When they ask for a place to sleep for the night, Jupiter and Mercury, who travel disguised as mortals, are rejected by all except Philemon and Baucis, a poor pious couple. To punish the townspeople Jupiter burns their town to the ground whereas he turns his hosts' modest cottage into an ornate temple. He also grants the couple's two wishes, allowing them to become the guardians of the new temple and, when their time comes, to die together. Once their mortal lives are over, Philemon and Baucis are changed into an intertwining pair of trees, an oak and a lime-tree.
