



















16 THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
two godlike strangers paused on their thresh- 
old, and craved shelter for the night. The 
old couple gave them a cordial welcome, 
and brought out the best of their poor store, 
and spread before them. ‘The strangers were 
grateful ; they told the poor people that they 
had asked hospitality at many richer dwell- 
ings, and had been refused, and that they 
would not fail to recompense their charity. 
And then Baucis, who had been conscious 
of an instinctive awe all the time she had 
served her guests, perceived that the wine 
from which the unknown visitors drank 
was not diminished, and she guessed the 
truth at once. ‘The majestic elder was 
Jupiter, king of gods and men; the gay 
youth who talked so divinely was Mercury, 
the god of eloquence. So she whispered her 
husband, and they would have sacrificed a 
goose which they possessed, but it escaped 
from their feeble grasp, and fluttered to the 
feet of the gods, who protected it, and bade 
them not slay it. 
Then Jupiter asked the aged pair what he 

