The Alchemist
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50 free The Alchemist trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Alchemist is one of the best-selling novels ever written, a short fable that has been pressed into the hands of students, graduates and restless adults for decades. Paulo Coelho tells the story of Santiago, a young shepherd who dreams of treasure at the Egyptian pyramids and gives up everything he knows to go and look for it. This quiz follows him the whole way: the dream in the ruined church, the strangers who point him onward, the long months behind a shop counter, the caravan, the oasis and the alchemist himself. Expect questions on who Santiago meets and what they teach him, the omens he reads, the vocabulary the book invents for fate and purpose, and the ending that sends readers back to page one. A final group covers Paulo Coelho, how the book was written and published, and the attempts to adapt it. Students can use it as a comprehension check on Part One, Part Two or the whole novel, and teachers get a ready-made multiple choice set for a class or reading group. The opening questions are the gentlest, later ones reward close readers, and every answer comes with a short explanation.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Paulo Coelho, who called the story already written inside him, drafted The Alchemist in how long?
Two weeks
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.
Q 02Paulo Coelho, a rock lyricist before he wrote The Alchemist, comes from which country?
Brazil
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.
Q 03In The Alchemist, which region of Spain does Santiago roam with his flock before sailing to Africa?
Andalusia
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.
Q 04In The Alchemist, which young woman does Santiago fall for at a desert well and vow to return to?
Fatima
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.
Q 05What must Santiago of The Alchemist turn himself into within three days to escape his desert captors?
The wind
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.
Q 06In The Alchemist, which Old Testament figure appears to Santiago calling himself the king of Salem?
Melchizedek
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.
Q 07Which holy city has the crystal merchant of The Alchemist always dreamed of visiting but never seen?
Mecca
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.
Q 08In The Alchemist, what does the king of Salem call the destiny each person is meant to fulfil?
Personal Legend
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.
Q 09In The Alchemist, the treasure finally turns up under which kind of tree, growing in a ruined church?
Sycamore
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.
Q 10Which NBA star asked Paulo Coelho of The Alchemist fame in 2016 to co-write a book for young readers?
Kobe Bryant
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.
Q 11In The Alchemist, Santiago sails from Spain to which African port, only to be robbed on day one?
Tangier
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.
Q 12In The Alchemist, what are the black and white fortune-telling stones given to Santiago called?
Urim and Thummim
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.
Q 13In The Alchemist, which Arabic word for something already written does the crystal merchant use?
Maktub
Q 21In The Alchemist, what fee does the fortune-teller demand for interpreting Santiago's dream?
A tenth of the treasure
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.
Q 22In The Alchemist, what did Santiago's parents hope he would become, a path he followed until sixteen?
A priest
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.
Q 23In Santiago's recurring dream in The Alchemist, who carries him off to the Egyptian pyramids?
A child
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.
Q 14What does Santiago of The Alchemist suggest serving in crystal to customers thirsty from the climb?
Tea
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.
Q 15In The Alchemist, which companion crosses the desert with a case of books, seeking a real alchemist?
An Englishman
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.
Q 16In The Alchemist, a fight between which birds gives Santiago his vision of an attack on the oasis?
Hawks
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.
Q 17Which dull metal does the alchemist of The Alchemist turn to gold in a monastery kitchen?
Lead
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.
Q 18The prologue of The Alchemist retells the myth of which beautiful Greek youth?
Narcissus
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.
Q 19In The Alchemist, what object distracts Santiago long enough for a thief to vanish with his money?
A sword
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.
Q 20In The Alchemist, the old king's principle of favorability is another name for which everyday phrase?
Beginner's luck
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.
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.
Q 24At the start of The Alchemist, whom does Santiago long to see again when he next sells his wool?
A shopkeeper's daughter
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.
Q 25In The Alchemist, what does a penniless Santiago offer to do at the crystal shop for a meal?
Clean the glassware
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.
Q 26In The Alchemist, which Egyptian oasis shelters the caravan from the tribal wars?
Al-Fayoum
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.
Q 27In The Alchemist, which half of the alchemists' Master Work keeps its maker from growing old?
Elixir of Life
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.
Q 28In The Alchemist, which object holds the whole secret of alchemy in just a few inscribed lines?
Emerald Tablet
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.
Q 29In The Alchemist, what does the alchemist tell Santiago that his heart came from?
Soul of the World
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.
Q 30In The Alchemist, why did Santiago choose to herd sheep instead of the career his parents wanted?
To travel freely
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.