"And will you never regret the possession of it?"
"What could induce me?" asked Midas. "I ask nothing else, to
render me perfectly happy."
"Be it as you wish, then," replied the stranger, waving his hand
in token of farewell. "To-morrow, at sunrise, you will find
yourself gifted with the Golden Touch."
The figure of the stranger then became exceedingly bright, and
Midas involuntarily closed his eyes. On opening them again, he
beheld only one yellow sunbeam in the room, and, all around him,
the glistening of the precious metal which he had spent his
life in hoarding up.
IV.
Whether Midas slept as usual that night, the story does not say.
But when the earliest sunbeam shone through the window, and
gilded the ceiling over his head, it seemed to him that this
bright yellow sunbeam was reflected in rather a singular way on
the white coverimg of the bed. Looking more closely, what was his
astonishment and delight, when he found that this linen fabric
had been transmuted to what seemed a woven texture of the purest
and brightest gold! The Golden Touch had come to him with the
first sunbeam!
Midas started up, in a kind of joyful frenzy, and ran about the
room, grasping at everything that happened to be in his way.
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