There lived a greedy king named
Midas. He had a lot of gold and the more he had the more he wanted. He
stored all the gold in his vaults and used to spend time every day
counting it.
One
day while he was counting a stranger came from nowhere and said he
would grant him a wish. The king was delighted and said, "I would like
everything I touch to turn to gold." The stranger asked the king, Are
you sure?" The king replied, "Yes." So the stranger said, "Starting
tomorrow morning with the sun rays you will get the golden touch." The
king thought he must be dreaming, this couldn't be true. But the next
day when he woke up, he touched the bed, his clothes, and everything
turned to gold. He looked out of the window and saw his daughter playing
in the garden. He decided to give her a surprise and thought she would
be happy. But before he went to the garden he decided to read a book.
The moment he touched it, it turned into gold and he couldn't read it.
Then he sat to have breakfast and the moment he touched the fruit and
the glass of water, they turned to gold. He was getting hungry and he
said to himself, "I can't eat and drink gold." Just about that time his
daughter came running and he hugged her and she turned into a gold
statue. There were no more smiles left.
The king bowed his head and started crying. The stranger who gave the wish came again and asked the king if he was happy with his golden touch. The king said he was the most miserable man. The stranger asked, "What would you rather have, your food and loving daughter or lumps of gold and her golden statue?" The king cried and asked for forgiveness. He said, "I will give up all my gold. Please give me my daughter back because without her I have lost everything wo rth having." The stranger said to the king, "You have become wiser than before" and he reversed the spell. He got his daughter back in his arms and the king learned a lesson that he never forget for the rest of his life.
What is the moral of the story?
Distorted values lead to tragedy.
Sometimes getting what you want may be a bigger tragedy than not getting what you want.
Unlike the game of soccer where players can be substituted, the game of
life allows no substitutions or replays. We may not get a second chance
to reverse our tragedies, as the king did.
Source: Click here