TREES AND TREES. 97 



turned to woody fibre, their hair and hands changed to 

 leaves and branches, and a thick and rugged bark en- 

 closed their shuddering forms. The most interesting of 

 these pretty mythological metamorphoses is related of 

 Baucis and Philemon. This good old couple, although 

 unaware of the greatness of their guests, entertained 

 Jupiter and Mercury very hospitably of their frugal 

 fare, and as a reward two wishes were granted them — 

 one to be the keepers of the temple which had arisen on 

 the site of their humble cottage ; the other, to die to- 

 gether, at the same hour and in the same manner. So 

 when fullness of years had dimmed their eyes they were 

 changed to trees, the one to a grand and spreading oak, 

 the other to a tall and graceful linden tree. For many 

 ages they grew side by side, intermingling and inter- 

 twining their roots and branches as tenderly and lov- 

 ingly as they had lived their sweet and simple lives. 



We are told that in the olden times, trees walked and 

 talked as well as thought, and were attracted by the 

 power of music. When Apollo and Orpheus played the 

 harp the trees and cattle came together and crowded 

 about them, trembling with the emotions which the 

 sweet sounds awakened. Says Ovid : " There was a 

 hill, and upon the hill a most level space of a plain, 

 which the blades of grass made green ; all shade Avas 

 wanting in the spot. After the bard, sprung from the 

 gods, had seated himself in this place and touched the 

 strings, a shade came over the spot. The tree of Cha- 

 onia was not absent, nor the groves of the Ileliades, nor 

 the mast tree with its lofty branches, nor the tender 



