Is Midas's cancer a better way?
The rooster's wives and children must die.

Are those of Midas immortal?
His life is shorter than the life of Midas, but Midas's life is only a sixth as long as that of the Galapagos tortoise.
The worthy money-worker takes his vacation so that he may refresh himself anew for the hard work of getting nothing that the rooster doesn't get.

The office-building has an elevator, the rooster flies up to the bough.

Midas has a machine to take him to his work; the rooster finds his worm underfoot.

The "business man" feels a pressure sometimes, without knowing why, and sits late at wine after the day's labor; next morning he curses his head because it interferes with the work--he swears never to relieve that pressure again.