mirrors of truth, who have the
weight of lead, the hardness of iron, the splendor of the diamond, and
many properties of gold: Since I am permitted to speak before this august
assembly, I swear to you by Oramades that I have never seen the queen's
respectable spaniel, nor the sacred horse of the king of kings. The truth
of the matter was as follows: I was walking toward the little wood, where
I afterwards met the venerable eunuch, and the most illustrious chief
huntsman. I observed on the sand the traces of an animal, and could easily
perceive them to be those of a little dog. The light and long furrows
impressed on little eminences of sand between the marks of the paws
plainly discovered that it was a female, whose dugs were hanging down, and
that therefore she must have whelped a few days before. Other traces of a
different kind, that always appeared to have gently brushed the surface of
the sand near the marks of the forefeet, showed me that she had very long
ears; and as I remarked that there was always a slighter impression made
on the sand by one foot than the other three, I found that the spaniel of
our august queen was a little lame, if I may be allowed the expression.

"With regard to the horse of the king of kings, you will be pleased to
know that, walking in the lanes of this wood, I observed the marks of a
horse's shoes, all at equal distances. This must be a horse, said I to
myself, that gallops excellently. The dust on the trees in the road that
was but seven feet wide was a little brushed off, at the distance of three
feet and a half from the middle of the road. This horse, said I, has a
tail three feet and a half long, which being whisked to the right and
left, has swept away the dust. I observed under the trees that formed an
arbor five feet in height, that the leaves of the branches were newly
fallen; from whence I inferred that the horse had touched them, and that
he must therefore be five feet high. As to his bit, it must be gold of
twenty-three carats, for he had rubbed its bosses against a stone which I
knew to be a touchstone, and which I have tried. In a word, from the marks
made by his shoes on flints of another kind, I concluded that he was shod
with silver eleven deniers fine."

All the judges admired Zadig for his acute and profound discernment. The
news of this speech was carried even to the king and queen. Nothing was
talked of but Zadig in the antechambers, the chambers, and the cabinet;