a stranger

the King himself

the king's daughter

He sees that his daughter is upset with him.

He is unsure about how to store his golden food.

His food turns to gold before he can swallow it.

He changes flowers to gold.

He apologizes to those he has hurt.

He sprinkles water on things he has touched.

the wood’s shape

the wood’s deep polish

the wood’s smooth texture

milky

radiant

romantic

a wire clothes hanger

scissors and glue

gold paint

wise

cruel

greedy

He had planted a garden, in which grew the biggest and beautifullest and sweetest roses that any mortal ever saw or smelt.

The very tip-top of enjoyment would never be reached, unless the whole world were to become his treasure-room, and be filled with yellow metal which should be all his own.

Midas was enjoying himself in his treasure-room, one day, as usual, when he perceived a shadow fall over the heaps of gold.

Once upon a time, there lived a very rich man, and a king besides, whose name was Midas; and he had a little daughter, whom nobody but myself ever heard of, and whose name I either never knew, or have entirely forgotten.

He made it his custom, therefore, to pass a large portion of every day in a dark and dreary apartment, under ground, at the basement of his place. It was here that he kept his wealth. To this dismal hole … Midas betook himself whenever he wanted to be particularly happy.

He drew out his handkerchief, which little Marygold had hemmed for him. That was likewise gold…. Somehow or other, this last transformation did not quite please King Midas. He would rather that his little daughter’s handiwork should have remained just the same.

Marygold refuses to forgive her father for the mistakes he’s made.

Marygold is weeping because she knows her father has given in to his desire for wealth.

Midas cannot satisfy his hunger for gold and his hunger for food at the same time.

Never let a stranger make important decisions on your behalf.

Everyday objects are beautiful and valuable just the way they are.

It is the parents’ duty to make wealth and pass it on to their children.

If he loved anything better, or half so well, it was the little maiden who played so merrily around her father’s footstool.

At last, a bright idea occurred to King Midas. It seemed really as bright as the glistening metal which he loved so much.

Perceiving a violet, that grew on the bank of the river, Midas touched it with his finger, and was overjoyed to find that the delicate flower retained its purple hue, instead of undergoing a yellow blight.

This King Midas was fonder of gold than of anything else in the world. He valued his royal crown chiefly because it was composed of that precious metal.

All this while, it was only the gray of the morning, with but a streak of brightness along the edge of the sky, where Midas could not see it.

Her father did not think it necessary to tell his beloved child how very foolish he had been, but contented himself with showing how much wiser he had now grown.

the conflict between Midas and nature

the conflict between Midas and the stranger

the conflict between Midas and his new power

Then, with a sweet and sorrowful impulse to comfort him, she started from her chair, and running to Midas, threw her arms affectionately about his knees.

It would be too sad a story, if I were to tell you how Midas, in the

fullness of his gratified desires, began to wring his hands and bemoan himself; and how he could neither bear to look at Marygold, nor yet to look away….

When King Midas had grown quite an old man, and used to trot

Marygold’s children on his knee, he was fond of telling them this

marvelous story, pretty much as I have now told it to you.

the description of King Midas’s garden

the moment the stranger appears in Midas’s chamber

the events after Midas gets his wish and before his daughter embraces him

The Golden Touch had come to him, with the first sunbeam!

The figure of the stranger then became exceedingly bright, and Midas involuntarily closed his eyes.

The victim of his insatiable desire for wealth, little Marygold was a human child no longer, but a golden statue!

light or shining

flexible or easy-going

slick or glossy

empty

bright

dull