Philemon

Philemon opened his cottage to two travellers after a thousand households had turned them away. He and Baucis had grown old together in the small home and knew how to live with little. He offered the strangers a seat while Baucis spread a cloth over the bench. Then he went to the garden, gathered herbs and brought down a small piece of bacon from the beam. They prepared what they had and covered the table with their best cloth. Philemon watched the visitors eat. Their wine kept filling the goblet, and the couple raised their hands in prayer when they understood that their guests were not ordinary men.

Philemon and Baucis tried to catch their only goose to serve it, but the bird ran to the guests and stayed close to them. Jupiter and Mercury stopped the couple and revealed who they were. They led them up the hill, where Philemon watched floodwater cover the village and spare their cottage. Their home was changed into a temple. The gods asked what reward the couple wanted. Philemon answered with Baucis: they wished to tend the temple together and to die at the same time, so neither would have to bury the other. They served there for years. One day each saw branches on the other's body. Philemon spoke his farewell as their forms became two trees joined by their trunks.