s Friend
upon the Road; and stay there still I come. Observe my Orders, and
'tis very probable it may turn out to your Advantage.

O puissant _Orosmades_, continu'd he, you have made me, 'tis true,
an Instrument of Comfort to this poor Man; but what Friend will you
raise for me, to alleviate my Sorrows? Having utter'd this short
Expostulation, he gave the distrest Fisherman one full Moiety of all
the Money he brought with him out of _Arabia_. The Fisherman,
thunder-struck, and transported with Joy at so unexpected a
Benefaction, kiss'd the Feet of _Cador's_ Friend, and cried out,
sure you are a Messenger of Heaven, sent down to be my Saviour!

In the mean Time, _Zadig_ every now and then ask'd him Questions,
and wept as he ask'd them. What! Sir, said the Fisherman, can you,
who are so bountiful a Benefactor, be in Distress yourself? Alas!
said he, Friend, I am a hundred Times more unhappy than thou art.
But pray, Sir, said the good Man, how can it possibly be, that he,
who is so lavish of his Favours, should be overwhelm'd with greater
Misfortunes than the Man he so generously relieves? Your greatest
Uneasiness, said he, arose from the Narrowness of your Circumstances;
but mine proceeds from an internal, and much deeper Cause. Pray, Sir,
said the Fisherman, has _Orcan_ robb'd you of your Wife? This
Interrogatory put _Zadig_ in a Moment upon a Retrospection of all his
past Adventures. He recollected the whole Series of his Misfortunes;
commencing from that of the Eunuch and the Huntsman, to his Arrival
at the Free-booter's Castle. Alas! said he, to the Fisherman,
_Orcan_, 'tis true, deserves severely to be punish'd: But for the
Generality, we find, such worthless Barbarians are the Favourites of
Fortune. Be that, however, as it will, go as I bade you, to my Friend
_Cador_, and wait there till I come. They took their Leave; the
Fisherman blessing his propitious Stars, and _Zadig_ cursing, every
Step he went, the Hour he was born.

CHAP. XV.

_The_ BASILISK.

As _Zadig_ was traversing a verdant Meadow, he perceiv'd several
young Female _Syrians_, intent on searching for something very
curious, that lay conceal'd, as they imagin'd, in the Grass. He took
the Freedom to approach one of them, and ask her, in the most
courteous Manner, if he might have the Honour to assist her in her
Researches. Have a care, said she. What we are hunting after, Sir,
is an Animal, that will not suffer itself to be touch'd by a Man