Next day, the queen being seated under a canopy of jewels, and the amphitheaters filled with all the gentlemen and ladies of rank in Babylon, the combatants appeared in the circus.  Each of them came and laid his device at the feet of the grand magi.  They drew their devices by lot; and that of Zadig was the last.  The first who advanced was a certain lord, named Itobad, very rich and very vain, but possessed of little courage, of less address, and hardly of any judgment at all.  His servants had persuaded him that such a man as he ought to be king; he had said in reply, “Such a man as I ought to reign”; and thus they had armed him cap-a-pie.  He wore an armor of gold enameled with green, a plume of green feathers, and a lance adorned with green ribbons.  It was instantly perceived by the manner in which Itobad managed his horse, that it was not for such a man as he that Heaven reserved the scepter of Babylon.  The first knight that ran against him threw him out of his saddle; the second laid him flat on his horse’s buttocks, with his legs in the air, and his arms extended.  Itobad recovered himself, but with so bad a grace that the whole amphitheater burst out a-laughing.  The third knight disdained to make use of his lance; but, making a pass at him, took him by the right leg and, wheeling him half round, laid him prostrate on the sand.  The squires of the game ran to him laughing, and replaced him in his saddle.  The fourth combatant took him by the left leg, and tumbled him down on the other side.  He was conducted back with scornful shouts to his tent, where, according to the law, he was to pass the night; and as he climbed along with great difficulty he said, “What an adventure for such 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!”