e properties of
plants and animals; and soon acquired a sagacity that made him discover a
thousand differences where other men see nothing but uniformity.

One day, as he was walking near a little wood, he saw one of the queen's
eunuchs running toward him, followed by several officers, who appeared to
be in great perplexity, and who ran to and fro like men distracted,
eagerly searching for something they had lost of great value. "Young man,"
said the first eunuch, "hast thou seen the queen's dog?" "It is a female,"
replied Zadig. "Thou art in the right," returned the first eunuch. "It is
a very small she spaniel," added Zadig; "she has lately whelped; she limps
on the left forefoot, and has very long ears." "Thou hast seen her," said
the first eunuch, quite out of breath. "No," replied Zadig, "I have not
seen her, nor did I so much as know that the queen had a dog."

Exactly at the same time, by one of the common freaks of fortune, the
finest horse in the king's stable had escaped from the jockey in the
plains of Babylon. The principal huntsman and all the other officers ran
after him with as much eagerness and anxiety as the first eunuch had done
after the spaniel. The principal huntsman addressed himself to Zadig, and
asked him if he had not seen the king's horse passing by. "He is the
fleetest horse in the king's stable," replied Zadig; "he is five feet
high, with very small hoofs, and a tail three feet and a half in length;
the studs on his bit are gold of twenty-three carats, and his shoes are
silver of eleven pennyweights." "What way did he take? where is he?"
demanded the chief huntsman. "I have not seen him," replied Zadig, "and
never heard talk of him before."

The principal huntsman and the first eunuch never doubted but that Zadig
had stolen the king's horse and the queen's spaniel. They therefore had
him conducted before the assembly of the grand desterham, who condemned
him to the knout, and to spend the rest of his days in Siberia. Hardly was
the sentence passed when the horse and the spaniel were both found. The
judges were reduced to the disagreeable necessity of reversing their
sentence; but they condemned Zadig to pay four hundred ounces of gold for
having said that he had not seen what he had seen. This fine he was
obliged to pay; after which he was permitted to plead his cause before the
counsel of the grand desterham, when he spoke to the following effect:

"Ye stars of justice, abyss of sciences,