MIDAS

Once upon a time there lived a king whose name was Midas. He was very fond of gold, he loved it better than anything else in the world, except his daughter. Midas spent the days counting the pieces of gold he had collected. Once, when he was engaged in counting his money, a stranger entered the room and said: "Midas, you are the richest man in the world. You have everything you can wish for. But are you really happy? " "No, I am not," answered Midas. "I shall never be happy until everything that I touch becomes gold."

"You shall have what you wish!" exclaimed the stranger.

The next morning Midas woke up when the sun was rising. While he was dressing, he noticed that his clothes turned into gold. This made him very happy. He went into the garden and everything that he touched, the trees and the flowers, turned into gold. Soon he sat down to breakfast; his daughter was sitting beside him. Midas lifted his cup of coffee to his mouth, but the coffee became hard and yellow. This frightened him.

"What is the matter with you, Father?" asked his daughter, running up to him and taking his hand, but she also turned into gold. "What have I done?" cried Midas. "It was madness to want more riches. Now I have lost my daughter."

Suddenly he heard the voice of the stranger: "Midas, which would you like to have now: your gold or your daughter?'

"Give me back my child!" exclaimed Midas. "I shall never want gold again."

"I shall help you," said the stranger. "Go to the river and bring some water. Then pour the water over your daughter." Midas did as the stranger had advised him. When he poured the water over the gold statue of his daughter its eyes opened and his daughter returned to life.

Midas understood that gold was not the most important thing in the world.

1. Who was very fond of gold?

2. Whom did he love better than anything else in the world?

3. How did Midas spend his days?

4. Who entered the room once, when Midas was engaged in counting his money?

5. What question did the stranger ask Midas?

6. Why wasn't Midas quite happy?

7. What did the stranger exclaim?

8. When did Midas wake up the next day?

9. What did he notice while dressing?

10. Did he see the same thing when he went into the garden?

11. What happened to his coffee?

12. What frightened him?

13. Was he happy when his daughter turned into gold?

14. What was madness?

15. What did Midas ask the stranger to do?

16. What did the stranger advise?

17. Did Midas return his daughter back to life?

18. What did Midas understand at the end?