; two bites and he was a young man again; in three bites he was back in adolescence; in four, a child; in five, a baby.  A sixth bite, and he would disappear altogether.

At length, Midas took Silenus back to Dionysys, by the banks of the Pactolus River.  The god had been missing his companion, and by way of gratitude for Silenus's safe return, he offered to grant Midas any wish he might ask for.

Midas first thought of Silenus's tale, but then he remembered a story that when he was a baby, some ants had been seen carrying golden grains of wheat and placing them between his lips -- a sign of great wealth to come.  So, instead of choosing youth, Midas said, "Grant that whatever I touch will turn to gold!"

The god granted Midas's wish, and the king went away, delighted with his good fortune.  He broke a twig from a low growing branch of oak, and it turned to gold.  He touched a stone and a clod of earth, and they, too, turned to gold.  He gathered an ear of corn, and it turned to glittering metal in his hand. He picked an apple, and it became as golden as the fabled apples of the Hesperides.

He touched the pillars of his palace doorway, and they turned to gold. Even the water in which he washed splashed golden over his hands.  He called for food and wine.  But when he reached for a piece of bread, it too, turned to gold. When he bit into some meat, it turned to metal where his teeth touched it.  Even the wine, Dionysys's discovery and gifts to men, turned to liquid gold as it passed his lips.

Midas could neither eat nor drink, and soon he was in a torment of hunger and thirst.  Gold, which had once been his heart's desire, was now hateful to him.  He begged Dionysys to free him of his gift.

Dionysys tool pity on the wretched man and told him, "To cancel the gift, you must go to the source of the Pactolus River.  Bathe in the spring there, and wash away your greed."

Midas did as he was told and, as he bathed, his golden touch washed away.  The waters ran with gold, and even now the soil along the riverbank has a golden gleam.