BAUKIS Baukis, a poor peasant, with his wife Philemon, was visited by Zeus and Hermes, in the country of Phrygia. The gods, receiving such kindness and care from the two poor people, were touched by their devotion, and Zeus, ready to unleash a flood on the country, to punish the evildoers for their crimes, revealed himself to the couple, transformed their shabby cottage into a temple, and installed the two therein as his priest and priestess. He also granted their wish that they might die together, and when, many years later, death overtook them, he changed them into two trees---an oak and a linden---that grew side by side.