Last night, Meera was doing everything except getting ready for bed.
Her school bag was lying open near the dining table, one shoe was somehow under the chair, and there were tiny orange crumbs from her murukku all over the place. I had just switched off the kitchen light and finally sat down for two peaceful minutes when she suddenly came and asked me, “Appa, if somebody had a magic power to turn things into gold, would they become the richest person in the world?”
I don’t know why children ask life questions exactly when parents are running on a five per cent battery.
I told her, “Initially, maybe yes. But after some time I think they’ll regret it.”
That answer immediately pulled her away from her colouring book.
“Why regret? Gold is good, only no?”
And that is how we ended up talking about the King Midas and the golden touch story while I folded uniforms and she absentmindedly peeled the sticker off her water bottle.
The Story Of King Midas And The Golden Touch
The story of King Midas is about a king who loved gold a little too much.
Actually, not little. Too much.
He already had a massive palace, expensive things everywhere, and enough wealth for ten lifetimes, but his mind was always stuck on getting more gold. More coins. More treasures. More shiny things to admire.
One day, after helping a magical visitor, King Midas was offered a reward. He could ask for anything he wanted.
Without even pausing properly, he made his wish.
He wanted everything he touched to turn into gold.
At first, it felt unbelievable.
He touched a chair, and it became gold immediately. He touched the table, and that became gold too. Flowers, decorations, cups, curtains… everything around him slowly turned bright and shiny.
Meera stopped me there.
“Even the flowers became hard?”
“Yup,” I said. “Completely gold.”
She thought about that for a second and then said, “Okay, that’s actually slightly scary.”
And honestly, that’s exactly how the golden touch story slowly changes. In the beginning, it sounds exciting, almost like a superhero power. But little by little, the problem starts showing itself.
King Midas became hungry and sat down to eat.
The moment he touched the bread, it became gold.
He tried drinking water, but even that turned into gold before he could take a sip.
That was the point where Meera’s face changed.
“Oh no.”
Children understand these moments instantly. Adults usually take longer because we tend to focus on the “success” part first.
Then came the saddest moment in the Midas and the golden touch story.
His daughter came running to him because she saw him upset. The second he hugged her, she, too, turned into gold.
Meera looked genuinely disturbed.
“That’s enough, Appa. Why will he ask for such a dangerous wish?”
I asked her, “Do you think he realised it earlier?”
She shook her head.
Because that’s the thing about greed sometimes: people only notice the problem after losing something important.
Finally, King Midas understood that all the gold in the world was useless if he could not eat properly, laugh peacefully, or spend time with the people he loved. He begged for the magical power to be taken away and promised never to let greed control him again.
That is the central idea behind the story of The Golden Touch, and probably why children still remember it today.
Read More – Moral Stories For Kids
The Part That Stayed With Us After The Story
Usually, after bedtime stories, Meera jumps straight to some unrelated topic.
Dinosaurs.
Pencil sharpeners.
Whether mosquitoes sleep at night.
Something random always comes next.
But yesterday she stayed quiet for some time after hearing the story of King Midas and the Golden Touch.
Then she suddenly asked, “So basically, he forgot what was actually important?”
Such a simple sentence, but that was the entire story sitting inside one line.
We ended up talking for another ten minutes after that, not in some deep, serious way, just casually.
About how sometimes people keep wanting more things without enjoying what they already have.
About buying toys and forgetting them in two weeks.
About watching videos while eating instead of talking to each other.
About how exciting things slowly stop feeling exciting when there is too much of them.
I didn’t sit there trying to explain morals like some wise storyteller, because, honestly, children switch off the moment adults become too “teaching-teaching.”
Stories work better because children discover the feeling on their own.
Even the moral of the King Midas story landed that way naturally, not through one dramatic line, but through small thoughts that came in between normal conversation.
At one point, Meera suddenly laughed and said, “Imagine if dosa became gold before eating. Worst life ever.”
That completely broke the serious mood in the room.
And maybe that’s why I like these old stories. They somehow move between funny and emotional so naturally.
Read More – Story of Raja Harishchandra for Children
Why Children Remember Stories More Than Advice
If I directly tell Meera, “Don’t be greedy,” she’ll nod without listening properly.
But if she hears the story of the Golden Touch, she remembers King Midas sitting hungry in front of golden food. That image stays somewhere in her mind quietly.
I think stories enter children’s heads differently.
No pressure.
No lecture.
No “today we are learning an important value.”
Just one conversation that slowly settles later.
Even today morning, while getting ready for school, she opened the biscuit tin and dramatically announced, “Good. Still normal biscuits. Not gold.”
Then she ran off because she was already late and still searching for one missing sock.
By the time I zipped her school bag and sent her downstairs, the entire emotional discussion from the previous night had already disappeared from her brain.
Or maybe not fully disappeared.
Maybe these little stories stay hidden somewhere between ordinary moments and come back years later for children in ways we don’t even notice.
That’s probably why storytelling still feels so important in early childhood spaces like EuroKids Preschool, where children often learn best through simple conversations, imagination, and everyday situations they emotionally connect with. Parents exploring Eurokids Preschool Admission often appreciate learning environments that use stories and creative activities to help children understand values in a natural and engaging way.
