The Phrygians were without a king, but an oracle at Telmissus (the ancient capital of Lycia) decreed that the next man to enter the city driving an ox-cart should become their king. A peasant farmer named Gordias drove into town on an ox-cart and was immediately declared king. Out of gratitude, his son Midas dedicated the ox-cart to the Phrygian god Sabazios (whom the Greeks identified with Zeus) and tied it to a post with an intricate knot of cornel bark (Cornus mas). The knot was later described by Roman historian Quintus Curtius Rufus as comprising "several knots all so tightly entangled that it was impossible to see how they were fastened".

The ox-cart still stood in the palace of the former kings of Phrygia at Gordium in the fourth century BC when Alexander arrived, at which point Phrygia had been reduced to a satrapy, or province, of the Persian Empire. An oracle had declared that any man who could unravel its elaborate knots was destined to become ruler of all of Asia. Alexander wanted to untie the knot but struggled to do so without success. After a long time of stuggling, Alexander pulled the knot off of its pole pin, exposing the two ends of the cord and allowing him to untie the knot.

Alexander later went on to conquer Asia as far as the Indus and the Oxus, thus fulfilling the prophecy.

What do we learn from this story?

Many times, you have to think outside the box and take an unconventional approach to solving an issue. Don't look at just what is in front of you; what you can see... Look at what you cannot see and perhaps you'll find the solution to the puzzle before you