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, 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