King Midas and his Golden Touch

Long ago, Greece was divided into many different small kingdoms. One of these kingdoms was ruled by a man named King Midas. King Midas was very rich. Many people said that he had more gold than any other king in the world. Even though he was rich, Midas was so greedy that he always wanted to be richer. His favorite thing was gold, and he would do anything to get more. Truly, he wished that everything in his kingdom could be gold, and he hated looking at any object that wasn't. He wore yellow robes and slept in a yellow bed because they reminded him of gold. He even used a golden knife and fork to eat.

Midas loved gold so much that he named his only daughter Marygold. If there was anything that King Midas loved as much as gold, it was his young daughter. She was a beautiful little girl and she loved to play in the castle's garden. Each morning she would pick flowers and bring them to her father, and each morning her father would say the same thing:

"What beautiful flowers, my daughter. The only thing that could make them more beautiful is if they were gold."

One day, while out playing in the garden, Marygold found an old man sleeping in a bed of flowers. She called to her father, and he came out quickly to see who it was. The man was not an ordinary man; in fact, he was not a man at all. His name was Silenus, and he was a Satyr. He was good friends with Bacchus, the god of wine.

When King Midas found Silenus, he did not punish him for destroying his garden. Actually, Midas just laughed at the old man because he was drunk on too much wine. The noise awoke Silenus, and King Midas invited him inside to have dinner and wine. Silenus stayed as the king's guest for ten days, and the two men merrily drank wine and ate great dinners the whole time.

After ten days, Bacchus came to find Silenus. When he arrived at the castle, he found Silenus and Midas walking in the garden.

"So there you are, Silenus," began Bacchus, "have you been enjoying yourself here?"

Silenus told Bacchus what a wonderful time he had been having, and about King Midas' kindness. Bacchus was impressed and decided to reward Midas for his good treatment of Silenus.

"Good King Midas," said Bacchus, "thank you for taking care of my good friend, Silenus. As a reward, I will give you one wish."

Midas only thought about it for a second and said, "I wish that everything I touch be turned into beautiful, yellow gold."

"But Midas, you are the richest king in the world," said Bacchus. "No other man has as much gold as you. Do you truly want more?"

"I may be the richest," said the king, "but I would like much more; for gold is the best and the most wonderful thing in the world."

"Are you sure you will not regret your wish?" asked Bacchus.

"I am very sure," answered King Midas.

"I will give you your wish then," said Bacchus. "At sunrise tomorrow morning, your touch will turn anything into gold."

The next day Midas awoke very early. He was very excited to use his magic power and make his whole kingdom into gold.

As soon as the sun came up above the mountains, Midas tried his magic power by touching the bed lightly with his hand. Instantly the bed turned into gold. He then walked around the room touching many other things. He touched the chair and table, the mirror hanging on the wall, and all of his clothing—all of them turned to gold.

King Midas was wild with joy. He put on some of his, now gold, clothing and ran around the castle, touching everything he could see. His magic gift turned it all into shining, yellow gold. He even ran out into the garden and touched all of the trees and flowers and they all became gold as well.

The king soon felt hungry and went back inside to eat his breakfast. Before sitting down, he touched the table, chairs, and plates, and they all turned into gold. He was so happy that he ordered his cooks to make him a great meal of all his favorite foods. The servants came in carrying many plates of food and King Midas looked out at all the delicious meats and cakes.

Now a strange thing happened. He reached for an egg and put it on his plate. When he looked down, he saw that the egg had turned into gold. He then lifted a glass of clear cold water to drink, but it became gold too. The same thing happened with all of his food: the cakes turned to gold; the meat was hard, and yellow, and shiny. As much as he tried, he could not get anything to eat. It had all become gold, gold, gold!

Just then, Marygold came running in from the garden. She was holding a flower in her hand and crying.

"Why are you crying, my love?" King Midas asked.

"Something terrible has happened to the flowers!" cried Marygold and held up a gold rose.

"Why, there isn't anything wrong with the flowers," said the king to his daughter, "they are better than before—they are gold!"

Marygold did not care though. "Before the flowers were many different colors and they had a beautiful smell. Now they are all one color and hard and they don't smell at all," she cried.

Midas did not like to see his daughter crying and reached his arms around her and held her tightly. "It will be okay," he said. "Daddy will plant new flowers for you."

Marygold did not answer. When Midas looked down at her, he saw that she, too, had become gold!

Suddenly the king became very afraid. He had lost his daughter, the most wonderful thing in the world to him. Also he knew that he would not be able to eat and would soon die. He put his head down on the table and cried loudly.

"Is something wrong?" asked a voice.

The king looked up and saw Bacchus.

"Oh, great Bacchus, I was wrong," Midas cried. "I do not want the golden touch. Please take away this horrible power! You may have my kingdom and my castle and all of my money; just give me back my daughter."

"But don't you think that gold is the greatest thing in the world?" asked Bacchus.

"No! I hate it and cannot bear to even look at it!" cried Midas.

"Are you sure that you do not want the golden touch?" asked Bacchus.

"I am sure; I understand better now," said the king. "I now see that gold isn't the greatest thing in the world."

"So you now see that there are things in life more valuable than gold," said Bacchus. "I will take away your golden touch. Take this bucket to the river behind the castle and fill it with water. Pour this water on anything you have turned into gold and it will return to its original state."

King Midas took the bucket and rushed to the river. He returned just a few minutes later and poured the bucket of water on his daughter. Instantly she became flesh again. Midas felt as happy as he had ever felt and held his daughter tightly.

The king then used the water to change back his food and water. He and Marygold sat down together and had a great meal. King Midas was amazed at how good everything tasted and how cold and fresh the water felt.

After breakfast, he and Marygold walked around the castle together changing back everything that he had touched earlier. The only thing that never changed back was Marygold's hair. It had turned from black into a golden yellow, and it stayed that way for the rest of her life.

(end of section)