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The Alchemist
Paulo Coelho
Translated by Alan R
...
Published 1992
...
CONTENTS
Part One
Part Two
Epilogue
PART ONE
The boy's name wasSantiago
...
The roof had fallen in long ago, and an enormous sycamore had grown on the spot where the
sacristy had once stood
...
He saw to it that all the sheep entered through the ruined gate, and
then laid some planks across it to prevent the flock from wandering away during the night
...
He swept the floor with his jacket and lay down, using the book he had just finished reading as a pillow
...
It was still dark when he awoke, and, looking up, he could see the stars through the half-destroyed roof
...
He had had the same dream that night as a week ago, and
once again he had awakened before it ended
...
He had noticed that, as
soon as he awoke, most of his animals also began to stir
...
"They are so used to me that they know my schedule," he muttered
...
But there were certain of them who took a bit longer to awaken
...
He had always believed that the sheep were able to understand
what he said
...
Sometimes
he would comment to them on the things he had seen in the villages they passed
...
He had been to the village only
once, the year before
...
A friend had told the boy
about the shop, and he had taken his sheep there
...
The shop was busy, and the man asked the shepherd to wait until the afternoon
...
"I didn't know shepherds knew how to read," said a girl's voice behind him
...
"Well, usually I learn more from my sheep than from books," he answered
...
The shepherd told her of the Andalusian countryside, and related the news
from the other towns where he had stopped
...
"How did you learn to read?" the girl asked at one point
...
"In school
...
He was sure the girl
would never understand
...
As the time passed, the boy found himself wishing that the day would never
end, that her father would stay busy and keep him waiting for three days
...
With the girl
with the raven hair, his days would never be the same again
...
He paid for the wool and
asked the shepherd to come back the following year
...
He was excited, and at the
same time uneasy: maybe the girl had already forgotten him
...
"It doesn't matter," he said to his sheep
...
"
But in his heart he knew that it did matter
...
The day was dawning, and the shepherd urged his sheep in the direction of the sun
...
Maybe that's why they always stay close to me
...
As long as the boy knew how to find the
best pastures inAndalusia , they would be his friends
...
They were content with just
food and water, and, in exchange, they generously gave of their wool, their company, and—once in a
while—their meat
...
They trust me, and they've forgotten how to rely
on their own instincts, because I lead them to nourishment
...
Maybe the church, with the sycamore growing from within, had
been haunted
...
He drank a bit from the wine that remained from his dinner of
the night before, and he gathered his jacket closer to his body
...
It was the time of day when all ofSpain slept during the summer
...
But when he thought to complain about the burden of its weight,
he remembered that, because he had the jacket, he had withstood the cold of the dawn
...
The jacket had a purpose, and so did the boy
...
He was planning, on this visit, to
explain to the girl how it was that a simple shepherd knew how to read
...
His parents had wanted him to become a priest, and thereby a source of pride for a
simple farm family
...
He had studied Latin,
Spanish, and theology
...
One afternoon, on a
visit to his family, he had summoned up the courage to tell his father that he didn't want to become a
priest
...
*
"People from all over the world have passed through this village, son," said his father
...
They climb the mountain to see the castle, and they wind up thinking that the past was better than
what we have now
...
"
"But I'd like to see the castles in the towns where they live," the boy explained
...
"Well, I'd like to see their land, and see how they live," said his son
...
"Amongst us, the only ones who travel are the shepherds
...
The next day, he gave his son a pouch that held three ancient Spanish gold
coins
...
I wanted them to be a part of your inheritance
...
Take to the fields, and someday you'll learn that our countryside is the best, and our women
the most beautiful
...
The boy could see in his father's gaze a desire to be able, himself, to
travel the world—a desire that was still alive, despite his father's having had to bury it, over dozens of
years, under the burden of struggling for water to drink, food to eat, and the same place to sleep every
night of his life
...
The boy thought back to that
conversation with his father, and felt happy; he had already seen many castles and met many women (but
none the equal of the one who awaited him several days hence)
...
But, most important, he was able every day to live out his
dream
...
By the time he
had had enough of the sea, he would already have known other cities, other women, and other chances
to be happy
...
Whenever he could, he sought out a new road to travel
...
The world was huge and inexhaustible; he had
only to allow his sheep to set the route for a while, and he would discover other interesting things
...
They don't see that the
fields are new and the seasons change
...
Maybe we're all that way, the boy mused
...
Looking at the sun, he calculated that he would reach Tarifa before midday
...
It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting, he thought, as he looked again
at the position of the sun, and hurried his pace
...
*
The old woman led the boy to a room at the back of her house; it was separated from her living room by
a curtain of colored beads
...
The woman sat down, and told him to be seated as well
...
It sounded like a Gypsy prayer
...
People said that Gypsies spent their lives tricking others
...
As a child, the boy had always been frightened to
death that he would be captured by Gypsies, and this childhood fear returned when the old woman took
his hands in hers
...
He didn't want his
hand to begin trembling, showing the old woman that he was fearful
...
"Very interesting," said the woman, never taking her eyes from the boy's hands, and then she fell silent
...
His hands began to tremble, and the woman sensed it
...
"I didn't come here to have you read my palm," he said, already regretting having come
...
"You came so that you could learn about your dreams," said the old woman
...
When he speaks in our language, I can interpret what he has said
...
But, whichever it is, I'm going to charge you
for the consultation
...
But he decided to take a chance
...
"I have had the same dream twice," he said
...
I don't like people to do that, because the sheep are afraid
of strangers
...
I don't
know why
...
"
"Tell me more about your dream," said the woman
...
"
"The child went on playing with my sheep for quite a while," continued the boy, a bit upset
...
"
He paused for a moment to see if the woman knew what the Egyptian pyramids were
...
"Then, at the Egyptian pyramids,"—he said the last three words slowly, so that the old woman would
understand—"the child said to me, If you come here, you will find a hidden treasure
...
Both times
...
Then she again took his hands and studied them carefully
...
"But I want one-tenth of the treasure, if you find it
...
He was going to be able to save the little money he had because of
a dream about hidden treasure!
"Well, interpret the dream," he said
...
Swear that you will give me one-tenth of your treasure in exchange for what I am
going to tell you
...
The old woman asked him to swear again while looking at the image
of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
...
"I can interpret it, but the interpretation is very
difficult
...
"And this is my interpretation: you must go to the Pyramids in Egypt
...
There you will find a treasure that will make you a rich
man
...
He didn't need to seek out the old woman for this! But then
he remembered that he wasn't going to have to pay anything
...
"I told you that your dream was a difficult one
...
And since I am not wise, I have had to learn
other arts, such as the reading of palms
...
I don't know how to turn them into reality
...
"
"And what if I never get to Egypt?"
"Then I don't get paid
...
"
And the woman told the boy to leave, saying she had already wasted too much time with him
...
He remembered
that he had a number of things he had to take care of: he went to the market for something to eat, he
traded his book for one that was thicker, and he found a bench in the plaza where he could sample the
new wine he had bought
...
The sheep were at the gates of
the city, in a stable that belonged to a friend
...
That was what
made traveling appeal to him—he always made new friends, and he didn't need to spend all of his time
with them
...
And then they want the person to change
...
Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how
other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own
...
Three days from now, he would be with the merchant's daughter
...
On the very first page it described a burial ceremony
...
If he ever wrote a book, he thought,
he would present one person at a time, so that the reader wouldn't have to worry about memorizing a lot
of names
...
As he read on, an old man sat down at
his side and tried to strike up a conversation
...
"Working," the boy answered dryly, making it look as if he wanted to concentrate on his reading
...
He had already imagined the scene
many times; every time, the girl became fascinated when he explained that the sheep had to be sheared
from back to front
...
Most
of them he had read in books, but he would tell them as if they were from his personal experience
...
Meanwhile, the old man persisted in his attempt to strike up a conversation
...
The boy offered his bottle, hoping that the
old man would leave him alone
...
The boy was tempted
to be rude, and move to another bench, but his father had taught him to be respectful of the elderly
...
"Hmm…" said the old man, looking at all sides of the book, as if it were some strange object
...
"
The boy was shocked
...
And if the book
was irritating, as the old man had said, the boy still had time to change it for another
...
"It describes people's inability to choose their own destinies
...
"
"What's the world's greatest lie?" the boy asked, completely surprised
...
That's the world's greatest lie
...
"They wanted me to be a priest, but I decided to become
a shepherd
...
"Because you really like to travel
...
The old man, meanwhile, was leafing through the
book, without seeming to want to return it at all
...
He
looked like an Arab, which was not unusual in those parts
...
Arabs often appeared in the city, shopping and chanting
their strange prayers several times a day
...
"From many places
...
"I'm a shepherd, and I have been to many places, but I
come from only one place—from a city near an ancient castle
...
"
"Well then, we could say that I was born in Salem
...
He looked at the people in the plaza for a while; they were coming and going, and all of them seemed to
be very busy
...
"It's like it always has been
...
But he knew that Salem wasn't in Andalusia
...
"And what do you do in Salem?" he insisted
...
"Well, I'm the king of Salem!"
People say strange things, the boy thought
...
And better still to be alone with one's books
...
But when you're talking to people, they say some things that are so strange that
you don't know how to continue the conversation
...
"How many sheep do you have?"
"Enough," said the boy
...
"Well, then, we've got a problem
...
"
The boy was getting irritated
...
It was the old man who had asked for a drink
of his wine, and had started the conversation
...
"I have to go and gather my sheep and get going
...
"
The boy remembered his dream, and suddenly everything was clear to him
...
The old man was
probably a Gypsy, too
...
Something bright reflected from his chest with such intensity that the boy was
momentarily blinded
...
When his vision returned to normal, the boy was able to read what the old
man had written in the sand
...
He read the name of the merchant's daughter, which he hadn't
even known, and he read things he had never told anyone
...
"Why would a king be talking with a shepherd?" the boy asked, awed and embarrassed
...
But let's say that the most important is that you have succeeded in discovering your
destiny
...
"It's what you have always wanted to accomplish
...
"At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible
...
But, as time passes, a
mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their destiny
...
But he wanted to know what the
"mysterious force" was; the merchant's daughter would be impressed when he told her about that!
"It's a force that appears to be negative, but actually shows you how to realize your destiny
...
It's your mission on earth
...
The Soul of the World is nourished by people's happiness
...
To realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation
...
"And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it
...
It was the old man who
spoke first
...
"
The old man pointed to a baker standing in his shop window at one corner of the plaza
...
But he decided first to buy his bakery and put some money aside
...
He never realized that people are capable,
at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of
...
"Well, he thought about that," the old man said
...
Bakers have homes, while shepherds sleep out in the open
...
"
The boy felt a pang in his heart, thinking about the merchant's daughter
...
The old man continued, "In the long run, what people think about shepherds and bakers becomes more
important for them than their own destinies
...
The boy waited, and then
interrupted the old man just as he himself had been interrupted
...
And you are at the point where you're about to give it all
up
...
Sometimes I appear in the form of
a solution, or a good idea
...
There are other things I do, too, but most of the time people don't realize I've done them
...
The miner had abandoned everything to go mining for emeralds
...
The miner was about to give it all up, right at the point when, if he were to examine just one
more stone—justone more —he would find his emerald
...
He transformed himself into a stone that rolled up to
the miner's foot
...
But he had thrown it with such force that it broke the stone it fell upon, and there,
embedded in the broken stone, was the most beautiful emerald in the world
...
"Maybe that's why they give up on it so early, too
...
"
The boy reminded the old man that he had said something about hidden treasure
...
"If you want to learn about your own treasure, you will have to give me one-tenth of your flock
...
"If you start out by promising what you don't even have yet, you'll
lose your desire to work toward getting it
...
"Gypsies are experts at getting people to do that," sighed the old man
...
This is what the Warriors of the Light try to teach
...
"Tomorrow, at this same time, bring me a tenth of your flock
...
Good afternoon
...
*
The boy began again to read his book, but he was no longer able to concentrate
...
He went over to the bakery and bought a loaf of
bread, thinking about whether or not he should tell the baker what the old man had said about him
...
If he
were to say anything, the baker would spend three days thinking about giving it all up, even though he
had gotten used to the way things were
...
So he began to wander through the city, and found himself at the gates
...
And he knew that Egypt was in Africa
...
"Maybe tomorrow," said the boy, moving away
...
The idea frightened him
...
"He doesn't have
enough money to travel
...
In two years he had learned everything about shepherding: he knew how to shear
sheep, how to care for pregnant ewes, and how to protect the sheep from wolves
...
And he knew what was the fair price for every one of his animals
...
As he walked past the city's
castle, he interrupted his return, and climbed the stone ramp that led to the top of the wall
...
Someone had once told him that it was from there that the Moors had
come, to occupy all of Spain
...
Curse the moment I met that old man, he thought
...
Neither the woman nor the old man were at all impressed by the
fact that he was a shepherd
...
He knew everything about each member of
his flock: he knew which ones were lame, which one was to give birth two months from now, and which
were the laziest
...
If he ever decided to leave
them, they would suffer
...
He knew that wind: people called it the levanter, because on it the Moors
had come from the Levant at the eastern end of the Mediterranean
...
Here I am, between my flock and my treasure, the boy thought
...
There was also the merchant's daughter, but she wasn't as important as his flock, because she didn't
depend on him
...
He was sure that it made no difference to her on
which day he appeared: for her, every day was the same, and when each day is the same as the next, it's
because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises
...
They have gotten used to my being away, and
so have I
...
From where he sat, he could observe the plaza
...
A young couple sat on the bench where he had talked with the old man, and they kissed
...
The levanter was still getting stronger,
and he felt its force on his face
...
It had brought with it the sweat and the dreams of men who had once
left to search for the unknown, and for gold and adventure—and for the Pyramids
...
There was nothing to hold him
back except himself
...
The next day, the boy met the old man at noon
...
"I'm surprised," the boy said
...
He said that he had
always dreamed of being a shepherd, and that it was a good omen
...
"It's called the principle of favorability
...
Beginner's luck
...
"
Then the old man began to inspect the sheep, and he saw that one was lame
...
"Where is the treasure?" he asked
...
"
The boy was startled
...
But she hadn't charged him anything
...
God has prepared a path for everyone
to follow
...
"
Before the boy could reply, a butterfly appeared and fluttered between him and the old man
...
Like
crickets, and like expectations; like lizards and four-leaf clovers
...
"Just as your grandfather taught you
...
"
The old man opened his cape, and the boy was struck by what he saw
...
The boy recalled the brilliance he had noticed on the
previous day
...
"Take these," said the old man, holding out a white stone and a black stone that had been embedded at
the center of the breastplate
...
The black signifies 'yes,' and the white
'no
...
Always ask an objective
question
...
The treasure is at the Pyramids; that you already knew
...
"
The boy put the stones in his pouch
...
"Don't forget that everything you deal with is only one thing and nothing else
...
And, above all, don't forget to follow your destiny through to its conclusion
...
"A certain shopkeeper sent his son to learn about the secret of happiness from the wisest man in the
world
...
It was there that the wise man lived
...
The wise man conversed with everyone, and the boy had to wait for two hours before it was
his turn to be given the man's attention
...
He suggested that the boy look around the
palace and return in two hours
...
'As you wander around, carry this spoon with you without allowing the oil to spill
...
After two hours, he returned to the room where the wise man was
...
His only concern had been not
to spill the oil that the wise man had entrusted to him
...
'You cannot trust a man if you
don't know his house
...
He saw the gardens, the mountains all around him, the
beauty of the flowers, and the taste with which everything had been selected
...
" 'But where are the drops of oil I entrusted to you?' asked the wise man
...
" 'Well, there is only one piece of advice I can give you,' said the wisest of wise men
...
' "
The shepherd said nothing
...
A shepherd may like
to travel, but he should never forget about his sheep
...
Then, taking his sheep, he walked away
...
From atop its walls, one can catch a
glimpse of Africa
...
The sheep fidgeted nearby, uneasy with their new owner and excited by so
much change
...
Melchizedek watched a small ship that was plowing its way out of the port
...
That was
his work
...
But the king of Salem hoped
desperately that the boy would be successful
...
I should have repeated it for him
...
He looked to the skies, feeling a bit abashed, and said, "I know it's the vanity of vanities, as you said, my
Lord
...
"
*
How strange Africa is, thought the boy
...
Some men were smoking from a gigantic pipe that they passed from one to the other
...
"A practice of infidels," he said to himself
...
The boy felt ill and terribly alone
...
Besides this, in the rush of his travels he had forgotten a detail, just one detail, which could keep him
from his treasure for a long time: only Arabic was spoken in this country
...
It turned out to be a bitter tea
...
But he didn't need to worry about that right now
...
The sale of his sheep had left him with enough money in his
pouch, and the boy knew that in money there was magic; whoever has money is never really alone
...
An old man, with a breastplate of
gold, wouldn't have lied just to acquire six sheep
...
Yes, the old man had known what he was talking about: during the time the boy had spent
in the fields of Andalusia, he had become used to learning which path he should take by observing the
ground and the sky
...
The sheep had taught him
that
...
The
tea seemed less bitter
...
The boy was relieved
...
"How come you speak Spanish?" he asked
...
He was about the same age and height as the boy
...
We're only two hours from Spain
...
"And ask for a glass of wine for me
...
"
"There is no wine in this country," the young man said
...
"
The boy told him then that he needed to get to the Pyramids
...
If he did, it was possible that the Arab would want a part of it as payment for
taking him there
...
"I'd like you to take me there if you can
...
"
"Do you have any idea how to get there?" the newcomer asked
...
He felt
uneasy at the man's presence
...
"You have to cross the entire Sahara desert," said the young man
...
I
need to know whether you have enough
...
But he trusted in the old man, who had said that, when you really
want something, the universe always conspires in your favor
...
The owner of the bar came over
and looked, as well
...
"Let's get out of here" said the new arrival
...
"
The boy was relieved
...
The boy was strong, and wanted to retaliate, but he was in a foreign
country
...
"He wanted your
money," he said
...
This is a port, and every port has its thieves
...
He had helped him out in a dangerous situation
...
"We could get to the Pyramids by tomorrow," said the other, taking the money
...
"
They walked together through the narrow streets of Tangier
...
They reached the center of a large plaza where the market was held
...
But the boy never took his eye off his new friend
...
He
thought about asking him to give it back, but decided that would be unfriendly
...
"I'll just watch him," he said to himself
...
Suddenly, there in the midst of all that confusion, he saw the most beautiful sword he had ever seen
...
The boy
promised himself that, when he returned from Egypt, he would buy that sword
...
Then he realized that he
had been distracted for a few moments, looking at the sword
...
He was afraid to look around, because he knew what he would find
...
All around him was the market, with people coming and going, shouting and buying, and the aroma of
strange foods… but nowhere could he find his new companion
...
He
decided to stay right there and await his return
...
Then, like a colony of worker ants, they dismantled their stalls and left
...
The boy watched it through its trajectory for some time, until it was
hidden behind the white houses surrounding the plaza
...
That morning he had known everything that was going to happen to him as he walked through
the familiar fields
...
He was no longer a shepherd, and he had nothing, not
even the money to return and start everything over
...
He was feeling sorry for himself, and
lamenting the fact that his life could have changed so suddenly and so drastically
...
He had never even wept in front of his own sheep
...
He wept because God was unfair, and
because this was the way God repaid those who believed in their dreams
...
People saw me coming and
welcomed me, he thought
...
I'm going to become bitter and distrustful of
people because one person betrayed me
...
And I'm going to hold on to what little I have, because I'm too insignificant to
conquer the world
...
But all he found was the heavy book, his jacket, and the two stones the old
man had given him
...
He had exchanged six sheep for two
precious stones that had been taken from a gold breastplate
...
But this time I'll be smarter, the boy thought, removing them from the pouch so he could put them
in his pocket
...
Now he understood why the owner of the bar had been so upset: he was trying to tell him not to trust
that man
...
"
He ran his fingers slowly over the stones, sensing their temperature and feeling their surfaces
...
Just handling them made him feel better
...
"When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it," he had said
...
There he was in the empty
marketplace, without a cent to his name, and with not a sheep to guard through the night
...
"They're called Urim and Thummim, and they can help you to read the omens
...
The old man had said to ask very clear questions,
and to do that, the boy had to know what he wanted
...
He took out one of the stones
...
"
"Am I going to find my treasure?" he asked
...
As he did so, both of them
pushed through a hole in the pouch and fell to the ground
...
He knelt down to find Urim and Thummim and put them back in the pouch
...
"Learn to recognize omens, and follow them," the old king had said
...
The boy smiled to himself
...
He
didn't consider mending the hole—the stones could fall through any time they wanted
...
"I
promised that I would make my own decisions," he said to himself
...
He looked around at the empty plaza again, feeling less desperate than before
...
After all, what he had always wanted was just that: to know new places
...
Oh, if they only knew how
different things are just two hours by ship from where they are, he thought
...
He remembered the sword
...
As he mused about these things, he realized that he had to choose between thinking of
himself as the poor victim of a thief and as an adventurer in quest of his treasure
...
*
He was shaken into wakefulness by someone
...
Looking around, he sought his sheep, and then realized that he was in a new world
...
He no longer had to seek out food and water for the sheep; he could go in
search of his treasure, instead
...
He had decided, the
night before, that he would be as much an adventurer as the ones he had admired in books
...
The merchants were assembling their stalls, and the boy helped a
candy seller to do his
...
His smile reminded the boy of the old man—the mysterious old
king he had met
...
He's doing it because it's what he wants to do," thought the boy
...
Just by looking at them
...
When the stall was assembled, the candy seller offered the boy the first sweet he had made for the day
...
When he had gone only a short distance, he realized
that, while they were erecting the stall, one of them had spoken Arabic and the other Spanish
...
There must be a language that doesn't depend on words, the boy thought
...
He was learning a lot of new things
...
And he hadn't perceived them because he
had become accustomed to them
...
Relaxed and unhurried, he resolved that he would walk through the narrow streets of Tangier
...
He knew it would require a lot of patience, but shepherds
know all about patience
...
"All things are one," the old man had said
...
He had
been in the same place for thirty years: a shop at the top of a hilly street where few customers passed
...
There had been a time when many people knew of his shop: Arab merchants, French
and English geologists, German soldiers who were always well-heeled
...
But, as time passed, Tangier had changed
...
Neighbors moved away, and there remained only a few small shops on the hill
...
But the crystal merchant had no choice
...
He spent the entire morning observing the infrequent comings and goings in the street
...
But, just before lunchtime, a boy stopped in
front of the shop
...
Nevertheless, the merchant decided to delay his lunch for a few minutes
until the boy moved on
...
The boy saw
a man appear behind the counter
...
"The way they look now,
nobody is going to want to buy them
...
"In exchange, you could give me something to eat
...
In his
pouch, he had his jacket—he certainly wasn't going to need it in the desert
...
In half an hour, he had cleaned all the glasses in the window, and, as he was
doing so, two customers had entered the shop and bought some crystal
...
"Let's go and have some
lunch," said the crystal merchant
...
As they sat down at the only table in
the place, the crystal merchant laughed
...
"The Koran requires me to feed a hungry person
...
"Because the crystal was dirty
...
"
When they had eaten, the merchant turned to the boy and said, "I'd like you to work in my shop
...
"
People talk a lot about omens, thought the shepherd
...
Just
as I hadn't realized that for so many years I had been speaking a language without words to my sheep
...
"I can work for the rest of today," the boy answered
...
In return, I need money to get to Egypt tomorrow
...
"Even if you cleaned my crystal for an entire year… even if you earned a good
commission selling every piece, you would still have to borrow money to get to Egypt
...
"
There was a moment of silence so profound that it seemed the city was asleep
...
No hope, no
adventure, no old kings or destinies, no treasure, and no Pyramids
...
He sat there, staring blankly through the door of the café, wishing that he had
died, and that everything would end forever at that moment
...
All the joy he had seen that morning had suddenly
disappeared
...
The boy said nothing
...
"I'll work for you," he said
...
"
PART TWO
The boy had been working for the crystal merchant for almost a month, and he could see that it wasn't
exactly the kind of job that would make him happy
...
But he stayed with the job because the merchant, although he was an old grouch, treated him fairly; the
boy received a good commission for each piece he sold, and had already been able to put some money
aside
...
"I'd like to build a display case for the crystal," the boy said to the merchant
...
"
"I've never had one before," the merchant answered
...
"
"Well, when I took my sheep through the fields some of them might have died if we had come upon a
snake
...
"
The merchant turned to a customer who wanted three crystal glasses
...
"Business has really improved," he said to the boy, after the customer had left
...
Why ask more out of life?"
"Because we have to respond to omens," the boy said, almost without meaning to; then he regretted
what he had said, because the merchant had never met the king
...
Because life wants you to achieve your destiny,"
the old king had said
...
The boy's very presence in the shop was an omen,
and, as time passed and money was pouring into the cash drawer, he had no regrets about having hired
the boy
...
He had assumed he would
soon return to his sheep
...
"Because I've always heard about them," the boy answered, saying nothing about his dream
...
"I don't know anyone around here who would want to cross the desert just to see the Pyramids," said
the merchant
...
You could build one in your backyard
...
Two days later, the merchant spoke to the boy about the display
...
"You and I aren't like Hassan, that rich merchant
...
But we two have to live with our mistakes
...
"Why did you think we should have the display?"
"I want to get back to my sheep faster
...
It's called the principle of favorability
...
"
The merchant was silent for a few moments
...
The most important is to believe only in the one true God
...
"
He stopped there
...
He was a devout man, and,
even with all his impatience, he wanted to live his life in accordance with Muslim law
...
"Two days ago, you said that I had never dreamed of travel," the merchant answered
...
We are obliged, at least once in our lives, to visit the holy city
of Mecca
...
When I was young, all I wanted to do was put together
enough money to start this shop
...
I began to
make some money, but I could never bring myself to leave someone in charge of the shop; the crystals
are delicate things
...
Some of them were rich pilgrims, traveling in caravans with servants and camels, but most of the people
making the pilgrimage were poorer than I
...
They placed the symbols of the pilgrimage on the
doors of their houses
...
"
"Well, why don't you go to Mecca now?" asked the boy
...
That's what helps me face these days that are all
the same, these mute crystals on the shelves, and lunch and dinner at that same horrible café
...
"You dream about your sheep and the Pyramids, but you're different from me, because you want to
realize your dreams
...
I've already imagined a thousand times crossing
the desert, arriving at the Plaza of the Sacred Stone, the seven times I walk around it before allowing
myself to touch it
...
But I'm afraid that it would all be a disappointment,
so I prefer just to dream about it
...
Not everyone can see his dreams
come true in the same way
...
The boy
estimated that, if he worked for six more months, he could return to Spain and buy sixty sheep, and yet
another sixty
...
Since that morning in the
marketplace, he had never again made use of Urim and Thummim, because Egypt was now just as
distant a dream for him as was Mecca for the merchant
...
"You must always know what it is that you want," the old king had said
...
Maybe it was his treasure to have wound up in that strange land, met up with a thief,
and doubled the size of his flock without spending a cent
...
He had learned some important things, like how to deal in crystal, and about
the language without words… and about omens
...
The
boy, accustomed to recognizing omens, spoke to the merchant
...
"
"Lots of places sell tea around here," the merchant said
...
The people will enjoy the tea and want to buy the glasses
...
"
The merchant didn't respond, but that afternoon, after saying his prayers and closing the shop, he invited
the boy to sit with him and share his hookah, that strange pipe used by the Arabs
...
"I've already told you
...
"
The merchant put some new coals in the hookah, and inhaled deeply
...
I know good crystal from bad, and everything else there is to know
about crystal
...
If we serve tea in crystal, the shop is going to
expand
...
"
"Well, isn't that good?"
"I'm already used to the way things are
...
It made me very depressed
...
The shop is
exactly the size I always wanted it to be
...
I'm used to the way I am
...
The old man continued, "You have been a real blessing to me
...
I don't want anything
else in life
...
Now that I
have seen them, and now that I see how immense my possibilities are, I'm going to feel worse than I did
before you arrived
...
"
It's good I refrained from saying anything to the baker in Tarifa, thought the boy to himself
...
They were conversing in Arabic, and
the boy was proud of himself for being able to do so
...
But they could never have taught
him Arabic
...
All they ever do, really, is look for food and water
...
"Maktub," the merchant said, finally
...
"But in your language it
would be something like 'It is written
...
Sometimes, there's just no way to hold back the river
...
But there they saw a crystal
shop that offered refreshing mint tea
...
"My wife never thought of this," said one, and he bought some crystal—he was entertaining guests that
night, and the guests would be impressed by the beauty of the glassware
...
The third
said that it was a tradition in the Orient to use crystal glasses for tea because it had magical powers
...
Other shops were opened that served tea in crystal, but
they weren't at the top of a hill, and they had little business
...
He began to import enormous quantities of
tea, along with his crystal, and his shop was sought out by men and women with a thirst for things new
...
*
The boy awoke before dawn
...
He dressed in his Arabian clothing of white linen, bought especially for this day
...
Wearing his new sandals, he descended the stairs
silently
...
He prepared himself a sandwich and drank some hot tea from a crystal glass
...
He smoked in silence, thinking of nothing, and listening to the sound of the wind that brought the scent of
the desert
...
It was a bundle of money
...
He waited patiently for the merchant to awaken and open the shop
...
"I'm leaving today," said the boy
...
And you have the money
you need to go to Mecca
...
"Will you give me your blessing?" asked the boy
...
" The man continued to prepare
his tea, saying nothing
...
"I am proud of you," he said
...
But you know that I'm
not going to go to Mecca
...
"
"Who told you that?" asked the boy, startled
...
And he gave the boy his blessing
...
They filled three sacks
...
It was bunched up, and he had hardly thought
of it for a long time
...
Urim and Thummim
...
For nearly a year, he had been working incessantly, thinking only of putting aside enough
money so that he could return to Spain with pride
...
"Follow the omens
...
He had worked hard for a year, and the omens were that it was time to go
...
Even though the sheep didn't teach
me to speak Arabic
...
It was the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose, and
as part of a search for something believed in and desired
...
"When you want something, all the universe conspires to help you achieve it," the old king had said
...
The old king hadn't told him that the
Pyramids were just a pile of stones, or that anyone could build one in his backyard
...
The boy picked up his pouch and put it with his other things
...
It was more activity than usual for this time of the morning
...
He
remembered the smile of the candy seller, on his first day in Tangier, when he had nothing to eat and
nowhere to go—that smile had also been like the old king's smile
...
And yet, none of these people has ever
met the old king
...
He left without saying good-bye to the crystal merchant
...
He was going to miss the place and all the good things he had learned
...
"But I'm going back to the fields that I know, to take care of my flock again
...
He had worked for an entire year to make a
dream come true, and that dream, minute by minute, was becoming less important
...
Who knows… maybe it's better to be like the crystal merchant: never go to Mecca, and just go through
life wanting to do so, he thought, again trying to convince himself
...
By coincidence—or maybe it
was an omen, the boy thought—he came to the bar he had entered on his first day there
...
I can always go back to being a shepherd, the boy thought
...
But maybe I'll never have another chance to get to the Pyramids in
Egypt
...
He really was a king, a wise
king
...
Yet the boy felt that there was another way to regard his situation: he was actually two hours
closer to his treasure… the fact that the two hours had stretched into an entire year didn't matter
...
I understand sheep; they're no longer a problem,
and they can be good friends
...
If I don't find it, I can always go home
...
Why not?
He suddenly felt tremendously happy
...
He could always
become a crystal salesman again
...
That doesn't happen to just anyone!
He was planning as he left the bar
...
He held Urim and Thummim in his
hand; because of those two stones, he was once again on the way to his treasure
...
What could it cost to go over to the supplier's warehouse and find out if the Pyramids were really that far
away?
*
The Englishman was sitting on a bench in a structure that smelled of animals, sweat, and dust; it was part
warehouse, part corral
...
Ten years at the university, and here I am in a corral
...
He believed in omens
...
First he had studied Esperanto, then the world's religions, and now it
was alchemy
...
He had unraveled the truths behind important questions, but his studies had taken him to
a point beyond which he could not seem to go
...
But the alchemists were strange people, who thought only about themselves, and almost
always refused to help him
...
He had already spent much of the fortune left to him by his father, fruitlessly seeking the Philosopher's
Stone
...
In one he had read that, many years ago, a famous
Arabian alchemist had visited Europe
...
The Englishman had been profoundly
impressed by the story
...
"He lives at the Al-Fayoum oasis," his friend had said
...
"
The Englishman could not contain his excitement
...
Outside,
a huge caravan was being prepared for a crossing of the Sahara, and was scheduled to pass through
Al-Fayoum
...
And the odor of the animals became a
bit more tolerable
...
"Where are you bound?" asked the young Arab
...
He didn't want any
conversation at this point
...
The young Arab took out a book and began to read
...
That's good,
thought the Englishman
...
*
"That's strange," said the boy, as he tried once again to read the burial scene that began the book
...
" Even without a
king to provide an interruption, he was unable to concentrate
...
But he was able to understand one thing:
making a decision was only the beginning of things
...
When I decided to seek out my treasure, I never imagined that I'd wind up working in a crystal shop, he
thought
...
Nearby was the Englishman, reading a book
...
They might even have become friends, but the Englishman closed off the conversation
...
He felt that he didn't want to do anything that might make him look like the
Englishman
...
The stranger shouted, "Urim and Thummim!"
In a flash the boy put them back in his pocket
...
"They're not worth much," the Englishman answered
...
But those who know about such things would know that those are
Urim and Thummim
...
"
"They were given to me as a present by a king," the boy said
...
"Did you say a king?" he asked
...
"Not at all
...
So, it's not surprising that kings would talk to shepherds
...
The same book that taught me about Urim and Thummim
...
The priests carried them in a golden breastplate
...
"Maybe this is an omen," said the Englishman, half aloud
...
"Everything in life is an omen," said the Englishman, now closing the journal he was reading
...
I am in search of that universal
language, among other things
...
I have to find a man who knows that universal
language
...
"
The conversation was interrupted by the warehouse boss
...
"There's a caravan leaving today for Al-Fayoum
...
"Al-Fayoum is in Egypt," said the Arab
...
"If I could, I'd write a
huge encyclopedia just about the wordsluck andcoincidence
...
''
He told the boy it was no coincidence that he had met him with Urim and Thummim in his hand
...
"I'm looking for a treasure," said the boy, and he immediately regretted having said it
...
"In a way, so am I," he said
...
*
"I'm the leader of the caravan," said a dark-eyed, bearded man
...
The desert is a capricious lady, and sometimes she drives men crazy
...
In the crowd were women, children, and a number of men with swords at their belts and
rifles slung on their shoulders
...
There was a
babble of noise, and the leader had to repeat himself several times for everyone to understand what he
was saying
...
But the only God I serve is Allah,
and in his name I swear that I will do everything possible once again to win out over the desert
...
In the desert, disobedience means death
...
Each was swearing quietly to his or her own God
...
The Englishman said nothing
...
The people were also praying to heaven for protection
...
The boy and the Englishman had
bought camels, and climbed uncertainly onto their backs
...
"There's no such thing as coincidence," said the Englishman, picking up the conversation where it had
been interrupted in the warehouse
...
The boy
knew what he was about to describe, though: the mysterious chain that links one thing to another, the
same chain that had caused him to become a shepherd, that had caused his recurring dream, that had
brought him to a city near Africa, to find a king, and to be robbed in order to meet a crystal merchant,
and…
The closer one gets to realizing his destiny, the more that destiny becomes his true reason for being,
thought the boy
...
It traveled during the morning, halted when the sun was at its
strongest, and resumed late in the afternoon
...
The boy observed in silence the progress of the animals and people across the desert
...
But, in the desert, there was only the sound of the eternal wind, and of the hoofbeats of the animals
...
"I've crossed these sands many times," said one of the camel drivers one night
...
"
The boy understood intuitively what he meant, even without ever having set foot in the desert before
...
I've learned things from the sheep, and I've learned things from crystal, he thought
...
It seems old and wise
...
It reminded him of the wool from his sheep… his sheep who were now seeking
food and water in the fields of Andalusia, as they always had
...
"They must be used to their new
shepherd, and have probably already forgotten me
...
Creatures like the sheep, that are used
to traveling, know about moving on
...
Perhaps to a baker,
or to another shepherd who could read and could tell her exciting stories—after all, he probably wasn't
the only one
...
"Hunches,"
his mother used to call them
...
"Maktub," the boy said, remembering the crystal merchant
...
When the caravan was blocked by a
boulder, it had to go around it; if there was a large rocky area, they had to make a major detour
...
In
some places, the ground was covered with the salt of dried-up lakes
...
The drivers carried the freight
themselves over such treacherous footing, and then reloaded the camels
...
But all this happened for one basic reason: no matter how many detours and adjustments it made, the
caravan moved toward the same compass point
...
When the people saw that star shining in
the morning sky, they knew they were on the right course toward water, palm trees, shelter, and other
people
...
The boy, too, had his book, and he had tried to read it during the first few days of the journey
...
As soon as he had learned
to know his camel better, and to establish a relationship with him, he threw the book away
...
He became friendly with the camel driver who traveled alongside him
...
During one of these conversations, the driver told of his own life
...
"I had my orchard, my children, and a life that would change not
at all until I died
...
I could die happily, and that made me feel good
...
It was something that I thought
could happen only to others, never to me
...
I thought that everything I owned would
be destroyed
...
So now I'm a camel driver
...
"We are afraid of losing what we have, whether it's our life or our possessions and property
...
"
Sometimes, their caravan met with another
...
As they sat around the fire, the camel drivers exchanged
information about windstorms, and told stories about the desert
...
They provided warnings about thieves and barbarian tribes
...
One night, a camel driver
came to the fire where the Englishman and the boy were sitting
...
The three fell silent
...
Once again he was experiencing the language without words… the universal language
...
"Once you get into the desert, there's no going back," said the camel driver
...
The rest is up to Allah, including
the danger
...
"
"You should pay more attention to the caravan," the boy said to the Englishman, after the camel driver
had left
...
"
"And you ought to read more about the world," answered the Englishman
...
"
The immense collection of people and animals began to travel faster
...
And, one day, the leader of the caravan made the decision that the fires should no longer
be lighted, so as not to attract attention to the caravan
...
And the leader posted armed sentinels at the fringes of the
group
...
He called to the boy, and they took a walk along the
dunes surrounding the encampment
...
The Englishman was fascinated with the part about the progress achieved at the crystal shop after the
boy began working there
...
"In alchemy, it's called the Soul of the World
...
It's always a
positive force
...
"Everything on earth is being continuously transformed, because the earth is alive… and it has a soul
...
But in the crystal shop you probably
realized that even the glasses were collaborating in your success
...
"I have
watched the caravan as it crossed the desert," he said
...
It's going to test the caravan's every
step to see if it's in time, and, if it is, we will make it to the oasis
...
"
They stood there looking at the moon
...
"I've seen how the guides read the signs of the desert, and
how the soul of the caravan speaks to the soul of the desert
...
"
"And I'd better read your books," said the boy
...
They spoke about mercury, salt, dragons, and kings, and he didn't understand
any of it
...
In one of the books he learned that the most important text in the literature of alchemy contained only a
few lines, and had been inscribed on the surface of an emerald
...
"Well, then, why do we need all these books?" the boy asked
...
The book that most interested the boy told the stories of the famous alchemists
...
This Soul of the World allowed them to understand anything on the face
of the earth, because it was the language with which all things communicated
...
"Can't you just observe men and omens in order to understand the language?" the boy asked
...
"Alchemy is a serious
discipline
...
"
The boy learned that the liquid part of the Master Work was called the Elixir of Life, and that it cured all
illnesses; it also kept the alchemist from growing old
...
"It's not easy to find the Philosopher's Stone," said the Englishman
...
They spent so much time close to the fire that
gradually they gave up the vanities of the world
...
"
The boy thought about the crystal merchant
...
The boy was becoming more and
more convinced that alchemy could be learned in one's daily life
...
A small sliver of the
stone can transform large quantities of metal into gold
...
He thought that, with some
patience, he'd be able to transform everything into gold
...
They were fascinating stories: each of
them lived out his destiny to the end
...
But when the boy wanted to learn how to achieve the Master Work, he became completely lost
...
*
"Why do they make things so complicated?" he asked the Englishman one night
...
"So that those who have the responsibility for understanding can understand," he said
...
Gold would lose its value
...
That's why I'm here in the middle of the desert
...
"
"When were these books written?" the boy asked
...
"
"They didn't have the printing press in those days," the boy argued
...
Why did they use such strange language, with so many drawings?"
The Englishman didn't answer him directly
...
The only thing he had
noticed was that talk of war was becoming more and more frequent
...
"Did you learn anything?" the Englishman
asked, eager to hear what it might be
...
"I learned that the world has a soul, and that whoever understands that soul can also understand the
language of things
...
"But, above all, I learned that these things are all so simple that they could be written on the surface of an
emerald
...
The years of research, the magic symbols, the strange words and the
laboratory equipment… none of this had made an impression on the boy
...
He took back his books and packed them away again in their bags
...
"That didn't teach me anything, either
...
"Everyone has his or her own way of learning things," he said to himself
...
But we're both in search of our destinies, and I respect him for that
...
The hooded Bedouins reappeared more and more
frequently, and the camel driver—who had become a good friend of the boy's—explained that the war
between the tribes had already begun
...
The animals were exhausted, and the men talked among themselves less and less
...
The camel driver, though, seemed not to be very concerned with the threat of war
...
"When
I'm eating, that's all I think about
...
If I have to fight, it
will be just as good a day to die as any other
...
I'm interested only in the present
...
You'll see that there is life in the desert, that
there are stars in the heavens, and that tribesmen fight because they are part of the human race
...
"
Two nights later, as he was getting ready to bed down, the boy looked for the star they followed every
night
...
"It's the oasis," said the camel driver
...
"Because we have to sleep
...
There, in front of him, where the small stars had been the night before,
was an endless row of date palms, stretching across the entire desert
...
But the boy was quiet
...
He still had a long way to go to reach the pyramids, and someday this morning would just be a
memory
...
Although the vision of the date
palms would someday be just a memory, right now it signified shade, water, and a refuge from the war
...
The world speaks many languages, the boy thought
...
People were shouting at the new arrivals, dust obscured the
desert sun, and the children of the oasis were bursting with excitement at the arrival of the strangers
...
But none of that mattered to the alchemist
...
He had seen kings and beggars walking the desert sands
...
He
always enjoyed seeing the happiness that the travelers experienced when, after weeks of yellow sand and
blue sky, they first saw the green of the date palms
...
He decided to concentrate on more practical matters
...
The omens had told him so
...
He hoped that it would be someone as
capable as his previous apprentice
...
It wasn't exactly
that they were secrets; God revealed his secrets easily to all his creatures
...
Because people become fascinated with pictures and words, and wind up forgetting the Language of the
World
...
There were three hundred wells, fifty thousand date trees, and innumerable colored tents spread
among them
...
They were surrounded by children, curious to look at the animals and people that were arriving
...
The silence of the desert
was a distant dream; the travelers in the caravan were talking incessantly, laughing and shouting, as if they
had emerged from the spiritual world and found themselves once again in the world of people
...
They had been taking careful precautions in the desert, but the camel driver explained to the boy that
oases were always considered to be neutral territories, because the majority of the inhabitants were
women and children
...
With some difficulty, the leader of the caravan brought all his people together and gave them his
instructions
...
Since they were visitors, they would have to share living space with those who lived there, and would be
given the best accommodations
...
Then he asked that everyone, including
his own sentinels, hand over their arms to the men appointed by the tribal chieftains
...
"The oases may not shelter armies or troops
...
"Why a revolver?" he asked
...
Meanwhile, the boy thought about his treasure
...
It seemed as if what the old king had called "beginner's luck" were no longer
functioning
...
So he could not be hasty, nor impatient
...
God placed them along my path
...
Until then, he had
considered the omens to be things of this world
...
He had never thought of them in terms of a language used by God to indicate what he should do
...
"It's like the camel driver said: 'Eat when it's time to eat
...
' "
That first day, everyone slept from exhaustion, including the Englishman
...
They were people of the desert,
and clamored to hear his stories about the great cities
...
"I've been looking for you all morning," he said, as he led the boy outside
...
"
First, they tried to find him on their own
...
They searched everywhere, and found that the oasis was much larger than they could have
imagined; there were hundreds of tents
...
"Maybe we'd better ask someone," the boy suggested
...
But, finally, he agreed that the boy, who spoke better Arabic than he, should do so
...
"Good afternoon, ma'am
...
"
The woman said she had never heard of such a person, and hurried away
...
He should respect tradition
...
It seemed he had made the long journey for nothing
...
And, when someone was in such pursuit, the entire
universe made an effort to help him succeed—that's what the old king had said
...
"I had never heard of alchemists before," the boy said
...
"
The Englishman's eyes lit up
...
Then a man approached
...
"Allah cures our illnesses," said the man, clearly frightened of the strangers
...
" He spoke some verses from the Koran, and moved on
...
He was older, and was carrying a small bucket
...
"Why do you want to find that sort of person?" the Arab asked
...
"If such a man is here at the oasis, he must be the very powerful one," said the old man after thinking for
a few moments
...
Only when he
consents
...
Then leave with the caravan
...
But the Englishman was exultant
...
Finally, a young woman approached who was not dressed in black
...
The boy approached her to ask about
the alchemist
...
When he looked into her dark eyes, and saw that her lips were poised between a laugh and silence, he
learned the most important part of the language that all the world spoke—the language that everyone on
earth was capable of understanding in their heart
...
Something older than humanity, more
ancient than the desert
...
She smiled, and that was certainly an omen—the omen he had been awaiting,
without even knowing he was, for all his life
...
It was the pure Language of the World
...
What the boy felt at that moment was that he was in the presence of the only
woman in his life, and that, with no need for words, she recognized the same thing
...
He had been told by his parents and grandparents that he must fall in
love and really know a person before becoming committed
...
Because, when you know that language, it's easy to understand that
someone in the world awaits you, whether it's in the middle of the desert or in some great city
...
There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the sun has been written by
one hand only
...
Without such love, one's dreams would have no meaning
...
The Englishman shook the boy: "Come on, ask her!"
The boy stepped closer to the girl, and when she smiled, he did the same
...
"Fatima," the girl said, averting her eyes
...
"
"It's the name of the Prophet's daughter," Fatima said
...
" The
beautiful girl spoke of the invaders with pride
...
"That's the man who knows all the secrets of the world," she said
...
"
The genies were the spirits of good and evil
...
Then she filled her vessel with water and left
...
And the boy sat there by the well for a long
time, remembering that one day in Tarifa the levanter had brought to him the perfume of that woman, and
realizing that he had loved her before he even knew she existed
...
The next day, the boy returned to the well, hoping to see the girl
...
"He appeared with the first stars of evening
...
I told him that was what I had
come here to learn
...
That's all he said: 'Go and try
...
The poor Englishman had traveled all this way, only to be told that he
should repeat what he had already done so many times
...
"That's what I'm going to do
...
"
As the Englishman left, Fatima arrived and filled her vessel with water
...
"I want you to be my wife
...
"
The girl dropped the container, and the water spilled
...
I have crossed the desert in search of a treasure that is
somewhere near the Pyramids, and for me, the war seemed a curse
...
"
"The war is going to end someday," the girl said
...
He reminded himself that he had been a shepherd, and
that he could be a shepherd again
...
"The tribesmen are always in search of treasure," the girl said, as if she had guessed what he was
thinking
...
"
She refilled her vessel and left
...
He told her about his life as a shepherd, about
the king, and about the crystal shop
...
When he had been at the oasis for almost a month,
the leader of the caravan called a meeting of all of the people traveling with him
...
"The battles may last
for a long time, perhaps even years
...
It's not a battle of good against evil
...
"
The people went back to where they were living, and the boy went to meet with Fatima that afternoon
...
"The day after we met," Fatima said, "you told me that you
loved me
...
Because
of that, I have become a part of you
...
"I have been waiting for you here at this oasis for a long time
...
Ever since I was a child, I
have dreamed that the desert would bring me a wonderful present
...
"
The boy wanted to take her hand
...
"You have told me about your dreams, about the old king and your treasure
...
So now, I fear nothing, because it was those omens that brought you to me
...
"That's why I want you to continue toward your goal
...
But if you have to go before then, go on in pursuit of your dream
...
That's the way it will be with our love for each other
...
"If I am really a part of your dream, you'll come back one day
...
He thought of all the married shepherds he had known
...
Love required them to
stay with the people they loved
...
"The desert takes our men from us, and they don't always return," she said
...
Those who don't return become a part of the clouds, a part of the animals that hide in the
ravines and of the water that comes from the earth
...
"Some do come back
...
I used to look at those women and envy them their happiness
...
"I'm a desert woman, and I'm proud of that
...
And, if I have to, I will accept the fact that he has become a part of the clouds, and the
animals and the water of the desert
...
He wanted to tell him about Fatima
...
It was a strange furnace, fueled by
firewood, with a transparent flask heating on top
...
"This is the first phase of the job," he said
...
To do that successfully, I
must have no fear of failure
...
Now, I'm beginning what I could have started ten years ago
...
"
He continued to feed the fire, and the boy stayed on until the desert turned pink in the setting sun
...
He wandered for a while, keeping the date palms of the oasis within sight
...
Here and there, he found a shell, and realized that the desert, in remote
times, had been a sea
...
He
tried to deal with the concept of love as distinct from possession, and couldn't separate them
...
As he sat there thinking, he sensed movement above him
...
He watched the hawks as they drifted on the wind
...
It was just that he couldn't grasp what it meant
...
Maybe these desert birds could explain to him the
meaning of love without ownership
...
In his heart, he wanted to remain awake, but he also wanted to sleep
...
And, in that mood, he was grateful to be in love
...
Suddenly, one of the hawks made a flashing dive through the sky, attacking the other
...
The
vision vanished immediately, but it had shaken him
...
But he certainly didn't desire that an army invade the oasis
...
He tried again to concentrate on the
pink shades of the desert, and its stones
...
"Always heed the omens," the old king had said
...
He rose, and made his way back toward the palm trees
...
The camel driver was seated at the base of a palm tree, observing the sunset
...
"An army is coming," the boy said
...
"
"The desert fills men's hearts with visions," the camel driver answered
...
The camel driver understood what the boy was saying
...
One could open a book to any page, or look at a person's
hand; one could turn a card, or watch the flight of the birds… whatever the thing observed, one could
find a connection with his experience of the moment
...
The desert was full of men who earned their living based on the ease with which they could penetrate to
the Soul of the World
...
Tribesmen were also wary of consulting them, because it would be impossible to be effective in battle if
one knew that he was fated to die
...
So the tribesmen lived only for the present, because the present was full
of surprises, and they had to be aware of many things: Where was the enemy's sword? Where was his
horse? What kind of blow should one deliver next in order to remain alive? The camel driver was not a
fighter, and he had consulted with seers
...
Then, one day, the oldest seer he had ever sought out (and the one most to be feared)
had asked why the camel driver was so interested in the future
...
"And so I can change those things that I don't want to
happen
...
"Well, maybe I just want to know the future so I can prepare myself for what's coming
...
"If bad things are, and you
know in advance, you will suffer greatly before they even occur
...
"And men
always live their lives based on the future
...
That day, he didn't make a cast
...
"I make my living forecasting the future for people," he said
...
There, I can read the past, discover
what has already been forgotten, and understand the omens that are here in the present
...
The future
belongs to God, and it is only he who reveals it, under extraordinary circumstances
...
The secret is here in the present
...
And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be
better
...
Each day, in itself, brings with it an eternity
...
"Only when he, himself, reveals it
...
When he does so, it is for only
one reason: it's a future that was written so as to be altered
...
Why was it that he wanted the
boy to serve as his instrument?
"Go and speak to the tribal chieftains," said the camel driver
...
"
"They'll laugh at me
...
"
"Well, then, they probably already know
...
They believe that if they have to know about something
Allah wants them to know, someone will tell them about it
...
But, this
time, the person is you
...
And he decided he would go to see the chiefs of the tribes
...
"I want to see the chieftains
...
"
Without responding, the guard entered the tent, where he remained for some time
...
The boy told the younger man what he had seen, and
the man asked him to wait there
...
Night fell, and an assortment of fighting men and merchants entered and exited the tent
...
Only the lights in the great tent
remained
...
Finally, after hours of waiting, the guard bade the boy enter
...
Never could he have imagined that, there in the middle of the desert, there existed a tent like this
one
...
The tribal chieftains were
seated at the back of the tent in a semicircle, resting upon richly embroidered silk cushions
...
Other servants maintained the fires in the
hookahs
...
There were eight chieftains, but the boy could see immediately which of them was the most important: an
Arab dressed in white and gold, seated at the center of the semicircle
...
"Who is this stranger who speaks of omens?" asked one of the chieftains, eyeing the boy
...
And he told what he had seen
...
"Because my eyes are not yet accustomed to the desert," the boy said
...
"
And also because I know about the Soul of the World, he thought to himself
...
No one attacks an oasis," said a third chieftain
...
If you don't want to believe me, you don't have to do anything about it
...
They spoke in an Arabic dialect that the boy didn't understand,
but, when he made to leave, the guard told him to stay
...
He regretted having spoken to the camel driver about what he had seen in the
desert
...
The man hadn't
participated in the discussion, and, in fact, hadn't said a word up to that point
...
Now
his intuition was that he had been right in coming
...
The chieftains were silent for a few moments as they listened to what the old man
was saying
...
"Two thousand years ago, in a distant land, a man who believed in dreams was thrown into a dungeon
and then sold as a slave," the old man said, now in the dialect the boy understood
...
All of us know that whoever believes in dreams also knows
how to interpret them
...
His name was Joseph
...
"
He paused, and his eyes were still unfriendly
...
The Tradition saved Egypt from famine in those days, and made the
Egyptians the wealthiest of peoples
...
The Tradition says that an oasis is neutral territory, because both sides have oases,
and so both are vulnerable
...
"But the Tradition also says that we should believe the messages of the desert
...
"
The old man gave a signal, and everyone stood
...
The hookahs were extinguished,
and the guards stood at attention
...
Throughout the entire day we will be on the lookout for our enemies
...
For every ten dead men among our enemies, you will receive a
piece of gold
...
Arms are as capricious as the desert, and, if
they are not used, the next time they might not function
...
"
When the boy left the tent, the oasis was illuminated only by the light of the full moon
...
He was alarmed by what had happened
...
It was a frightening bet
...
And, as the camel driver
had said, to die tomorrow was no worse than dying on any other day
...
Everything depended on one word: "Maktub
...
If he died tomorrow, it would be because God was not
willing to change the future
...
He had
lived every one of his days intensely since he had left home so long ago
...
Suddenly he heard a thundering sound, and he was thrown to the ground by a wind such as he had never
known
...
Before him was an
enormous white horse, rearing over him with a frightening scream
...
Astride the animal was a
horseman dressed completely in black, with a falcon perched on his left shoulder
...
He appeared to be a messenger
from the desert, but his presence was much more powerful than that of a mere messenger
...
The
steel of its blade glittered in the light of the moon
...
"It is I who dared to do so," said the boy
...
This man looked exactly the same,
except that now the roles were reversed
...
"Many lives will be saved, because I was able to see through to the Soul of the World
...
Instead, the stranger lowered it slowly, until the point touched the boy's forehead
...
The horseman was completely immobile, as was the boy
...
In his
heart, he felt a strange sense of joy: he was about to die in pursuit of his destiny
...
The
omens had been true, after all
...
And,
tomorrow, his enemy would also be apart of that Soul
...
"Why did you read the flight of the
birds?"
"I read only what the birds wanted to tell me
...
Tomorrow all of you will
die, because there are more men at the oasis than you have
...
"Who are you to change what Allah has willed?"
"Allah created the armies, and he also created the hawks
...
Everything has been written by the same hand," the boy said, remembering the camel driver's words
...
But he
still couldn't flee
...
"When something is written, there is no way to
change it
...
"I didn't see the outcome of the battle
...
But he kept the sword in his hand
...
It's not something you would understand
...
"I had to test your courage," the stranger said
...
"
The boy was surprised
...
"You must not let up, even after having come so far," he continued
...
Because the desert tests all men: it challenges every step, and kills those who become
distracted
...
"If the warriors come here, and your head is still on your shoulders at sunset, come and find me," said
the stranger
...
The horse reared again, raising a cloud
of dust
...
The hand with the whip pointed to the south
...
*
Next morning, there were two thousand armed men scattered throughout the palm trees at Al-Fayoum
...
The mounted
troops entered the oasis from the north; it appeared to be a peaceful expedition, but they all carried arms
hidden in their robes
...
And they attacked an empty tent
...
The children had been kept at the other side of a grove of palm trees, and saw
nothing of what had happened
...
Were it not for the bodies there on the ground, it
would have appeared to be a normal day at the oasis
...
That afternoon, he was brought before
the tribal chieftains, who asked him why he had violated the Tradition
...
The tribal chieftain said that he felt sorry for the tribesmen, but that the Tradition was sacred
...
Rather than being killed by a blade or a bullet, he
was hanged from a dead palm tree, where his body twisted in the desert wind
...
He repeated his story
about Joseph of Egypt, and asked the boy to become the counselor of the oasis
...
He
eventually sighted a single tent, and a group of Arabs passing by told the boy that it was a place inhabited
by genies
...
Not until the moon was high did the alchemist ride into view
...
"I am here," the boy said
...
"Or is it your destiny that brings you here?"
"With the wars between the tribes, it's impossible to cross the desert
...
"
The alchemist dismounted from his horse, and signaled that the boy should enter the tent with him
...
The boy looked around for the ovens and other apparatus used in alchemy,
but saw none
...
"Sit down
...
The boy suspected that they were the same hawks he had seen on the day before, but he said nothing
...
It was better than the scent of the
hookahs
...
"Because of the omens," the alchemist answered
...
"
"It's not I the wind spoke about
...
He's the one that's looking for
you
...
But he's on the right track
...
"
"And what about me?"
"When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his
dream," said the alchemist, echoing the words of the old king
...
Another person was
there to help him toward his destiny
...
You already know all you need to know
...
"
"But there's a tribal war," the boy reiterated
...
"
"I have already found my treasure
...
In my own country, I would be a rich man
...
"I also have Fatima
...
"
"She wasn't found at the Pyramids, either
...
The alchemist opened a bottle and poured a red liquid into the boy's cup
...
"Isn't wine prohibited here?" the boy asked
"It's not what enters men's mouths that's evil," said the alchemist
...
"
The alchemist was a bit daunting, but, as the boy drank the wine, he relaxed
...
"Drink and enjoy yourself," said the alchemist, noticing that the boy was feeling happier
...
Remember that wherever your heart is, there you
will find your treasure
...
"Tomorrow, sell your camel and buy a horse
...
Then suddenly, they kneel and die
...
You always know how
much you can ask of them, and when it is that they are about to die
...
The alchemist was ready, and
he mounted his own steed and placed the falcon on his left shoulder
...
Only those who can see such signs of life are able to find treasure
...
I don't know if I'll be able to
find life in the desert, the boy thought
...
He wanted to say so to the alchemist, but he was afraid of the man
...
"I don't know how to find life in the desert," the boy said
...
"
"Life attracts life," the alchemist answered
...
He loosened the reins on his horse, who galloped forward over the rocks
and sand
...
They could no longer
see the palms of the oasis—only the gigantic moon above them, and its silver reflections from the stones
of the desert
...
"There's life here," the boy said to the alchemist
...
"
They dismounted, and the alchemist said nothing
...
The alchemist stopped abruptly, and bent to the ground
...
The
alchemist put his hand into the hole, and then his entire arm, up to his shoulder
...
His arm seemed
to be battling with whatever was in the hole
...
In his hand, he grasped a snake by the tail
...
The snake fought frantically, making hissing sounds
that shattered the silence of the desert
...
"Watch out for his venom," the boy said
...
"The alchemist is two hundred years old," the
Englishman had told him
...
The boy watched as his companion went to his horse and withdrew a scimitar
...
The serpent relaxed immediately
...
"He won't leave the circle
...
"
"Why was that so important?"
"Because the Pyramids are surrounded by the desert
...
His heart was heavy, and he had been melancholy since
the previous night
...
"I'm going to guide you across the desert," the alchemist said
...
"I've found Fatima, and, as far as I'm concerned, she's
worth more than treasure
...
"She knows that men have to go away in order to
return
...
Now she expects that you will find what it is you're
looking for
...
You'll be the counselor of the oasis
...
You'll marry Fatima, and you'll both be happy for a year
...
You'll watch them as they
grow, demonstrating how the world is always changing
...
"Sometime during the second year, you'll remember about the treasure
...
You'll use your knowledge for the welfare of the oasis and its
inhabitants
...
And your camels will bring you wealth and
power
...
You'll walk
around, night after night, at the oasis, and Fatima will be unhappy because she'll feel it was she who
interrupted your quest
...
You'll remember that she never
asked you to stay, because a woman of the desert knows that she must await her man
...
But many times you'll walk the sands of the desert, thinking that maybe you could have left…
that you could have trusted more in your love for Fatima
...
At that point, the omens will tell you that your treasure is
buried forever
...
The tribal chieftains will see that, and you'll be dismissed from your position as counselor
...
You'll spend the rest
of your days knowing that you didn't pursue your destiny, and that now it's too late
...
If he abandons that
pursuit, it's because it wasn't true love… the love that speaks the Language of the World
...
The boy
remembered the crystal merchant who had always wanted to go to Mecca, and the Englishman in search
of the alchemist
...
And he looked out over the
desert that had brought him to the woman he loved
...
The wind brought the sounds of the oasis to them, and the boy tried to hear Fatima's voice
...
"I'm going with you," the boy said
...
"We'll leave tomorrow before sunrise," was the alchemist's only response
...
Two hours before dawn, he awoke one of the boys who slept in his
tent, and asked him to show him where Fatima lived
...
Then he asked his friend to go to into the tent where Fatima was sleeping, and to awaken her and tell her
that he was waiting outside
...
"Now leave us alone," said the boy to the young Arab
...
Fatima appeared at the entrance to the tent
...
The boy knew that it
was a violation of the Tradition, but that didn't matter to him now
...
"And I want you to know that I'm coming back
...
"One is loved because one is loved
...
"
But the boy continued, "I had a dream, and I met with a king
...
And,
because the tribes declared war, I went to the well, seeking the alchemist
...
"
The two embraced
...
"I'll be back," the boy said
...
"Now it will be with hope
...
"
They said nothing else
...
"I'll return, just as your father came back to your mother," he said
...
"You're crying?"
"I'm a woman of the desert," she said, averting her face
...
"
Fatima went back to her tent, and, when daylight came, she went out to do the chores she had done for
years
...
The boy was no longer at the oasis, and the oasis would never again
have the same meaning it had had only yesterday
...
From
that day on, the oasis would be an empty place for her
...
She would look to it every day, and would
try to guess which star the boy was following in search of his treasure
...
That
she was waiting for him, a woman awaiting a courageous man in search of his treasure
...
*
"Don't think about what you've left behind," the alchemist said to the boy as they began to ride across
the sands of the desert
...
"
"Men dream more about coming home than about leaving," the boy said
...
"If what one finds is made of pure matter, it will never spoil
...
If what
you had found was only a moment of light, like the explosion of a star, you would find nothing on your
return
...
But the boy knew that he was referring to Fatima
...
The desert, with its endless monotony, put him
to dreaming
...
He
could see the Englishman at his experiments, and the camel driver who was a teacher without realizing it
...
The alchemist rode in front, with the falcon on his shoulder
...
On the first day he returned with a
rabbit, and on the second with two birds
...
The desert nights were cold, and
were becoming darker and darker as the phases of the moon passed
...
The war continued, and at times the wind carried the sweet, sickly smell of blood
...
On the seventh day, the alchemist decided to make camp earlier than usual
...
"You are almost at the end of your journey," said the alchemist
...
"
"And you've told me nothing along the way," said the boy
...
A while ago, I rode through the desert with a man who had books on alchemy
...
"
"There is only one way to learn," the alchemist answered
...
Everything you need to
know you have learned through your journey
...
"
The boy wanted to know what that was, but the alchemist was searching the horizon, looking for the
falcon
...
"
"And what went wrong when other alchemists tried to make gold and were unable to do so?"
"They were looking only for gold," his companion answered
...
"
"What is it that I still need to know?" the boy asked
...
And finally the falcon returned with their meal
...
"I'm an alchemist simply because I'm an alchemist," he said, as he prepared the meal
...
In those times, the Master Work could be written simply on an emerald
...
They also began to feel that they
knew a better way than others had
...
"
"What was written on the Emerald Tablet?" the boy wanted to know
...
As he
drew, the boy thought of the old king, and the plaza where they had met that day; it seemed as if it had
taken place years and years ago
...
The boy tried to read what was written in the sand
...
"It looks like what I saw in the Englishman's books
...
"It's like the flight of those two hawks; it can't be understood by reason
alone
...
"The wise men understood that this natural world is only an image and a copy of paradise
...
God created the world so that,
through its visible objects, men could understand his spiritual teachings and the marvels of his wisdom
...
"
"Should I understand the Emerald Tablet?" the boy asked
...
But you are in the desert
...
The desert will give
you an understanding of the world; in fact, anything on the face of the earth will do that
...
"
"How do I immerse myself in the desert?"
"Listen to your heart
...
"
*
They crossed the desert for another two days in silence
...
As they
moved along, the boy tried to listen to his heart
...
There had been times when his heart spent hours telling of its sadness, and at other times it
became so emotional over the desert sunrise that the boy had to hide his tears
...
But his heart was never quiet, even when the boy and the alchemist had fallen into
silence
...
"Because, wherever your heart is, that is where you'll find your treasure
...
"It has its dreams, it gets emotional, and it's become passionate
over a woman of the desert
...
"
"Well, that's good
...
Keep listening to what it has to say
...
The boy's heart began to speak of fear
...
Sometimes it frightened
the boy with the idea that he might not find his treasure, or that he might die there in the desert
...
"My heart is a traitor," the boy said to the alchemist, when they had paused to rest the horses
...
"
"That makes sense," the alchemist answered
...
"
"Well, then, why should I listen to my heart?"
"Because you will never again be able to keep it quiet
...
"
"You mean I should listen, even if it's treasonous?"
"Treason is a blow that comes unexpectedly
...
Because you'll know its dreams and wishes, and will know how to deal with them
...
So it's better to listen to what it has to say
...
"
The boy continued to listen to his heart as they crossed the desert
...
He lost his fear, and forgot about his need to go back to the oasis,
because, one afternoon, his heart told him that it was happy
...
People are afraid to pursue their
most important dreams, because they feel that they don't deserve them, or that they'll be unable to
achieve them
...
Because, when these things happen, we suffer terribly
...
"Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself
...
"
"Every second of the search is an encounter with God," the boy told his heart
...
When I have been truly searching for my treasure, I've discovered things
along the way that I never would have seen had I not had the courage to try things that seemed
impossible for a shepherd to achieve
...
That night, the boy slept deeply, and, when he awoke, his
heart began to tell him things that came from the Soul of the World
...
And that happiness could be found in a grain of sand from the desert, as the
alchemist had said
...
"Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits him," his heart said
...
We speak of them only to children
...
But, unfortunately, very few follow the path laid out for them—the path to their destinies, and to
happiness
...
"So, we, their hearts, speak more and more softly
...
"
"Why don't people's hearts tell them to continue to follow their dreams?" the boy asked the alchemist
...
"
From then on, the boy understood his heart
...
He
asked that, when he wandered far from his dreams, his heart press him and sound the alarm
...
That night, he told all of this to the alchemist
...
"So what should I do now?" the boy asked
...
"And continue to pay heed to the omens
...
"
"Is that the one thing I still needed to know?"
"No," the alchemist answered
...
It does this not because it is evil, but so that
we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we've learned as we've moved toward that
dream
...
It's the point at which, as we say in the language of
the desert, one 'dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon
...
And every search ends with the victor's being severely
tested
...
It said that the darkest hour of the night came
just before the dawn
...
Three armed tribesmen approached, and
asked what the boy and the alchemist were doing there
...
"We're going to have to search you to see whether you're armed," one of the tribesmen said
...
"Why are you carrying money?" asked the tribesman, when he had searched the boy's bag
...
The tribesman who was searching the alchemist's belongings found a small crystal flask filled with a
liquid, and a yellow glass egg that was slightly larger than a chicken's egg
...
"That's the Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir of Life
...
Whoever
swallows that elixir will never be sick again, and a fragment from that stone turns any metal into gold
...
They thought his answer was amusing, and
they allowed the boy and the alchemist to proceed with all of their belongings
...
"What did you do that for?"
"To show you one of life's simple lessons," the alchemist answered
...
"
They continued across the desert
...
It no longer wanted to know about things of the past or future; it was content simply to
contemplate the desert, and to drink with the boy from the Soul of the World
...
When his heart spoke to him, it was to provide a stimulus to the boy, and to give him strength, because
the days of silence there in the desert were wearisome
...
And his heart told him something else that the boy had never noticed: it told the boy of dangers that had
threatened him, but that he had never perceived
...
And it
reminded the boy of the day when he had been ill and vomiting out in the fields, after which he had fallen
into a deep sleep
...
But, since the boy hadn't passed by, they had decided to move on, thinking that he had
changed his route
...
"Mostly just the hearts of those who are trying to realize their destinies
...
"
"Does that mean that I'll never run into danger?"
"It means only that the heart does what it can," the alchemist said
...
At each corner of the camp were
Arabs garbed in beautiful white robes, with arms at the ready
...
No one paid any attention to the two travelers
...
The alchemist sounded angry: "Trust in your heart, but never forget that you're in the desert
...
No one fails to suffer
the consequences of everything under the sun
...
And then, as if the desert wanted to demonstrate that the alchemist
was right, two horsemen appeared from behind the travelers
...
"You're in the area where the tribes are at war
...
They
were silent for a moment, and then agreed that the boy and the alchemist could move along
...
"You dominated those horsemen with the way you
looked at them," he said
...
That's true, the boy thought
...
He had been so far away that his face
wasn't even visible
...
Finally, when they had crossed the mountain range that extended alongthe entire horizon, the alchemist
said that they were only two days from the Pyramids
...
"
"You already know about alchemy
...
"
"No, that's not what I mean
...
"
The alchemist fell as silent as the desert, and answered the boy only after they had stopped to eat
...
"And, for wise men, gold is the metal that evolved the
furthest
...
I just know that the Tradition is always right
...
So gold, instead of being seen as a symbol of
evolution, became the basis for conflict
...
"There was a time when, for me, a camel's
whinnying was nothing more than whinnying
...
And, finally, it became
just a whinny again
...
The alchemist probably already knew all that
...
"They locked themselves in their laboratories,
and tried to evolve, as gold had
...
"Others stumbled upon the stone by accident
...
But they don't count
...
"And then there were the others, who were interested only in gold
...
They
forgot that lead, copper, and iron have their own destinies to fulfill
...
"
The alchemist's words echoed out like a curse
...
"This desert was once a sea," he said
...
The alchemist told the boy to place the shell over his ear
...
"The sea has lived on in this shell, because that's its destiny
...
"
They mounted their horses, and rode out in the direction of the Pyramids of Egypt
...
They were surrounded by gigantic
dunes, and the boy looked at the alchemist to see whether he had sensed anything
...
Five minutes later, the boy saw two horsemen waiting ahead of them
...
And then
they were everywhere in the dunes
...
Their faces were hidden
behind blue veils, with only their eyes showing
...
And their eyes spoke of death
...
A soldier shoved the boy and the alchemist into a tent
where the chief was holding a meeting with his staff
...
"We're just travelers," the alchemist answered
...
And you were talking with one of the troops there
...
"I have no information
about troops or about the movement of the tribes
...
"
"Who is your friend?" the chief asked
...
"He understands the forces of nature
...
"
The boy listened quietly
...
"What is a foreigner doing here?" asked another of the men
...
And
seizing the boy's bag, the alchemist gave the gold coins to the chief
...
There was enough there to buy a lot of weapons
...
"It's a man who understands nature and the world
...
"
The men laughed
...
Yet each felt his heart beat a bit faster
...
"I want to see him do it," said the chief
...
"He is going to transform himself into the wind, just to
demonstrate his powers
...
"
"You can't offer me something that is already mine," the chief said, arrogantly
...
The boy was shaking with fear, but the alchemist helped him out of the tent
...
"They are brave men, and they despise
cowards
...
He was able to do so only after they had walked through the center of
the camp
...
So, once
again, the world had demonstrated its many languages: the desert only moments ago had been endless
and free, and now it was an impenetrable wall
...
"Everything I've saved in my entire life!"
"Well, what good would it be to you if you had t6 die?" the alchemist answered
...
It's not often that money saves a person's life
...
He had no idea how he was going to
transform himself into the wind
...
A wave of
relief washed over him, and the alchemist muttered some words that the boy didn't understand
...
"If you do, you won't be able
to talk to your heart
...
"
"If a person is living out his destiny, he knows everything he needs to know
...
"
"I'm not afraid of failing
...
"
"Well, you'll have to learn; your life depends on it
...
That's a lot better than dying like millions of
other people, who never even knew what their destinies were
...
"Usually the threat of death makes people a lot more aware
of their lives
...
There was a major battle nearby, and a number of wounded were brought back to
the camp
...
Death doesn't change anything,
the boy thought
...
"You could have
died after peace had been declared
...
"
At the end of the day, the boy went looking for the alchemist, who had taken his falcon out into the
desert
...
"Remember what I told you: the world is only the visible aspect of God
...
"
"What are you doing?"
"Feeding my falcon
...
"Why feed your falcon?"
"You're the one who may die," the alchemist said
...
"
*
On the second day, the boy climbed to the top of a cliff near the camp
...
In any case, the desert was impassable
...
The boy knew the desert sensed his fear
...
*
On the third day, the chief met with his officers
...
"
"Let's," the alchemist answered
...
He told them all to be seated
...
"We're in no hurry," the chief answered
...
"
The boy looked out at the horizon
...
And there were dunes, rocks,
and plants that insisted on living where survival seemed impossible
...
Within that small
part, he had found an Englishman, caravans, tribal wars, and an oasis with fifty thousand palm trees and
three hundred wells
...
"Didn't you spend enough time looking at me
yesterday?"
"Somewhere you are holding the person I love," the boy said
...
I want to return to her, and I need your help so that I can turn myself into the
wind
...
"Love is the falcon's flight over your sands
...
He knows your rocks, your dunes, and your mountains, and you are generous to him
...
"For years, I care for his game, feeding it
with the little water that I have, and then I show him where the game is
...
"
"But that's why you created the game in the first place," the boy answered
...
And
the falcon then nourishes man
...
That's how the world goes
...
It's what makes the game become the falcon, the falcon become man, and man,
in his turn, the desert
...
"
"I don't understand what you're talking about," the desert said
...
And
that's why I have to turn myself into the wind
...
Then it told him, "I'll give you my sands to help the wind to blow, but, alone, I can't do anything
...
"
A breeze began to blow
...
The alchemist smiled
...
It knew of the boy's talk with the desert, because
the winds know everything
...
"Help me," the boy said
...
"
"Who taught you to speak the language of the desert and the wind?"
"My heart," the boy answered
...
In that part of the world, it was called the sirocco, because it brought
moisture from the oceans to the east
...
Perhaps, in the places beyond the pastures where his sheep lived, men thought that the wind came
from Andalusia
...
Someone might one day plant trees in the desert, and even raise sheep
there, but never would they harness the wind
...
"We're two very different things
...
"I learned the alchemist's secrets in my travels
...
We were all made by the
same hand, and we have the same soul
...
"
"I heard what you were talking about the other day with the alchemist," the wind said
...
But people can't turn themselves into the wind
...
"So you and I can talk about the
limitless possibilities of people and the winds
...
It wanted to talk about
those things, but it didn't know how to turn a man into the wind
...
It felt that it had no limits, yet here was a boy saying that there were other
things the wind should be able to do
...
"When you are loved, you can do anything in creation
...
As long as the wind helps, of course
...
It commenced
to blow harder, raising the desert sands
...
And it knew nothing about love
...
"Maybe it's better to ask
heaven
...
"Fill this place with a sandstorm so strong that it blots out the
sun
...
"
So the wind blew with all its strength, and the sky was filled with sand
...
At the camp, it was difficult to see anything
...
They called it thesimum , and it was worse than a storm at sea
...
On the heights, one of the commanders turned to the chief and said, "Maybe we had better end this!"
They could barely see the boy
...
"Let's stop this," another commander said
...
"I want to see how a man turns himself
into the wind
...
As soon as the
wind stopped, he was going to remove them from their commands, because true men of the desert are
not afraid
...
"If you know about love, you
must also know about the Soul of the World, because it's made of love
...
It communicates with my soul, and
together we cause the plants to grow and the sheep to seek out shade
...
I know that if I came even a little bit closer to the earth,
everything there would die, and the Soul of the World would no longer exist
...
"
"So you know about love," the boy said
...
It tells me that its greatest problem is that, up until now, only the
minerals and vegetables understand that all things are one
...
Each performs its own exact function as a unique being, and
everything would be a symphony of peace if the hand that wrote all this had stopped on the fifth day of
creation
...
"You are wise, because you observe everything from a distance," the boy said
...
If there hadn't been a sixth day, man would not exist; copper would always be just copper,
and lead just lead
...
So
each thing has to transform itself into something better, and to acquire a new destiny, until, someday, the
Soul of the World becomes one thing only
...
The wind, which was enjoying the
conversation, started to blow with greater force, so that the sun would not blind the boy
...
"So that everyone will search for his treasure, find it, and then
want to be better than he was in his former life
...
"That's what alchemists do
...
"
"Well, why did you say that I don't know about love?" the sun asked the boy
...
And it's
not love to see everything from a distance, like you do
...
When I first reached through to it, I thought the Soul of the World was perfect
...
It is
we who nourish the Soul of the World, and the world we live in will be either better or worse, depending
on whether we become better or worse
...
Because when
we love, we always strive to become better than we are
...
"I want you to help me turn myself into the wind," the boy answered
...
"But I don't know how to turn you into
the wind
...
The wind was listening closely, and wanted to tell every corner of the
world that the sun's wisdom had its limitations
...
"Speak to the hand that wrote all," said the sun
...
The tents were being blown from their ties
to the earth, and the animals were being freed from their tethers
...
The boy turned to the hand that wrote all
...
A current of love rushed from his heart, and the boy began to pray
...
His prayer didn't give thanks for his sheep
having found new pastures; it didn't ask that the boy be able to sell more crystal; and it didn't beseech
that the woman he had met continue to await his return
...
He saw that omens
were scattered throughout the earth and in space, and that there was no reason or significance attached
to their appearance; he could see that not the deserts, nor the winds, nor the sun, nor people knew why
they had been created
...
Because only the hand understood
that it was a larger design that had moved the universe to the point at which six days of creation had
evolved into a Master Work
...
And
he saw that the Soul of God was his own soul
...
*
Thesimum blew that day as it had never blown before
...
When thesimum ceased to blow, everyone looked to the place where the boy had been
...
The men were terrified at his sorcery
...
The following day, the general bade the boy and the alchemist farewell, and provided them with an
escort party to accompany them as far as they chose
...
Toward the end of the afternoon, they came upon a Coptic monastery
...
"From here on, you will be alone," the alchemist said
...
"
"Thank you," said the boy
...
"
"I only invoked what you already knew
...
A monk dressed in black came to the gates
...
"I asked him to let me use the kitchen for a while," the alchemist smiled
...
The alchemist lighted the fire, and the monk
brought him some lead, which the alchemist placed in an iron pan
...
He scraped from it a sliver as thin as a hair,
wrapped it in wax, and added it to the pan in which the lead had melted
...
The alchemist removed the pan from the
fire, and set it aside to cool
...
"I think they're going to last for a long time," he said to the monk
...
The caravans had been stopped at Giza for some time, waiting for the wars to
end
...
"Exactly," answered the alchemist
...
The lead had dried into the shape
of the pan, but it was no longer lead
...
"Will I learn to do that someday?" the boy asked
...
"But I wanted to show you that it was
possible
...
There, the alchemist separated the disk into four parts
...
"It's for your generosity to the
pilgrims
...
"Don't say that again
...
"
The alchemist turned to the boy
...
To make up for what you gave to the general
...
But he kept quiet,
because he had heard what the alchemist said to the monk
...
"Because I have to return to the desert,
where there are tribal wars
...
"This is for the boy
...
"
"But I'm going in search of my treasure," the boy said
...
"
"And I'm certain you'll find it," the alchemist said
...
Once to the thief, and once to the general
...
There's one that says, 'Everything that happens
once can never happen again
...
' " They
mounted their horses
...
The boy brought his horse closer
...
One was
in the military, and had been sent to the most distant regions of the empire
...
"One night, the father had a dream
...
The father woke
from his dream grateful and crying, because life was generous, and had revealed to him something any
father would be proud to know
...
Since he had lived his entire life in a manner that was correct and fair, he went directly to
heaven, where he met the angel that had appeared in his dream
...
'You lived your life in a loving way, and died
with dignity
...
'
" 'Life was good to me,' the man said
...
I don't want
anything for myself
...
Sometime in the distant future, I would like to see my son's
words
...
They were in an
immense setting, surrounded by thousands of people speaking a strange language
...
" 'I knew that my son's poems were immortal,' he said to the angel through his tears
...
"'The verses of your son who was the poet were very popular in Rome,' the angel said
...
But when the reign of Tiberius ended, his poems were forgotten
...
'
"The man looked at the angel in surprise
...
He was just and good
...
Your son had heard of a rabbi
who was able to cure illnesses, and he rode out for days and days in search of this man
...
He met others who had been cured by him,
and they instructed your son in the man's teachings
...
Shortly thereafter, he reached the place where the man he was
looking for was visiting
...
But the centurion was a man of faith, and, looking into the eyes of the rabbi, he knew that he
was surely in the presence of the Son of God
...
'These are the words he said to the rabbi at
that point, and they have never been forgotten: "My Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under
my roof
...
" "'
The alchemist said, "No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of
the world
...
"
The boy smiled
...
"Good-bye," the alchemist said
...
*
The boy rode along through the desert for several hours, listening avidly to what his heart had to say
...
"Where your treasure is, there also will be your heart," the alchemist had told him
...
With pride, it told the story of a shepherd who had left his
flock to follow a dream he had on two different occasions
...
It spoke of journeys, discoveries, books, and change
...
That's where I am, and that's where your treasure is
...
A full moon rose again in the starry sky: it had been a month since he
had set forth from the oasis
...
And the moon fell on the desert's silence, and on a man's journey in search of
treasure
...
There, illuminated by the light of the moon and the
brightness of the desert, stood the solemn and majestic Pyramids of Egypt
...
He thanked God for making him believe in his destiny, and for
leading him to meet a king, a merchant, an Englishman, and an alchemist
...
If he wanted to, he could now return to the oasis, go back to Fatima, and live his life as a simple
shepherd
...
He didn't need to demonstrate his science and
art to anyone
...
But here he was, at the point of finding his treasure, and he reminded himself that no project is
completed until its objective has been achieved
...
During his time in the desert, he
had learned that, in Egypt, the scarab beetles are a symbol of God
...
As he did so, he thought of what the crystal
merchant had once said: that anyone could build a pyramid in his backyard
...
Throughout the night, the boy dug at the place he had chosen, but found nothing
...
But he didn't stop
...
His hands were
abraded and exhausted, but he listened to his heart
...
As he was attempting to pull out the rocks he encountered, he heard footsteps
...
Their backs were to the moonlight, and the boy could see neither their eyes nor their
faces
...
Because he was terrified, the boy didn't answer
...
"We're refugees from the tribal wars, and we need money," the other figure said
...
But one of them seized the boy and yanked him back out of the hole
...
"There's gold here," he said
...
"He's probably got more gold hidden in the ground
...
As the sun rose, the men began to beat the
boy
...
"What good is money to you if you're going to die? It's not often that money can save someone's life,"
the alchemist had said
...
The man who appeared to be the leader of the group spoke to one of the others: "Leave him
...
He must have stolen this gold
...
The leader shook him and said, "We're leaving
...
You'll live, and you'll
learn that a man shouldn't be so stupid
...
I dreamed that I should travel to the fields of Spain and look for a ruined church where shepherds
and their sheep slept
...
But I'm not so stupid
as to cross an entire desert just because of a recurrent dream
...
The boy stood up shakily, and looked once more at the Pyramids
...
Because now he knew where his treasure was
...
The sycamore was still there in
the sacristy, and the stars could still be seen through the half-destroyed roof
...
Now he was here not with his flock, but with a shovel
...
Then he took from his knapsack a bottle of wine, and drank
some
...
He thought of the many roads he had traveled, and of the strange way
God had chosen to show him his treasure
...
But the path was
written in the omens, and there was no way I could go wrong," he said to himself
...
He began to dig at the base of the
sycamore
...
"You knew the whole story
...
The monk laughed when he saw me come back
in tatters
...
"If I had told you, you wouldn't have seen the Pyramids
...
Half an hour later, his shovel hit something solid
...
There were also precious stones, gold masks adorned
with red and white feathers, and stone statues embedded with jewels
...
The boy took out Urim and Thummim from his bag
...
His life and his path had always provided him with enough omens
...
They were also a part of his new treasure, because they
were a reminder of the old king, whom he would never see again
...
Then he remembered
that he had to get to Tarifa so he could give one-tenth of his treasure to the Gypsy woman, as he had
promised
...
Maybe it was because they moved around so
much
...
It was the levanter, the wind that came fromAfrica
...
Instead, it brought the scent of a perfume he
knew well, and the touch of a kiss—a kiss that came from far away, slowly, slowly, until it rested on his
lips
...
It was the first time she had done that
...