King Midas : the golden touch

The story is about King Midas of Phrygia and and the musical contest he judges between two gods, Pan and Apollo. In the story, Midas does not choose the beautiful music that Apollo made but the shrill sound from the god Pan. Through several deeds and misdeeds, Midas finds favor with the god

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Dionysus and as a reward Midas is allowed one wish. Being greedy, Midas asks that everything he touches be turned to gold. Soon MIdas realizes that there is a problem with this wish. Everything would turn to gold when it touched him or he touched it. He realize that this turned out to be a very foolish wish.
I like this story because it teaches several very good life lessons. It teaches about being greedy, consequences of ones own actions and mercy. The story of Midas could be placed in two different categories. The first area I would list it in would be the fools tale. The story tells us that King Midas was weak, ignorant and backward because he did not think he needed to pray to the gods at all. His actions in the book show us that he does not think about the results but just does things that gets him into trouble. The other area that I could put this into would be fables. Fables are stories that teach lessons or morals and this teaches us a lesson about being greedy and how much trouble it can cause.
I could use this story in class to help students learn a life lesson about being careful what you wish for. Maybe they could write about something they wished for then read the book to them and then have them think about what consequences that wish could have in their life. I could also use this book as part of a "Greek Week" study in my class.

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A fairly stupid book (in my opinion) but the illustrations are out of this world! Midas is a foolish ruler, gets donkeys ears and the wishes for everything he touchs to turn to gold. Very selfish because then he can't even eat food.

A king wishes that everything he touches turns into gold. Sure enough he finds himself regretting his wish that he had made. It's a great story of his struggle of how to deal with the consequences.

I find myths very difficult to include in my classroom. I don't know how to discuss with my students why the Greeks had these beliefs. The illustrations are done well with all the gold touches.

Could be good to use in a mythology unit. I feel like it is a weak retelling, but the illustrations are great.

I like the pictures and the moral to this story was very good. I like the fact that they explained who each god was after they introduced them. I think it is interesting that everything turns to gold.

The illustrations in this picture book about King Midas perfectly bring to life this classic Greek tale with gold leaf and jewel tone paintings, many edged with the Greek key and other Greek patterns. The plethora of animals and Greek gods in a variety of active poses engage the imagination and

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bring this story to life. I really can’t imagine better illustrations for this story.

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The ancient Greeks believed their Gods were in everything. The people prayed to the Gods for everything; wisdom, power, knowledge, generosity, and moderation in their ways. King Midas did not believe he needed to pray to the Gods. He did everything backwards. King Midas believed he would be

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fulfilled if he was rich and had the most gold. King Midas, after returning a Satyr to Dionysus (the god of feasting and merriment), was granted a wish. In his greed, he wished for everything to turn to gold. King Midas thought this would be happiness until everything including his food turned to gold. King Midas realized that everything being gold is not the answer to happiness and sought out how to reverse it. The king rid himself of the curse and returned to his palace and everything was how it was before the wish. He then began a life of praying to the gods for wisdom, power, knowledge and generosity and moderation in all his ways for he realized his urges of wanting to be rich and backwards in his thinking did not bring him happiness.

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When King Midas allows his greed to overtake him, he finds himself wishing that he could take back a foolish wish that he made. His golden touch seems wonderful at first. However, when King Midas cannot eat, cry, or touch anyone, he seeks advice from the oracle. After washing away his wish, or what

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most consider a curse, King Midas finds a new found respect for life and all that it has to offer. He never lets his greed overtake him again. Demi beautifully illustrates this book with a great deal of gold and other vibrant color. I love both the story and illustrations.

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This would be a good book to introduce mid elementary students to the ideas of Greek Gods and how they are a part of important history. It does a great job at explaining what is happening with King Midas and why. It would interesting to read and see what the kids thought about it before you really

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started to explore the idea of Greek Gods and mythology.

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This book would be a good mythology to show students that if they ask their parents for something that they want really bad, and their parents say no, they might be saying no for a reason. They could be protecting them from something bad. The moral of this story also shows readers that is a bad

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thing to greedy.

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This picture book is about greedy and ignorant King Midas who does everything backwards. When asked to judge a music contest he inaccurately deems Pan the winner over talented Apollo, who subsequently gives Midas donkey ears. King Midas befriends Dionysus who grants him any wish he desires. King

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Midas greedily asks that everything he touches turns to gold. At first King Midas is exuberantly happy that everything he touches does indeed turn to gold, but soon finds that even his food turns to gold. He becomes disturbed and visits an oracle, pleading to lift the spell. King Midas follows the oracle's advice to jump into the river to break the spell and life returns to normal. His donkey ears remain however, alluding to another story to follow.

The illustrations in this book are beautiful. Every page has gold on it in appropriate places. The colors are vibrant and the book has several expandable pages that create a beautiful landscape. The story depicts an excellent lesson that is simple and easy to follow, yet valuable. A fun classroom activity could be for students to create their own sequel telling about how King Midas manages to get rid of his donkey ears.

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King Midas is a is a miserable greedy king who does not wish upon the stars and pray. He ends up angering the great god Apollo, who in return gives him donkey ears. King Midas hides them as he rules, until his hair grows too long and the barber sees his ears. The barber keeps the kings secret but

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must tell someone, so he whispers the secret into a hole and buries it. Soon the winds ask "who had donkey ears?"
King Midas finds a Silenus the Satyr, he is half man and half horse, they play and become friends. King Midas realizes that Dionysus must be looking for Silenus so he returns him and is granted a wish. His wish was for everything he touches to turn to gold. His wish was granted but he soon realized that his food,people and everything turns to gold. In despair he finds a way to gt the curse removed and form that point forward is a changed man.
This book had amazing illustrations and encourages talk about what makes us happy, is it money? or otherthings? It would also be a good book to talk about constellations.

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This is an excellent retelling of the King Midas myth.
Midas's greed leaves him in a great deal of trouble and he learns the hard way (literally) to respect the powers of the gods of ancient Greece.
Theme: Greed doesn't pay.
Classroom connection: study of mythology, especially for 6th grade social

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studies.

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King Midas is a man filled with greed and lacks sense. He learns an important lesson as he is tricked by the gods when he aks for everything he touches to be turned into gold. A very good read and fully illustrated.

Great illustrations but the story wasn't as strong. We are introduced to the foolishness of King Midas as he is asked to judge a music contest between the god Apollo and the god Pan. Midas chooses Pan over Apollo and is rewarded with a pair of donkey ears. Circumstances lead King Midas to be

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granted a single wish by Dionysus, foolishly he wishes for everything he touches to turn to gold. This wish turns out to be a disaster, as everything including food and animals turn to gold. King Midas realizes how foolish he has been and adjusts his behavior to reflect his newfound wisdom, i.e., he prays for wisdom, knowledge, and moderation.

I was disappointed with the story. Not a lot more than what I just offered. So, it isn't easy for kids to follow.

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This is a story about King Midas who's foolishness curses him with donkey ears. He then wishes everything he touches turns to gold. He realizes he was foolish in his decision and tries to find a way to rid himself of this curse. He then learns to pray to the gods for wisdom and knowledge.
This book

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teaches that greed isn't good for you. Students learn not to make foolish decisions based on what they want instead of what they need.

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Demi's retelling of the ancient Greek myth of King Midas, whose lack of sense gets him into trouble more than once, is beautifully illustrated with her trademark gold-leafed paintings and gorgeous border-decorations. Between the dramatic pictures and the fold-out section in the middle of the book,

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which enlarges to a four-page spread, there is more than enough here to keep young readers entranced.

Unlike the version found in Charlotte and Kinuko Craft's retelling, which I also own, this picture book includes both the story of the musical contest between Pan and Apollo, and the tale of Midas's "golden touch." It seems to be based upon actual classical sources, as opposed to the Nathaniel Hawthorne version, although Demi never specifies her source. For that reason, and because the illustrations here have a much more classical feel than Kinuko Craft's more medieval interpretation, I think young readers might enjoy looking at both versions.

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King Midas was the ruler of Phrygia. He was greedy and ignorant, and didn't rule fairly. Upon returning a lost satyr to the god Dionysus, he was granted his greatest wish. He wished everything he touched to turn to gold, but found that it brought nothing but misery.

This book is a retelling of the classic story of a greedy man who gets himself into trouble because all he wants is gold. He wishes for "a golden touch" and deeply regrets it when it happens.

Demi retells the story of King Midas in this beautifully illustrated book. In this version, King Midas is asked to judge a music contest between Apollo and Pan. In his foolishness he chooses Pan, the lesser musician. Apollo is furious and gives Midas donkey ears as retribution. King Midas is

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brought Silenus the Satyr (who also has animal features) and rather than punishing him he returns him to Dionysus. As thanks, Dionysus grants King Midas a wish, for everything he touches will turn to gold. King Midas enjoys the wish at first but then realizes that it has terrible consequences.

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Story of the greek King Midas who asked to have the power to turn anything he touches into gold. His wish is granted and he quickly realizes that it isn't all its cracked up to be.