炼金术士Summary

炼金术士Summary The Summary of the Alchemist The Alchemist is a novel written by a Spanish writer called Paulo Coelho. The story is a wonderful fable about following your dream. The boy named Santiago loved travelling very much, so he became a shepherd. The story began when he had the same dream for a second time, which about the treasure beside the pyramids in Egypt. He consulted a witch for advice, who told him to follow and asked for an advance on that treasure for payment. He was still hesitated at that time. Then, he came up with Melchizedek, the king of Salem, who told him about a person’s destiny, about one great truth on the planet: “whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it’s because that desire originated in the soul of the universe.” With the encouragement and the present given by wise man, Santiago set out from Tarifa, a south city in Spain. He went to Africa by sea. In North African Morocco, he was treated and lost all his money because he did not know Arabic. Fortunately, a crystal merchant, who ever dreamed to make a pilgrimage to Mecca but would never try to realize it, gave a shelter to the penniless boy. During that time, Santiago helped the merchant with his business creatively and learned Arabic. With the money he earned, he joined a caravan to cross Sahara desert. He made friend with a Englishman who was crazy about alchemy in the caravan. After a hard journey, they arrived at an oasis, where the alchemist, Al-Fayyum lived. There the boy fell in love with a girl called Fatima, who made him understand what true love was. The caravan got trapped at the oasis because a war broke out between tribes. Santiago predicted that the army would make a swoop at the oasis and was appointed as the counselor when the prediction came true. But Al-Fayyum urged Santiago to go on his way to find the treasure. On their way across the desert, they were captured by the army but finally they were released through their effort. At last Santiago reached Giza, his destination. He dug at the place he dreamed of but found nothing. At that time, escapees robbed him of his gold. And the head of the escapees laughed at him and told him that he once dreamed that there was a treasure at a deserted church at a small town in Spain. Then the boy laughed because it was exact the place where he was from. He went back and found his treasure.