This picture book for young readers retells the story of King Midas and the Golden Touch. King Midas, King of Phrygia, is "fonder of gold" than anything other than his daughter, Marygold. The text describes the nature of Midas’s obsession with gold; the illustrations show the king lurking in his dungeon with his treasure while his castle is full of interesting life, mythical creatures and his daughter, playing. One day, a stranger arrives unannounced. Suspecting the stranger is a god, the king hopes he has come to do him a favour, and he hints at his love of gold. The stranger questions Midas, and ascertaining his desire for the Golden Touch, the stranger gives Midas the Touch. As the king excitedly touches things in his palace (plants, plates), Marygold is saddened when he turns her roses to gold. The king then discovers that his breakfast coffee turns to a lump of gold. He tries other food, to no avail, and when he groans aloud Marygold comes to comfort him. Bending to kiss his daughter, whose love was worth a thousand times more than the gold he had gained, he turns his daughter to gold, and weeps. The stranger appears again. His questions reveal the king has learned his lesson. He tells the king to step into the River Pactolus, and take a vase of water to sprinkle over anything he wishes to restore. Restoring Marygold to life, the king then sprinkles the roses with water, and they wander together in the garden. In future years, he tells the story of his foolishness to his grandchildren. 

King Midas is illustrated with large images. Rayyan’s paintings cover most pages, and surround the text. They depict a lush palace of classical columns, populated with rare animals (a hippopotamus, a leopard), and mythical beings (centaurs, Pegasus, harpies) appear throughout, as decorative motifs. The mysterious stranger is depicted as Dionysus. Humorous touches include Midas’s breakfast cereal (Poseidon puffs), and the trademark on the base of his sandals (Apollo sole). 

The text of this straightforward retelling of the Midas myth makes sure to give a happy ending, in which Midas learns his lesson and his daughter is restored to him. The lavish illustrations elevate the story with their whimsy and humour. Incorporating mythical beings and exotic animals into the images of the palace (in places the palace is almost suspended in the air, held aloft by a giant Centaur and Minotaur) likewise suspends the story in a space of myth and fantasy. Rayyan’s illustrations are detailed paintings in the Renaissance style, in which fantasy and classical elements are mixed with modern touches. Humorous elements, such as Midas’s breakfast cereal "Poseidon Puffs," and his gold John Lennon sunglasses, encourage rereading and close looking. The name Marygold indicates the influence of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s retelling of the Midas myth in A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys (1851) read by many American children.