The Alchemist Summary

PAULO COELHO

He is born on August 24, 1947, in Brazil. He is a Brazilian novelist, and lyricist. His book The Alchemist has sold more than 150 million copies worldwide and is the best-selling book by a Brazilian writer. He has written an autobiography by the name The Pilgrim – Story of Paulo Coelho.

                                 

 

THE ALCHEMIST

The Alchemist is one of the best books that is ever being written. Through the story of a boy, Dusk, Paulo Coelho shared the secret of happiness, success, aim, and dreams.

It starts with the story of a boy named dusk. He had the same dream two times. To interpret the meaning of his dreams, he went to an astrologer, who listened to him without judging and told him the meaning of his dream. A hidden treasure is waiting for you she told him. He did not believe it and went for his work.

He was reading a book while sitting on a bench. A man came and sit at his side. He tried to start a conversation. At first, dusk was ignoring him but after being impressed by his knowledge, he soon became interested. As they were communicating “What’s the world’s greatest lie?” the boy asked. The old man replied, “the world’s greatest lie is that we believe everything is controlled by fate”. And they went on communicating further. The boy learned that the old man was the king of Salem. “What’s the Personal Legend?” the boy went on asking. It’s what you always wanted to accomplish. When you are young, you know your personal legend. But as the time passes a mysterious force accompanies your brain saying what you thought is impossible to achieve.” the old man replied.

“When you want something, the whole universe conspires in helping you to achieve that goal”

The old man wanted to help him in finding the treasure but demanded one-tenth of his sheep. “Where’s the treasure?” the boy asked. “It’s in Egypt, near the pyramid,” said the old man. The boy was finally agreed and announced that he will be here with one-tenth of his sheep by tomorrow. When he visited the next day, the old man took the sheep and gave him two stones, one was white, and another was black. They were called Urim and Thummim. The black one indicates ‘Yes’ and the white one indicates ‘No’. “You could ask any objective question to them,” the old man said. Then after some questions and answers, he walked away.

The boy went to Africa. He was sitting in a bar. He had enough money which came from the selling of sheep. A man appeared who was talking in Spanish. This give the boy relief, he soon trusted him and him all the money he had. In a street when the boy was busy looking at a sword, the man went away with all his money. All this happened between the sunrise and sunset, the boy was thinking. He was feeling sorry for himself.

When he was returning, he saw a crystal merchant selling crystal glasses. He asked if he could clean the dust from the window as they were looking very dirty and in exchange, he demanded a meal. The shopkeeper said nothing and went away. The boy took out his jacket and began to clean the dirt. After cleaning he asked the merchant for a meal. The merchant took the boy with him and served the meal. Even if you did not clean the mirror, I would give you the food, said the merchant. Then why you let me clean those, asked the boy. Because the crystals were dirty. And both of us needed to cleanse our negative minds. And from that day the boy started working for the merchant and took the shop to a new height. Now he had enough money to travel to Egypt and he decided to continue his journey. Without meeting the crystal merchant, he went away on his journey.

 

An Englishman was sitting on a bench with his book. The boy also went there. Willingly starting the conversation, the boy asked where he is going. The Englishman seemed to not be very interested in conversation said that he is going into the desert. The boy took out the two stones from his pocket. This Englishman got shocked by looking at the stone. He told that he too has these stones. There were almost two hundred people gathered there and almost four hundred animals. They were Caravans. The boy and the Englishman had bought a camel and climbed onto the back. The caravan moved toward the east. After several days, they want in between the oasis. They were amazed by its beauty, but war was going on between different tribes. So, the leader of the caravan gathered all the people in one place and gave his instruction.

They have not moved any further because of the war. Now, they have started asking questions from the dwellers. There the boy met a met girl whom he has fallen in with.  And he told her his reason for being there. They talked about so many things. One day when the boy was meditating in the desert, he feels the arrival of the army. He conveyed this message to the tribal chieftain. As the message was right, he was being awarded fifty pieces of gold. In the desert, while moving toward the south he met an Alchemist who was carrying two dead hawks into his shoulder. The alchemist wanted to help him, so they travelled for three days together. They fought with difficulties together but one day they were caught by two horsemen who took them to a nearby military camp. They thought the boy and the Alchemist were spying. But the Alchemist announced that the boy could turn into the wind and could destroy this tent with the help of wing only. He asked for three days. The military man agreed.

The boy started preparing for that. Meanwhile, he talked to desert, wind, and sun. After a lot of questions and answers, he took all of them in his favour. The wind started blowing with delight, harder than ever. It destroyed the tents. That day, the boy reached the soul of the world and saw it’s a part of the soul of God. The chief of the army and the Alchemist were smiling at this charisma of God.

 They travelled for the entire day. They came upon a Coptic monastery. They entered the monastery. And here, the Alchemist left the boy and returned for desert. The boy travelled for several hours and reached the dune. When he reached the top of the dune he saw the majestic Pyramids of Egypt. He felt blessed at that time.

Throughout the night, the boy dud the one side of Pyramid but found nothing. Suddenly he saw some figures approaching him. They started searching the boy’s ag and found some gold coins. Then they bitted him badly for more, but they found nothing and went away leaving the boy unconscious.

But before leaving one man came closer to him and said he had the same dream. He told that his dream demanded that he must go to Spain and find a ruined church where a shepherd and his sheep sleep. He told further there was a root of sycamore growing if he dug at that roots. I would find a hidden treasure. He also told that he does not believe in this kind of dream and disappeared.

The boy was now laughing. He came to the ruined church where he found the roots of a sycamore, He started digging at the place. He soon found out the treasure.

 

Q. Who has written The Alchemist?

ANS. Paulo Coelho has written The Alchemist.

 

Q. What’s the name of Paulo Coelho’s autobiography?

ANS. The Pilgrim – The Story of Paulo Coelho.

 

Q. What was the name of the boy in The Alchemist?

ANS. Dusk.

 

Q. What are quotes from The Alchemist?

ANS. 1. Dreams are the language of God.

2. When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.

3. There is a force that wants you to realize your personal legend.

4. Every blessing ignored becomes a curse.

5. There is a universal language, understood by everybody, but already forgotten.

6. There’s no such thing as coincidence.

7. The closer one gets to realizing his Personal Legend, the more that Personal Legend becomes his true reason for being.

8. We are afraid of losing what we have, whether it’s our life or our possessions and property. But this fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand

9. Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.