King Midas and the Golden Touch

关于这个故事

The story of King Midas and his golden wish comes from the Roman poet Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book 11. In Ovid, Bacchus (the Greek Dionysus) rewards Midas for looking after his old teacher Silenus; Midas wishes that everything he touches will turn to gold, finds he cannot eat or drink, and is cured by washing at the source of the river Pactolus, whose sands turn golden. Ovid's Midas has no daughter in this episode: the girl who turns to gold in his arms was added by the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne in The Golden Touch, part of A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys (1852), where she is called Marygold. This version keeps Ovid's story and borrows Hawthorne's daughter, here named Zoe, and his jug of river water that brings her back.

讲给孩子听的小贴士

• Pause when Dionysus says ask for any gift, and ask your child what they would wish for.
• List together everything Midas couldn't enjoy once it turned to gold.
• At the end, ask: what do you love more than treasure?

常见问题

What is the meaning of the Midas touch?

Today the Midas touch means a talent for making money or making everything succeed. In the original myth it is more curse than gift: Midas cannot eat or drink, because his food and water turn to gold.

What is the moral of King Midas?

Greed can cost you what really matters. Gold is worthless if you can't eat, drink or hold the people you love, and Midas only becomes happy again when he gives the gift back.

Did King Midas turn his daughter to gold?

Not in the ancient myth. In Ovid's version his food, drink and belongings turn to gold. The daughter, Marygold, was added by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1852, and many modern retellings include her.