My own eyes will serve for ordinary
purposes, and little Marygold will soon be old enough to read to
me."
V.
Wise King Midas was so exalted by his good fortune, that the
palace seemed not sufficiently spacious to contain him. He
therefore went downstairs, and smiled on observing that the
balustrade of the staircase became a bar of burnished gold, as
his hand passed over it, in his descent. He lifted the door-latch
(it was brass only a moment ago, but golden when his fingers
quitted it), and emerged into the garden. Here, as it happened,
he found a great number of beautiful roses in full bloom, and
others in all the stages of lovely bud and blossom. Very
delicious was their fragrance in the morning breeze. Their
delicate blush was one of the fairest sights in the world; so
gentle, so modest, and so full of sweet soothing, did these roses
seem to be.
But Midas knew a way to make them far more precious, according to
his way of thinking, than roses had ever been before. So he took
great pains in going from bush to bush, and exercised his magic
touch most untiringly; until every individual flower and bud, and
even the worms at the heart of some of them, were changed to
gold.
Pages:
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220