Devoting his story to the Marquis de Pompadour, whom Voltaire calls the Sultana of Sheraa, the writer himself appears under the name of the poet Saadi, a classic of oriental literature. In the work, the author uses elements of the so popular in the XVIII century. travel genre, as well as fiction of Persian and Arabian tales.
During the time of King Moabdar, a young man named Zadig lived in Babylon. He was noble, wise, rich, had a pleasant appearance and hoped for the favor of fate. The day of his marriage to Zemir, which was considered the first bride in all of Babylon, had already been appointed. But Orkan, the nephew of one of the ministers, in love with Zemira, orders the servants to abduct her. Zadig saves the girl, while he himself is seriously injured and, according to the doctor, he has to go blind. Upon learning that Zemira married Orkan, contemptuously declaring that she could not stand the blind, the poor young man fell unconscious. He was sick for a long time, but the doctor’s prediction, fortunately, did not come true. Having ascertained the inconstancy of the girl brought up at court, Zadig decides to marry a “simple citizen”. Azora is his new darling, who is destined for a funny test. Kador, a friend of Zadiga, tells Azora, who had been absent from the house for several days, that her husband had suddenly died and bequeathed to him most of his wealth. But Kadora is tormented by severe pain, and there is only one cure - to put the nose of the deceased in a sore spot. Azora, without hesitation, takes a razor, goes to the tomb of his spouse and finds him there in good health. Zadig is forced to divorce the wrong.
Zadig seeks solace from the misfortunes sent to him by fate in philosophy and friendship. In the morning, his library is open to all scientists, and in the evening a selected society gathers in the house. Opposite the house of a young man lives a certain Arimaz, a biliary and pompous envious. He was annoyed by the knocking of the chariots of the guests who had come to Zadig, and the praises of the latter irritated him even more. One day he finds in the garden a fragment of a poem composed by Zadig, in which the king is insulted. Arimaz flees to the palace and reports to the youth. The tsar is angry and intends to execute the insolent, but the young man speaks so gracefully, smartly and sensibly that the lord changes his anger to mercy, gradually begins to consult with him in all his affairs, and having lost his first minister, appoints Zadiga to replace him. His name is booming throughout the state, citizens sing about his justice and admire his talents. Imperceptibly, the youth and grace of the first minister made a strong impression on Queen Astarte. She is beautiful, smart, and her friendly disposition, gentle speeches and gaze, directed against her will against Zadig, lit a flame in his heart. All the royal slaves are spying on their masters, and soon they realized that Astarte was in love, and Moabdar was jealous. Envious Arimaz made his wife send the king her garter, similar to the garter of the queen. The indignant monarch decided to poison Astarte at night, and strangle Zadig at dawn. He gives the order about it to the eunuch. At this time, in the king’s room there is a dumb, but not deaf, dwarf who is very attached to the queen. He heard with horror about the planned murder and depicted an insidious plan on paper. The drawing gets to the queen, who warns Zadiga and tells him to run away. The young man goes to Egypt. Already approaching the borders of Egypt, he sees a man violently beating a woman. Zadig stands up for the defenseless and saves her, injuring the offender. But suddenly appeared messengers from Babylon take the Egyptian with them. Our hero is at a loss. Meanwhile, according to Egyptian laws, a person who shed the blood of his neighbor becomes a slave. And Zadiga at a public auction buys the Arab merchant Grids. After making sure of the remarkable abilities of his new slave, the merchant soon becomes a close friend in his face. Like the king of Babylon, he cannot do without him. And the young man is happy that Setok has no wife.
One day Zadig finds out about the terrible custom adopted in Arabia, where he finds himself with his new master. When a married man died, and his wife wanted to become a saint, she publicly burned herself on the corpse of her husband. This day was a solemn holiday and was called the “bonfire of widowhood”. Zadig went to the leaders of the tribe and persuaded them to enact a law allowing widows to burn themselves only after they spoke in private with some young man. Since then, not a single woman has burned herself. The priests took up arms against the young man: repealing this law, he deprived them of profit, since after the death of the widows all their jewelry went to the priests.
All this time Zadiga did not leave worrying thoughts about Astarte. From the Arabian robber Arbogad, he learns that turmoil reigns in Babylon, Moabdar is killed, Astarte, if alive, most likely fell into the concubines of the Hyrcanic prince. The young man continues the journey and meets a group of slaves, among whom he discovers the Babylonian queen. There is no limit to the joy of lovers. Astarte tells what she had to go through. Faithful Kador the same night when Zadig disappeared, hid her in the temple inside a colossal statue. The king, suddenly hearing Astarte's voice from the statue, lost his mind. His madness was the beginning of the turmoil. The robber Arbogad captured Astarte and sold it to merchants, so she was in slaves. Zadig, thanks to his resourcefulness, takes Astarte away.
The Queen was greeted with enthusiasm in Babylon, the country became calmer and the Babylonians announced that Astarte would marry the one they choose to be king, and this would be the bravest and wisest of the candidates. Each of those claiming the throne will have to endure four spear battles, and then solve the riddles proposed by the magicians. Zadiga's armor is white, and the white king brilliantly wins the first horizontal bar. The enemy of Zadig, Itobad, at night tricks his armor in a fraudulent way, leaving Zadiga his green. In the morning, in the arena of green armor, Zadiga is showered with insulting taunts. A young man in confusion, he is ready to believe that cruel rock rules the world. Wandering along the bank of the Euphrates, full of despair, he meets an angel who gives him hope, insists on his return to Babylon and the continuation of the competition. Zadig easily unravels all the mysteries of the sages and, to the joyful hum of the crowd, reports that Itobad stole his armor. The young man is ready to immediately demonstrate his courage to everyone. And this time he is the winner. Zadig becomes king, consort of Astarte, and he is infinitely happy.
Grid summoned from Arabia and placed at the head of the trade department of Babylon. Faithful friend Kador is awarded according to his deserts. The little dumb dwarf is also not forgotten. Zemira could not forgive herself for believing in Zadig's future blindness, and Azora did not stop repenting of her intention to cut off his nose. The state enjoyed peace, glory and abundance, for justice and love reigned in it.
