The Golden Touch - Class 6 English (SCERT)

Summary of the Story

King Midas was a wealthy ruler who desired more gold repeatedly. A divine spirit one day offered to grant him a wish. Midas requested that everything he touched be turned into gold.

Initially, he was overjoyed. He touched stones, flowers, and other things and they were turned into gold. However, he soon came to the realization that his wish was a curse. When he hugged his daughter, she too became a golden statue, and he could not eat or drink as his food and drink also turned to gold.

After he was overcome with sorrow, Midas begged the divine spirit to take back the wish. The spirit instructed him to wash in the river to free himself from the golden touch. Midas accomplished this, and the magic vanished. His daughter and everything else were restored to normal. Midas learned that love and happiness are much more valuable than gold and riches.

Word Meanings

Words	Meanings
Divine	Related to God or a god
Grant	To give or allow something
Wish	A desire for something to happen
Statue	A solid figure made of stone or metal
Hug	To hold someone closely with love
Despair	the state of having lost all hope

Activities

Let’s see how much we have understood:

1. Answer the following questions:

(a) What did the king wish for?
Ans: The king wished that whatever he touched should become gold.

(b) How did the king test his power?
Ans: The king tested his power by touching stones, flowers, and other objects which turned into gold.

(c) What happened to the princess when the king hugged her?
Ans: When the king hugged the princess, she turned into a golden statue.

(d) How did the king get rid of his golden touch?
Ans: The king got rid of his golden touch by washing himself in the river, as advised by the divine spirit.

(e) What lesson di King Midas learn at the end?
Ans: King Midas learnt that greed brings sorrow and that love and happiness are more valuable than gold.

2. Read the following statements. Put a tick (✔) on the correct statement, and cross (✗) on the incorrect ones :

(a) Midas was very happy with his wealth.
Ans: ✗

(b) The king tested his new power by touching a stone.
Ans: ✓

(c) The divine spirit did not warn Midas.
Ans: ✗

(d) When Midas touched a stone, it turned into gold.
Ans: ✓

(e) The divine spirit didn’t solve Midas’ problem.
Ans: ✗

3. Read the sentences given below, and replace the underlined part with a word from the box.

(i) Midas was surprised.
Ans: Midas was shocked.

(ii) The divine spirit agreed to fulfil his wish.
Ans: The divine spirit granted his wish.

(iii) Midas demanded forcefully that his wish be fulfilled.
Ans: Midas insisted that his wish be fulfilled.

(iv) Midas was happy and enthuasistic when his wish was fulfilled. Ans: Midas was excited when his wish was fulfilled.

4. Choose the correct alternative from the options to complete each sentence:

(a) King Midas’ greatest desire was to ___________.

(i) hug his daughter
(ii) have more gold
(iii) wach his hands
(iv) walk in the garden

Ans: (ii) have more gold

(b) ___________ granted the wish of King Midas.

(i) The stone
(ii) The Divine Spirit
(iii) Midas’ daughter
(iv) A golden statue

Ans: (i) The Divine Spirit

(c) King Midas got rid of his golden touch by ___________

(i) wishing it away
(ii) washing his hands in the river
(iii) taking a walk in the garden
(iv) by hugging his daughter

(d) The lesson that King Midas learnt from his experience is that ___________.

(i) gold is the key to happiness
(ii) power is more important than love
(iii) love and happiness are worth more than gold.
(iv) greed is everything in life.

Ans: (iii) love and happiness are worth more than gold.

(e) After losing the golden touch, King Midas ___________.

(i) became greedier
(ii) became wiser
(iii) remained the same
(iv) lost his kingdom

Ans: (ii) became wiser

(f) The message that the story conveys is that ___________.

(i) material wealth gives happiness
(ii) greed makes a man blind and foolish
(iii) gold is more valuable than life
(iv) a golden touch is more valuable than hapiness

Ans: (ii) greed makes a man blind and foolish

5. Arrange the jumbled sentences in the proper order to get the summary of the story “The Golden Touch”. Rewrite the sentences in the correct order. Begin some of the sentences with Then, After that, Next and Finally to show how the events happen.

i. Midas learned to be happy with what he had.
ii. The divine spirit told Midas to wash his hands in the river.
iii. Midas quickly went to the river and washed his hands.
iv. Midas always wanted more gold.
v. His daughter came back to life.
vi. A divine spirit met King Midas one day.
vii. When he hugged him, she instantly turned into a statue of gold.
viii. Midas became very sad.
ix. The divine spirit said, “I will grant you one wish.”
x. Excited, he ran to tell his daughter the news.
xi. Midas said, “I wish whatever I touch turns into gold.”

Ans:

iv. Midas always wanted more gold.
vi. A divine spirit met King Midas one day.
ix. The divine spirit said, “I will grant you one wish.”
xi. Midas said, “I wish whatever I touch turns into gold.”
x. Excited, he ran to tell his daughter the news.
vii. When he hugged him, she instantly turned into a statue of gold.
viii. Midas became very sad.
ii. The divine spirit told Midas to wash his hands in the river.
iii. Midas quickly went to the river and washed his hands.
v. His daughter came back to life.
i. Midas learned to be happy with what he had.

6. (a) Some letters may have more than one sound. Let’s take the example of the letter ‘a’. Read these words aloud and notice the sounds of letter ‘a’ in them:

Name	Midas	want
happy	grant	saw

(b) Now fill in the blanks in the following sentences with words given in the box below:

(i) The sound of ’e’ in ‘get’ is different from the sound of ’e’ in _________.
Ans: (i) The sound of ’e’ in ‘get’ is different from the sound of ’e’ in she.

(ii) The sound of ‘i’ in king is different from the sound of ‘i’ in _________.
Ans: (ii) The sound of ‘i’ in king is different from the sound of ‘i’ in time.

(iii) The sound of ‘o’ in ‘gold’ is different from the sound of ‘o’ in _________.
Ans: (iii) The sound of ‘o’ in ‘gold’ is different from the sound of ‘o’ in lost.

(iv) The sound of ‘u’ in ’turn’ is different from the sound of ‘u’ in _________.
Ans: (iv) The sound of ‘u’ in ’turn’ is different from the sound of ‘u’ in pull.

Let’s learn some grammar

7. (a) Read the following sentences, and notice the underlined words

(i) He constantly looked for ways to get money and gold.
(ii) He treated the divine spirit very well.
(iii) He wanted to test the magical power.
(iv) The Divine Spirit granted the king his wish.
(v) He rushed to the palace.

The sentences given above refer to actions that happened before.

All the sentences talk about actions that happened before. When we talk about events or actions that took place at a definite time in the past, we use verbs in the Simple Past Tense. In the simple past tense of a verb, we say what we did yesterday, or last week, or even a long time ago. We use the second form of the verb by adding ‘-d’ or ‘-ed’ to the verb. Let’s see the first form / second form of the underlined verbs:

Base form / First form	Past form / Second form
look	looked
treat	treated
want	wanted
grant	granted
rush	rushed

(b) Read the lesson to find out the past forms of the verbs given below. Write them down in the space provided:

Base Form	Past Form
live
turn
touch
shock
realise

Ans:

Base Form	Past Form
live	lived
turn	turned
touch	touched
shock	shocked
realise	realised

There are few verbs that don’t follow the usual pattern of adding ‘-d’ or ‘-ed’ at the end to form the past tense.
Examples

go	went
become	became
get	got
see	saw

(c) Read the paragraph and fill in the blanks with the Simple Past Tense form of the verbs.

King Midas ________(want) to be the richest king. So, he ________(wish) for the power to turn everything he touched into gold. The divine spirit ________(grant) him his wish. Midas ________(touch) a stone, and it ________(turn) into gold. The princess also turned to a statue of gold when the king ________(hug) her. Slowly, he ________(realise) that everything he ________(touch) turned into gold. He ________(want) to get rid of the golden touch. He ________(wash) his hands in the river. The water of the river ________(remove) the golden touch from his hands.

Ans:

King Midas wanted to be the richest king. So, he wished for the power to turn everything he touched into gold. The divine spirit granted him his wish. Midas touched a stone, and it turned into gold. The princess also turned to a statue of gold when the king hugged her. Slowly, he realised that everything he touched turned into gold. He wanted to get rid of the golden touch. He washed his hands in the river. The water of the river removed the golden touch from his hands.

8. (a) Let’s read an extract from a science fiction book.

(b) Have you ever read science fiction before? Now, go to a library or search on the internet with the help of an elder to find such books. Write down the names of those books in the space given below:

Ans:

(c) Imagine that you live on the moon. Now, talk to your partner about your life there. Share with your friend how it is different from life on earth.

Ans: If I were to live on the moon, my life would be drastically different. I would have to wear a space suit at all times since there is no air to breathe. I would probably feel as if I were floating all the time since the gravitational force is much weaker. The surface would be devoid of any trees, rivers, or animals like the ones we have here on earth.

Let’s read

9. (a) Read the following sentences and notice the underlined words :

(i) The touch of the king turned his daughter into a statue of gold.
(ii) When the king touched the stone, it turned into gold.

The word ’touch’ is used in two different way in the sentences. In the first sentence, the word touch is used as a noun, and it means the king’s magical power. In the second sentence, the word touch is used as a verb, and it means what the king did.

(b) Read the following sentences, and say how the meanings of ‘drink’ are different in both the sentences:

(i) The king could not even eat or drink because everything he touched became gold immediately.
(ii) The food and drink turned to gold as soon as he touched them.

Make sentences using the word ‘drink’ to show two different meanings:

Ans:

(i) I drink water every morning.
(ii) Juice is my favourite drink.

(c) Find more words from the lesson which can be used both as a noun and a verb. Write them down below:

Ans:

(i) touch
(ii) wish

Now, make sentences using these words as a noun and as a verb:

Ans:

(i) Noun: My greatest wish is to help my parents.
(ii) Verb: I wish I could fly.
(iii) Noun: The king had a magical touch.
(iv) Verb: Don’t touch electricity wire.

10. (a) Look at the following words. They can be broken into different syllables. Read the words aloud and clap once for each syllable. Write down how many times you have clapped for each word. A few of them are done for you.

fulfil	ful-fil (2 syllables)	2 claps
magical	ma-gi-cal (3 syllables)	3 claps
celebration
constantly
happiness
princess
river

Ans:

fulfil	ful-fil (2 syllables)	2 claps
magical	ma-gi-cal (3 syllables)	3 claps
celebration	ce-le-bra-tion (4 syllables)	4 claps
constantly	con-stant-ly (3 syllables)	3 claps
happiness	hap-pi-ness (3 syllables)	3 claps
princess	prin-cess (2 syllables)	2 claps
river	ri-ver (2 syllables)	2 claps

Find out a few more words from the text having two or more syllables and complete the list above.

(b) Notice that the word ‘magical’ is pronounced with more force on the first syllable, i.e. we say the first syllable more strongly than the others– ma-gi-cal. Again, the word ‘fulfil’ is pronounced with more force on the second syllable, i.e. we say the second syllable more strongly than the others– ful-fil. Listen how your teacher pronounces the word celebration. Practise saying the words with correct stress.

11. Listen to the story ‘The Tale of the Talking Cave’ and answer the questions orally:

i. What trick did the fairies play?
ii. What lesson did Dave learn?
iii. What happened to the cave after the spell was lifted?
iv. What message does the story convey?

Ans:

i. The playful fairies cast a magical spell on the cave that made it appear to talk.
ii. Dave learned that one should speak kindly and positively, as harsh words can bring unpleasant results.
iii. After the spell was lifted, the cave stopped echoing words and became a normal cave again.
iv. The story conveys the message that our words and actions reflect back on us, so we should always be polite and thoughtful.

12. (a) Let’s read the poster below :

(b) Use information from the poster to complete the sentences:

(i) The organiser of the magic show is __________.
(ii) The show will be presented by __________.
(iii) The show will be held from __________ or __________.
(iv) The venue for the Magic Show is __________.
(v) The address to buy tickets online is __________.

Ans:

(i) The organiser of the magic show is The Sunrise Club.
(ii) The show will be presented by N. Rupah and I. Hussain.
(iii) The show will be held from 4 pm to 6 pm or 1 may to 4 may.
(iv) The venue for the Magic Show is Nitya Mandir.
(v) The address to buy tickets online is www.magicworld.com

(c) Design a poster for a play. Include the following details in your poster :

• Name of the play
• Date and time
• Venue
• Main characters
• A catchy slogan or tagline

Tonque Twister Time
“mystical magicians make mighty magic”

Make a tongue twister on your own

Ans:

“Clever cats can catch curious mice.”

Riddle Time :

Ans: A Magic Wand