A short time after he left Phrygia all Asia owned Alexander the Great as
king, and maybe that was the way the knot was to be undone. Anyway, he
did not give it up, and that is a good thing for us to remember. Cut the
Gordian knots if they will not be untied.
The little boy who rode in the wagon with Gordius was Midas. After his
father Gordius died, Midas was chosen King of Phrygia. He was kind and
just to the people, as Gordius must have been, or they would not have
chosen his son Midas to be their king.
[Illustration: Silenus Holding Bacchus. From a statue in Rome]
One day while Midas was king some peasants found an old man wandering
about in the woods. The forest was strange to him and he had lost his
way. Midas knew him as soon as the peasants had brought him to the
king's palace. It was Silenus, a teacher whose fame had gone through all
the world. Midas treated Silenus with the greatest respect. For ten days
there was feasting and games in the palace in honor of Silenus. On the
eleventh day Midas took him back to the house of his greatest pupil.
This pupil was more than mortal, so the story goes. His name was
Bacchus. Midas told him all about the finding of Silenus, and Silenus
told all about the pleasant time he had at the king's palace.
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