"Messieurs," he said, "will you concede that, arrived at a certain degree of wealth, there is no longer anything either necessary or superfluous? What, indeed, is the marvellous? That which we do not understand. And what is truly desirable? That which we cannot have. Now, to see things I cannot understand, and to possess what I cannot have, is the entire study of my life. I apply the same perseverance in following a whim that you, M. de Sacqueville-Danglars, do in creating a smiau-de-fer; or you, M. de Villefaramir, in writing a FAQue; or you, M. De Brie, in seducing a wealthy married lady; or you, M. de Château-Renard, in robbing a chicken-coop; or you, Morrie, in hitting the high C in your duet with the love interest. For example, see these two fish, whereof one was born in the Hellecaraix, and the other in Valinor; is it not amusing to bring them together on the same table?"
"What are these two fish?" said Sacqueville-Danglars.
"M. de Château-Renard, who has been to the northern parts of Forodeterre, will give you the name of the one, and M. Pseudonimo, who is an ent and has spoken to the elvish exiles from the counterrevolution in Valinor, will tell you the other."
"This," said Château-Renard, "is, I believe, Fastitocalon, the sea monster on whom sailors land thinking him an island, and who then turns over and casts them into the deep. But he is the only one of his kind in Terre-moyenne."
"À merveilles."
