THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER
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 in the pitcher. O husband! husband! why didn’t we go without our supper?’
‘Why it appears to me,’ cried Quicksilver, starting up from table and taking the pitcher by the handle, ‘it really appears to me that matters are not quite so bad as you represent them. Here is certainly more milk in the pitcher.’
So saying, and to the vast astonishment of Baucis, he proceeded to fill, not only his own bowl, but his companion’s likewise, from the pitcher, that was supposed to be almost empty. The good woman could scarcely believe her eyes. She had certainly poured out nearly all the milk, and had peeped in afterwards, and seen the bottom of the pitcher, as she set it down upon the table.
‘But I am old,’ thought Baucis to herself, ‘and apt to be forgetful. I suppose I must have made a mistake. At all events, the pitcher cannot help being empty now, after filling the bowls twice over.’
‘What excellent milk!’ observed Quicksilver, after quaffing the contents of the second bowl. ‘Excuse me, my kind hostess, but I must really ask you for a little more.’
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