At the time his wish was granted he happened to stand under an oak tree, and the first thing he did was to raise his hand and touch one of its branches. Immediately the branch became the richest gold, with all the little acorns as perfect as ever. He laughed triumphantly at that, and then he touched a small stone , which lay on the ground. This became a solid gold nugget. Then he picked an apple from a tree, and held a beautiful, bright, gold apple in his hand. Oh, there was no doubt about it. King Midas really had the Golden Touch! He thought it too good to be true. After this he touched the lilies that bordered the walk. They turned from pure white to bright yellow, but bent their heads l ower than ever, as if they were ashamed of the change that the touch of King Midas had wrought in them. Before turning any more things into gold, the king sat down at the little table which his slaves had brought out in to the court. The parched corn was fresh and crisp, and the grapes juicy and sweet. But when he tasted a grape from one of the luscious clusters, it became a hard ball of gold in his mouth. This was v ery unpleasant. He laid the gold ball on the table and tried the parched wheat, but only to have his mouth filled with hard yellow metal. | 他的愿望被允许时,他正巧站在橡树下,他做的第一件事就是举起手去碰触一只树枝。 那树枝连橡树都变成最完美的金子。 他看到这般情景时便得意地大笑,接着又去触摸地上的小石子。 这些小石子又变成了毫无瑕疵的金块。 随后他由树上摘下一颗苹果。瞬间,手上握着的便是一颗美丽、闪耀的金苹果。 喔!看来是不容怀疑的。 麦得斯王确实具有点金术的神力! 这实在太美妙了,以致于他无法相信这是真的。 后来,他摸着在路旁的百合花。 百合花由纯白色变为鲜艳的金黄色。可是它们的头垂得更低,好象因麦得斯王的手去触及它们而导致它们感到羞耻似的。 在还没有把很多东西变成金子之前,国王坐在奴隶们搬进宫殿的小餐桌前。 上面摆着烘好的小麦,热腾腾的非常新鲜,葡萄的水分又多又甜美。 然而,当他从一串香甜的葡萄中摘一粒尝尝时,那葡萄立即在他口中化作一粒坚硬的金球。 如此让他非常不高兴。 他把那粒金球放在餐桌上,又尝试吃烘好的小麦,可是,那些小麦也在他的嘴里变成饱满的硬质黄色金属。 |