jest, my friend! How can such a splendid
animal be possibly sold for twenty ducats?"

"Here! hear!" shouted the crowd. "He finds the price too low!"

"He is a real gentleman!"

"He will not buy gudgeons like the Spaniard!"

"In earnest, friend, tell me the price of this fish!" said Gianettino.

"I have demanded twenty ducats for it," sadly responded the fisherman,
"and it is sold for that sum."

"Impossible! In that case it would not be lying here!" replied
Gianettino. "Or had the man paid you the money, and now gone for a cart
for the conveyance of the giant?"

"I have not yet been paid."

"The purchaser, then, has given you earnest money?"

"No, not even that. I have yet received nothing upon it."

"And you can pretend that you have sold this fish," cried Gianettino,
"and that, too, for the ridiculously small sum of twenty ducats! Ah,
you are a joker, my good man; you wish to excite in me a desire for this
rare specimen, and therefore you say it is sold. But how can a fish that
yet lies exposed for sale, and for which no one had made you a suitable
offer, be already sold?"

And gravely approaching the giant of the waters, Gianettino laid his
hand upon his head and solemnly said: "The fish is mine. I purchase it;
you demand twenty ducats! But I shall give you what you ought to have,
and what the creature is worth! I shall pay you six-and-thirty ducats
for him!"

The crowd, which had maintained an anxious and breathless silence during
this negotiation, now broke out with a loud and exulting shout.

"That is a real nobleman!"

"_Evviva il ministro della cucina! Il grande Gianettino!_"

"That is no parsimonious Spaniard! He is a French cavalier. He will buy
no gudgeons, but will have the right Roman fish."

"Gentlemen," said Gianettino, modestly casting down his eyes, "I do not
understand your praises, and it seems to me I only deal like a man of
honor, as every one of you would do! This honest man taxes his wares too
low; I give him what they are worth! That is all. If I acted otherwise I
should not long remain in the service of the lofty and generous Cardinal
Bernis! Justice and generosity, that is the first command of his
excellency!"

"_Evviva_ the French ambassador!"

"Praise and honor to Cardinal Bernis!"

And while the people were thus shouting, Gianettino from his well-filled
purse paid down the six-and-thirty ducats upon the fisherman's board. He
then commanded his six attendant scullions