Next day, nothing was talked of in the city but the extraordinary old man who had bewitched King Midas in his own palace hall. Bewitched was the word used by eyewitnesses — slaves of the royal household who had brought the tale with them to the morning market and few of their listeners could doubt that it was the right word. A little group of elderly townsmen, given to argument and wine bibbing, professed indeed to see nothing marvelous in the matter. The king, they said, being in a favorable stage of liquor, had taken a whim to admit this tipsy trespasser to his drinking party, instead of killing him; the old fellow’s ludicrous aspect and behavior had saved his skin, and this was the only witchcraft he had used. No wonder the king was tickled; who could choose but laugh when the mad wag seized the Lord Axius’s cup and nearly sat down atop of him?… Well, it was wine had put courage in his heart and mercy in the king’s; great were the virtues of the grape, so let them all bless Bacchus for his gift of it, and be moving on to the tavern, now the market was emptying…

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📚 Source: Evergreen Stories (1920?) by W. M. L. Hutchinson (1868-1936).