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. 'Tis somewhat surprizing, said _Zadig_. May I be so bold, pray, as to ask you what you are in Pursuit after, that shuns the Touch of any Thing but the Hands of the Fair Sex. 'Tis, Sir, said she, the _Basilisk_: A _Basilisk_, Madam, said he! And pray, if you will be so good as to inform me, with what View, are you searching after a Creature so very difficult to be met with? 'Tis, Sir, said she, for our Lord and Master _Ogul_, whose Castle, you see, situate on the River-side, at the Bottom of the Meadow. We are all his Vassals. _Ogul_, you must know, is in a very bad State of Health, and his first Physician has order'd him, as a Specific, to eat a _Basilisk_, boil'd in Rose water: And as that Animal is very hard to be catch'd, and will suffer nothing to approach it, but one of our Sex, our dying Sovereign _Ogul_ has promis'd to honour her, that shall be so happy as to catch it for him, so far as to make her his Consort. The Case, being thus circumstantiated, Sir, I hope you will not interrupt me any longer, lest my Rivals here in the Field should happen to circumvent me.