Chapter 3

The DOG and the HORSE.

_Zadig_ found, by Experience, that the first thirty Days of
Matrimony (as 'tis written in the Book of _Zend_) is Honey-Moon; but
the second is all Wormwood. He was oblig'd, in short, as _Azora_
grew such a Termagant, to sue out a Bill of Divorce, and to seek his
Consolation for the future, in the Study of Nature. Who is happier,
said he, than the Philosopher, who peruses with Understanding that
spacious Book, which the supreme Being has laid open before his
Eyes? The Truths he discovers there, are of infinite Service to him.
He thereby cultivates and improves his Mind. He lives in Peace and
Tranquility all his Days; he is afraid of Nobody, and he has no
tender, indulgent Wife to shorten his Nose for him.

Wrapped up in these Contemplations, he retir'd to a little Country
House on the Banks of the _Euphrates_; there he never spent his Time
in calculating how many Inches of Water run thro' the Arch of a
Bridge in a second of Time, or in enquiring if a Cube Line of Rain
falls more in the _Mouse-Month_, than in that of the _Ram_. He
form'd no Projects for making Silk Gloves and Stockings out of
Spiders Webbs, nor of China-Ware out of broken Glass-Bottles; but he
pry'd into the Nature and Properties of Animals and Plants, and
soon, by his strict and repeated Enquiries, he was capable of
discerning a Thousand Variations in visible Objects, that others,
less curious, imagin'd were all alike.

One Day, as he was taking a solitary Walk by the Side of a Thicket,
he espy'd one of the Queen's Eunuchs, with several of his
Attendants, coming towards him, hunting about, in deep Concern, both
here and there, like Persons almost in Despair, and seeking, with
Impatience, for something lost of the utmost Importance. Young Man,
said the Queen's chief Eunuch, have not you seen, pray, her
Majesty's Dog? _Zadig_ very cooly replied, you mean her Bitch, I
presume. You say very right Sir, said the Eunuch, 'tis a
Spaniel-Bitch indeed.--And very small said _Zadig_: She has had
Puppies too lately; she's a little lame with her left Fore-foot, and
has long Ears. By your exact Description, Sir, you must doubtless
have seen her, said the Eunuch, almost out of Breath. But I have not
Sir, notwithstanding, neither did I know, but by you, that the Queen
ever had such a favourite Bitch.

Just at this critical Juncture, so various are the Turns of
Fortune's Wheel! the best Palfrey in all the King's Stable had broke
loose from the Groom, and got upon the Plains of _Babylon_. The Head
Huntsman with all his inferior Officers, were in Pursuit after him,
with as much Concern, as the Eunuch about the Bitch. The Head
Huntsman address'd himself to _Zadig_, and ask'd him, whether he
hadn't seen the