Meanwhile the queen mentioned the name of Zadig so frequently and with such a blushing and downcast look; she was sometimes so lively and sometimes so perplexed when she spoke to him in the king’s presence, and was seized with such deep thoughtfulness at his going away, that the king began to be troubled.  He believed all that he saw and imagined all that he did not see.  He particularly remarked that his wife’s shoes were blue and that Zadig’s shoes were blue; that his wife’s ribbons were yellow and that Zadig’s bonnet was yellow; and these were terrible symptoms to a prince of so much delicacy.  In his jealous mind suspicions were turned into certainty.

All the slaves of kings and queens are so many spies over their hearts.  They soon observed that Astarte was tender and that Moabdar was jealous.  The envious man brought false report to the king.  The monarch now thought of nothing but in what manner he might best execute his vengeance.  He one night resolved to poison the queen and in the morning to put Zadig to death by the bowstring.  The orders were given to a merciless eunuch, who commonly executed his acts of vengeance.  There happened at that time to be in the king’s chamber a little dwarf, who, though dumb, was not deaf.  He was allowed, on account of his insignificance, to go wherever he pleased, and as a domestic animal, was a witness of what passed in the most profound secrecy.  This little mute was strongly attached to the queen and Zadig.  With equal horror and surprise he heard the cruel orders given.  But how to prevent the fatal sentence that in a few hours was to be carried into execution!  He could not write, but he could paint; and excelled particularly in drawing a striking resemblance.  He employed a part of the night in sketching out with his pencil what he meant to impart to the queen.  The piece represented the king in one corner, boiling with rage, and giving orders to the eunuch; a bowstring, and a bowl on a table; the queen in the middle of the picture, expiring in the arms of her woman, and Zadig strangled at her feet.  The horizon represented a rising sun, to express that this shocking execution was to be performed in the morning.  As soon as he had finished the picture he ran to one of Astarte’s women, awakened her, and made her understand that she must immediately carry it to the queen.

At midnight a messenger knocks at Zadig’s door, awakes him, and gives him a note from the queen.  He doubts whether it is a dream; and opens the letter with a trembling hand.  But how great was his surprise! and who can express the consternation and despair into which he was thrown upon reading these words:  “Fly this instant, or thou art a dead man.  Fly, Zadig, I conjure thee by our mutual love and my yellow ribbons.  I have not been guilty, but I find I must die like a criminal.”