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. 
_ Weare 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 was 
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 Heliades, nor 
the mast tree with its lofty branches, nor the tender 
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