50 Fun Facts About The Alchemist

Paulo Coelho, who called the story already written inside him, drafted The Alchemist in how long?

Two weeks was all Paulo Coelho needed to get the whole novel down. The slow part came afterwards, because the book sat almost unnoticed for years before readers found it.

Paulo Coelho, a rock lyricist before he wrote The Alchemist, comes from which country?

Brazil is where Paulo Coelho was born, in Rio de Janeiro in 1947. In 1974 the authorities there arrested and tortured him for what they called subversive activities.

In The Alchemist, which region of Spain does Santiago roam with his flock before sailing to Africa?

Andalusia lies so close to Morocco that the old king Santiago meets there is dressed like an Arab and nobody finds it odd. Africa is only a few hours away by boat.

In The Alchemist, which young woman does Santiago fall for at a desert well and vow to return to?

Fatima refuses to let Santiago give up his quest for her sake. She sends him on towards the pyramids and promises to marry him once his journey is done.

What must Santiago of The Alchemist turn himself into within three days to escape his desert captors?

The wind is the alchemist's own boast, not Santiago's. He tells their captors that his young companion can become it, and stakes both their necks on the deadline.

In The Alchemist, which Old Testament figure appears to Santiago calling himself the king of Salem?

Melchizedek proves he is no ordinary stranger by writing in the sand the names of Santiago's parents, along with other things nobody could have told him.

Which holy city has the crystal merchant of The Alchemist always dreamed of visiting but never seen?

Mecca stays a dream on purpose. The crystal merchant fears that once he has made the journey he will have nothing left to keep him going.

In The Alchemist, what does the king of Salem call the destiny each person is meant to fulfil?

Personal Legend is what each of us longed to do when young, says the old king. He claims to turn up, in one disguise or another, whenever somebody is about to abandon theirs.

In The Alchemist, the treasure finally turns up under which kind of tree, growing in a ruined church?

Sycamore roots hide a chest of coins and jewels, in the very ruin where Santiago was sleeping when he first dreamed of Egypt. He crossed a desert to learn it was at home.

Which NBA star asked Paulo Coelho of The Alchemist fame in 2016 to co-write a book for young readers?

Kobe Bryant and Coelho had started writing the book when the player died in a helicopter crash in January 2020. Coelho then chose to discontinue the project.

In The Alchemist, Santiago sails from Spain to which African port, only to be robbed on day one?

Tangier leaves Santiago penniless within hours and unable to speak a word of Arabic. He spends his first night in Africa asleep in the marketplace.

In The Alchemist, what are the black and white fortune-telling stones given to Santiago called?

Urim and Thummim answer yes or no, black for yes and white for no. The old king takes them from his golden breastplate, then tells Santiago to make his own decisions where he can.

In The Alchemist, which Arabic word for something already written does the crystal merchant use?

Maktub is the crystal merchant's shrug at fate, and Santiago adopts it. Paulo Coelho later used the word as the title of a collection of his newspaper columns.

What does Santiago of The Alchemist suggest serving in crystal to customers thirsty from the climb?

Tea in crystal makes the quiet shop so busy that the merchant has to hire two more workers. Santiago had the idea when he saw a man arrive out of breath at the top of the hill.

In The Alchemist, which companion crosses the desert with a case of books, seeking a real alchemist?

An Englishman who has spent much of his family fortune chasing the Philosopher's Stone, he buries himself in books while Santiago prefers to learn by watching the desert.

In The Alchemist, a fight between which birds gives Santiago his vision of an attack on the oasis?

Hawks turning on each other in mid-air show Santiago the raid before it happens. His warning lets the oasis arm itself in time and earns him fifty pieces of gold.

Which dull metal does the alchemist of The Alchemist turn to gold in a monastery kitchen?

Lead becomes gold with a sliver of the Philosopher's Stone. The alchemist then splits the gold four ways, leaving one quarter with a monk in case Santiago ever needs it.

The prologue of The Alchemist retells the myth of which beautiful Greek youth?

Narcissus is missed for an unflattering reason in this version. The lake weeps because it used to see its own beauty reflected in his eyes.

In The Alchemist, what object distracts Santiago long enough for a thief to vanish with his money?

A sword, the most beautiful he has ever seen, catches Santiago's eye. By the time he turns to ask its price, the young man holding his money has gone.

In The Alchemist, the old king's principle of favorability is another name for which everyday phrase?

Beginner's luck exists, the old king says, because a force in the universe wants you to taste success and keep going. The novel's grander name for it is the principle of favorability.

In The Alchemist, what fee does the fortune-teller demand for interpreting Santiago's dream?

A tenth of the treasure is her price, owed only once he finds it. Santiago leaves annoyed, because she has told him little he could not have worked out for himself.

In The Alchemist, what did Santiago's parents hope he would become, a path he followed until sixteen?

A priest would have been a proud achievement for a simple country family. The seminary years were not wasted, though, since they are the reason a shepherd can read books.

In Santiago's recurring dream in The Alchemist, who carries him off to the Egyptian pyramids?

A child appears among his sheep, plays with them, then whisks him to Egypt. Santiago always wakes just before he is shown the exact spot.

At the start of The Alchemist, whom does Santiago long to see again when he next sells his wool?

A shopkeeper's daughter he met a year earlier has made him wish, for the first time, that he could stay in one place. He does not even learn her name until the old king writes it in the sand.

In The Alchemist, what does a penniless Santiago offer to do at the crystal shop for a meal?

Clean the glassware is his whole pitch, and he sets to work on it with his own jacket before the merchant has even answered. A meal follows once the job is done.

In The Alchemist, which Egyptian oasis shelters the caravan from the tribal wars?

Al-Fayoum is no cluster of palms. The novel gives it three hundred wells and fifty thousand date trees, and Santiago finds it bigger than many towns in Spain.

In The Alchemist, which half of the alchemists' Master Work keeps its maker from growing old?

Elixir of Life is one half and the Philosopher's Stone the other. The alchemist is rumoured to have made both, which would explain how he has passed two hundred.

In The Alchemist, which object holds the whole secret of alchemy in just a few inscribed lines?

Emerald Tablet wisdom was meant to be that simple, the alchemist says. People distrusted simple things, so they buried it under shelves of other books.

In The Alchemist, what does the alchemist tell Santiago that his heart came from?

Soul of the World is what Santiago finally reaches into at the cliff's edge. There he discovers it is part of the Soul of God, and that he can therefore work a miracle.

In The Alchemist, why did Santiago choose to herd sheep instead of the career his parents wanted?

To travel freely was open only to shepherds among poor families, his father told him. The father then handed over three Spanish gold coins to buy the first flock.

In The Alchemist, which animal does the alchemist pull from a hole as proof of life in the desert?

A cobra, gripped in his bare hand, is then set down inside a circle the alchemist draws in the sand, which it will not cross. Santiago's horse had sniffed out the spot.

In The Alchemist, which creature does Santiago take as an omen of where to dig at the pyramids?

A scarab beetle crawls over the sand where his tears have fallen. Santiago remembers that in Egypt the insect is a symbol of God, and starts digging on the spot.

In The Alchemist, who reveals where the treasure really lies by mocking Santiago with his own dream?

A desert robber who has just beaten him at the pyramids scoffs that he once dreamed of riches under a tree in a ruined Spanish church, and never bothered to go. Santiago knows that church.

At the oasis well in The Alchemist, why is Santiago told not to speak to the women dressed in black?

They are married, and by local custom a strange man may not address them. The first woman Santiago meets who is not in black is the one he loses his heart to.

In The Alchemist, which caravan friend of Santiago lost his farm to a flood and now lives for today?

A camel driver, once a contented farmer, was ruined when the Nile burst its banks. He tells Santiago that losing everything cured him of fearing what might come next.

In The Alchemist, why is the caravan safe at the oasis while the desert tribes are at war?

It is neutral ground by long tradition, like every oasis, since the people living there are mostly women and youngsters. Arming the men after Santiago's warning is a real break with custom.

In a tale told to Santiago in The Alchemist, what must a boy carry around a wise man's palace?

A spoonful of oil is the test. First the visitor watches it so hard he sees nothing of the palace, then he admires everything and spills it, and happiness means managing both.

In Genesis, which patriarch is blessed by the king of Salem, Santiago's adviser in The Alchemist?

Abraham pays for that blessing with a share of everything he owns. Paulo Coelho echoes the bargain when the old king asks Santiago for part of his flock.

In which Spanish coastal town does Santiago of The Alchemist meet the old king of Salem?

Tarifa sits at the southernmost tip of mainland Europe, with Africa in sight across the water. Santiago sells his flock there and buys his ticket for the boat.

Which Paulo Coelho book came out in 1987, the year before The Alchemist?

The Pilgrimage records his 1986 trek of more than five hundred miles along the Camino de Santiago, a journey Paulo Coelho has called his spiritual turning point.

What did the small publisher of The Alchemist do after its first run of 900 copies appeared in 1988?

Declined to reprint it, in short. Paulo Coelho had to take the novel to a bigger publishing house before it began its climb to worldwide bestseller.

The success of which 1990 Paulo Coelho novel prompted readers to rediscover The Alchemist?

Brida drew enough attention to bring his earlier work back into print. The reissued Alchemist then topped bestseller lists in one country after another.

Which English actor narrated the audiobook of The Alchemist that HarperAudio released in 2001?

Jeremy Irons read the whole novel for HarperAudio, on cassette and compact disc. The recording went on to win an AudioFile Earphones Award.

Which American actor was announced in 2008 as director and star of a film of The Alchemist?

Laurence Fishburne was to direct and star, with a 2009 release pencilled in. The film stalled, and the screen rights have changed hands more than once since.

The folktale behind The Alchemist is first known from a poem by which 13th-century Persian poet?

Rumi wrote the earliest known version of the tale, in which a man seeks riches far away and learns from a stranger's dream that they lie at his own house. A variant appears in the One Thousand and One Nights.

Which spiritual tradition did Paulo Coelho credit in 2009 as an influence on The Alchemist?

Sufism, the mystical strand of Islam, shaped both this book and his later novel The Zahir, Paulo Coelho told Forward Magazine.

At seventeen, The Alchemist author Paulo Coelho was sent by his parents to what kind of institution?

A psychiatric hospital admitted him three times between seventeen and twenty, after he rejected the career his parents had planned. He was given electroconvulsive therapy there.

A New York Times writer called the dream-chasing fable The Alchemist more which genre than literature?

Self-help was Gregory Cowles's label for it. He added in the next breath that this had done the novel no harm with readers.

In The Alchemist, which rival city lured wealthy shoppers away from the crystal merchant's street?

Ceuta drew the trade away, yet the merchant stayed where he was. He knows a move would have paid, and admits he is simply too settled in his ways.

In The Alchemist, which tradesman does the king of Salem point out as a man who shelved his dreams?

A baker in the plaza once wanted the open road too, the old king says. He picked his trade because it commanded more respect than a shepherd's, and never left.