Greece

The Midas Touch Hello, this is Natasha, and this is a story from Ancient Greece about the original gold finger. His name was King Midas and he had what he thought was a great gift. Anything he touched turned to gold. But he soon learned that his golden touch wasn't so much a gift as a curse. This story is called The Midas Touch. There was once a dreadfully ugly beast called Silenus. He pranced over the mountains on a pair of hairy goat’s legs. A long tail swished behind him, but from the waist up he was a man, more or less. His big belly bounced up and down as he ran along.

Hello, this is Jana, and I’m here with a love story from ancient times. We’re in a romantic mood, because we are recording this just before St Valentine’s day. First we must set the scene. The Dardanelles is a stretch of seawater that separates the continents of Europe and Asia. In ancient times, this thin, winding sea, that looks something like a broad river, was called the Hellespont. It’s very deep and about three quarters of a mile wide at its narrowest point. Do you think it would be safe to attempt to swim across it?

We bring you this sad but, we hope, beautiful story in verse. Orpheus the musician married Eurydice the shepherdess. When she was killed by a snake, he travelled down to the underworld and was granted one chance to fetch her back to life. Bertie has freely adapted this ancient tale into his own poem. Yes, we did warn you, it is sad. Adaptation by Bertie. Read by Richard.