The first mistake Santiago makes is trusting a thief when he first gets to Tangier, Africa. The young Arab spots the young, naive newcomer to his home and takes him to a tea bar. He shows Santiago respect and kindness which the boy all too easily accepts and trusts. The thief takes his money to go get camels to help the boy to the pyramids, but disappears in the crowd with it and the boy...
The first mistake Santiago makes is trusting a thief when he first gets to Tangier, Africa. The young Arab spots the young, naive newcomer to his home and takes him to a tea bar. He shows Santiago respect and kindness which the boy all too easily accepts and trusts. The thief takes his money to go get camels to help the boy to the pyramids, but disappears in the crowd with it and the boy is left penniless.
"All this happened between sunrise and sunset, the boy thought. He was feeling sorry for himself, and lamenting the fact that his life could have changed so suddenly and so drastically" (39).
The next mistake the boy makes is staying too long with the Crystal Merchant. After the thief robbed him, Santiago just wants to earn money to buy sheep and become a shepherd again. He spends a whole year working for the Merchant; and during that time, he is saving up for sheep, not to keep pursuing his Personal Legend. Luckily, when he is ready to leave, he ends up deciding to head for Egypt and pursue his dream rather than giving up and going home. Even though he did learn a lot from his experience with the Crystal Merchant, he delayed realizing his dream for a whole year.
Finally, Santiago gets distracted by Fatima and almost gives up pursuing his dream in order to stay and marry her. He's only halfway through is education and journey when he meets her and he is against tempted to throw it all away for immediate decisions and tempting circumstances. Fatima saves him though, by telling him that the women of the desert understand the Language of the World. They are accustomed to waiting for their men to come back to them from travels in the desert. She is also wise to know that Santiago would eventually resent her if he didn't pursue his dream first before marrying her. Without Fatima, this mistake would have crushed Santiago from every realizing his Personal Legend. The Alchemist also clarifies what Fatima says by the following:
"Fatima is a woman of the desert, . . . She knows that men have to go away in order to return. And she already has her treasure: it's you. Now she expects that you will find what it is you're looking for" (118).
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