WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.210 Midas Part 2 00:00:06.210 --> 00:00:12.270 From that day onwards, King Midas hated gold. 00:00:12.270 --> 00:00:17.390 Every day he would wander deep in the forest far from his palace, 00:00:17.390 --> 00:00:20.880 far from the clink and the chink of golden coins, 00:00:20.880 --> 00:00:24.460 far from the glimmer and the glitter of golden statues. 00:00:24.460 --> 00:00:30.550 He would wander deep and deep into the silences of the forest. 00:00:30.550 --> 00:00:35.520 And one day, as he was wandering, suddenly he heard the sound of music; 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:37.670 and he stumbled on a clearing, 00:00:37.670 --> 00:00:42.240 and there, sitting in the middle of the clearing, was Pan, 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:48.430 the god of wild things, the god of wild places and wild animals, 00:00:48.430 --> 00:00:56.460 Pan with his horns and his goat legs, playing his pipes, his pan-pipes. 00:00:56.460 --> 00:01:04.110 King Midas crouched among the bushes listening to the music, enchanted and entranced. 00:01:04.110 --> 00:01:08.970 And then Pan lowered his pipes from his lips and he began to boast: 00:01:08.970 --> 00:01:11.190 'I’m the finest musician of them all. 00:01:11.190 --> 00:01:13.680 I’m the finest musician in the world. 00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:16.950 I’m a finer musician even than golden Apollo, 00:01:16.950 --> 00:01:19.800 when he plucks his golden lyre.' 00:01:19.800 --> 00:01:25.840 Well, nothing is hidden from the eyes and the ears of the mighty gods and goddesses. 00:01:25.840 --> 00:01:29.380 And golden Apollo, on the high slopes of Mount Olympus, 00:01:29.380 --> 00:01:36.300 heard the sound of Pan's voice and his forehead furrowed into a frown. 00:01:36.300 --> 00:01:41.180 And suddenly the golden god was standing in the clearing in front of Pan. 00:01:41.180 --> 00:01:43.160 And King Midas, ‘Eh?’ 00:01:43.160 --> 00:01:46.600 Two gods staring at one another. 00:01:46.600 --> 00:01:48.080 And golden Apollo said, 00:01:48.080 --> 00:01:53.070 'Pan, we will have a contest of music, you and I, 00:01:53.070 --> 00:01:56.640 and the judge will be that mountain.' 00:01:56.640 --> 00:02:03.380 And he pointed to a great mountain called Tmolus that rose high above the tops of the trees. 00:02:03.380 --> 00:02:08.990 And as golden Apollo pointed, a strange thing happened. 00:02:08.980 --> 00:02:18.680 From either side of the mountain two huge, grey, stone ears unfolded. 00:02:18.680 --> 00:02:21.200 And the first to play was Pan; 00:02:21.200 --> 00:02:25.710 he lifted his pipes to his lips and he began to blow. 00:02:25.710 --> 00:02:30.720 And in his music were all the sounds of wild nature: 00:02:30.720 --> 00:02:33.520 the baying and the belling of stags, 00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:35.190 the howling of wolves, 00:02:35.190 --> 00:02:36.880 the thundering of hooves, 00:02:36.880 --> 00:02:39.400 the creaking and cracking of branches, 00:02:39.400 --> 00:02:41.520 the crashing of flood water, 00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:43.400 the bright songs of birds, 00:02:43.400 --> 00:02:45.340 the humming of bees. 00:02:45.340 --> 00:02:51.840 It was a music both beautiful and terrifying at the same time. 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:55.230 And then Pan lowered his pipe from his lips. 00:02:55.230 --> 00:03:01.820 And Apollo lifted his lyre to his shoulder and he began to play. 00:03:01.820 --> 00:03:03.100 And as he played, 00:03:03.100 --> 00:03:11.510 it was as though the strings of his lyre were the threads of the loom upon which the whole world was woven. 00:03:11.510 --> 00:03:14.270 It was as though every note was an element, 00:03:14.270 --> 00:03:16.890 every melody was a formula. 00:03:16.890 --> 00:03:20.910 And as the shimmering, cascading music came, 00:03:20.910 --> 00:03:24.280 the whole world held its breath. 00:03:24.280 --> 00:03:29.220 And then, when Apollo lowered his lyre from his shoulder and the music stopped, 00:03:29.220 --> 00:03:31.640 the whole world sighed. 00:03:31.640 --> 00:03:34.710 Pan dropped to his knees and lowered his head. 00:03:34.710 --> 00:03:40.270 The great mountain Tmolus opened his cavernous cave of a mouth and pronounced, 00:03:40.270 --> 00:03:42.730 'Apollo is the winner.' 00:03:42.730 --> 00:03:45.470 But then, from among the bushes, there came a voice: 00:03:45.470 --> 00:03:46.330 'No!. 00:03:46.330 --> 00:03:48.870 Why should the victory go to golden Apollo? 00:03:48.870 --> 00:03:55.060 Why should the victory go to the plinkety plonk of a plucked lyre when Pan's music is the real thing? 00:03:55.060 --> 00:03:58.250 Pan's music is finer by far.' 00:03:58.250 --> 00:04:00.200 It was King Midas. 00:04:00.200 --> 00:04:03.350 And golden Apollo turned and looked at him, 00:04:03.350 --> 00:04:05.190 and he frowned. 00:04:05.190 --> 00:04:10.300 And with the frown of Apollo King Midas felt himself suddenly strangely changed. 00:04:10.300 --> 00:04:13.310 He reached up, he felt his face with his hands, 00:04:13.310 --> 00:04:15.400 and his ears had moved. 00:04:15.400 --> 00:04:18.430 They were no longer growing out of the side of his face; 00:04:18.430 --> 00:04:21.280 they were growing out of the top of his head. 00:04:21.280 --> 00:04:23.470 He touched them with his fingers: 00:04:23.470 --> 00:04:29.450 two grey twitching, bristling donkey's ears. 00:04:29.450 --> 00:04:33.360 Those ears, that had listened and had not heard, 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:38.120 had been turned into the ears of an ass. 00:04:38.120 --> 00:04:40.000 He looked around himself. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:42.050 Pan had vanished. 00:04:42.050 --> 00:04:43.920 He crouched down behind the bushes, 00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:47.070 folding his ears down against the side of his face. 00:04:47.070 --> 00:04:53.220 And all day he waited till the sun set and the night came and the sky brightened with stars. 00:04:53.220 --> 00:04:57.440 And then he made his way through the forest and back to his palace. 00:04:57.440 --> 00:05:04.190 And he found a length of purple cloth and he wrapped it round and around and around and around his head. 00:05:04.190 --> 00:05:07.850 And he thought, 'Now, nobody need know.' 00:05:07.850 --> 00:05:13.300 But a king's hair will grow just as anybody else's hair will grow. 00:05:13.300 --> 00:05:16.520 And the days and the weeks and the months passed. 00:05:16.520 --> 00:05:21.530 And soon enough, King Midas knew that he needed a haircut. 00:05:21.530 --> 00:05:24.590 And so he called a barber to a secret room. 00:05:24.590 --> 00:05:26.700 And he said to the barber, 00:05:26.700 --> 00:05:28.150 'Can you keep a secret?' 00:05:28.150 --> 00:05:30.720 And the barber said, 'Oh yes, I can keep a secret.' 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:33.420 And King Midas said, 'If you can keep my secret, 00:05:33.420 --> 00:05:35.550 you have a job for life. 00:05:35.550 --> 00:05:37.990 Every week you can cut my hair, 00:05:37.990 --> 00:05:42.260 and every week I'll pay you with a purse full of silver coins.' 00:05:42.260 --> 00:05:46.270 And the barber said, 'Then, I can certainly keep your secret.' 00:05:46.270 --> 00:05:49.080 So King Midas unwound the cloth, 00:05:49.080 --> 00:05:51.560 he unwound it and he unwound it, 00:05:51.560 --> 00:05:54.190 and his hair flopped down over his shoulders; 00:05:54.190 --> 00:06:01.450 and out of the top of his head two twitching, bristling, grey donkey's ears pointed up at the ceiling. 00:06:01.450 --> 00:06:03.370 And the barber stared, 00:06:03.370 --> 00:06:07.410 laughter and horror wrestling in the pit of his belly, 00:06:07.410 --> 00:06:08.800 but he said nothing. 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:11.210 And he took his scissors and his razor, 00:06:11.210 --> 00:06:14.890 and he shaved and he shaped and he cut and he clipped. 00:06:14.890 --> 00:06:16.660 And when the hair was done, 00:06:16.660 --> 00:06:21.310 King Midas took a purse of silver coins and he dropped it into the barber's hand, 00:06:21.310 --> 00:06:25.290 and he said, 'Remember, not a word to anybody.' 00:06:25.290 --> 00:06:28.280 And the barber bowed and he was gone. 00:06:28.280 --> 00:06:33.430 And King Midas wrapped the purple cloth round and around and around his head. 00:06:33.430 --> 00:06:37.530 And for one day, the barber kept the secret. 00:06:37.530 --> 00:06:40.710 But it was as though he had a mouse pouched in his cheek. 00:06:40.710 --> 00:06:42.830 Every time he opened his mouth, 00:06:42.830 --> 00:06:46.010 he thought the secret was going to jump out. 00:06:46.010 --> 00:06:48.300 For two days he kept the secret, 00:06:48.300 --> 00:06:53.130 but every word he spoke seemed to be turning into 'King Midas has donkey's ears'. 00:06:53.130 --> 00:06:55.380 Every thought seemed to be becoming 00:06:55.380 --> 00:06:58.670 'The king has the ears of an ass.' 00:06:58.670 --> 00:07:02.880 And on the third day he could stand it no longer. 00:07:02.880 --> 00:07:06.040 He went out into a forest with a trowel. 00:07:06.040 --> 00:07:12.220 He knelt on the ground, he dug a hole and he whispered into the hole, 00:07:12.220 --> 00:07:14.400 'King Midas has donkey's ears; 00:07:14.400 --> 00:07:17.070 the king has the ears of an ass.' 00:07:17.070 --> 00:07:19.580 And he filled up the hole and he went home, 00:07:19.580 --> 00:07:22.910 feeling comfortable at last. 00:07:22.910 --> 00:07:27.640 But where he'd dug the hole, a cluster of reeds grew. 00:07:27.640 --> 00:07:30.560 And the wind blew through the reeds, 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:33.890 and the reeds began to whisper the secret. 00:07:33.890 --> 00:07:36.440 And the birds heard the reeds whispering, 00:07:36.440 --> 00:07:39.240 and they began to sing the secret. 00:07:39.240 --> 00:07:43.280 And soon enough the whole world knew: 00:07:43.280 --> 00:07:46.560 King Midas has donkey's ears; 00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:51.310 the king has the ears of an ass.