Jack Vance Quote

"What are your fees?" inquired Guyal cautiously.
"I respond to three questions," stated the augur. "For twenty terces I phrase the answer in clear and actionable language; for ten I use the language of cant, which occasionally admits of ambiguity; for five, I speak a parable which you must interpret as you will; and for one terce, I babble in an unknown tongue."

Chapter 6, "Guyal of Sfere" - Quotations and text from the Dying Earth novels - The Dying Earth (1950)