"And I have lost all
that my heart really cared for."
"Ah! So you have made a discovery, since yesterday?" observed the
stranger. "Let us see, then. Which of these two things do you
think is really worth the most,--the gift of the Golden Touch, or
one cup of clear cold water?"
"O blessed water!" exclaimed Midas. "It will never moisten my
parched throat again!"
"The Golden Touch," continued the stranger, "or a crust of
bread?"
"A piece of bread," answered Midas, "is worth all the gold on
earth!"
"The Golden Touch," asked the stranger, "or your own little
Marygold, warm, soft, and loving, as she was an hour ago?"
"O my child, my dear child!" cried poor King Midas, wringing his
hands. "I would not have given that one small dimple in her chin
for the power of changing this whole big earth into a solid lump
of gold!"
"You are wiser than you were, King Midas?" said the stranger,
looking seriously at him. "Your own heart, I perceive, has not
been entirely changed from flesh to gold. Were it so, your case
would indeed be desperate.
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