"Simple yet a a spellbinding story about a boy who chases after his own personal legend" SPOILER ALERT ! PROCEED WITH CAUTION ! Summary : Enter Santiago, a boy who grew up in the rural area of Andalusia. A place well known for its peace & harmony. Santiago loved to travel,he often dreamt of travelling all over the world,yet here he was training to become a priest in the sycamore. One day, he conjured up all his courage to ask his parents about his dream...the old man gave the boy his blessings and off he went wandering into the unknown...the money that his father gave him, he used to buy a flock of sheep and he travelled around the world as a shepherd.Along his travels he learnt about his flock and which produces more wool, which sheep is lame and so on. As he slept as usual under a sycamore tree with his flock,he dreamt that he found a large amount of treasure. Interestingly, the dream keeps recurring which made the young boy seek a fortune teller. The fortune teller then tells him to go to egypt to find his treasure to which she demanded 10% of his treasure as the payment. Later, Santiago met with a strange, magical old man named Melchizedek, who claims to be the King of Salem, and he tells Santiago that it is his Personal Legend(destiny) to journey to the pyramids. Melchizedek convinces Santiago to give his flock and set off to Tangier. When Santiago arrives in Tangier, a thief robs him, forcing him to find work with a local crystal merchant. The conservative and kind merchant teaches Santiago several lessons, and Santiago encourages the merchant to take risks with his business. The risks pay off, and Santiago becomes a rich man in just a year. He decides to set off again for his personal legend ,there he went with a caravan crossing the Sahara desert toward Egypt and meets an Englishman who is studying to become an alchemist. He learns a lot from the Englishman during the journey. For one, he learns that the secret of alchemy is written on a stone called the Emerald Tablet. The ultimate creation of alchemy is the Master Work, which consists of a solid called the Philosophers Stone that can turn lead to gold, and a liquid called the Elixir of Life that can cure all ills. Santiago learns the Englishman is traveling with the caravan to find a legendary, 200-year-old alchemist . As it turns out, the caravan must make an extended stop in Al-Fayoum in order to avoid increasingly violent tribal wars taking place in the desert. There, Santiago falls in love with Fatima, who lives at the oasis. During a walk in the desert, Santiago witnesses an omen that portends an attack on the historically neutral oasis. He warns the tribal chieftains of the attack, and as a result, Al-Fayoum successfully defends itself against the assault. The alchemist gets word of Santiago’s vision and invites Santiago on a trip into the desert, during which he teaches Santiago about the importance of listening to his heart and pursuing his Personal Legend. He convinces Santiago to leave Fatima and the caravan for the time to finish his journey to the pyramids, and he offers to accompany Santiago on his trip While the alchemist and Santiago continue through the desert, the alchemist shares much of his wisdom about the Soul of the World. They are very close to the pyramids when a tribe of Arab soldiers captures them. In exchange for his life and the life of Santiago, the alchemist hands over to the tribe all of Santiago’s money and tells the soldiers that Santiago is a powerful alchemist who will turn into wind within three days. Santiago feels alarmed because he has no idea how to turn into the wind, and over the next three days he contemplates the desert. On the third day, he communicates with the wind and the sun and coaxes them to help him create a tremendous sandstorm. He prays to the Hand That Wrote All, and at the height of the storm he disappears. He reappears on the other side of the camp, and the tribesmen, awed by the power of the storm and by Santiago’s ability, let him and the alchemist go free. The alchemist continues to travel with Santiago. Then, he demonstrates to Santiago his ability to turn lead into gold using the Philosopher’s Stone. He gives Santiago gold and sends him off. Santiago begins digging for the treasure at the foot of the pyramids, but two men accost him and beat him. When Santiago speaks to them about his dream vision, they decide he must have no money and let him live. Before leaving, one of the men tries to illustrate the worthlessness of dreams by telling Santiago about his own dream. It concerns a treasure buried in an abandoned church in Spain where a sycamore tree grows. The church is the same one in which Santiago had his original dream, and he finally understands where his treasure is. He returns to Spain to find a chest of jewels and gold buried under the tree.
These are some lessons to be learnt from this book:
1) Never let go of your dream
2) Not all people can learn from books, sometimes it is suffice to look at your surroundings
3) Never promise what is not in your possession
4) Something good is usually after the baddest things happen, so never give in
5) We have to travel in order to learn the language of the world
6) Sometimes, we have to sacrifice everything to achieve your dreams
7) There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure
8) At a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie
9) People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of
Final notes :
a) As with other story, take it with a pinch of salt
b) This book is actually a metaphor of the author's life when he ventured to become a full time writer
c) This story is told as a parable which means mystical words are used often such as omens, language of the world and so on
d) The author hints of arabic language n islam in the story such as 'maktub'. 'salam and so on.
e) The author actually made a pilgrimage, but not to mecca, but from way across northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela.
"And God is always the more ever knowing"
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