On the following day, the firstclear sign of danger appeared. Three armed tribesmen approached, and asked whatthe boy and the alchemist were doing there.
"I'm hunting with myfalcon," the alchemist answered.
"We're going to have tosearch you to see whether you're armed," one of the tribesmen said.
The alchemist dismounted slowly,and the boy did the same.
"Why are you carryingmoney?" asked the tribesman, when he had searched the boy's bag.
"I need it to get to thePyramids," he said.
The tribesman who was searchingthe alchemist's belongings found a small crystal flask filled with a liquid,and a yellow glass egg that was slightly larger than a chicken's egg.
"What are these things?"he asked.
"That's the Philosopher'sStone and the Elixir of Life. It's the Master Work of the alchemists. Whoeverswallows that elixir will never be sick again, and a fragment from that stoneturns any metal into gold."
The Arabs laughed at him, and thealchemist laughed along. They thought his answer was amusing, and they allowedthe boy and the alchemist to proceed with all of their belongings.
"Are you crazy?" the boyasked the alchemist, when they had moved on. "What did you do thatfor?"
"To show you one of life'ssimple lessons," the alchemist answered. "When you possess greattreasures within you, and try to tell others of them, seldom are youbelieved."
They continued across the desert.With every day that passed, the boy's heart became more and more silent. It nolonger wanted to know about things of the past or future; it was content simplyto contemplate the desert, and to drink with the boy from the Soul of theWorld. The boy and his heart had become friends, and neither was capable now ofbetraying the other.
When his heart spoke to him, itwas to provide a stimulus to the boy, and to give him strength, because thedays of silence there in the desert were wearisome. His heart told the boy whathis strongest qualities were: his courage in having given up his sheep and intrying to live out his destiny, and his enthusiasm during the time he hadworked at the crystal shop.
And his heart told him somethingelse that the boy had never noticed: it told the boy of dangers that hadthreatened him, but that he had never perceived. His heart said that one timeit had hidden the rifle the boy had taken from his father, because of thepossibility that the boy might wound himself. And it reminded the boy of theday when he had been ill and vomiting out in the fields, after which he hadfallen into a deep sleep. There had been two thieves farther ahead who wereplanning to steal the boy's sheep and murder him. But, since the boy hadn'tpassed by, they had decided to move on, thinking that he had changed his route.
"Does a man's heart alwayshelp him?" the boy asked the alchemist.
"Mostly just the hearts ofthose who are trying to realize their destinies. But they do help children,drunkards, and the elderly, too."
"Does that mean that I'llnever run into danger?"
"It means only that the heartdoes what it can," the alchemist said.
One afternoon, they passed by theencampment of one of the tribes. At each corner of the camp were Arabs garbedin beautiful white robes, with arms at the ready. The men were smoking theirhookahs and trading stories from the battlefield. No one paid any attention tothe two travelers.
"There's no danger," theboy said, when they had moved on past the encampment.
The alchemist sounded angry:"Trust in your heart, but never forget that you're in the desert. When menare at war with one another, the Soul of the World can hear the screams ofbattle. No one fails to suffer the consequences of everything under thesun."
All things are one, the boythought. And then, as if the desert wanted to demonstrate that the alchemistwas right, two horsemen appeared from behind the travelers.
"You can't go any farther,"one of them said. "You're in the area where the tribes are at war."
"I'm not going veryfar," the alchemist answered, looking straight into the eyes of thehorsemen. They were silent for a moment, and then agreed that the boy and thealchemist could move along.
The boy watched the exchange withfascination. "You dominated those horsemen with the way you looked atthem," he said.
"Your eyes show the strengthof your soul," answered the alchemist.
That's true, the boy thought. Hehad noticed that, in the midst of the multitude of armed men back at theencampment, there had been one who stared fixedly at the two. He had been sofar away that his face wasn't even visible. But the boy was certain that he hadbeen looking at them.
Finally, when they had crossed themountain range that extended along the entire horizon, the alchemistsaid that they were only two days from the Pyramids.
"If we're going to go ourseparate ways soon," the boy said, "then teach me aboutalchemy."
"You already know aboutalchemy. It is about penetrating to the Soul of the World, and discovering thetreasure that has been reserved for you."
"No, that's not what I mean.I'm talking about transforming lead into gold."
The alchemist fell as silent asthe desert, and answered the boy only after they had stopped to eat.
"Everything in the universeevolved," he said. "And, for wise men, gold is the metal that evolvedthe furthest. Don't ask me why; I don't know why. I just know that theTradition is always right.
"Men have never understood thewords of the wise. So gold, instead of being seen as a symbol of evolution,became the basis for conflict."
"There are many languagesspoken by things," the boy said. "There was a time when, for me, acamel's whinnying was nothing more than whinnying. Then it became a signal ofdanger. And, finally, it became just a whinny again."
But then he stopped. The alchemistprobably already knew all that.
"I have known truealchemists," the alchemist continued. "They locked themselves intheir laboratories, and tried to evolve, as gold had. And they found thePhilosopher's Stone, because they understood that when something evolves,everything around that thing evolves as well.
"Others stumbled upon thestone by accident. They already had the gift, and their souls were readier forsuch things than the souls of others. But they don't count. They're quite rare.
"And then there were theothers, who were interested only in gold. They never found the secret. Theyforgot that lead, copper, and iron have their own destinies to fulfill. Andanyone who interferes with the destiny of another thing never will discover hisown."
The alchemist's words echoed outlike a curse. He reached over and picked up a shell from the ground.
"This desert was once asea," he said.
"I noticed that," theboy answered.
The alchemist told the boy toplace the shell over his ear. He had done that many times when he was a child,and had heard the sound of the sea.
"The sea has lived on in thisshell, because that's its destiny. And it will never cease doing so until thedesert is once again covered by water."
They mounted their horses, androde out in the direction of the Pyramids of Egypt.
Replies
Exactly !
A khabisly smile please ! :->
I counted your smiles today. They were 8!
I'm so glad that I'm seeing you happy!
.
.
.
But...
You want more of those smiles yet?!!
You are enough yourself in it!
There is no need for any places for escaping dear Sinderellasal, just smile stronger!
There is no place for escaping to.Khabisly smile will chase you and others everywhere with its shaking eyebrows and compressed lips.
:->
No Sinderellasal!!
Who said that you are saved?! It means that: Now, you are 3 there!!
No one could be safe with presence of a Kabis virtue around .
:->
hahahahaha,
Is he here ?
His voice???
Oh no !
You are left !
As you see there is no one around except us and I'm here with that story . These are all the things in my pocket .
:->