For an instant , the lake remained perfectly smooth . Then , a little breeze sprang up , and caused the water to dance , glitter , and sparkle in the early sunbeams , and to dash , with a pleasant rippling murmur , against the hither shore . The lake seemed so strangely familiar , that the old couple were greatly perplexed , and felt as if they could only have been dreaming about a village having lain there . But , the next moment , they remembered the vanished dwellings , and the faces and characters of the inhabitants , far too distinctly for a dream . The village had been there yesterday , and now was gone ! `` Alas ! '' cried these kind-hearted old people , `` what has become of our poor neighbors ? '' `` They exist no longer as men and women , '' said the elder traveller , 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 softened or sweetened the hard lot of mortality by the exercise of kindly affections between man and man . They retained no image of the better life in their bosoms ; 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 scaly set of rascals , and the coldest-blooded beings in existence . So , kind Mother Baucis , whenever you or your husband have an appetite for a dish of broiled trout , he can throw in a line , and pull out half a dozen of your old neighbors ! '' `` Ah , '' cried Baucis , shuddering , `` I would not , for the world , put one of them on the gridiron ! '' `` No , '' added Philemon , making a wry face , `` we could never relish them ! '' `` As for you , good Philemon , '' continued the elder traveller , -- `` and you , kind Baucis , -- you , with your scanty means , have mingled 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 ambrosia . Thus , the divinities have feasted , at your board , off the same viands 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 spoke , but that one uttered the desire of both their hearts .
`` Let us live together , XXXXX we live , and leave the world at the same instant , when we die !
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