Chapter 15 Telling the boy a story

Paulo Coelho

The old man related that,the week before,he had been forced to appear before a miner,and had taken the form of a stone.The miner had abandoned everything to go mining for emeralds （绿宝石）.For five years he had been working by a certain river,and had examined hundreds of thousands of stones looking for an emerald.The miner was about to give it all up,right at the point when,if he were to examine just one more stone—just one more—he would find his emerald.Since the miner had sacrificed（牺牲）everything to his personal legend,the old man decided to become involved.He transformed himself into a stone that rolled up to the miner's foot.The miner,with all the anger and frustration of his five fruitless years,picked up the stone and threw it aside.But he had thrown it with such force that it broke the stone it fell upon,and there,embedded（嵌入） in the broken stone,was the most beautiful emerald in the world.

“People learn,early in their lives,what is their reason for being,”said the old man,with a certain bitterness.Maybe that's why they give up on it so early,too.But that's the way it is.”

The boy reminded the old man that he had said something about hidden treasure.

“Treasure is uncovered by the force of flowing water,and it is buried by the same currents,” said the old man. “If you want to learn about your own treasure,you will have to give me one-tenth of your flock.”

“What about one-tenth of my treasure?”

The old man looked disappointed.

“If you start out by promising what you don't even have yet,you'll lose your desire to work toward getting it.”

The boy told him that he had already promised to give one-tenth of his treasure to the Gypsy.

“Gypsies are experts at getting people to do that,” sighed the old man. “In any case,it's good that you've learned that everything in life has its price.That is what Warrior of the Light tries to teach.”

The old man returned the book to the boy.

“Tomorrow,at this same time,bring me a tenth of your flock.And I will tell you how to find the hidden treasure.Good afternoon.”

And he vanished around the corner of the plaza.

What did the old man intend to imply in his story?

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