But, oh the honey! I may just as well let it alone, without trying to describe how exquisitely3 it smelt4 and looked. Its color was that of the purest and most transparent5 gold; and it had the odor of a thousand flowers; but of such flowers as never grew in an earthly garden, and to seek which the bees must have flown high above the clouds. The wonder is, that, after alighting on a flower-bed of so delicious fragrance6 and immortal7 bloom, they should have been content to fly down again to their hive in Philemon's garden. Never was such honey tasted, seen, or smelt. The perfume floated around the kitchen, and made it so delightful8, that, had you closed your eyes, you would instantly have forgotten the low ceiling and smoky walls, and have fancied yourself in an arbor9, with celestial10 honeysuckles creeping over it.
Although good Mother Baucis was a simple old dame11, she could not but think that there was something rather out of the common way, in all that had been going on. So, after helping12 the guests to bread and honey, and laying a bunch of grapes by each of their plates, she sat down by Philemon, and told him what she had seen, in a whisper.
"Did you ever hear the like?" asked she.
"No, I never did," answered Philemon, with a smile. "And I rather think, my dear old wife, you have been walking about in a sort of a dream. If I had poured out the milk, I should have seen-160- through the business at once. There happened to be a little more in the pitcher13 than you thought,—that is all."
"Well, well," replied Philemon, still smiling, "perhaps they are. They certainly do look as if they had seen better days; and I am heartily15 glad to see them making so comfortable a supper."
Each of the guests had now taken his bunch of grapes upon his plate. Baucis (who rubbed her eyes, in order to see the more clearly) was of opinion that the clusters had grown larger and richer, and that each separate grape seemed to be on the point of bursting with ripe juice. It was entirely16 a mystery to her how such grapes could ever have been produced from the old stunted17 vine that climbed against the cottage wall.
"Very admirable grapes these!" observed Quicksilver, as he swallowed one after another, without apparently18 diminishing his cluster. "Pray, my good host, whence did you gather them?"
"From my own vine," answered Philemon. "You may see one of its branches twisting across the window, yonder. But wife and I never thought the grapes very fine ones."
"I never tasted better," said the guest. "Another cup of this delicious milk, if you please, and I shall then have supped better than a prince."
This time, old Philemon bestirred himself, and took up the pitcher; for he was curious to discover whether there was any reality in the marvels19 which Baucis had whispered to him. He-161- knew that his good old wife was incapable20 of falsehood, and that she was seldom mistaken in what she supposed to be true; but this was so very singular a case, that he wanted to see into it with his own eyes. On taking up the pitcher, therefore, he slyly peeped into it, and was fully21 satisfied that it contained not so much as a single drop. All at once, however, he beheld22 a little white fountain, which gushed23 up from the bottom of the pitcher, and speedily filled it to the brim with foaming24 and deliciously fragrant25 milk. It was lucky that Philemon, in his surprise, did not drop the miraculous26 pitcher from his hand.
"Who are ye, wonder-working strangers?" cried he, even more bewildered than his wife had been.
"Your guests, my good Philemon, and your friends," replied the elder traveler, in his mild, deep voice, that had something at once sweet and awe-inspiring in it. "Give me likewise a cup of the milk; and may your pitcher never be empty for kind Baucis and yourself, any more than for the needy27 wayfarer28!"
The supper being now over, the strangers requested to be shown to their place of repose29. The old people would gladly have talked with them a little longer, and have expressed the wonder which they felt, and their delight at finding the poor and meagre supper prove so much better and more abundant than they hoped. But the elder traveler had inspired them with such reverence30, that they dared not ask him any questions. And when Philemon drew Quicksilver aside, and inquired how under the sun a fountain of milk-162- could have got into an old earthen pitcher, this latter personage pointed31 to his staff.
"There is the whole mystery of the affair," quoth Quicksilver; "and if you can make it out, I'll thank you to let me know. I can't tell what to make of my staff. It is always playing such odd tricks as this; sometimes getting me a supper, and, quite as often, stealing it away. If I had any faith in such nonsense, I should say the stick was bewitched!"
He said no more, but looked so slyly in their faces, that they rather fancied he was laughing at them. The magic staff went hopping32 at his heels, as Quicksilver quitted the room. When left alone, the good old couple spent some little time in conversation about the events of the evening, and then lay down on the floor, and fell fast asleep. They had given up their sleeping-room to the guests, and had no other bed for themselves, save these planks33, which I wish had been as soft as their own hearts.
The old man and his wife were stirring betimes in the morning, and the strangers likewise arose with the sun, and made their preparations to depart. Philemon hospitably34 entreated35 them to remain a little longer, until Baucis could milk the cow, and bake a cake upon the hearth36, and, perhaps, find them a few fresh eggs, for breakfast. The guests, however, seemed to think it better to accomplish a good part of their journey before the heat of the day should come on. They, therefore, persisted in setting out immediately, but asked Philemon and Baucis to walk forth37 with-163- them a short distance, and show them the road which they were to take.
So they all four issued from the cottage, chatting together like old friends. It was very remarkable38, indeed, how familiar the old couple insensibly grew with the elder traveler, and how their good and simple spirits melted into his, even as two drops of water would melt into the illimitable ocean. And as for Quicksilver, with his keen, quick, laughing wits, he appeared to discover every little thought that but peeped into their minds, before they suspected it themselves. They sometimes wished, it is true, that he had not been quite so quick-witted, and also that he would fling away his staff, which looked so mysteriously mischievous39, with the snakes always writhing40 about it. But then, again, Quicksilver showed himself so very good-humored, that they would have been rejoiced to keep him in their cottage, staff, snakes, and all, every day, and the whole day long.
"Ah me! Well-a-day!" exclaimed Philemon, when they had walked a little way from their door. "If our neighbors only knew what a blessed thing it is to show hospitality to strangers, they would tie up all their dogs, and never allow their children to fling another stone."
"It is a sin and shame for them to behave so,—that it is!" cried good old Baucis, vehemently41. "And I mean to go this very day, and tell some of them what naughty people they are!"
"I fear," remarked Quicksilver, slyly smiling, "that you will find none of them at home."-164-
The elder traveler's brow, just then, assumed such a grave, stern, and awful grandeur42, yet serene43 withal, that neither Baucis nor Philemon dared to speak a word. They gazed reverently44 into his face, as if they had been gazing at the sky.
"When men do not feel towards the humblest stranger as if he were a brother," said the traveler, in tones so deep that they sounded like those of an organ, "they are unworthy to exist on earth, which was created as the abode46 of a great human brotherhood47!"
"And, by the by, my dear old people," cried Quicksilver, with the liveliest look of fun and mischief48 in his eyes, "where is this same village that you talk about? On which side of us does it lie? Methinks I do not see it hereabouts."
Philemon and his wife turned towards the valley, where, at sunset, only the day before, they had seen the meadows, the houses, the gardens, the clumps49 of trees, the wide, green-margined street, with children playing in it, and all the tokens of business, enjoyment50, and prosperity. But what was their astonishment51! There was no longer any appearance of a village! Even the fertile vale, in the hollow of which it lay, had ceased to have existence. In its stead, they beheld the broad, blue surface of a lake, which filled the great basin of the valley from brim to brim, and reflected the surrounding hills in its bosom52 with as tranquil53 an image as if it had been there ever since the creation of the world. For an instant, the lake remained perfectly54 smooth. Then, a-165- little breeze sprang up, and caused the water to dance, glitter, and sparkle in the early sunbeams, and to dash, with a pleasant rippling55 murmur56, against the hither shore.
The lake seemed so strangely familiar, that the old couple were greatly perplexed57, and felt as if they could only have been dreaming about a village having lain there. But, the next moment, they remembered the vanished dwellings58, and the faces and characters of the inhabitants, far too distinctly for a dream. The village had been there yesterday, and now was gone!
"They exist no longer as men and women," said the elder traveler, in his grand and deep voice, while a roll of thunder seemed to echo it at a distance. "There was neither use nor beauty in such a life as theirs; for they never softened60 or sweetened the hard lot of mortality by the exercise of kindly61 affections between man and man. They retained no image of the better life in their bosoms62; therefore, the lake, that was of old, has spread itself forth again, to reflect the sky!"
"And as for those foolish people," said Quicksilver, with his mischievous smile, "they are all transformed to fishes. There needed but little change, for they were already a scaly63 set of rascals64, and the coldest-blooded beings in existence. So, kind Mother Baucis, whenever you or your husband have an appetite for a dish of broiled65 trout66, he can throw in a line, and pull out half a dozen of your old neighbors!"-166-
"Ah," cried Baucis, shuddering67, "I would not, for the world, put one of them on the gridiron!"
"As for you, good Philemon," continued the elder traveler,—"and you, kind Baucis,—you, with your scanty70 means, have mingled71 so much heartfelt hospitality with your entertainment of the homeless stranger, that the milk became an inexhaustible fount of nectar, and the brown loaf and the honey were ambrosia72. Thus, the divinities have feasted, at your board, off the same viands73 that supply their banquets on Olympus. You have done well, my dear old friends. Wherefore, request whatever favor you have most at heart, and it is granted."
Philemon and Baucis looked at one another, and then,—I know not which of the two it was who spoke74, but that one uttered the desire of both their hearts.
"Let us live together, while we live, and leave the world at the same instant, when we die! For we have always loved one another!"
They did so. But what was their surprise on beholding76 a tall edifice78 of white marble, with a wide-open portal, occupying the spot where their humble45 residence had so lately stood!
"There is your home," said the stranger, beneficently smiling on them both. "Exercise your hospitality in yonder palace as freely as in the poor hovel to which you welcomed us last evening."-167-
The old folks fell on their knees to thank him; but, behold77! neither he nor Quicksilver was there.
So Philemon and Baucis took up their residence in the marble palace, and spent their time, with vast satisfaction to themselves, in making everybody jolly and comfortable who happened to pass that way. The milk-pitcher, I must not forget to say, retained its marvelous quality of being never empty, when it was desirable to have it full. Whenever an honest, good-humored, and free-hearted guest took a draught79 from this pitcher, he invariably found it the sweetest and most invigorating fluid that ever ran down his throat. But, if a cross and disagreeable curmudgeon80 happened to sip81, he was pretty certain to twist his visage into a hard knot, and pronounce it a pitcher of sour milk!
Thus the old couple lived in their palace a great, great while, and grew older and older, and very old indeed. At length, however, there came a summer morning when Philemon and Baucis failed to make their appearance, as on other mornings, with one hospitable82 smile overspreading both their pleasant faces, to invite the guests of over-night to breakfast. The guests searched everywhere, from top to bottom of the spacious83 palace, and all to no purpose. But, after a great deal of perplexity, they espied84, in front of the portal, two venerable trees, which nobody could remember to have seen there the day before. Yet there they stood, with their roots fastened deep into the soil, and a huge breadth of foliage85 overshadowing-168- the whole front of the edifice. One was an oak, and the other a linden-tree. Their boughs86—it was strange and beautiful to see—were intertwined together, and embraced one another, so that each tree seemed to live in the other tree's bosom much more than in its own.
While the guests were marveling how these trees, that must have required at least a century to grow, could have come to be so tall and venerable in a single night, a breeze sprang up, and set their intermingled boughs astir. And then there was a deep, broad murmur in the air, as if the two mysterious trees were speaking.
"I am old Philemon!" murmured the oak.
"I am old Baucis!" murmured the linden-tree.
But, as the breeze grew stronger, the trees both spoke at once,—"Philemon! Baucis! Baucis! Philemon!"—as if one were both and both were one, and talking together in the depths of their mutual87 heart. It was plain enough to perceive that the good old couple had renewed their age, and were now to spend a quiet and delightful hundred years or so, Philemon as an oak, and Baucis as a linden-tree. And oh, what a hospitable shade did they fling around them. Whenever a wayfarer paused beneath it, he heard a pleasant whisper of the leaves above his head, and wondered how the sound should so much resemble words like these:—
"Welcome, welcome, dear traveler, welcome!"
And some kind soul, that knew what would have pleased old Baucis and old Philemon best, built a circular seat around both their trunks,-169- where, for a great while afterwards, the weary, and the hungry, and the thirsty used to repose themselves, and quaff88 milk abundantly out of the miraculous pitcher.
And I wish, for all our sakes, that we had the pitcher here now!
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1
palatable
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| adj.可口的，美味的；惬意的 | |
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crumb
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| n.饼屑，面包屑，小量 | |
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exquisitely
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| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
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smelt
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| v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼 | |
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transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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7
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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arbor
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| n.凉亭；树木 | |
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celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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dame
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| n.女士 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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pitcher
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| n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐；(棒球)投手 | |
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uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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15
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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stunted
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| adj.矮小的；发育迟缓的 | |
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18
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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marvels
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| n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 )；令人惊奇的事物（或事例）；不平凡的成果；成就v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 ) | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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gushed
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| v.喷，涌( gush的过去式和过去分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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foaming
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| adj.布满泡沫的；发泡 | |
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fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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needy
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| adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的 | |
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wayfarer
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| n.旅人 | |
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repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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hopping
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| n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式 | |
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planks
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| （厚）木板( plank的名词复数 )； 政纲条目，政策要点 | |
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hospitably
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| 亲切地，招待周到地，善于款待地 | |
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entreated
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| 恳求，乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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writhing
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 ) | |
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vehemently
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| adv. 热烈地 | |
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grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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reverently
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| adv.虔诚地 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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46
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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brotherhood
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| n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊 | |
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mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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49
clumps
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| n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声 | |
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50
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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52
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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rippling
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| 起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的 | |
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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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bosoms
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| 胸部( bosom的名词复数 )； 胸怀； 女衣胸部（或胸襟）； 和爱护自己的人在一起的情形 | |
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scaly
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| adj.鱼鳞状的；干燥粗糙的 | |
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rascals
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| 流氓( rascal的名词复数 )； 无赖； （开玩笑说法）淘气的人（尤指小孩）； 恶作剧的人 | |
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65
broiled
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| a.烤过的 | |
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trout
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| n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属) | |
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shuddering
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| v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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68
wry
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| adj.讽刺的；扭曲的 | |
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69
relish
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| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
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70
scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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71
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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72
ambrosia
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| n.神的食物；蜂食 | |
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73
viands
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| n.食品，食物 | |
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74
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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75
majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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76
beholding
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| v.看，注视( behold的现在分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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77
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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78
edifice
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| n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室) | |
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79
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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80
curmudgeon
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| n. 脾气暴躁之人，守财奴，吝啬鬼 | |
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81
sip
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| v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量 | |
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82
hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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83
spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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84
espied
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| v.看到( espy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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85
foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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86
boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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87
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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88
quaff
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| v.一饮而尽；痛饮 | |
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