Santiago's decision to leave the crystal shop

Santiago's decision to leave the crystal shop is the pivotal moment when he chooses the uncertainty of his destiny over the comfort of a settled life. After nearly a year of working for the crystal merchant in Tangier, he has saved enough money to buy a hundred and twenty sheep, a return ticket to Spain, and a license to import African goods. Yet on the morning of his departure, he realizes that this plan no longer satisfies him. The dream of returning to his flock, once his goal, has become less important minute by minute, and he understands that it was never really his dream at all.

The Morning of Departure

Santiago awakens before dawn, eleven months and nine days after first setting foot in Africa. He dresses in white linen Arabian clothing bought especially for this day, secures his headcloth with a camel-skin ring, and descends the stairs silently while the city still sleeps. He prepares a sandwich, drinks hot tea from a crystal glass, and sits in the sun-filled doorway smoking a hookah, thinking of nothing and listening to the wind that carries the scent of the desert. When he finishes, he withdraws a bundle of money from his pocket—enough to buy a hundred and twenty sheep, a return ticket, and a license to import products from Africa into his own country. He waits patiently for the crystal merchant to awaken, and the two go to a small café for tea.

The Conversation with the Crystal Merchant

At the café, Santiago tells the merchant he is leaving and has the money to buy his sheep, adding that the merchant now has the money to go to Mecca. The old man says nothing at first, then turns to the boy and speaks with quiet certainty: "I am proud of you. You brought a new feeling into my crystal shop. But you know that I'm not going to go to Mecca. Just as you know that you're not going to buy your sheep." Startled, Santiago asks who told him that, and the merchant answers with the single word "Maktub"—"It is written." He gives the boy his blessing, and Santiago understands that the merchant has seen the truth he himself has been avoiding.

Rediscovering the Stones and the King's Words

Back in his room, Santiago packs his belongings into three sacks. As he takes his old shepherd's jacket out of the pouch he has hardly touched for nearly a year, the two stones Urim and Thummim fall to the floor. The sight of them makes him think of the old king Melchizedek, and he is startled to realize how long it has been since he thought of him. For nearly a year he has worked incessantly, thinking only of putting aside enough money to return to Spain with pride. Now he picks up the stones and once again feels the strange sensation that the old king is nearby. He remembers the king's words: "Never stop dreaming. Follow the omens." The stones transmit to him the strength and will of the old king, and he understands that the omens are telling him it is time to go.

The Internal Struggle and the Final Choice

Santiago leaves the shop without saying good-bye to the crystal merchant, not wanting to cry with the other people there. He will miss the place and all the good things he has learned, but he feels more confident in himself, as though he could conquer the world. Yet even as he tells himself with certainty that he is going back to the fields he knows to take care of his flock again, he is no longer happy with the decision. He thinks of the crystal merchant, who prefers to dream of Mecca rather than actually go there, and wonders if it might be better to live that way. But as he holds Urim and Thummim, he remembers that the old man wore a breastplate of gold and knew about his past—he really was a king, a wise king. The hills of Andalusia are only two hours away by ship, but an entire desert lies between him and the Pyramids. Yet he realizes that he is actually two hours closer to his treasure, and the fact that those two hours stretched into an entire year does not matter. He can always go back to being a shepherd, he tells himself, but he may never have another chance to get to the Pyramids. He suddenly feels tremendously happy. He has a dream, and he has met with a king—that does not happen to just anyone. He remembers that one of the crystal merchant's suppliers transports crystal by caravans that cross the desert, and he decides to go to the supplier's warehouse to find out if the Pyramids are really that far away. With Urim and Thummim in his hand, he is once again on the way to his treasure.