`` All will be very well ; do not trouble yourself , my good dame , '' replied the elder stranger , kindly . `` An honest , hearty welcome to a guest works miracles with the fare , and is capable of turning the coarsest food to nectar and ambrosia . '' `` A welcome you shall have , '' cried Baucis , `` and likewise a little honey that we happen to have left , and a bunch of purple grapes besides . '' `` Why , Mother Baucis , it , is a feast ! '' exclaimed Quicksilver , laughing , `` an absolute feast ! and you shall see how bravely I will play my part at it ! I think I never felt hungrier in my life . '' `` Mercy on us ! '' whispered Baucis to her husband . `` 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 XXXXX the pitcher .
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