By Michael Hercules & Camden Eichelberger Mythology and Theme By Michael Hercules & Camden Eichelberger

King Midas and the Golden Touch Once, there was a King named Midas. He was a very greedy king. He had one daughter and was very fond of her. His wife had died and money had taken the old queen’s place. One day, while counting his gold, the god OneWish approached him. OneWish said, “I will grant you any wish, except a wish involving more wishes.” Being a greedy man, he easily picked his wish. He wished that every thing he touched would turn to gold. OneWish then asked for a confirmation that this would be the king’s wish. King Midas said it was his wish and so OneWish, his work done, disappeared.

Because of his new power, King Midas could turn anything he touched to gold. Since he was a greedy man, King Midas set out touching everything in his large palace and turning it to gold. When it was his dinner time, however, he found he could not eat or drink, because the food and beverages turned to gold. This was not good. Even though he couldn’t eat or drink he enjoyed all the gold around him.

As King Midas slowly strolled through his palace he turned practically everything he saw into gold. He would turn birdbaths and pillars into solid gold. As he walked, the grass under his feet became gold. (He wasn’t wearing his sandals because they gave him blisters, since they were golden.) When he got to his garden he saw his daughter and continued turning things to gold. When he turned a rose to gold his daughter became very upset and ran back to their mansion, crying.

King Midas threw down the (now golden) rose and sadly followed his daughter to their (mostly) golden mansion. When he got inside, he searched for his daughter for a while, because she had been so upset that she had hidden herself. When he finally found her (hiding in a pot in a cupboard in the kitchen), he told her how sorry he was. He also admitted that he didn’t like it as much as he would have thought, considering he couldn’t eat or drink. When she understood him they hugged and she turned into a golden statue. This was it for him he called OneWish right back down from Mount Olympus and demanded that the wish be undone and everything he touched turned back to their regular forms (not gold).

OneWish said that he could undo the wish, but turning everything else that he touched back to normal would be considered a second wish. King Midas understood this but still demanded that there should be some way to make everything normal. To this OneWish said that if King Midas would splash water from the river GoldGone everything would return to normal. King Midas did this and lived happily ever after.

Theme – the moral or life lesson of a story. There may be many different themes that you cuold get out of this story. The most common theme you could get out of this is to not be greedy.