`` If the young man has such a terrible appetite , I am afraid there will not be half enough supper ! '' They all went into the cottage . And now , my little auditors , shall I tell you something that will make you open your eyes very wide ? It is really one of the oddest circumstances in the whole story . Quicksilver 's staff , you recollect , had set itself up against the wall of the cottage . Well ; when its master entered the door , leaving this wonderful staff behind , what should it do but immediately spread its little wings , and go hopping and fluttering up the doorsteps ! Tap , tap , went the staff , on the kitchen floor ; nor did it rest until it had stood itself on end , with the greatest gravity and decorum , beside Quicksilver 's chair . Old Philemon , however , as well as his wife , was so taken up in attending to their guests , that no notice was given to what the staff had been about . As Baucis had said , there was but a scanty supper for two hungry travellers . In the middle of the table was the remnant of a brown loaf , with a piece of cheese on one side of it , and a dish of honeycomb on the other . There was a pretty good bunch of grapes for each of the guests . A moderately sized earthen pitcher , nearly full of milk , stood at a corner of the board ; and when hands had filled two bowls , and set them before the strangers , only a little milk remained in the bottom of the pitcher . Alas ! it is a very sad business , when a bountiful heart finds itself pinched and squeezed among narrow circumstances . Poor Baucis kept wishing that she might starve for a week to come , if it were possible , by so doing , to provide these hungry folks a more plentiful supper . And , since the supper was so exceedingly small , she could not help wishing that their appetites had not been quite so large . Why , at their very first sitting down , the travellers both drank off all the milk in their two bowls , at a draught . `` A little more milk , kind Mother Baucis , if you please , '' said Quicksilver . `` The day has been hot , and I am very much athirst . '' `` Now , my dear people , '' answered Baucis , in great confusion , `` I am so sorry and ashamed !
But the truth is , there is hardly a drop more milk XXXXX the pitcher .
If against as at before behind for in until with