The farmer and mechanic., 1912-10-08

The resemblance between this ex-
pioit OF Zadig's and The Lost Camel is
hoth close and obvious. And with II
as a starting point. the possibilities OF
q hero endowed with 'an acateneSs
which disclosed 10 him thousand
dlNerenceS where other men saw only
uniformity seemed TO grow upon Vol
taire. and he elsewhere utilizes this
talent OF Zadigs no fewer than seven
umeS- In their order thess. incidents
are % The dead merchant and his
heirs, chapter six. t2) The cure for
the vanity OF IraA. chapter six, ,3)
The unWitnessed debt. chapter ten.
t4) How TO pick an honest treasurer.
chapter fourteen. 80 How TO pick a
loving wife. chapter hfteen CO. The
healing of Osul. chapter eighteen. 10
The solving OF the riddles. chapter
twenty-one.
The most interesting Of these is
number three, the episode Of The In
witnessed Debt. AS illustrating diff
ferent phase Of Zadig'S acuteneSs il
deserves to be placed beside The Dog
and the Horse. The account reads as
follows:
Zadig has run away from Babylon,
his home, has been captured by the
Egyptians and sold as slave TO Setoc.
an Arabian merchant.
Having reached his tribe. the first
thing Setoc did was to demand 500
| ounces Of silver from Jew 70 whom
he had lent them in the presence
of two witnesses. These two witnesses,
| however. had died. and the Jew. feel
| ing himself safe, appropriated the
merchants silver, thanking God be
cause He had given him the means
| to outwit an Arab. Setoc confded
] his difficulty to Zadig, who had be
| come his adviser
| Where" asked Zadig, did vou
lend your 500 ounces to this unbe-
/ Hever?"
'On q large rock, replied the mer
t chant which is near Mount Horeb.
| What is the character of your deb
tor?" asked Zadig
He is rogue answered Setoc.
But what 7 want TO know i
whether he is vivacious or rhlegmatic
wary or imprudent.'
'He is of all bad Debtors" sait
Setoc, the most vivacious l know of.
"All right continued Zadig, 'le
me argue your case before the Judge.
; What he did was to summon tn
Jew to court and to speak thus t
the judge:
5 ''Pillar OF the throne of justice,
appear to demand from this man, i
: my masters name, 500 ounces Of ST
yer which he refuses to pay.
Have you any witnesses? aske
l the Judge.
mo, they are dead; but there re
mains a large rock on which the 81
l YER was counted; and. If it please 20,
S highness to order that the rock
3 sought, I hope that it will bear wi
!, ness. We will remain here, the Je
! and 7, to wait till the rock comes.
I will send for it at the expense Of SetO
4 my master"
e Willingly" replied the judge. an
= he busted himself about other ma
r terS.
g At the end Of tho hearing: Well
d said he to Zadig, your rock has NJ
a come yet.
e The Jew laughingly answered
g "Your highness might stay here ii
e tomorrow and still that rock Won
e not come. 1t is more than six mile
from here, and it would take tftee
: men to bring it.
e ''Ah ha." cried Zadig. Il told yc
;s the rock would bear witness. Sine
l, this man knows where it is, he az
e n1its then that it is the one on whic
IS the silver was counted
y The Jew, surprised and disconcer
g ed, was soon forced to confess a
d The Judge ordered that he be bour
is on the rock without food or drin
6 until he paid back the 500 ounces
II silver, which were soon PAID.
el The slave Zadig and the rock We
n in great esteem in Arabia.
d This episode Of The Cnwitness'
n Debt and the incident Of The Hor
It and the Dog are the chief eXampl
II Of Zadig's skill in solving problem
% though the other six incidents llk
IS wise illustrate his sagacity and acut
l. ness. It should be noted in passin
IS however, that Eoltaires tale could
= no sense be called a detective stoT
ye 1t is an Oriental romance, and belon
" to the same general class as Waipolt
le Castle Of OtrantO, Beckfords CaiiI
Is Vathek and Mrs. Radcliffe's Mysteri
rs of Udolpho in England. 1t is, NOR
" over. satiric in purpose and IS Z
ID vehicle for many characteristic V
as tairian reflections and Observable
on philosophical, legal. social. and +
u ligious questions. 1t also contal
lg touches Of personal satire on V
d taire's opponents: as, for example,
re Reamus and the Academic q
IS, Sciences in chapter three, and
- n, ~