评论
打印
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.
迈达斯高兴地跳了起来，在房间里跑来跑去，抓住面前的一切东西。他抓住一根床柱，它变成了一根金柱。他拉开窗帘，流苏在他手里变得沉甸甸的，变成了一团金子。他从桌子上拿起一本书。在他的触摸下，书页变成了薄薄的金片。他急忙穿上衣服，高兴地看到自己穿了一套华丽的金衣服，虽然有点沉重，但仍然很柔软。
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.
聪明的迈达斯国王对自己的好运如此兴奋，以至于宫殿似乎不够大来容纳他。于是他走下楼来，微笑着看到楼梯扶手在他下楼的时候变成了一根擦得锃亮的金条。他打开门闩(刚才还是黄铜的，但手指离开时是金色的)，走进花园。在这里，他发现了盛开着的美丽的玫瑰花，还有一些处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.
但迈达斯知道一种方法，可以使它们比以往任何时候的玫瑰都更加珍贵。于是他煞费苦心地从一丛灌木走到另一丛灌木，自由自在地施展他的魔法，直到每一朵花和每一个花蕾破土而出，当这项工作完成时。迈达斯国王被叫去吃早餐；早晨的空气使他食欲大增，他急忙赶回宫殿。
