The Alchemist Part 1 (Section 2)
Part 1 (Section 2)
Santiago roams the town, and feels a wave of anger towards the old man and the gypsy woman, they did not understand that a shepherd cared about his sheep. He knows that the sheep would suffer if he were to leave them as no one would know them as well as him. Santiago finds himself at the window that sells tickets to Africa where Egypt and his hidden treasure lies. He doesn't purchase the ticket but tells the attendant that he might come for one the following day, as selling just one of his sheep would buy him the ticket. Santiago is more concerned about leaving the sheep than the Merchant's daughter because unlike her, the sheep depend upon him. And the girl, she might not even remember him. Santiago finds himself jealous of the Levanter's freedom, the same wind that had carried the Moors to the shores of his country. He realizes that he can experience the same freedom, and the only barrier to his Personal Legend is his inability to let go.
The next day he meets the king with 6 sheep and expresses his delight that his friend had willingly purchased all his other sheep. The king tells him that it was the Principle of Favourability, which gave people beginner's luck. This occurs because a force wants us all to pursue our Personal legend. He takes the sheep and tells the boy that the treasure is at the Pyramids in Egypt. And although the boy had already known so, the man had come to him to help him decide to seek it out. He gives the boy two stones from a gold breastplate covered with jewels that he wore under his cape. The stones were named Urim and Thummim, while the white one represented no, the black one meant yes. The man said that the boy could use the stones to guide him through his journey, but the most important markers of the path were laid out by God for him in the omens.
He then tells him a story about the son of a shopkeeper who was sent forth to learn the meaning of happiness from the wisest man in the world. The wise man lived in a palace full of activity, the wise man gave the boy a spoon with some drops of oil. He told the boy to look through his wondrous palace but never to drop any of the oil. The boy returned to the wise man after some time walking through the palace, but when the man asked him about the various beautiful things in the palace, the lad had seen none of them. He had been too focused on preserving the oil. The man sent the boy out again, and he returned having seen and appreciated all the wonders but in his reverie, he had spilled all the oil. The wise man then told the boy that happiness meant to enjoy all the pleasures of life but never to forget about the oil. The shepherd took this to mean that he should never forget his sheep even as he searched for his treasure.
The King sat atop the wall of an old fort on the hill of Tarifa, the sheep sat at his side, yet uneasy with their new owner. He thinks that he should have said his name again to the boy because like Abraham, the boy too would forget his name.
Santiago is in a bar in Tangiers, where he meets a man dressed in western garb. The man speaks to Santiago who is taken aback at the use of Spanish, for he had assumed that everyone spoke Arabic in that foreign place. He talks to the man and tells him that he wants to hire a guide to lead him to the Pyramids in Egypt. The man takes Santiago's money and asks him to follow him into the bazaar so that they can buy Camels. The bartender attempts to prevent Santiago from going with the man, but Santiago assumes that the bartender had become interested after seeing how much money Santiago had given the guide. In the Bazaar, Santiago is distracted by a sword for barely a moment, but when he looks back ahead of him, the man with his money has disappeared. Santiago is ashamed that he let someone take advantage of him so easily, but he had been wholly focused on believing that the universe was conspiring to help him reach his destination. Now, he feels that God is unfair.
He finds the stones on his person and feels them restore a little of his confidence as he questions the stones on whether the blessing of the old man remained with him. However, he gets no definitive answer when he asks them whether he will find his treasure or not. He realizes that he could see himself as either a victim of theft or an adventurer, and he chooses the latter. He wakes up the next day to realize that he had fallen asleep in the plaza, and the Bazar was now being set up again. He walks through the Bazar with a relaxed and unhurried pace and even helps a candy vendor set up his stall. As he is interacting with the candy vendor, Santiago realizes that he can sense if a person is close or far from their personal legend by interacting with them. As he is walking away from the vendor, Santiago suddenly realizes that they had both talked to one another using different languages, and remember's the King's words “All things are one.”
The crystal merchant almost always wakes up with anxiety now. At one time, his shop had been famous in Tarifa, but a neighboring town had gained more success and many shops from the hill had relocated. Now, people rarely climbed the hill to visit the few shops that remained. For the last thirty years, he had done nothing but sell Crystal glassware. He watches the people walk through the street in front of his shop but none of them come in, and then he sees Santiago. The Shepherd stops at the shop because he notices a sign that claims the shopkeeper speaks many languages. Santiago offers to clean the man's dusty crystal glassware in exchange for a meal, and the man doesn't respond. Santiago takes that as an affirmation and begins to clean, while he is there, two customers walk in and purchase items. The merchant takes Santiago for lunch and tells him that he would've fed him even if he hadn't cleaned the crystal since his religion required him to feed the hungry. He offers Santiago employment and Santiago replies that he would work long enough to make money to go to Egypt. The merchant laughs at the notion and tells him that it would be impossible for him to earn enough to travel to Egypt even if he worked a whole year. The world seemed to fall silent as Santiago realized how truly impossible his goal now seemed. The merchant notices that Santiago is deeply affected, and instead offers him enough money to return to his home country. Santiago agrees to work for him because he needs to earn enough to buy sheep.
Analysis
The old man, Melchizedek, plays the archetypal role of helper or the wise old man. He points Santiago in the right direction and imparts crucial knowledge to him through stories. As Santiago faces difficulty in his travels, he often falls back on the words of the old man to keep going. The old man is the first to introduce the concept of the universal language to Santiago. His main purpose is to help Santiago decide to travel, and this step can be thought of as the crossing of the first threshold in Santiago's journey to be a hero. The hero's journey is not simply a number of steps, but it also involves changes in setting and changes in the hero, as he grows and develops. The first major change in scenery is that of Tangiers, as Santiago leaves behind all that he knows in Spain to go to a land whose language he can barely understand let alone speak. As the story progresses, we see Santiago change and become better. The first and most powerful example is the morning right after Santiago has been robbed. He decides that he isn't merely a victim of his circumstances, but is instead an adventurer. He begins to relate positively to his environment and searches for an opportunity.
The crystal merchant can be seen as the first threshold guardian in the allegorical tale of Santiago, as he forces Santiago to examine his resolve, later in the book. The robbery marks the beginning of Santiago's road of trials in his hero's journey.
