The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: Paulo Coelho
- Language: English
- Genere: Literary Fiction
- Format: PDF
- Size: 528 KB
- Pages: 208
- Price: Free
THE BOY’S NAME WAS SANTIAGO. DUSK WAS FALLING As the boy arrived with his
herd at an abandoned church. The roof had fallen in long ago, and an enormous
sycamore had grown on the spot where the sacristy had once stood.
He decided to spend the night there. He saw to it that all the sheep entered
through the ruined gate, and then laid some planks across it to prevent the flock
from wandering away during the night. There were no wolves in the region, but
once an animal had strayed during the night, and the boy had had to spend the
entire next day searching for it.
He swept the floor with his jacket and lay down, using the book he had just
finished reading as a pillow. He told himself that he would have to start reading
thicker books: they lasted longer, and made more comfortable pillows.
It was still dark when he awoke, and, looking up, he could see the stars
through the half-destroyed roof.
I wanted to sleep a little longer, he thought. He had had the same dream that
night as a week ago, and once again he had awakened before it ended.
He arose and, taking up his crook, began to awaken the sheep that still slept.
He had noticed that, as soon as he awoke, most of his animals also began to stir.
It was as if some mysterious energy bound his life to that of the sheep, with
whom he had spent the past two years, leading them through the countryside in
search of food and water. “They are so used to me that they know my schedule,”
he muttered. Thinking about that for a moment, he realized that it could be the
other way around: that it was he who had become accustomed to their schedule.
But there were certain of them who took a bit longer to awaken. The boy
prodded them, one by one, with his crook, calling each by name. He had always
believed that the sheep were able to understand what he said. So there were
times when he read them parts of his books that had made an impression on him,
or when he would tell them of the loneliness or the happiness of a shepherd in
the fields. Sometimes he would comment to them on the things he had seen in
the villages they passed.
But for the past few days he had spoken to them about only one thing: the
girl, the daughter of a merchant who lived in the village they would reach in
about four days. He had been to the village only once, the year before. The
merchant was the proprietor of a dry goods shop, and he always demanded that
the sheep be sheared in his presence, so that he would not be cheated. A friend
had told the boy about the shop, and he had taken his sheep there.
“I NEED TO SELL SOME WOOL,” THE BOY TOLD THE merchant.
The shop was busy, and the man asked the shepherd to wait until the
afternoon. So the boy sat on the steps of the shop and took a book from his bag.
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