"On the contrary, it seems so to me without that gown," said the obstinate Pellisson; "what is your opinion, Gourville?"
"I think the gown in question is a very good thing," replied the latter; "but I equally think a million and a half is far better than the gown."
"And I am of Gourville's opinion," exclaimed Fouquet, stopping the discussion by the expression of his own opinion, which would necessarily bear down all the others.
"A million and a half," Pellisson grumbled out; "now I happen to know an Indian fable—"
"Tell it me," said La Fontaine; "I ought to know it, too."
"Tell it, tell it," said the others.
"There was a tortoise, which was as usual well protected by its shell," said Pellisson; "whenever its enemies threatened it, it took refuge within its covering. One day some one said to it, 'You must feel very hot in such a house as that in the summer, and you are altogether prevented showing off your graces; here is a snake here who will give you a million and a half for your shell.'"
"Good!" said the surintendant, laughing.
"Well, what next?" said La Fontaine, much more interested in the apologue than its moral.
"The tortoise sold his shell and remained naked and defenseless. A vulture happened to see him, and being hungry, broke the tortoise's back with a blow of his beak and devoured it. The moral is, that M. Fouquet should take very good care to keep his gown."