The Man with the Golden Touch

infobox Book |
name = The Man with the Golden Touch
title_orig = Az arany ember
translator =


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author = Mór Jókai
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = Hungary
language = Hungarian
series =
genre =
publisher =
release_date = 1872
english_release_date =
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pages =
isbn =
preceded_by =
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The Man with the Golden Touch (orig. Hungarian: "Az arany ember", lit. “The Golden Man”) is a 1872 novel by Hungarian novelist Mór Jókai. It is probably his most popular work, and was his favorite of all the novels he had written. As he recalled in in the afterword of the novel, it was based on a true story which he heard from his grandmother's sister when he was a child.

Plot summary

Part I – The "St. Barbara"

Mihály Timár is a young man working on the transport ship "St. Barbara" on the river Danube. The ship is owned by Athanáz Brazovics, a rich Serbian merchant living in Komárom, a town in Hungary, and is on its way back to Komárom, carrying sacks of wheat. The owner of the goods, Euthym Trikalisz and his thirteen-year-old daughter Timéa are also aboard. On the way to Komárom they stop at an island, the "no man's island", which lies in the Danube, between the Ottoman Empire and the Hungarian part of the Habsburg Empire, undiscovered and unclaimed by both. This island is the home of Teréza, a widow and her young daughter Noémi, who lead a calm and idyllic life here. Another man arrives soon, Tódor Krisztyán, who knows Teréza and Noémi, but is apparently disliked by both.

The travellers spend a night here, but Timár can't sleep, and overhears a conversation in which Krisztyán blackmails Teréza, he tells her that if she doesn't give him money, he will reveal the existence of the island to the authorities. Teréza says they have no money since they don't need it, everything they need grows on the island. Krisztyán takes away the golden bracelet Timéa gave to Noémi, then leaves the island. Timár tells Teréza that he overheard the conversation; in turn, Teréza tells him that her husband was ruined and driven to suicide by Krisztyán's father and Athanáz Brazovics, and she fled to the island with her baby daughter who was raised there, unspoiled by civilization. She also tells that Krisztyán always demands money from her and wants to marry Noémi, even though the girl hates him. Timár feels frustrated that he cannot help Teréza.

Next day the ship continues its journey. Mr. Trikalisz wantes to speak to Timár in private. He reveals that he is in fact no Greek merchant but Ali Csorbadzsi, a former high-ranking official of the Ottoman Empire, who is fleeing the Empire because the Sultan wants him dead, his wealth confiscated and his daughter added to the harem. He wanted to go to Brazovics, who is his brother-in-law, but the previous day he recognized Krisztyán as a spy of the Ottoman Empire (Krisztyán is, in fact, a scoundrel, adventurer and a spy of both empires). He knows Krisztyán will betray him and Austria will extradite him to the Ottoman Empire, so he has taken poison, and makes Timár swear that he will make sure Timéa arrives in Komárom safe. He gives a small box with 1000 gold coins to Timár and makes him promise he will keep it for Timéa; he also mentions that the rest of his wealth is the wheat in the sacks. Finally, he asks Timár to wake up Timéa when he has died – he gave him a potion so that she will sleep and they can speak in private, but if she's not given the antidote soon, the potion will kill her.

Csorbadzsi dies. Timár is tempted by the amount of money – if he let Timéa die and reported it that Csorbadzsi travelled on the ship, one third of the confiscated wealth would be his by law. Because of his honesty and his awakening love for Timéa he shrinks back from the evil thoughts. He wakes Timéa, gives her the antidote and tells her about her father's death. Later, when they arrive at the next city and the police catches up with their ship, he tells them he knows nothing about the escaped Turkish pasha and his treasure, they only carried a Greek merchant on the ship, but he died. Thus he saved Timéa's wealth for her. Later he begins to think. The box which the pasha gave him contained a thousand of gold, the shipload of wheat can be worth another ten thousand. if Csorbadzsi's wealth was ten thousand gold coins, that could have been carried in a bag, why did he bought wheat for it, which fills a whole ship? And if this is the whole wealth, why does the Sultan pursue them?

As they continue their journey, the ship runs on a cliff and submerges. They can barely escape.

Part II – Timéa

Timár takes Timéa to the Brazovics mansion in Komárom. Brazovics himself is not at home, so they are greeted by his wife Zófia, their daughter Athalie and Athalie's suitor Lieutenant Kacsuka who was Timár's friend since childhood. Brazovics arrives home just when Timéa is introduced to her new family. He has just read in the newspapers that Csorbadzsi fleed the Ottoman Empire with his daughter, so he hurried home to meet them. He warmly welcomes Timéa, but when he receives the small box full of gold and learns that the ship went under with the rest of the pasha's possession, he becomes angry and accuses Timár of stealing the rest of the money, Timár coldly refuses the accusation, and asks what should be done with the sunken ship. Brazovics charges him to auction off the wheat, which is worth almost nothing, lying soaked in the sunken ship. Timár leaves. Brazovics and his wife agree that Timéa's inheritance is not enough to raise her as a noble lady, but since she is their niece, they have to look after her, so she will be a companion to Athalie – not exactly a servant, but neither their adopted daughter.

Timár meets Lieutenant Imre Kacsuka, who is in charge of supplying the army with bread. Kacsuka advises Timár to buy the shipload of worthless wheat and sell it cheap to the army. He assures him that the army will buy from him, not from others, since he can sell the cheapest wheat, and he will gain a great profit. Timár is hesitating, for he knows what poor quality the bread made of that wheat will be, but when Kacsuka tells him that this way he could make some money to compensate Timéa for the loss of her inheritance, he agrees. He buys the shipload and inspects the workers bringing it out from the river. He notices a red crescent painted on one of the sacks and recalls Csorbadzsi's last words, when he said something about the red crescent but couldn't finish the sentence before he died. Timár takes away that sack when nobody notices, and opening it he finds it to be full of treasure – gold, gems, jewelry.

He fights a battle with his conscience. He bought the whole shipload, not knowing what this sack is hiding, so the treasure is his. He feels that it rightfully belongs to Timéa, but he also knows that if he gave it to her now, all of it would be taken by Brazovics. Finally, he decides he will keep the money, invest it, increase his wealth and later he will ask Timéa to marry him, sharing his wealth with her. Still, a voice deep in his mind says "you are a thief".

Timár becomes rich, buys a house in the town and is invited to the social events of the élite. Only Brazovics is suspecting that there's something amiss. Timár, to fend off all danger, once pretends himself to be drunk and gabbles to Brazovics about making bread from the drenched wheat and shelling it to the army. Brazovics swears he will keep it secret, but of course he immediately reports Timár to the Ministry of Finance, which was in charge of funding the supply of the army. There is, however, no one to bear witness against Timár; all the soldiers say they never ate better bread than what Timár sold them. Timár is thus acquitted of all charges, and everyone expects him to demand compensation from the minister who ordered the investigation. But Timár is still looking for a way to explain to the world how did he become rich, in order to be able to use the rest of his wealth too. He travels to Vienna, asks an audience from the minister, and asks him to lease out a land on the countryside, in Levetinc to him. The minister, pleased that Timár is not demanding apology for the false accusations, and knowing that the previous tenant of that land went into debt, agrees. He also makes Timár a nobleman, with the title "of Levetinc" added to his name.

Timár, as the new landlord of Levetinc, is supervising the agricultural works on the fields. He gains more and more money and becomes the richest wheat merchant in Komárom. He gives a lot to charity, founds a hospital, gives money to schools, churches, beggars. He is like King Midas, everything he touches becomes gold, each of his investments are successful, the people in the town nickname him “the man with the golden touch”. Still deep in his heart he feels all this wealth does not belong to him.

Meanwhile Athalie Brazovics is preparing for her wedding with Captain Kacsuka. Her father, Athanáz Brazovics hates and envies Timár for his success, but always greets him with a warm welcome in his house, thinking that he is courting Athalie, and not knowing that he visits them because of Timéa.

Athalie is playing a cruel game – she knows that Timéa is in love with Captain Kacsuka, and told her the captain will marry her. Timéa is sewig and embroidering her bridal gown, not knowing that it is Athalie's, not her own, and it will be Athalie marrying the captain, not her. She even converts to Christianity for the marriage's sake. Timár knows about this cruel game and dislikes Athalie and her family more and more.

Brazovics asks Timár if he is planning to ask for Athalie's hand. Timár refuses this, and tells Brazovics he finds his treatment of Timéa disgusting. He tells him he'd better fear the day when they'll meet again. He says goodbye to Timéa, promising her he will return, then leaves.

The whole town follows Timár's actions in the financial world and when he starts buying land near Komárom, Brazovics thinks Timár knows something he doesn't. He guesses that it must be that the State plans fortifications to be extended around the town, the lands will be expropriated and the owners will get a lage compensation, much more than the lands were originally worth. The only question is that where will this work begin, since construction will last at least for thirty years, and in order to gain much, one has to buy the lands where the constructions will be started. With false information Timár tricks Brazovics into investing all his money into lands where the construction will not start in the following decades.

The day of Athalie's wedding has come. When Timéa wakes up, she sees Athalie in the bridal dress she made for herself, She realizes that it will be Athalie's wedding, not hers.

The news come that Brazovics is ruined, the lands he invested into are worthless. He dies. Kacsuka breaks his engagement with Athalie, for he only wanted her for her money. Brazovics's creditors are demanding their money. All of his property is auctioned off. Timár buys everything and gives it to Timéa, then asks her to marry him. Timéa, although she loves Captain Kacsuka, agrees to marry him, out of gratitude. She asks Timár to allow Athalie and her mother to stay with them. Timár agrees and offers to give a rich dowry to Athalie so that she can marry the captain, but Athalie says she doesn't want Kacsuka any more. She says she will stay with them as Timéa's servant girl.

Part III – The "No Man's Island"

Timár realizes too late, only after the wedding that Timéa, though respects him enormously, is not in love with him. He provides Timéa with everything, gifts, jewels, travels to foreign countries, in hope of making her falling in love with him, but without any success. They move into the luxurious Brazovics mansion in Komárom. Athalie is intent on making them miserable.

Timár begins to suspect that Timéa loves someone else. He tells her he will travel to Levetinc and spend a month there, leaves, then the same night returns, to see if Timéa is with someone else, but he finds the sleeping Timéa alone in her bedroom. He runs into Athalie who knows what's on his mind. Athalie, who is watching Timéa's every move, tells Timár that Timéa does not love him, and confirms Timár's suspicions about who is it whom Timéa loves; but she also tells him that Timéa is faithful to him and will always remain faithful. Timár feels he cannot stay, and leaves his home as if pursued.

In his travels he finds himself near the No Man's Island, and decides to visit its dwellers. He feels at home with Teréza and Noémi. She is now sixteen years old. To Noémi's careful enquiry he answers that nobody is waiting for him to return home.

Part IV – Noémi

He keeps silent though, and - thinks of Noémi.What kind of long time: not to see until six months her! And to think about her every day. And from all that, which he believes about him,, to be allowed to tell a word to nobody. Finds himself having betrayed it quasi on him often, what is thinking about. That word wants to run out on his mouth when he is sitting at lunch at home: look at it, apples like this grow on the island just, where Noémi lives. This emotion did not have desires, only his happiness. The ardour of the passion was replaced by something sweet, cool calmness. Like that it, than after the fever the pleasure sensation of the recovery.

Nothing disturbed the completeness of his happiness, only it it an, that even he has even an other life, into which he has to return always,.A yes could attain it simply though. He should not depart only from here much. It would be being looked for until a year, it would be mourned until two years, they would keep recalling it until three years, the world, he would forget the world afterwards, and Noémi would remain as him. And Noémi treasure! From the womanhood all that what is kind is being united in him, and all that, which is offensive, is missing in the case of him. His beauty not that monotone beauty, that the affectedness soon megunottá like that does; this all temper variants appears in new magic. Tenderness, tameness and ardour united in his temper. Together and Virgo, the fairy and the woman live in a harmony in him. His love nothing he does not have selfishness; his whole being away is disappearing, accross is melting in the person who he likes. He, he does not have a separate sorrow, a separate joy, merely his. Everything ensures his comfort with the meticulous attention of a home; helps him with his work with a tireless hand. It was clearing up always, always fresh, and if it is on the verge of some illness, a kiss onto the painful forehead heals him. Humble it, about who he knows that he adores him. And when he takes that child in his lap, and plays with him, the person who made him his own has to go mad then, and did not make it it after all.

Part V – Athalie

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

The novel was made into motion pictures in 1918, 1936, 1962 and 2005 (the latest was made for TV). The 1918 version was directed by Alexander Korda. The 1962 version is far the most famous of the four, it featured the most popular actors of that age. The movie versions are all titled "Az aranyember," in accord with modern spelling.

Trivia

* Jókai's villa in Balatonfüred, where he wrote the novel, is now a museum. Its furniture was kept intact, visitors can see the table where Jókai wrote the novel. The water line of Lake Balaton has been receding ever since then – a great concern for environmentalists and nearby hotel owners – and though the house stood on the lakeside in Jókai's time, it is now several streets away from the lake.
* The name Timéa (modern spelling: Tímea) was made extremely popular by the novel and the 1962 film version. Many people erroneously think it is a Turkish name, because the Timéa of the novel was Turkish, but Jókai in fact created the word from a Greek word meaning "respect." (Timéa in the novel is half Greek.)