ch a man as I!"

The other knights acquitted themselves with greater ability and success.
Some of them conquered two combatants; a few of them vanquished three; but
none but Prince Otamus conquered four. At last Zadig fought him in his
turn. He successively threw four knights off their saddles with all the
grace imaginable. It then remained to be seen who should be conqueror,
Otamus or Zadig. The arms of the first were gold and blue, with a plume of
the same color; those of the last were white. The wishes of all the
spectators were divided between the knight in blue and the knight in
white. The queen, whose heart was in a violent palpitation, offered
prayers to Heaven for the success of the white color.

The two champions made their passes and vaults with so much agility, they
mutually gave and received such dexterous blows with their lances, and sat
so firmly in their saddles, that everybody but the queen wished there
might be two kings in Babylon. At length, their horses being tired and
their lances broken, Zadig had recourse to this stratagem: He passes
behind the blue prince; springs upon the buttocks of his horse; seizes him
by the middle; throws him on the earth; places himself in the saddle; and
wheels around Otamus as he lay extended on the ground. All the
amphitheater cried out, "Victory to the white knight!"

Otamus rises in a violent passion, and draws his sword; Zadig leaps from
his horse with his saber in his hand. Both of them are now on the ground,
engaged in a new combat, where strength and agility triumph by turns. The
plumes of their helmets, the studs of their bracelets, the rings of their
armor, are driven to a great distance by the violence of a thousand
furious blows. They strike with the point and the edge; to the right, to
the left, on the head, on the breast; they retreat; they advance; they
measure swords; they close; they seize each other; they bend like
serpents; they attack like lions; and the fire every moment flashes from
their blows.

At last Zadig, having recovered his spirits, stops; makes a feint; leaps
upon Otamus; throws him on the ground and disarms him; and Otamus cries
out, "It is thou alone, O white knight, that oughtest to reign over
Babylon!" The queen was now at the height of her joy. The knight in blue
armor and the knight in white were conducted each to his own apartment, as
well as all the others, according to the intention of the law. Mutes came
to wait upon them and to