Once upon a time, there lived a very rich king whose name was Midas.
Although King Midas lived long ago, he was very much like some people today: he was fond
of gold.
He loved gold more than anything in the world.
When he gazed at the gold-colored clouds of a beautiful sunset, he would wish that the
clouds were real gold.
If King Midas loved anything as much or more than he loved gold, it was his little daughter,
who was named Marygold.
When Marygold would run to meet him with a bunch of buttercups, King Midas would say,
"Dear child, if these flowers were as golden as they look, then they would be worth picking."
Every day, King Midas spent many hours locked away in a dark room in the basement of the
palace.
In this room he stored his treasures.
He would go there and carefully lock the door behind him.
Then he would take out bags of gold coins, and pour the coins in piles, and run his hands
through them.
As he did this, he would whisper to himself, "Oh, rich King Midas, what a happy man you
are!"
But even as he said this, he felt that he was not quite as happy as he might be.
For no matter how much he had, he always wanted more.
One day, as King Midas was enjoying himself in his treasure room, he looked up and saw
a strange young man, who shone with a golden glow.
King Midas knew that he had locked the door so that no one could get into the room, yet
here stood this man.
And so, King Midas thought, the stranger must have some magic power.
The stranger had a kind smile, so King Midas felt no fear.
Then the stranger spoke to King Midas: "You are a rich man, King Midas," he said.
"Yes, I have some gold," answered King Midas, "but it is not enough."
"What!" cried the stranger.
"You are not satisfied?"
King Midas shook his head.
"What would satisfy you?" asked the stranger.
King Midas imagined one gold mountain heaped on top of another, and another, yet still
it seemed not enough.
But then a bright idea occurred to him, and he said to the shining stranger, "I wish
that everything that I touch may turn to gold."
The stranger smiled and said, "A golden touch!
Are you quite sure you would be satisfied then?"
"Yes, I would be perfectly happy and ask for nothing more," answered King Midas.
"Then it shall be as you wish," said the stranger.
"Tomorrow, at sunrise, you shall find yourself gifted with the Golden Touch."
Then suddenly a great brightness filled the room, causing King Midas to squeeze his eyes
shut.
And when he opened them, the stranger was gone!
The next morning, when the sun had hardly peeped into his room, King Midas jumped out
of bed.
He touched a chair.
It turned to gold.
He touched the bed and a table, and they were changed to solid gold.
He rushed to put on his shoes, and they turned to gold in his hands.
In great excitement, he opened the door and he ran outside to the garden.
He saw many roses in full bloom.
He went from bush to bush and touched each one, until every flower, every leaf, and every
bud was changed to gold.
Now King Midas was hungry, so he returned to the palace for his breakfast.
He lifted his cup of coffee and sipped it, but the instant the liquid touched his lips
it turned to gold.
He tried to take a bite of a boiled egg, but it, too, turned to gold.
"I don't quite see how I am to get any breakfast!" said King Midas.
Just then King Midas heard someone crying.
He turned to see Marygold enter the room, crying as if her heart would break.
In her hand she held one of the roses that her father had changed to gold.
"Why, my little lady!" said King Midas.
"What is there in this beautiful golden rose to make you cry?"
"Dear father," Marygold answered, "it is not beautiful!
It is the ugliest flower that ever grew.
As soon as I was dressed this morning, I ran to the garden to gather roses for you.
But what do you think has happened?
All the beautiful sweet-smelling roses have been spoiled!"
"My dear little girl," said King Midas, who hated to see his daughter sad, "please
don't cry."
Then he bent down and kissed his child.
"My precious Marygold!" he said.
But Marygold did not answer.
Alas, what had he done?
The moment King Midas's lips touched Marygold's head, her sweet, rosy face turned a glittering
yellow color.
Little Marygold was now a golden statue!
King Midas cried out, wrung his hands, and wished that he were the poorest man in the
world if only he could have his daughter back again.
Then he noticed someone standing in the doorway.
It was the young stranger who had appeared the day before in King Midas's treasure
room.
The stranger still shone with a soft glow, and he smiled as he asked the king, "Well,
King Midas, how do you like your Golden Touch?"
"I am very unhappy," said King Midas.
"Unhappy?" asked the stranger.
"But don't you have everything your heart desired?"
"No," said King Midas.
"Gold is not everything.
And I have lost all that my heart really cared for."
Then the stranger asked King Midas, "Which of these two things do you think is worth
the most: the Golden Touch or your own little Marygold?"
"Oh, my child, my dear child!" cried poor King Midas.
"I would not give one hair off her head even if you gave me the power to change this
whole big earth into a solid lump of gold!"
"You are wiser than you were, King Midas," said the stranger.
"Go and plunge into the river that runs by your garden.
The water will take away the Golden Touch.
Then fi ll this pitcher with water, and sprinkle everything you have touched."
King Midas bowed low, and when he lifted his head, the shining stranger was gone.
Then the king ran as fast as he could and jumped into the river.
He filled the pitcher and ran back to the palace.
The first thing he did was to sprinkle handfuls of water over the golden figure of little
Marygold.
The rosy color came back into her cheeks.
She looked in surprise at her father, who was still throwing water on her!
"Father, please stop!" she cried.
"See how you have soaked my dress!"
King Midas took Marygold in his arms and kissed her.
"Now I am truly happy," he said.
"My dear child, you mean more to me than all the gold in the world!"
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