The Alchemist

內容簡介

The Alchemist picked up a book that someone in the caravan had brought. Leafing through the pages, he found a story about Narcissus.

The alchemist knew the legend of Narcissus, a youth who knelt daily beside a lake to comtemplate his own beauty. He was so fascinated by himself that, one morning, he fell into the lake and drowned. At the spot where he fell, a flower was born, which was called the narcissus.

But this was not how the author of the book ended the story. 

He said that when Narcissus died, the goddnesses of the forest appeared and found the lake, which had been fresh water, transformed into a lake of salty tears.

"Why do you weep?" the goddnesses askes.
"I weep for Narcissus," the lake replied.
"Ah, it is no surprise that you weep for Narcissus," they said, "for though we always pursued him in the forest, you alone could contemplate his beauty close at hand."
"But...was Narcissus beautiful?"the lake asked
"Who better than you to know that?" the goddness said in wonder."After all, it was by your banks that he knelt each day to contemplate himself!"

The lake was silent for some time. Finally, it said:
"I weep for Narcissus, but I never noticed that Narcissus was beautiful. I weep because, each time he knelt beside my banks, I could see, in the depths of his eyes, my own beauty reflected."
"What a lovely story,"the alchemist thought.

 《牧羊少年奇幻之旅》講述了牧羊少年聖地亞哥接連兩次做了同一個夢，夢見埃及金字塔附近藏有一批寶藏。在撒冷之王的引導下，少年賣掉羊群，歷儘韆辛萬苦一路嚮南，跨海來到非洲，穿越“死亡之海”撒哈拉大沙漠……期間奇遇不斷，在一位鍊金術士的指引下，他剋服意誌、心靈上的種種睏難，終於到達金字塔前，悟齣了寶藏的真正所在……