“Very admirable grapes these!” observed Quicksilver, as he swallowed one after another, without apparently 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 marvels which Baucis had whispered to him.  He knew that his good old wife was incapable 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 fully satisfied that it contained not so much as a single drop.  All at once, however, he beheld a little white fountain, which gushed up from the bottom of the pitcher, and speedily filled it to the brim with foaming and deliciously fragrant milk.  It was lucky that Philemon, in his surprise, did not drop the miraculous 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 traveller, 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 needy wayfarer!”

The supper being now over, the strangers requested to be shown to their place of repose.  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 traveller had inspired them with such reverence, that they dared not ask him any questions.  And when Philemon drew Quicksilver aside, and inquired how under the sun a fountain of milk could have got into an old earthen pitcher, this latter personage pointed 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 hopping 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 planks, which I wish had been as soft as their own hearts.