The farmer and mechanic., 1912-10-08


celebrated Sultan Oulong-beb 1t was |
at the time when the Arabians and |
the Fersaans began to write The Thou
sand and One Nights, The Thousand
ana One Days, etc. Ouiong liked
Zadig better; but the Sultannas liked
The Thousand and One better
The part Of Zadis that was suggest
ed by The Lost Camel and that is con
sldered so important in the genealogy
Of the detective in fiction, is chapter
three, entitled The Dog and the Horse.
Voltaire's hero Zadig, though young,
is 4 sage and close observer. He stu
| died especially, the characteristics Of
animals and Of plants" Voltaire says.
and soon acquired an acuteness
which disclosed to him thousand diff
ferences where other men saw only
uniformity AS an instance of his
acuteness Foltaire relates the follow
ing episode Of the queens dog and the
kings horse:
| "One day, while walking near a lit
tie wood, Zadig saw running toward
him one Of the queens eunuchS fol-
lowed by several officers. They SEEM
Led greatly disturbed and were running
here and there like men out Of their
wits looking for something very valua-
BILE that they had lost.
Young man. the first eunuch said
to him, have you seen anything OF
the queens dog?'
1T is female, isn't it, answered
, IZadig modestly.
You are right, replied the
. first eunuch.
1t is a very small spaniel. added
: Zadig; she has lately had puppies;
she lirnps in her left front foot, and
has very long ears
Then You have seen her. ex-
claimed the first eunuch, all out OF
, breath.
! No zadig answered, 7 have
, never seen her, and I didn't even know
that the queen had a dog
! Just at the same time, by one Of
fortunes usual caprices. the mos
beautiful horse in the kings stable
had broken away from groom on the
plains of Babylon. The chief hunts
n man and all the other officers ran il
: search of him as anxiousiy as the frs
eunuch had run after the dog. The
q chief huntsman appealed TO Zadig ane
asked him whether he had seen th'
kings horse pass.
), "'Ft is,' replied Zadig, "a horse will
e a perfect gallop; he is five feet high
with very small hoofs; his tail is thre
feet and half long; the bosses Of hi
Y bit are of twenty three carat gold; hi
!" shoes are Of silver eleven-twelfth
: fine.
O is he?' asked the chief huntsman.
81 haven't seen him. replie'
I Zadig, and have never heard hir
e spoken Of
= The chief huntsman and the frs
eunuch did not doubt that Zadig ma
e stolen the kings horse and the queen
n dog. They had him brought befOr
h the assembly Of the Great Desterhan
who condemned him to the knout, an
,r tc pass the remainder of his days i
Siberia Scarcely had the decisio
k been rendered when the horse and tn
n dog were found. The judges we're ur
)e der the sad necessity of changing thei
Is sentence; but they condemned Zadi
,r to pay four hundred ounces Of gOl
for having said that he had not see
le something that he had seen. This fin
ly first had to be paid, after which Zadi
was permitted to plead his case befol
I'd the court of the Great Desterham II
ls spoke in these terms:
Sc "Stars of justice, abysses of know
lg edge. mirrors Of truth. who have tt
to ponderousness of lead, the hardne;
It. Of iron, the brilliancy Of the damon
ne and a great affinity with gold, sine
I'd I am permitted to speak before tn
is august assembly, I swear to you
an Orosmade that / have never seen IT
ID queens worthy dog or the sacre
10 horse of the king of kings. Here
L
"a toward the little wood where / lat
a met the venerable eunuch and II
! ilIustrious chief hunts1nan. I saw {
ct the sand the tracks of an animal ar
~ I easily judged them to have bee
Va made by a little dog. Long, lig
- marks imprinted on little hi1locks
w. sand between the footprints led me
- | perceive that it was a dog whose tea
~ were hanging down, and that accor
~ " ingly she had had puppies few da
II ago. Other marks in a different dire
ton, which seemed uniformly to ha
~ brushed the surface Of the sand
m the side of the front paws showed n
ld that she had very long ears; and
10 I noticed that the sand was alwa
de less deeply pressed down by one pa
DIS than by the other three, I understo'
eu that the dog Of our august queen W
rs a little lame, if ! may say SO.
On LAS regards the kings horse, y