King Midas

 

Vocabulary

king	greedy	once upon a time
ago	jewelry	long time ago
place	long (2)	still (2)
only	restless	think/thought/thought
toss	palace	toss about
alone	lovely	above all else
sweet	ground	dream (2)
bright	bouquet	fashion (2)
shine	share	choice (2)
sigh	merely	instead
real	worth	spacious
hurry	wealth	just as they are
cool	fresh	satisfy
wilt	remind	treasure
deep	slight	hide/hid/hidden
worry	stranger	discover
grant	surprise	cry/cried/cried
count	possibly	it doesn’t matter
lest	sunrise	contentment
wish	touch	turn into
wise	desire	farewell
doze	dawn	oversleep
ray	eager	try out
thing	promise	possible
wrap	pierce	dungeon
solid	glitter	thrown (2)
arm	armful	fragrance
ugly	hard (2)	beautiful
loaf	dear (2)	wonderful
pick	reach	imagine
sob	voice	disappointed
costly	comfort	comfortable
rigid	statue	poor (2)
rather	precious	weep/wept/wept
crust	relieve	eagerly
obey	former	sprinkle
trace	pitcher	lose no time
sight	shortly	disappear

 
 
 
 

Video

 
 

 
 

Transcript

 
 

King Midas

Once upon a time, a long time ago, there lived a king named Midas.

Midas was a very rich king, but he was not a happy king. For with all his gold and jewels, this greedy man still longed for more wealth. All day, all he would think only of gold.

Restless nights, as he tossed about in bed, he dreamed of more gold. He wanted above all else, to become the wealthiest man in the world.

Marigold

And often he would forget his young daughter, Marigold, whom he truly loved very much.

And so for long hours, little Marigold played all alone among the lovely flowers of the spacious palace grounds. Bright, shining yellow flowers, were her favorites.

And each day she fashioned the perfect bouquet of them to put on the palace tables.

Flowers

The choicest flower of the lot was always shared with her father.

But greedy King Midas only sighed and thought: “Ah if only these flowers were real gold, instead of merely gold in color. Then they would be truly worth having.”

But Marigold love the sweet-smelling flowers just as they were. And she hurried to place them in cool, fresh water, lest they wilt.

The Castle Dungeon

The bright, yellow color of the flowers reminded Midas of the golden coins and the treasures hidden deep in the castle dungeon. And he worried that perhaps someone had discovered them.

“Who are you? And how did you get in here?” cried King Midas in great surprise.

“It is of no matter,” said the stranger. “But why are you not happy, King Midas? You have more golden treasures and more golden coins than you could possibly count in a day.

Just what is it that will bring you contentment? What will satisfy you King Midas?”

The Wish

King Midas sighed. “I have long dreamed about becoming the richest man in the world. I have only one wish: I wish that everything I touch would turn into gold! Then I could be truly happy.”

“Very well then,” the stranger said. I will grant your wish. Tomorrow morning, at early sunrise, you shall have what you desire. You shall have the ‘golden touch’.

Use it wisely King Midas. And now farewell.”

The Next Day

Not wanting to go to bed, lest he oversleep, the king dozed that night on the chair at the head of his dining table.

At dawn the next morning, the golden rays of sunlight pierced the palace windows. King Midas woke at once, eager to try out his promised golden touch.

Possibility

At first the king could not believe it possible.

But when he wrapped around upon a chair, it became solid gold. Then one slight touch of his hand, and his thrown too turned into glittering gold.

Now King Midas knew that as long as he lived, he, King Midas, would be the wealthiest man in the world. For who could have more gold than he?

The golden touch made King Midas very happy.

Golden Flowers

But as he sat down to eat breakfast, Marigold came in from the garden with an armful of golden flowers.

“Look father,” she said sadly. What has happened to the flowers? They are hard and ugly and have no fragrance at all.”

“Wonderful my dear,” said the king. “They are real gold. Imagine, real gold. Come now, sit down and eat your breakfast.”

King Midas was very hungry.

Breakfast

But as he reached for an egg, it turned to gold at his touch. And as he picked up a loaf of bread, it too turned to gold.

“Oh this will never do,” thought the king to himself. “Such a costly breakfast, and not a thing to eat.”

He was angry with himself for having wished for the golden touch. And he was angry at the stranger for having granted his wish.

To Comfort

It sadden Marigold to see her father so disappointed. She wanted to comfort him.

But when the old king touched her arm — poor little Marigold became a statue of rigid gold.

King Midas surrounded by all his golden treasures, but now knew how all alone he was.

Sobbing

Through his sobs, he heard the voice of the stranger.

“Well my friend. So you have now made a discovery,”

Midas wept. For through his own greediness, he had lost the one thing he truly loved.

Choices

“Which would you rather have Midas, the precious golden touch or a glass of cool water?”

“A glass of cool water!” cried Midas.

“The golden touch, or a crust of bread?” said the stranger.

“A crust of bread,” answered Midas eagerly.

“The golden touch — or your daughter?”

“Oh my child, my dear, dear child!” wept Midas.

To be Relieved

“Very well then. If you wish to be relieved of the golden touch, wash your hands in the water of river outside your garden. Then take a vase with the same water, and sprinkle it on anything you wish to change back into its former state.

Remember me!”

And the stranger disappeared.

Obeying

King Midas lost no time in obeying the stranger’s words.

He reached for an empty pitcher and ran for the river for the precious water.

Shortly he returned, and at once sprinkled it over Marigold’s head.

The Golden Touch

Soon, all traces of the golden touch were gone.

And he began to hate the sight of anything made of gold. The only gold he the did enjoy, was the gold in his little daughter’s hair.

And so we are told, they lived happily ever after.

 

 

Questions

1. Who was Midas? Describe Midas. Was he happy or unhappy (sad)?

2. Who was Marigold? Does she like gold?

3. What happened in the dungeon?

4. King Midas became very happy. Why did he become very happy?

5. He continued to be very happy. True or false?

6. Did King Midas change?

7. What happened in the end?

8. Is there a moral or lesson in the story?
 
 
A. Are there similar stories of this in your country?

B. Is this a common theme in fairy tales and stories?

C. Do you know any examples of this story in real life?

D. Do storied like King Midas block poor, working class and middle class people from becoming upper-middle class or rich?

E. Who may have created these stories?