Once upon a time there lived a king ( you know its a bout to get fire when once upon a time is dropped *wink* ) King Midas had the finest of everything, tapestry, glassware, chariot you name it, he had it. He had a beautiful wife and several really ten out of ten mistresses. Let’s just say King Midas lived every Luhya man’s dream hahaha! With all this Midas had dissatisfaction written all over his face. He would be seen walking forlornly in his beautifully manicured tulips garden.
Wish granting genies back in the day were pretty idle and indulged human whims so much, I mean, why don’t they show up like they did in older simpler times. (rolls eyes into my skull)
I digress, so this genie spots Midas and wonders what could be possibly troubling a man with such massive stature as him and decides to engage him in a bit of a tete-a-tete.
It suffices that King Midas, with all the glory and beauty and splendor that surrounded him, felt that he did not have enough. So the genie being a reasonable genie unlike the ones in Mombasa that folks over there hide in cats, tells him, you know what Midas, anything you touch will turn into gold, not just any gold, the purest and shiniest gold known to man, you will be the richest ruler to ever live, will that make you happy? Midas screams with glee like our current generation twelve year old who just discovered Tik tok. So it shall be. In one clean swoosh the genie grants the wish and vanishes. I think these wish granting genies from back in the day were basically conducting social experiments and when they actually discovered how bottom of the barrel we were they decided to bounce and never show up ever.
Midas super elated went about touching and converting everything in his site, hunting knives, swords and even the tulips in his beloved garden had to have a golden glint. The first sign of trouble checked in when the servant brought in his favorite dish, let’s just call it Biriani, because as per the tale, he touched it and it also turned to gold, water came, same thing. So here is King Midas hungry, thirsty and basically surrounded by the purest, rarest gold in the shape and form of literally every household item.
Crestfallen, he started to cry because just like our man from murima (wink wink) he knew his goose was cooked. That was not the end of it, I know I referenced a 12 year old Tik tok girl, but truly Midas had a twelve year old girl and despite his greedy a** she loved him to bits, you know how girls are with their fathers. Electra syndrome if you may. ( we shall talk about that some day hehe). The girl sees him crying and that is obviously an image she is not used to, concerned she rushes to him worried sick, before Midas could register her coming and perform an evasive maneuver, it was too late, she had flung herself to him in an attempt to hug him in consolation.
Yikes! I am sure you know how that bit of the story unfolded right? In your head you may be reprimanding Midas for being unsatisfied with literally having the world under his feet. I have news for you, you and I are no different from King Midas. It’s probably the reason why the genies stopped roaming around granting folks wishes. Everything in comparison pales. You may have a nice job that pays you relatively well and instead of being grateful and appreciating it and finding ways of making what you have better, you go on a bender comparing yourself to your colleague or neighbor who has a bigger car, house or phone.
Many of the problems we face in the world stem from the inability of many in society appreciating the concept of enough. It is gratifying as it is emancipating. Being grateful for what you have is not laxity by any measure. It is the understanding that this is where I am, this is what I have and I am thankful for it, because sure as there is someone with more than you, there is one with far less than you and they would even kill to have what you are not appreciating.
I too suffer from the same affliction that I write of. Writing is therapy for me and this year I have missed far too many sessions. By penning er I mean typing down some of these thoughts, it helps me forge a better me who appreciates and strives to improve on the many blessings the universe has bestowed upon me, that I could easily have taken for granted because one or two things not going my way, or that because someone has something better that I do.
I know I know, I switched gears from folklore to preachy faster than the latest Tesla roadster, but I had to lure you in one way or the other. First with the title and then second with the King Midas fable. I am no authority on the subject matter, but my two cents must be logged alright. A thousand years from now and some really advanced descendant of mine traces his heritage back to me and wonders what kind of wisdom did his ancestor possess, I hope this is of significance to them even in the slightest.
Oh, by the way, King Midas girl turned into a fine shiny golden statue. I want to believe the inconsolable King probably fainted and came to, more than two hundred times because he truly loved his little girl. I am a sadistic story teller and would make a worse film producer but the legend did not spin like that. I would like to leave Midas without his daughter and the painful stalk reminder in his garden everyday for the rest of his miserable life. The genie turns out was a benevolent one. I am sure he could hear Midas wailing from the high seas and heavens. So he swished back and granted him the reverse wish and the proper admonishment. I hope his greedy a** got the lesson.
PS:
I made no promises when I wrote Mr. Nice watch earlier this year and I’m making none again this time. The way life has been swinging lately, it’s a miracle I can still put organized thought together. On that grateful note, so long! Until the next one 🙂
PS PS:
I have been reading a lot more, so chances are I might actually write more!! I am even chiding myself into reviving the Joel Flash vLogs! Hahaha I hope I actually do it, let us all reprimand life and tell it to give me a break so I can document more 😉
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