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<!DOCTYPE html>
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<title>the alchemist</title>
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<h6>Author</h6>
<h1>Paulo Coelho</h1>
<h6>Brazilian lyricist</h6>
<p id="paragraph">
“Well, what if I decide to stay?”
“Let me tell you what will happen. You’ll be the counselor of the
oasis. You have enough gold to buy many sheep and many camels.
You’ll marry Fatima, and you’ll both be happy for a year. You’ll learn
to love the desert, and you’ll get to know every one of the fifty
thousand palms. You’ll watch them as they grow, demonstrating
how the world is always changing. And you’ll get better and better
at understanding omens, because the desert is the best teacher
there is.
“Sometime during the second year, you’ll remember about the
treasure. The omens will begin insistently to speak of it, and you’ll
try to ignore them. You’ll use your knowledge for the welfare of the
oasis and its inhabitants. The tribal chieftains will appreciate what
you do. And your camels will bring you wealth and power.
“During the third year, the omens will continue to speak of your
treasure and your Personal Legend. 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. But you will love her, and
she’ll return your love. You’ll remember that she never asked you to
stay, because a woman of the desert knows that she must await her
man. So you won’t blame her. 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. Because what kept
you at the oasis was your own fear that you might never come back.
At that point, the omens will tell you that your treasure is buried
forever.
“Then, sometime during the fourth year, the omens will abandon
you, because you’ve stopped listening to them. The tribal chieftains
will see that, and you’ll be dismissed from your position as
counselor. But, by then, you’ll be a rich merchant, with many camels
and a great deal of merchandise. You’ll spend the rest of your days
knowing that you didn’t pursue your Personal Legend, and that now
it’s too late.
“You must understand that love never keeps a man from
pursuing his Personal Legend. If he abandons that pursuit, it’s
because it wasn’t true love…the love that speaks the Language of
the World.”
The alchemist erased the circle in the sand, and the snake
slithered away among the rocks. The boy remembered the crystal
merchant who had always wanted to go to Mecca, and the
Englishman in search of the alchemist. He thought of the woman
who had trusted in the desert. And he looked out over the desert
that had brought him to the woman he loved.
They mounted their horses, and this time it was the boy who
followed the alchemist back to the oasis. The wind brought the
sounds of the oasis to them, and the boy tried to hear Fatima’s voice.
But that night, as he had watched the cobra within the circle, the
strange horseman with the falcon on his shoulder had spoken of
love and treasure, of the women of the desert and of his Personal
Legend.
“I’m going with you,” the boy said. And he immediately felt peace
in his heart.
“We’ll leave tomorrow before sunrise,” was the alchemist’s only
response.
THE BOY SPENT A SLEEPLESS NIGHT. TWO HOURS BEFORE dawn, he awoke
one of the boys who slept in his tent, and asked him to show him
where Fatima lived. They went to her tent, and the boy gave his
friend enough gold to buy a sheep.
Then he asked his friend to go into the tent where Fatima was
sleeping, and to awaken her and tell her that he was waiting outside.
The young Arab did as he was asked, and was given enough gold to
buy yet another sheep.
“Now leave us alone,” said the boy to the young Arab. The Arab
returned to his tent to sleep, proud to have helped the counselor of
the oasis, and happy at having enough money to buy himself some
sheep.
Fatima appeared at the entrance to the tent. The two walked out
among the palms. The boy knew that it was a violation of the
Tradition, but that didn’t matter to him now.
“I’m going away,” he said. “And I want you to know that I’m
coming back. I love you because…”
“Don’t say anything,” Fatima interrupted. “One is loved because
one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.”
But the boy continued, “I had a dream, and I met with a king. I
sold crystal and crossed the desert. And, because the tribes declared
war, I went to the well, seeking the alchemist. So, I love you because
the entire universe conspired to help me find you.”
The two embraced. It was the first time either had touched the
other.
“I’ll be back,” the boy said.
“Before this, I always looked to the desert with longing,” said
Fatima. “Now it will be with hope. My father went away one day, but
he returned to my mother, and he has always come back since
then.”
They said nothing else. They walked a bit farther among the
palms, and then the boy left her at the entrance to her tent.
“I’ll return, just as your father came back to your mother,” he
said.
He saw that Fatima’s eyes were filled with tears.
“You’re crying?”
“I’m a woman of the desert,” she said, averting her face. “But
above all, I’m a woman.”
Fatima went back to her tent, and, when daylight came, she went
out to do the chores she had done for years. But everything had
changed. The boy was no longer at the oasis, and the oasis would
never again have the same meaning it had had only yesterday. It
would no longer be a place with fifty thousand palm trees and three
hundred wells, where the pilgrims arrived, relieved at the end of
their long journeys. From that day on, the oasis would be an empty
place for her.
</p>
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<h5 class="pageNumber">Page 48</h5>
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