On the Method of Zadig: Essay #1 from "Science and Hebrew Tradition" — Page 3
One day, walking near a little wood, he saw, hastening that way, one of the Queen's chief eunuchs, followed by a troop of officials, who appeared to be in the greatest anxiety, running hither and thither like men distraught, in search of some lost treasure.
Eines Tages, als er in der Nähe eines kleinen Waldes spazieren ging, sah er einen der obersten Eunuchen der Königin eilig des Weges kommen, gefolgt von einer Schar von Beamten, die in größter Aufregung zu sein schienen und wie von Sinnen hierhin und dorthin liefen, auf der Suche nach einem verlorenen Schatz.
By an odd coincidence, at the very same time, the handsomest horse in the King's stables broke away from his groom in the Babylonian plain.
Durch einen merkwürdigen Zufall war zur selben Zeit das schönste Pferd aus den Ställen des Königs seinem Stallknecht auf der babylonischen Ebene entlaufen.
The grand huntsman and all his staff were seeking the horse with as much anxiety as the eunuch and his people the spaniel; and the grand huntsman asked Zadig if he had not seen the King's horse go that way.
Der Oberjägermeister und sein gesamtes Personal suchten das Pferd mit ebenso großer Aufregung wie der Eunuch und seine Leute den Spaniel; und der Oberjägermeister fragte Zadig, ob er das Pferd des Königs nicht des Weges habe gehen sehen.
Vocabulary
- Tages
- 'One day'; genitive of Tag meaning day
- als
- When; used to introduce past-tense clauses
- Nähe
- Nearness, vicinity; proximity to something
- kleinen
- Small; inflected adjective meaning little
- Waldes
- Forest; genitive form of Wald
- spazieren
- To stroll, to walk leisurely outdoors
- ging
- Went; simple past tense of gehen
- sah
- Saw; simple past tense of sehen
- obersten
- Highest-ranking, chief; superlative of ober
- Königin
- Queen; female monarch or king's consort
- eilig
- Hastily, urgently; in a hurried manner
- Weges
- Of the way; genitive form of Weg
- gefolgt
- Followed; past participle of folgen
- Schar
- Crowd, throng, group of people
- Beamten
- Officials, civil servants; inflected form of Beamte
- größter
- Greatest; superlative adjective of groß
- Aufregung
- Excitement, agitation, commotion
- schienen
- Seemed; past tense of scheinen meaning appear
- wie
- As if, how, like; comparison word
- Sinnen
- Senses, wits; 'wie von Sinnen' means frantic
- hierhin
- Over here; directional adverb toward this place
- dorthin
- Over there; directional adverb toward that place
- liefen
- Ran; past tense plural of laufen
- Suche
- Search, quest; act of looking for something
- verlorenen
- Lost; inflected past participle of verlieren
- Schatz
- Treasure; also used affectionately as 'darling'
- Durch
- Through, by means of; preposition with accusative
- merkwürdigen
- Strange, remarkable, curious; inflected adjective
- Zufall
- Coincidence, chance, random occurrence
- selben
- Same; inflected form of selb
- schönste
- Most beautiful; superlative of schön
- Pferd
- Horse; common domestic animal
- Ställen
- Stables; dative plural of Stall
- Königs
- King's; genitive form of König
- Ebene
- Plain, flatland; level stretch of landscape
- entlaufen
- Run away, escaped; past participle of entlaufen
- gesamtes
- Entire, whole; inflected form of gesamt
- Personal
- Staff, personnel; group of employees
- suchten
- Searched; simple past plural of suchen
- ebenso
- Equally, likewise; just as much
- Leute
- People, folks; common plural noun
- fragte
- Asked; simple past tense of fragen
- ob
- Whether; conjunction introducing indirect questions
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