+ +“Drink and enjoy yourself,” said the alchemist, noticing that the +boy was feeling happier. “Rest well tonight, as if you were a warrior +preparing for combat. Remember that wherever your heart is, there +you will find your treasure. You’ve got to find the treasure, so that +everything you have learned along the way can make sense. +“Tomorrow, sell your camel and buy a horse. Camels are +traitorous: they walk thousands of paces and never seem to tire. +Then suddenly, they kneel and die. But horses tire bit by bit. You +always know how much you can ask of them, and when it is that +they are about to die.” +THE FOLLOWING NIGHT, THE BOY APPEARED AT THE alchemist’s tent with a +horse. The alchemist was ready, and he mounted his own steed and +placed the falcon on his left shoulder. He said to the boy, “Show me +where there is life out in the desert. Only those who can see such +signs of life are able to find treasure.” +They began to ride out over the sands, with the moon lighting +their way. I don’t know if I’ll be able to find life in the desert, the boy +thought. I don’t know the desert that well yet. +He wanted to say so to the alchemist, but he was afraid of the +man. They reached the rocky place where the boy had seen the +hawks in the sky, but now there was only silence and the wind. +“I don’t know how to find life in the desert,” the boy said. “I +know that there is life here, but I don’t know where to look.” +“Life attracts life,” the alchemist answered. +And then the boy understood. He loosened the reins on his +horse, who galloped forward over the rocks and sand. The alchemist +followed as the boy’s horse ran for almost half an hour. 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. +Suddenly, for no apparent reason, the boy’s horse began to slow. +“There’s life here,” the boy said to the alchemist. “I don’t know +the language of the desert, but my horse knows the language of life.” +They dismounted, and the alchemist said nothing. Advancing +slowly, they searched among the stones. The alchemist stopped +abruptly, and bent to the ground. There was a hole there among the +stones. The alchemist put his hand into the hole, and then his entire +arm, up to his shoulder. Something was moving there, and the +alchemist’s eyes—the boy could see only his eyes—squinted with +his effort. His arm seemed to be battling with whatever was in the +hole. Then, with a motion that startled the boy, he withdrew his arm +and leaped to his feet. In his hand, he grasped a snake by the tail. +The boy leapt as well, but away from the alchemist. The snake +fought frantically, making hissing sounds that shattered the silence +of the desert. It was a cobra, whose venom could kill a person in +minutes. +“Watch out for his venom,” the boy said. But even though the +alchemist had put his hand in the hole, and had surely already been +bitten, his expression was calm. “The alchemist is two hundred +years old,” the Englishman had told him. He must know how to deal +with the snakes of the desert. +The boy watched as his companion went to his horse and +withdrew a scimitar. With its blade, he drew a circle in the sand, and +then he placed the snake within it. The serpent relaxed immediately. +“Not to worry,” said the alchemist. “He won’t leave the circle. +You found life in the desert, the omen that I needed.” +“Why was that so important?” +“Because the Pyramids are surrounded by the desert.” +The boy didn’t want to talk about the Pyramids. His heart was +heavy, and he had been melancholy since the previous night. To +continue his search for the treasure meant that he had to abandon +Fatima. +“I’m going to guide you across the desert,” the alchemist said. +“I want to stay at the oasis,” the boy answered. “I’ve found +Fatima, and, as far as I’m concerned, she’s worth more than +treasure.” +“Fatima is a woman of the desert,” said the alchemist. “She +knows that men have to go away in order to return. And she already +has her treasure: it’s you. Now she expects that you will find what it +is you’re looking for.” +
+ + +