"You are a wealthy man, friend Midas!" he observed. "I doubt
whether any other four walls on earth contain so much gold as you
have contrived to pile up in this room."
"I have done pretty well,--pretty well," answered Midas, in a
discontented tone. "But, after all, it is but a trifle, when you
consider that it has taken me my whole lifetime to get it
together. If one could live a thousand years, he might have time
to grow rich!"
"What!" exclaimed the stranger. "Then you are not satisfied?"
Midas shook his head.
"And pray, what would satisfy you?" asked the stranger. "Merely
for the curiosity of the thing, I should be glad to know."
Why did the stranger ask this question? Did he have it in his
power to gratify the king's wishes? It was an odd question, to
say the least.
III.
Midas paused and meditated. He felt sure that this stranger, with
such a golden luster in his good-humored smile, had come hither
with both the power and the purpose of gratifying his utmost
wishes. Now, therefore, was the fortunate moment, when he had but
to speak, and obtain whatever possible, or seemingly impossible
thing, it might come into his head to ask.
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