whole world were to become his treasure-room, and
be filled with yellow metal which should be all his own.

Now, I need hardly remind such wise little people as you are, that in
the old, old times, when King Midas was alive, a great many things
came to pass, which we should consider wonderful if they were to
happen in our own day and country. And, on the other hand, a great
many things take place nowadays, which seem not only wonderful to us,
but at which the people of old times would have stared their eyes out.
On the whole, I regard our own times as the strangest of the two; but,
however that may be, I must go on with my story.

Midas was enjoying himself in his treasure-room, one day, as usual,
when he perceived a shadow fall over the heaps of gold; and, looking
suddenly up, what should he behold but the figure of a stranger,
standing in the bright and narrow sunbeam! It was a young man, with a
cheerful and ruddy face. Whether it was that the imagination of King
Midas threw a yellow tinge over everything, or whatever the cause
might be, he could not help fancying that the smile with which the
stranger regarded him had a kind of golden radiance in it. Certainly,
although his figure intercepted the sunshine, there was now a brighter
gleam upon all the piled-up treasures than before. Even the remotest
corners had their share of it, and were lighted up, when the stranger
smiled, as with tips of flame and sparkles of fire.

As Midas knew that he had carefully turned the key in the lock, and
that no mortal strength could possibly break into his treasure-room,
he, of course, concluded that his visitor must be something more than
mortal. It is no matter about telling you who he was. In those days,
when the earth was comparatively a new affair, it was supposed to be
often the resort of beings endowed with supernatural power, and who
used to interest themselves in the joys and sorrows of men, women, and
children, half playfully and half seriously. Midas had met such beings
before now, and was not sorry to meet one of them again. The
stranger's aspect, indeed, was so good-humored and kindly, if not
beneficent, that it would have been unreasonable to suspect him of
intending any mischief. It was far more probable that he came to do
Midas a favor. And what could that favor be, unless to multiply his
heaps of treasure?

The stranger gazed about the room; and when his lustrous smile had
glistened upon all the golden objects th