The Alchemist is a fictional story of a boy named Santiago, who was determined to find his destiny. He was tired of living the same way every other person in his family had always lived. His parents wanted him to become a Priest, so he schooled in the seminary till the age of 16. But he realized that his life was not in the priesthood. He wanted to travel the world, know places, this was his earnest dream.
He finally summoned the courage to tell his father, who wasn’t so sorry. Perhaps he longed to do the same too. With some coins in a pouch, which would have been his inheritance, he bid his family farewell, purchased some sheep, and started his journey from the plains of Andalusia.
The boy loved to read and read very well. Sometimes, he read to his flock, for they were his only companions, and he felt he learned a lot from them. Recently, he thought of a merchant’s daughter he met in one of the villages, he hadn’t thought of other women since he met her. And longed to see her soon, but he had a recurring dream one night and felt he had to know what it meant.
So, he sought a seer at Tarifa, who told him she would share in whatever treasure his dream said he would find. For he had dreamt that a child led him to the Pyramids of Egypt to find a hidden treasure. He left the seer with irritation though and swore never to believe in dreams.
It was at this point he met a strange man who introduced himself as the King of Salem. The king told him about the world’s greatest lie, “…that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate.”
The king whose name was Melchizedek promised to tell him how to find the hidden treasure if he gave him one-tenth of his sheep. The boy finally did, and the King offered him two stones: The Urim and Thummim and encouraged him to follow omens. He left for Africa, following his destiny’s path.
In Africa, he saw men walking hand in hand, veiled women, and priests which chanted on towers, as everyone around them went on their knees, and placed their foreheads on the ground, he thought this to be an act of infidels.
At a restaurant, Santiago happened to be tricked into giving a thief all the money he had and was left with just the stones; Urim and Thummim. Luckily, he found a crystal merchant who had always dreamed of visiting Mecca one day but never did, for the dream of visiting Mecca kept him alive, and if he finally achieved his dream, as he thought, he would have nothing to keep him going.
He worked in the crystal merchant’s shop for about eleven months, during which sales improved so well, that he gathered enough money to return home, buy a hundred and twenty sheep and obtain a license to import goods from Africa. The merchant also had enough money to visit Mecca, but he wouldn’t. The boy wouldn't return home either.
Santiago finally continued his journey to the Egyptian Pyramids, during which he met an Englishman, who longed to become an alchemist. On the way to the pyramids, they made a stop at an Oasis. At this oasis, the Englishman found his path to his destiny, while the boy his.
Along the way, he was tested, found the love of his life, had opportunities to become rich and go back home without finding his treasure. But he chose the path to his destiny, no matter what! At the end of his journey, the boy got to understand the Soul of the World and the Universal language of the world.
The Alchemist teaches that in life, many people want to get to their destinies, but most times fail to get there. They begin with the beginner’s luck, but get distracted and forget their major objective. Sometimes, the tests of life draw them away, so they remain stagnated.
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