"It seems that almost anything can be arranged for a fee."

Fader held out his hands.

"Is this not true anywhere? I must announce that time is on the move. Have you seen enough of the Caglioro?"

Shugart looked around the group.

"We are ready to move on.

Where next?"

"We pass through the Gallery of Ancient Gladiators. Had you been attentive a few moments ago, you might have glimpsed a pair of these doughty warriors wrestling on the high platform. Since you failed to notice, I cannot charge a fee."

"Do we incur charges by traversing the gallery?"

Fader made a reassuring sign.

"It is on the way to the bazaar. Come."

Fader led the group into a long passage giving on a series of cubicles. In each an old man sat cross-legged on a dingy cushion. Some occupied themselves at a trifle of handicraft.

One embroidered; another tatted;

another wove strands of fiber into small toy animals. Others sat staring listlessly into space.

As the Bold Lions moved along the gallery they caught up with the party of tourists which had arranged the spectacle in the Caglioro. These numbered about twenty: Glawen adjudged them to be Lad- dakees from the world Gaude Phodelius IV, by reason of their squat physiques, fresh complexions, round faces and distinctive wide- brimmed hats with trailing black ribbons. The group leader seemed to be arranging another spectacle, the so-called Double Bubble, with the tour guide, but was deterred by what he considered excessive charges. Others of the party clustered around a cubicle, conversing with the old man inside. The Bold Lions stopped to listen.

A question had been put to the old man; he responded: "What choices are open to me? I can no longer work; should I sit in the dark and starve?"

"But you seem reconciled to this sort of death!"

"I care little, one way or another. It is a proper end to my life. I have achieved nothing, discovered nothing; I have brought not a twitch of change to the cosmos. I will soon be gone and no one will know the difference."

"It seems a negative philosophy," stated the Laddakee.

"Is there nothing you have done of which you are proud?"

"I have been a grass-scraper all my life. One stalk is much like the others. Still, long ago, an odd mood came on me and I carved a bit of wood into the similitude of a fish, with every scale in Correct detail. Folk who saw it thought it very fine."

"And where is this fish now?"

"It fell into the canal and drifted away on the tide. Not long ago I started another such fish you see it here but I lost heart and never finished it."

"So now you are ready to die."

"No one is ever quite ready."

One of the Laddakees pushed forward from the rear of the group.

"If the truth be told, I am ashamed of this sort of thing. Instead of buying this gentleman's death, let us take up a collection and ensure his survival. Is not that more worthy of humanity and our religion?"

A mutter went around the group. Some seemed to agree; others were doubtful. A very stout man said plaintively: "That's all well and good, but we have already paid for the spectacle; the money would be wasted!"

Another said: "More to the point, there are thousands in the same case! If we rescue this old gaffer and his fish, then another will come to take his place; must we then rescue another, who perhaps has carved a bird? The process is endless!"

The leader said: "As you all know, I am a merciful man, and an Elder in the Church, but I must come down on the side of practicality. As I understand it, this spectacle conduces not to morbidity or perverse spasms, but to a healthy catharsis. Brother Jankoop's scheme does him credit, but I would suggest that on our return home, he show an equal solicitude for his neighbors and put his goats out to pasture."

Grateful laughter greeted the sally. The leader turned to Fader.

"Perhaps your party would care to join us at the Double Bubble spectacle. The fee, thus prorated among the two groups, would make the cost less daunting."

Aries inquired: "What, in fact, is the fee?"

Fader calculated.

"The charges would be five sols per individual. That is a flat rate." He held up his hand to the instant chorus of protests.

"There will be no prorating;

prices are fixed."

Aries said with a shaky laugh: "After a financial shock like that, I truly need some catharsis. I will take part, despite the expense."

"Include me," said Cloyd.

"What about you, Dauncy?"

"I don't want to miss anything. I'll come."

"Include me as well," declared Kiper.

"It's disgusting," said Uther Offaw.

"I won't have any part of it."

"Nor I," said Glawen.

Shugart also excluded himself from the event; Jardine at last decided to participate, "from sheer curiosity," as he put it. Kirdy hesitated, his big rubicund face showing first one expression, then another. At last, feeling Glawen's eyes upon him, he said, rather sulkily, "It's not for me."

While Fader collected the five-sol charges, Glawen chanced to notice the half-finished fish. He pointed.

"May I see it?"

The old man handed him the object: a bit of wood eight inches long, with head and about half of the scales carved in exact and minute detail. On an impulse Glawen asked:

"Would you sell this to me?"

"It is nothing: not even complete. When I am dead it will be thrown away. You may have it without charge."