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Midas started up joyfully, and ran about the room grasping at everything that happened to be in his way. He seized one of the bed-posts, and it became a golden pillar. He pulled aside a window-curtain, and the tassel grew heavy in his hand—a mass of gold. He took up a book from the table. At his touch the leaves became a bundle of thin golden plates. He hurriedly put on his clothes, and was delighted to see himself in a magnificent suit of gold cloth, which kept its softness, although it burdened him a little with its weight.
邁達斯高興地跳了起來，在房間里跑來跑去，抓住面前的一切東西。他抓住一根床柱，它變成了一根金柱。他拉開窗簾，流蘇在他手里變得沉甸甸的，變成了一團金子。他從桌子上拿起一本書。在他的觸摸下，書頁變成了薄薄的金片。他急忙穿上衣服，高興地看到自己穿了一套華麗的金衣服，雖然有點沉重，但仍然很柔軟。
Wise King Midas was so excited by his good fortune that the palace seemed not large enough to contain him. He therefore went downstairs and smiled to see that the railing of the staircase became a bar of burnished gold as his hand passed over it on his way down. He lifted the door latch (it was brass only a moment ago, but golden when his fingers left it) and went into the garden. Here he found beautiful roses in full bloom, and others in all the stages of lovely bud and blossom.
聰明的邁達斯國王對自己的好運如此興奮，以至于宮殿似乎不夠大來容納他。于是他走下樓來，微笑著看到樓梯扶手在他下樓的時候變成了一根擦得锃亮的金條。他打開門閂(剛才還是黃銅的，但手指離開時是金色的)，走進花園。在這里，他發現了盛開著的美麗的玫瑰花，還有一些處于花蕾和花期的玫瑰花。
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 used his magic touch freely until every flower and bud, and even the worms at the heart of some of them, were changed to gold. By the time this good work was completed. King Midas was called to breakfast; and, as the morning air had given him an excellent appetite, he made haste back to the palace.
但邁達斯知道一種方法，可以使它們比以往任何時候的玫瑰都更加珍貴。于是他煞費苦心地從一叢灌木走到另一叢灌木，自由自在地施展他的魔法，直到每一朵花和每一個花蕾破土而出，當這項工作完成時。邁達斯國王被叫去吃早餐；早晨的空氣使他食欲大增，他急忙趕回宮殿。
